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Brown Butter Pie Crust is the ultimate pastry to elevate any pie flavor. It’s nutty, sweet, luxuriously rich, and buttery, and will become your go-to pie crust.

Overhead of brown butter pie crust in pie plate.

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I recently discovered the gloriousness of brown butter pie crust when I decided to make an apple slab pie using this crust. It’s so rich, crisp, and flaky. I found myself reaching for pieces of crust instead of the filling.

Making pie crust is often intimidating to bakers. Especially when you are not familiar with the process. I have a full blog post on how to make homemade pie crust. I highly suggest taking a peek before you attempt this for the first time.

Today’s brown butter pastry is made almost the same except for browning the butter first and not using shortening. It’s an all-butter crust that is truly exceptional.

This recipe may actually be my new favorite. It goes so well with apple pie and I can’t wait to try it with other fruit fillings.

Why This Recipe Works

Brown butter adds a wonderful toasted butter flavor to the crust.
Brown butter pie crust pairs beautifully with chocolate and fruit pies.

Side view of brown butter crust in pie plate.

Ingredients

For the ingredient measurements and the entire recipe, be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the blog post where the recipe card is located.

Butter: Unsalted sweet cream butter tastes the best.
Flour: All-purpose flour is all you need.
Salt: A little salt to enhance the flavor.
Water: Ice water is used to keep the butter cold.

Step by Step Directions

Browning butter is by far the best way to enjoy butter. Any recipe that calls for melted butter, use brown butter instead. You won’t regret it.

You can also use brown butter for recipes that call for softened butter or cold butter. The trick to this is letting the brown butter cool until it turns solid again. It takes longer but it’s honestly so worth it.

For the full recipe instructions, scroll down to the bottom of the blog post to the recipe card.

Start by melting the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will foam up and then subside as it’s cooking. Let it cook for about eight minutes until it’s a light golden brown with bits of darker brown in the bottom.
Pour the brown butter and brown bits into a heatproof bowl lined with foil.
Pop the bowl of butter into the fridge until it becomes solid again. This took about 2 hours. Once it’s set, slice into cubes and it’s ready to go into the pastry dough.
Use a food processor to pulse the butter into the flour and salt.
Drizzle in enough water so the pastry holds together without being sticky.

Jump to Recipe

Brown butter solidified and cut into cubes.

Flour and brown butter in food processor.

Tips For Success

Make sure you let the butter solidify and keep it cold until you are ready to use it. Store it in the refrigerator if you plan to use it the next day.
Cut the butter into the flour until it resembles pea-sized crumbs. Some larger bits of butter throughout are perfectly fine.
The dough can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Just thaw it overnight in the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter for a few minutes before rolling it out.
Like any pie crust, it’s important to keep the dough as cold as possible before baking. Place it in the refrigerator between steps in the recipe and handle it as little as possible.