This buttermilk pie is not only simple to prepare and lovely to look at, but it also has a unique, custard-like flavor that no other pie can match. This tastes a bit like extremely light cheesecake mixed with vanilla custard and lemon meringue pie. except superior.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 20 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 1 9-inch pie |
Ingredients
- 1 prepared dough for 1 (9-inch) single crust pie
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 ½ cups white sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- Zest from 1 lemon
- Juice from 1 lemon
- 1 cup buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Roll out pie dough large enough to fit pie dish with just a bit of overhang. Transfer dough to pie dish and gently fit into dish. Trim excess dough hanging over the edge. Fold about 1/2 inch of the edge of the dough to the inside edge of the pie crust to reinforce it. Crimp the edge. Prick the bottom and sides of the crust with a fork about 10 times. Place a sheet of parchment paper gently into the crust and fill with pie weights or dried beans so pie crust doesn’t bubble up with you bake it.
- Bake crust in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven; lift weights from pan with edges of parchment paper. Allow crust to cool completely.
- Place butter in mixing bowl; add sugar. Stir together until completely combined using a spatula, 4 or 5 minutes. Add flour and salt. Mix together until combined. Stir in 3 eggs; mix until slightly blended. Then using a whisk, whisk together until mixture is fairly smooth and creamy.
- Pour in vanilla extract. Add nutmeg, zest of lemon, lemon juice, and buttermilk. Whisk until thoroughly mixed, 2 or 3 minutes. Pour into the pie shell.
- Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown and just set, 45 to 55 minutes. Pie should have a slight wiggle, but not a soupy jiggle. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until chilled, 1 to 2 hours.
- You can use 1/2 of my
- for this recipe — it would be perfect!
- I’ve never had much trouble finding buttermilk, even in regular, non-fancy grocery stores, but depending on where you live in the world, apparently that may not the case. There are many hacks for making a substitute, usually using milk and lemon juice, or vinegar. I’ll let you Google those at your leisure, but I’d be more inclined to try some yogurt, thinned out with some milk to be closer to the tanginess of buttermilk.
- Once your pie is made, it can be served as-is, or topped with seasonal fruit. I went with raspberries, mostly for the pictures, but if you were going to do this for the holidays, some persimmons, and/or pomegranate seeds would also be very nice.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 415 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 53 g |
| Cholesterol | 102 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 237 mg |
| Sugars | 40 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Thanks for this recipe Chef John. This is now my favorite dessert..
This is a 5-star pie! Agree with Chef John that this buttermilk pie is underappreciated unless you’re from the South maybe. I’m from lovely SoCal and had never heard of this one until I stumbled upon this recipe from CJ. I’m a fan of it’s deliciousness. Made it 4x now and each time it has come out perfectly. I’ve read some of the comments where it didn’t turn out well for some. I can attest it would be due to baking techniques/ skill level as I’ve experienced those bloopers myself with other recipes. Practice makes perfect though!
I forgot to put the nutmeg in, oops… I did reduce the amount of lemon juice to just a splash based on some of the other reviews I read. It was quite a crowd pleaser and I will definitely be making it again (and hopefully remember the nutmeg).
wonderful made it just like it says , no changes ate it plain , love the custard with the Nutmeg flavor
It was so delicious that I invited my friends over and we all loved the pie. I used a pre-made crust but it still turned out yummy!
Excellent. Do not recommend using duck eggs. Does cream up as nice.
Followed to the letter. My friends went nuts so good they said wow they said how did you make it they asked. I said it was a snap!
I made this pie twice. Second pie was much better than first one. I reduced the amount of lemon luice to two tbsp. The juice of a whole lemon was too much.
Very easy. Great hit with the family
It was good, but honestly not as good as cheesecake or lemon meringue pie.
I baked this pie three times prior to today (my 4th attempt is in the oven now). Each time it was devoured my folks who claimed to be put off by the name “buttermilk” pie! One thing, on the 3rd attempt after adding the buttermilk, the batter separated. Maybe I mixed it too long. I almost tossed it out. Nervously, I baked it and it turned out fine. It separated this time, too. Fingers crossed. Two more things: After the 1st pie, I reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup, which was the perfect sweetness. Lastly, 50 minutes is the perfect baking time for my electric oven. GREAT recipe!
I never had or heard of a buttermilk pie. I made it to use up some leftover buttermilk we had. I will make this again and again. If you ask me to describe this pie, I’d say it’s like a coconut custard pie minus the coconut. Chef John you delivered again. Thank you.
No changes! Just delicious buttermilk pie!! Love it Chef John
I have made this pie!! So delicious! My daughter in law asked for it for her birthday. To be honest, I thought she was a bit nuts. I had never heard of a buttermilk pie and I sure didn’t want to eat one. I REALLY dislike buttermilk. Was I ever shocked. First of all, I burnt the crust. I had it in the over far to long. I was so upset. It didn’t burn until I put in the batter and baked it. However, the pie was LOVED by everyone… Including me. I have made it MANY times since then. Thank you Chef John!!
It’s all true a taste treat seekers delight. I like to make thing my own so I make it with a graham cracker crust.
Too much sugar!
For most of my life we have made this pie year around and it’s always gone before I can get a slice. So I always make two and on holidays and special occasions I’ll make three or four because the buttermilk pie is always the first pie gone in Southern homes.
I wanted to love it, but it was more like a giant lemon bar than a buttermilk pie. Next time I make it I’ll be cutting out the zest, and cutting the juice down to 1 tbsp (per most traditional recipes) and the sugar down to 1 cup.
This is not the Southern buttermilk pie that I grew up with. Too much lemon! I could not discern the buttermilk flavor at all.
Light, sweet and delicious! The best part was how completely wonderful it smelled while baking.
I’ve made it 6 times so far. Whenever I go to a party I get, “You gonna bring one of those buttermilk pies.”. So easy and so good. I’ve used both buttermilk and yogurt and its amazing either way. Also agree with other comments…only use one cup sugar. For an amazing crowd pleasing topping blend I can evaporated milk, 1 cup blackberries (I had to use frozen) and about 1/4 cup sugar.