How To Keep Pie Crust From Shrinking
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
Greetings from Wichita! I’m back in my hometown this weekend, celebrating the holidays with my family. And we kicked things off yesterday with a mega baking day and made four pies. So much pie!!!
While whipping up 6 batches of my favorite homemade butter pie crust recipe, we did end up having quite a few conversations about pie crusts and how they work and why they so often shrink. And after receiving questions from some of you about the same topic, I thought I’d pop in with a quick list of tips to prevent your pie crusts from shrinking. Because after you go to all of that work to make them homemade, and then shape and crimp and lattice them to look pretty in the pan, who wants them to shrink?!?
Not this pie lover.
So without further ado, here are 7 quick tips to keep pie crust from shrinking. If you have more of your own, be sure to share them in the comments below!
1. Don’t forget to give pie crust time to “rest”
Probably the main reason that pie crusts shrink is because the dough is not given adequate time to “rest”. This resting time allows the gluten to literally relax at critical points in the pie dough process, and will play a big role in preventing shrinking once it is baked. There are 3 main times that the pie crust needs to rest:
- After mixing the dough: Once you have mixed the dough and shape it into a flat disk, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator to rest until chilled, about 30 minutes.
- After rolling out the dough: Once you have rolled out the dough, let it rest for about 5 minutes before draping it into your pie plate.
- After adding the filling (optional): This is the least important time. But if you have an extra 10 minutes to spare, refrigerate the pie crust once more after adding the filling before you place it in the oven.
2. Poke holes and use pie weights in the bottom of the crust if pre-baking
When pre-baking (or “blind-baking”) a crust before it is filled, it’s super important that you literally weight the crust down with pie weights so that it will stay in place and not “slip” down into the crust. I actually don’t own any real pie weights, so I usually just gently line the pie crust with aluminum foil and then fill it with dried beans, which are a great and inexpensive alternative.
Before you weight the crust, though, use a fork to poke holes in the bottom of the crust. This will also keep the bottom from bubbling up. (And don’t worry — the crust will expand to fill the holes while baking.)
3. Avoid glass pans if possible
Glass pans are much more slippery than their metal or ceramic counterparts. They are perfect for graham cracker crusts and other crusts that do not require baking. But if possible, I recommend using metal or ceramic pie plates when baking pies with butter pie crusts.
4. Don’t overwork the dough
This is always, always, always a big rule of thumb when making pie crusts. (Especially if you use a food processor!) Try hard to only mix the dough as much as needed to get it to stick together. It’s ok if there are still a few tiny chunks of butter or fat visible. You just want to avoid overworking the dough as this causes it to get overly firm and also shrink.
5. Don’t stretch the dough to fit the pie pan
Rule of thumb: if you stretch the dough, it will stretch back while baking. So when you roll out the dough, be sure that it is large enough to drape into your pie plate and cover it without stretching.
6. Leave a little room around the edges
Following #5, I always recommend that people make their pie crusts slightly larger than you hope that they will look when baked. As in, give an extra 1/2-inch of so around the edge of the pie plate so that it has room to shrink very slightly while baking. You don’t want to make the crust too big. Just give it a tiny bit of extra wiggle room.
7. Use low baking temperatures if possible
Higher temperatures make the gluten in pie crusts tighten up and shrink a bit. So if your recipe requires pre-baking the pie crust, it will shrink less if you bake it “low and slow” (around 350 degrees F). But if you have a recipe that requires high temperatures, I wouldn’t worry. Just apply these other tips and they will help minimize the shrinking.
For more tips on pie crusts, be sure to check out my recipe and photo tutorial for How To Make A Pie Crust, and also be sure to check out some of my favorite pie recipes on the site!
What tips to you have for preventing pie crusts from shrinking?
These are great tips! I always get upset if my pie crust shrinks so I will most certainly have to save this for when I do my baking! Happy Thanksgiving!
Brilliant article and Happy Thanksgiving!
Your mom is SO cute!!!! You also look a ton alike, I’m sure you’ve never heard that one before. ;) This is seriously awesome for the baking newb like me. The glass pan thing is my next change!!
Wonderful article once again. However, I have one small question :) Do you think 30 minutes are enough for the dough to rest after mixing? My mom used to leave it in the fridge overnight and it was always huge in the morning. Can you advise me which is better?
Thank you
Such great tips! Definitely never followed all of these steps.
these are great! I never knew about the glass pans,I think that’s all I have, I’ve never had to buy pie pans, I honestly don’t know how I got them all, i have at least 6, which don’t usually need more than 2 lol.
I’ve always used rice in place of pie weights, I have a little jar of it I keep sitting above my stove, I use it and then pour back into the jar
Bake your pie crust upside down
I always use tinfoil pie dishes.
Follow all resting rules, but instead of weights I just put one pan on top of the pie crust and bake it upside down. Remove the top pie dish half way through cooking. Finish baking it upside down. Prior to baking punch holes in pie crust to keep the bottom flat.
I thought about placing the pie plate on a cookie sheet but there was no mention so I went ahead and had a complete mess with pieces of dough allover the oven. It does sound like an easy fix – maybe I just need more details. Anybody>
Helen – can you explain this again? Do you bake it upside down the entire time? Never heard of this technique.
My pie crusts always shrink around the edges. I learned from you that letting the crust rest before baking, as well as baking at 350 instead of 375. If you use convection, what are the pros and cons. I have been baking at 375 for 15 min then taking the parchment paper and beans out and then back in for 10 min. I like to do the thumb print on the pastry around the edges before I bake it. I’m always worried about the appearance especially if shrinking has made the edge uneven.
Thanks for sharing James!
just made a pie that shrank to about half its intended size (maybe a slight exaggeration)…I googled ‘how to keep my pie crust from shrinking’ and here I am! This is wonderful! thank you…
Oh no! We’ve totally been there before and know how frustrating that is, ugh! But we’re glad it at least led you here, and we hope these tips help! :)
I did the same thing as was in a hurry and didn’t put back in fridge to text. Made one in glass pie late with fluted edges and one in a metal pie plate. The one in the metal pie plate shrank almost to bottom of the flute. Sometimes mine turn out good and other times not so good. Will try and plan ahead next time to give it resting time and also turn oven to 350 instead of 375.
Just made my first homemade pie crust last night. It turned out great, but it definitely shrunk a bit, so I was happy to find your post this morning! Of course I’ll have to try again this week, and I’m sure my hubby will not be protesting one bit. I think my culprits are not resting after rolling and stretching the crust slightly in the pan. We shall see!
Hi Tessa! We hope this helps next time you give it a go! Pie crust can be so temperamental. Definitely let us know how it turns out next time! :)
These are all excellent tips. To them, I would add freezing the crust before blind baking or filling and baking. Baking from frozen really limits shrinking. And maybe my most important rule is to not use too much liquid in the crust. Liquid is what activates gluten, and using too much is sure to make it a real pain to roll and almost assures that the crust will shrink in the oven. If not sure of how much water to use, I always suggest to error on the side if too little water rather than too much. Thanks again for a great resource, and I hope that my two tips are helpful to your readers as well. =)
Thanks Jenni, and we appreciate you sharing your tips as well — those are great! :D
Thanks for the tips. The last piecrust I baked (blind) was so shrunken it was useless, and became a buttery frisbee for our ravens.
You’re welcome, Samantha — we’re so glad you found this helpful! :)
Great tips! I’ve been baking for some time and didn’t know about glass pie pans. I always thought they were preferred! Ha! Never too late to learn. Thanks!
I have made man pie crusts and all of them have fallen when I have baked them, and I do not know how to keep them from doing this, even though I have followed all of these tips and even some other ones from other sites that I have visited. So if you could help me that would be great.
Hi Bailey! If you’re chilling your dough long enough after making it, and also after rolling it out and putting it into your pie dish — that’s the biggest thing. An hour or two in the freezer before baking is always a good idea as well. Also, using sufficient weights when you’re par-baking, and just making sure you aren’t overworking your dough. We hope this helps — we know that’s super frustrating when your dough shrinks!
How do I keep my top pie crust from billowing and leaving empty space. When you cut it it
Is hollow. HELP
Hi Jane! We’re not sure what you mean by the empty space?
I think she’s talking about the space between the fruit and the top crust that is hollow after it’s baked then cooled.
If using foil and dried beans or rice for weight will the foil stick to the crust when pre-baking crust?
Hi Rose! You don’t need to worry about parchment paper sticking to the crust, but if you’re using foil, you should spray the bottom side of the foil with some cooking spray. We hope this helps!
slowed down ,gave the dough its time to rest, lowered the temp. worked a lot better, thanks for the in sight!!
I’ve also found, for Pumpkin at least, to let the pie sit in the oven after it has finished baking for a bit…also prevents cracking of the filling as it slowly cools.
Thanks for the tips. I had shrinking crust yesterday.
So, when I made a pie for my friend I used her glass pie plates/dish but when I put the crust in them, prior to baking, they kept sliding down the sides & would not stay up. And yes, I always make sure it’s large enough to drape over the plate. I need to purchase more plates & do not want to purchase a metal one because I dislike the quality of the metals being used. I have glass plates (given as gifts) but I was so frustrated when the crust kept slipping down, I have not wanted to use them. I am leaning toward the ceramic plates but am afraid I will have the same issue. Any advice or will I just have to suck it up? My crust recipe is very basic, simple & turns out great & I have been using it since the 70s. So do you have any tips to help stop the sliding… I would appreciate any help
Warm regards,
Olga
I rolled out my just-rol pastry and left it sitting on a marble block for 1 hr then lined my flan tin leaving a good 1 inch over lap I baked it on 150 for 20 mins with bake balls covering and I’d gently pricked the pastry, within 12 mins of cooking it had shrunk to less than half the depth of my flan tin ?? HELP!!!! why did it do this
Can anyone please provide suggestions on if I should blind bake a store bought pie crust? I am terrible when it comes to making pie crust from scratch so I gave up and just been using store bought ones. Problem is, I get mixed suggestions about whether or not blind baking should be done before making my pumpkin pie. I’ve tried both ways, blind baking and not blind baking and either ways, my crust will be soggy and my pumpkin pie will be very mushy. My son loves pumpkin pie and frustrates me that I can’t get the pie to come out right. Please anyone with suggestions, I would really appreciate it!
I bake my pies on the lowest rack in the oven (and I use glass pie pans without any problems). If you are using fresh pumpkin make sure you remove excess moisture by draining the pumpkin (put it in cheesecloth lined strainer for a a while) or smear it out on paper towels. If using canned pumpkin, you may not be baking long enough. If the crust is getting too brown cover the crimped edge with narrow strips of aluminum foil.
Just tried it. Let the dough rest after mixing, after rolling, after placing in ceramic plate. Baked at 350 for a little over an hour (blind baked). Crusts came out beautiful! A little shrinking but just perfect for the pie plates they’re in. Thanks for all the tips! Tomorrow I’ll fill them with homemade chocolate pie filling and make a cherry pie as well.
I love using glass pie plates & have never had a crust to shrink so I’m not sure what causes it. The only thing I do is make the dough, usually rest it for a few minutes, roll it out & place in pie pan then I put it in the freezer or fridge for 15 minutes. Thats it! I love your recipes & reading your blog. Take care.