Categories: Food

Buttermilk Pie

My take on buttermilk pie – a twist on a beloved, easy to make, classic pie. Favorite aspects here are a bright, tangy, and silky textured filling cradled by a buttery, structured, home-made crust. Buttermilk is the backbone of the custard filling. And in this version, maple steps in as the sweetener, the salt isn’t shy, balancing everything out. Lastly, you bring everything into focus with a good amount of lemon zest.

People have been baking this pie off the site for years, I originally posted it in 2011, you can read their comments down below, but I wanted to highlight a few details.

Buttermilk Pie: Variations

Graham Cracker Crust: Laurie noted,”I used a pre-made graham cracker crust. YUMMY!!”
Less Lemon: Some people like less lemon, so feel feel to dial back the zest or skip it altogether.

What If You Don’t Have Buttermilk?

So, I haven’t tested this personally with this pie, but it sounds like you can confidently give it a go. Sarah, reported back, “For those who wanted to know if it would work to substitute homemade buttermilk (i.e. milk + lemon juice/ vinegar) I used the juice of the lemon used for zesting and it worked out perfectly. I screwed up a lot of little steps along the way (like accidentally putting in 1/3 c. flour instead of 1/4 c. in the filling) and it still turned out fantastic. It was also a great way to use up a bunch of milk before it expired and a lemon that had been around a while.”

Another Buttermilk Pie

Buttermilk pie fillings just hit right. And if you’re in agreement, I have another pie for you to bake. I started using buttermilk in my coconut cream pie years ago and never looked back. With the sort of pie that can often come off as overly sweet, the buttermilk and a confident amount of salt offset some of the that. Be sure to make it next level with a homemade pie crust.

This is generally what you’re aiming for as you go to make your pie crust. A bit of dough overhang that you can crimp into a pretty rim. This is an example of the rye crust, it’s noted in the headnotes of the recipe down below.