A pretzel pie crust is wonderful when you want a sweet and salty dessert. It’s the cake version of having a drink with a salted rim!
I love using pretzel pie crust on all kinds of pie recipes: baked, no-bake, and ice cream pies. Try experimenting with this crust on any pie where you would normally use a graham cracker crust or Oreo crust for a surprise salty twist!
How to Make a Pretzel Pie Crust
Pretzel pie crust is super easy to make – so so much easier than a classic butter crust.
The hardest part is crushing the pretzels, which isn’t hard at all!
I like to crush the pretzels in a mini food processor.
If you don’t have a food processor, you can also crush pretzels by putting them into a Ziploc bag and rolling over them with a rolling pin.
What Type of Pretzels to Use in Pretzel Pie Crust
I like to use tiny twist pretzels because they are easy to crush and they have a good proportion of pretzel to salt. Speaking of salt, make sure to use salted pretzels. Otherwise, you will miss out on the whole point of pretzel pie crust – getting the sweet and salty combination in your pies.
What Other Ingredients are in Pretzel Pie Crust?
Aside from pretzels, there are just two other ingredients in pretzel pie crust, butter and sugar. The butter is necessary to make the pretzel crust hold together. I suggest using unsalted butter. We want a salty flavor, but using salted butter will make the pie crust too salty.
Do You Need to Bake Pretzel Pie Crust?
Even if you are using pretzel pie crust for a no-bake pie, I suggest baking the pie crust for about ten minutes so the crust can set a little. If you don’t bake the crust at all, it will be harder to add the filling to the pie as the crust will be more crumby and may end up integrated into the filling.
Eight Pie Recipes That Use a Pretzel Pie Crust
One of my favorite recipes to use this pretzel pie crust on is my key lime ice cream pie! This tangy key lime ice cream goes so well with the salty crust!
Another ice cream pie that works really well with pretzel crust is my frozen mango margarita pie. This recipe was featured in a cookbook by the National Mango Board. It’s that good!
Pretzel crust isn’t just for ice cream pies. I also use pretzel crust on my cheesecake brownie pie and people go crazy for the chocolate plus salt combination.
If you are up for trying something a little (OK, more than a little) different, give my No Regrets Pie a go. It is a pie made up of all different kinds of pie crusts – including pretzel crust!
This frozen strawberry cream pie from Greens & Chocolate is inspired by strawberry pretzel salad. Have you ever tried it?
The pretzel crust on this peanut butter mousse pie from Completely Delicious actually has peanuts mixed into it to bring out the peanut flavor even more!
This Nutella pie from Baking a Moment seems like such a perfect use of a pretzel crust. I want to pick up that fork and dig right in!
This peanut butter cheesecake from Bake or Break is just one example of a cheesecake that could be made with a pretzel crust.
Which cheesecake recipes would you use the crust for? Share in the comments!
Pretzel Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 2 cups small salted pretzels
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Crush all ingredients in a mini food processor until they look like wet sand. Or, place pretzels in a sandwich bag, crush with a rolling pin, and mix with other ingredients in a small bowl.
- Press into the bottom and up the sides of a greased 9" pie pan.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Use with your favorite pie recipe.
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