23 Pie Recipes That Don’t Involve Rolling Out Pie Dough
![A towering Salted Coffee Custard Pie with a slice cut out](https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/633f093dc6b2a3464a5c9bdd/16:9/w_320%2Cc_limit/1006-salted-coffee-chess-pie-lede.jpg)
Don’t know what to do with all those potato peels? Running out of room in your oven for stuffing? Gravy tasting a little flat? Head to our holiday hub, How to Thanksgiving Smarter, Not Harder, for everything you need to know—and nothing you don't—to make this year's holiday easier, speedier, and tastier.
While golden, flaky, impeccably prepared pie crust has its place, these 23 recipes are for the time-savers, the procrastinators, and the impatient. Just because you don’t want to make from-scratch pastry doesn’t mean you should have to compromise on taste or flavor. From press-in pie crusts that rely on graham crackers, cookies, and wildcards like pretzels and saltines, to no-bake frozen pies that will give your oven a break, you can have your pie and eat it too.
- Photograph by Rana Duzyol, Food Styling by Jesse Szewczyk, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua1/23
Cinnamon Crunch Crinkle Pie
This dramatically ruffled pie, inspired by Greek bougatsa custard pie with phyllo, needs neither traditional pie dough nor a pie plate to impress. Thin sheets of phyllo pastry are draped in a skillet, forming a crisp top-and-bottom crust when baked.
- Photograph by Rana Duzyol, Food Styling by Jesse Szewczyk, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua2/23
Salted Coffee Custard Pie
If you can’t be fussed with making coffee and dessert after a big holiday dinner, consider this twofer instead. The silky, sliceable, cool custard is rich and intense with two kinds of coffee, while the oatmeal crust is a tweedy-textured study in contrast.
- Laura Murray3/23
BA’s Best Coconut Cream Pie
Think of this cream pie recipe from pastry chef and former BA staffer Claire Saffitz as a giant, slicable Samoa cookie. It’s crunchy, caramelly, creamy, and positively jam-packed with coconut in all its many forms.
- Photograph by Rana Duzyol, Food Styling by Jesse Szewczyk, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua4/23
Hazelnut Butter Cup Tart
Yes, this is exactly what it looks like: a giant nut butter cup that rivals anything you’d find at the store. The filling—made with hazelnuts here—is faintly crumbly and crispy-crunchy thanks to the addition of crushed-up ice cream cones.
- Photograph by Rana Duzyol, Food Styling by Jesse Szewczyk, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua5/23
Easy-Fancy Pear Galette
This may look and sound fancy, but as the name promises, it’s unbelievably easy. We simplify your life by calling for canned pears—a trick borrowed from French patisseries and their elaborate pear tarts. You won’t have to fuss with a pie crust either; store-bought puff pastry will do just fine.
- Photo by Emma Fishman, food styling by D'mytrek Brown6/23
Pumpkin-Tahini Mousse Pie
This cloudlike version of pumpkin pie uses earthy tahini for extra nutty flavor. The trick to keeping it so light is mixing the pumpkin-tahini base with whipped cream in two additions: The first half ensures that the mixture is well-combined, while the second half is ever so gently folded in to maintain its airiness.
- Photo by Emma Fishman, food styling by D'Myrtrek Brown7/23
Chocolate-Biscoff Banoffee Pie
This pie is a combination of chocolate, bananas, and butterscotch, but it isn’t your traditional British banoffee pie. Mallory Cayon, of Sunday Hospitality in NYC and LA, uses crisp speculoos cookies in the crust to add just a hint of spice and bitter chocolate to contrast with the caramelly butterscotch filling.
- Photo by Ted + Chelsea Cavanaugh, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski8/23
Banana Cream Pie
Trust us when we say that everything that makes this recipe impressive is actually what makes it so easy to pull off. From the salty-sweet graham cracker crust to the sky-high mountain of peanut-studded whipped cream to the yolk-yellow filling bursting with natural banana flavor, you’d be fooling yourself—and your guests—if you thought it was hard to make.
- Photograph by Rana Duzyol, Food Styling by Jesse Szewczyk, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua9/23
Triple Citrus Creamsicle Pie
Lemon, lime, and orange team up to create the creamy ice pop of your dreams—and in pie form. With just enough dairy to tame, not drown, the bracing acidity of winter citrus, this no-bake beauty can be assembled in less than 30 minutes.
- Photo by BOBBI LIN10/23
Cranberry-Lime Pie
The spirit of a Key lime pie in the guise of a luscious cranberry curd. The contrast between the snappy press-in crust and the tart filling in this recipe is pure genius.
- Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Taneka Morris, Prop Styling by Maya Rossi11/23
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
Peanut butter lovers, this pie is for you. With a fudge-like chocolate base and nutty, rich mousse topping, this chocolate peanut butter pie tastes like a large-format Reese’s peanut butter cup tucked into a crunchy graham cracker crust.
- Gentl & Hyers12/23
Sweet Potato–Miso Pie With Chocolate-Sesame Crust
Sesame seeds and chocolate wafer cookies make a nutty, crisp crust for a rich sweet potato filling. We tested this pie recipe with canned sweet potatoes, but it just wasn’t as good. Go fresh or go home.
- Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Pearl Jones, Prop Styling by Dayna Seman13/23
Guava and Goat Cheese Phyllo Pie
This showstopping dessert-for-breakfast dish is inspired by the guava and cheese pastelitos at Versailles, a Cuban restaurant in Miami, but is much simpler to execute thanks to store-bought phyllo pastry.
- Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Elizabeth Jaime14/23
Chocolate Ganache Tart
This deceptively simple chocolate tart features a press-in nut crust that requires zero dough-making skills and also happens to be gluten-free. (You can also swap in any nut you want—it’s versatile.)
- Photo by Emma Fishman, food styling by Pearl Jones15/23
Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
Parbaking the graham cracker crust at a relatively low temperature ensures a crisp and deeply fragrant crust that won’t become soggy once the fluffy pumpkin filling is added.
- Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Aneta Florczyk16/23
Ruffled Milk Pie With Raspberries
Galatopita, or ruffled milk pie, is a Greek dessert in which phyllo is baked directly in a simple custard. It’s prepared in stages so the top stays buttery and crisp while the bottom turns into a sort of phyllo bread pudding.
- Photo by Heidi's Bridge17/23
Frozen Margarita Pie
Your favorite cocktail in pie form—what’s not to love? Just keep in mind that you’ll need to freeze the pie at least 8 hours, preferably overnight, for the ideal texture, so be sure to plan ahead.
- PHOTO AND FOOD STYLING BY SOHLA EL-WAYLLY18/23
Salted PB&J Ice Cream Pie
Peanut butter, jelly, and buttery crackers, now updated in no-churn ice cream pie form. Any nut or seed butter and jam or jelly combo will do, whether it’s tahini with strawberry jam or almond butter with cherry compote.
- Photo by Alex Lau, Styling by Chris Morocco19/23
Gluten-Free Coconut Turmeric Pie
The pie crust for this sunny, golden stunner is made by blitzing together oats, coconut, and almonds in a food processor, adding plenty of texture and nuttiness.
- Christopher Testani20/23
No-Bake Chocolate Cream Pie With Toasted Meringue
The swirly meringue topping on this chocolate cream pie recipe is stable enough to make a day ahead and keep chilled—even if you’ve brûléed it.
- Alex Lau21/23
BA’s Best Key Lime Pie
A standout Key lime pie recipe is all about striking balance: The crunch of the homemade graham cracker crust should play off a creamy custard pie filling that’s both sweet and tangy. This recipe delivers just that.
- Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Alison Attenborough, prop styling by Heather Greene22/23
Coconut-Strawberry Ice Cream Pie
Sure, the ice cream is store-bought and the no-bake crust uses graham crackers, but this stunning frozen pie is anything but humble. When a crunchy salted press-in crust and fruity ice cream team up, everyone wins.
- Peter Frank Edwards23/23
Coconut Cream Pie With Macaroon Press-In Crust
Shredded coconut is a genius swap-in for cookie crumbs in the crust, and incorporating both coconut and regular milks in the custard gives it better flavor and a fluffier consistency.