Easy Pecan Pie Recipe

Easy pecan pie recipe that is simply homemade with a perfect balance of sweet gooey filling, and crisp buttery crust! A classic recipe that completes the Thanksgiving feast along with pumpkin pie and apple pie.

Look at that gooey goodness and the beautiful caramel color! Lining up those pecans before making it into the oven is what excites me the most everytime I make this pie.

I just can’t express how much I love pecan pie. The buttery and nutty dessert treat is one of my favorite seasonal pies. Pecan pie’s sweet-honeyed aroma and its crunchy texture is just irresistible!

For a little bit of background, the French immigrants and New World settlers in and around New Orleans are the ones who first created the pecan pie. Pecan nuts are of American origin, so it’s easy to see how the wonderful product in the hands of the world’s greatest cooks ended up as one of the most famous Southern pies.

How to Make Pecan Pie

For this easy pecan pie recipe, we're going all-out traditional, there’s nothing like a proper pecan pie, which means using few but very important ingredients. Let me break this recipe down for you.

We’re using one whole cup of corn syrup, either light or dark. After pecans, this might be the most critical ingredient in the recipe — it brings everything together. It comes without saying corn syrup is also an American staple, and it’s nearly impossible to substitute correctly, perhaps only with sugar-based syrup or molasses.

Then we have a few eggs, three, to be exact. They also help with the pie’s stability and consistency. Just make sure they’re fresh, and if they come from pasture-raised hens, even better.

This old-fashioned recipe for pecan pie also calls for a hefty amount of granulated sugar. If you’ve tried authentic pecan pie before, you know you’re in for a lusciously sweet treat! The pleasant nutty bitterness balances the dish, though.

I like to use unsalted butter for this one. Although you only need two tablespoons, it's a surprise how much of a difference butter makes in terms of consistency and flavor.

For an aromatic touch, just a dash of vanilla extract really does the trick. Make sure you get some reliable vanilla extract that ACTUALLY comes from the vanilla bean orchid. Artificial substitutes might smell like vanilla, but you can't beat the real deal.

You can’t have a pecan pie without pecans, so get yourself one and a half cups of coarsely chopped nuts. Although pecans (like all other nuts) have very long shelf-lives, make sure your pecans are somewhat fresh. If they’re stored for extended periods, they tend to lose aromatics and kind of taste stale.

Last but not least, we’ll need a deep-dish pie crust. You can make yours from scratch, but store-bought pie crusts are actually pretty tasty and convenient. Get a nice frozen and unbaked pie crust and you’ll be fine. That’s what I’m doing with mine.

Once you have all your ingredients in hand, please make certain you preheat your oven to 350°F for around 20-30 minutes before the actual baking. It makes all the difference and will help your pie to caramelize better. Bake for 60-70 minutes.

Having said that, this is a super easy pecan pie recipe, and you’ll have tons of fun making it. Enjoy your pecan pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and foamy pumpkin spice latte.