This high altitude pecan pie recipe has a flaky all-butter crust, and brown butter in the sweet gooey filling. It’s salty and sweet, crunchy, gooey and buttery, and without a doubt, it’s the best pecan pie I’ve ever had. It’s an absolute favorite of my family at the holidays!
Looking for more holiday recipes? You’ll love these baked gingerbread doughnuts, soft ginger molasses cookies, and apple cider layer cake with maple buttercream.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Perfect for the Holidays. I can’t imagine Thanksgiving or Christmas without a homemade pecan pie on the dessert table. Some people feel that way about pumpkin pie, but for me it’s pecan. That gooey and crunchy pecan filling in a buttery crust is simply impossible to resist. I’m not one to wait for Thanksgiving, though, and I’ll usually bake a pecan pie right at the beginning of the fall season.
Brown Butter. Browning the butter before whisking it into the filling gives this pie a deeper, nuttier, richer flavor that’s delicious with the pecans.
Perfectly Baked. For a perfectly baked pie, I pre-bake the pie crust for a few minutes first, and then let it finish baking with the filling. This ensures that the crust is never under-baked, but perfectly flaky.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
One of the biggest problems high altitude bakers have with pecan pie is exploding filling that boils over and turns into a mess. Not at all what you want when you’re baking a pie for a special occasion or holiday.
So I’ve carefully developed and tested my recipe to ensure a flaky, buttery, perfectly baked crust and pecan filling that’s just the right balance of sweetness, thickness and gooeyness. By baking the pie at a lower temperature, you’ll get a perfectly set filling that doesn’t boil over.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Corn Syrup.
You’ll find recipes that call for light corn syrup or dark corn syrup. I’ve tried both, and I prefer using light corn syrup. I feel like dark corn syrup is just a bit too heavy and deep, overpowering all the other wonderful flavors going on. The corn syrup helps the filling set into the gooey consistency that we all love so much.
Dark Brown Sugar.
Now, I use less corn syrup than many popular recipes, so I make up for that with some dark brown sugar. I like to use a combination of light corn syrup and dark brown sugar for the perfect balance of sweetness and flavor.
Butter.
Butter is an essential ingredient to pecan pie. It adds flavor and richness, and makes everything more wonderful. My recipe uses browned butter, which has the most incredible flavor. Browning butter only takes a few minutes longer than just melting it, and the nuttiness of the browned butter perfectly complements and enhances the brown sugar and pecans. Even before baking, the filling tastes absolutely amazing. If you don’t want to make browned butter, then you can certainly skip this step and just use the melted butter.
Eggs.
The eggs add richness and structure, helping to bind the filling together.
Salt.
Coarse Kosher salt balances the sugar, giving the pie the best salty sweet flavor.
Vanilla.
Vanilla extract adds wonderful flavor to pecan pie. Some people add spices as well, such as cinnamon, but I think it’s better without spices, with just the flavor of the pecans complemented by all the other wonderful things going on.
Flour.
Just one tablespoon of flour helps to thicken the filling a little, which is necessary since I’ve lowered the amount of corn syrup.
Pecans.
Our star ingredient! In addition to a generous amount of chopped pecans in the filling, I love to decorate the top of the pie with pecan halves before baking the pie. Sometimes, it’s just a simple concentric circle of pecans. Since this one is for the holidays, I arranged them like a Christmas tree. Simple but so stunning.
Instructions
Crust
- Prepare 1/2 of the All Butter Pie Dough Recipe.
- Roll out the dough to between 1/4 and 1/8 inch thick. Fit the dough into a deep-dish pie pan or 9 inch metal tart pan, fold the edges under and crimp the edges. Use a fork to lightly prick the bottom of the crust all over (this is called docking the crust, and will help prevent it from puffing up too much during the pre-bake). Freeze the crust in the pan for 30 minutes while you preheat the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F and position a rack in the center of the oven. Set the pie pan on a baking sheet.
- Lightly brush the frozen crust all over with egg white. Lay a piece of parchment paper over the crust and fill with dried beans or pie weights.
- Bake the crust at 400 for 20 minutes. Carefully, remove the paper and the beans/weights, and bake, uncovered, for an additional 8-10 minutes. The crust should be mostly baked, but you’ll still see a few under-baked patches of dough, since it will finish baking with the filling.
- Remove the crust from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 325 F.
Filling
- Meanwhile, while the crust is baking, you can prepare the filling.
- In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Continue to cook the butter, swirling the pan occasionally, until the butter is fragrant and nutty brown solids have formed at the bottom of the pan. Pour the butter, scraping up the brown solids, into a large mixing bowl.
- Whisk in the brown sugar and corn syrup until smooth. Whisk in the eggs, vanilla, salt and flour until well combined. Mix in the chopped pecans.
- Pour the filling into the crust. Arrange the pecan halves on top of the filling to resemble a Christmas tree.
- Very carefully, so as not to slosh the filling, return the pie to the oven. Bake at 325 for 50-55 minutes. When the pie is done, the filling should still jiggle ever so slightly, and will finish cooking and setting up as it cools. You can cover the edge of the crust with a pie shield or strips of foil partway through baking, if it is getting too brown.
- Cool the pie for 2-3 hours on a cooling rack before cutting.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Store the pie at room temperature, loosely covered for up to 3-5 days.
For years, I’ve made pecans pies without pre-baking the crust. But at the same time, I was also baking my pies at the standard temperature of 350 F, and the result was a too-dark top layer on the pie, and a filling that didn’t always set. To ensure my filling thickened without burning the top of the pie, I began baking my pecan pies at a slightly lower temperature (325 F) for a little bit longer. This ensured that my filling was always perfectly set without over-browning the pie.
As a result of baking at a lower temperature, the crust wasn’t cooking through quite as well as I would have liked, so I felt like the crust could be improved with a pre-bake. It’s a step that ensures your crust is golden brown, flaky and completely cooked before adding a gooey or custardy filling that can prevent your crust from really cooking through.
Pre-baking the crust takes a few extra minutes, but it really pays off, making such a difference in the texture of the crust. There’s nothing like a beautifully flaky golden brown pastry underneath a perfectly gooey filling.
Yes, follow the same instructions for pre-baking.
You can use either light or dark corn syrup, although I prefer light.
For a chocolate pecan pie, sprinkle a handful of chocolate chips or chopped chocolate over the pre-baked crust, before pouring in the filling. Bake as instructed.
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High Altitude Pecan Pie
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- 9 Inch Deep Dish Pie Pan or Tart Pan
Ingredients
- ½ recipe All Butter Pie Dough
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- ¾ cup light corn syrup
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cups pecans, roughly chopped
- 29 pecan halves
Instructions
Crust
- Prepare 1/2 of the All Butter Pie Dough Recipe.
- Roll out the dough to between 1/4 and 1/8 inch thick. Fit the dough into a deep-dish pie pan or 9 inch metal tart pan, fold the edges under and crimp the edges. Use a fork to lightly prick the bottom of the crust all over (this is called docking the crust, and will help prevent it from puffing up too much during the pre-bake). Freeze the crust in the pan for 30 minutes while you preheat the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F and position a rack in the center of the oven. Set the pie pan on a baking sheet.
- Lightly brush the frozen crust all over with egg white. Lay a piece of parchment paper over the crust and fill with dried beans or pie weights.
- Bake the crust at 400 for 20 minutes. Carefully, remove the paper and the beans/weights, and bake, uncovered, for an additional 8-10 minutes. The crust should be mostly baked, but you'll still see a few under-baked patches of dough, since it will finish baking with the filling.
- Remove the crust from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 325 F.
Filling
- Meanwhile, while the crust is baking, you can prepare the filling.
- In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Continue to cook the butter, swirling the pan occasionally, until the butter is fragrant and nutty brown solids have formed at the bottom of the pan. Pour the butter, scraping up the brown solids, into a large mixing bowl.
- Whisk in the brown sugar and corn syrup until smooth. Whisk in the eggs, vanilla, salt and flour until well combined. Mix in the chopped pecans.
- Pour the filling into the crust. Arrange the pecan halves on top of the filling to resemble a Christmas tree.
- Very carefully, so as not to slosh the filling, return the pie to the oven. Bake at 325 for 50-55 minutes. When the pie is done, the filling should still jiggle ever so slightly, and will finish cooking and setting up as it cools. You can cover the edge of the crust with a pie shield or strips of foil partway through baking, if it is getting too brown.
- Cool the pie for 2-3 hours on a cooling rack before cutting.
This is the only pecan pie recipe my family ever used. Been making it for generations and it's always delicious. Very decadent and perfect with a strong cup of cafe' au lait! C' est si Bon!
Beautyfull Photos!
Thanks for sharing Heather!
~Lexi
Turned out great at 7000ft.
That was wonderful
This is truly the BEST pecan pie recipe I’ve ever made! Even those who don’t usually love pecan pie enjoyed it. Tried this recipe after I couldn’t find the one I’ve always used. I have a new recipe now and can quit looking for the old one. 🙂
This recipe really works and pie is delicious!!! I live at 7400 ft. elevation in Colorado and had to retire my old pecan pie recipe that I had for years because the pie just bubbled over and exploded. It was so frustrating. This pie was ready in 50 minutes for me and I baked the crust for 15 minutes instead of 20 min. since it was a store bought refrigerated crust that was on the thinner side. Pie came out PERFECT.
Took the pie to a Christmas luncheon today and so glad to have this recipe for the holidays.
Many Thanks Heather
I’m so glad! Pecan pie can be so frustrating when it bubbles over.
Best pecan pie! Even better than the one from Southern Living, circa 1994!!
Such a nice compliment, thank you!
Absolutely unreal. My first successful pecan pie in Colorado Springs! I didn’t have dark brown sugar, so I added 1 tsp of molasses to 1/2 cup of light. And I always add 1 tsp of whiskey. The browned butter gives it such a deep, complex flavor! Will be my go-to from now on.
Hi! I haven’t tried making the pecan pie yet, but I was wondering if instead of corn syrup, can I use honey, maple syrup or molasses?
Thank you so much!
Maple syrup does not work well in this recipe, and I haven’t tested the others. I do have a maple pecan tart that’s wonderful, that you might try instead.
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/maple-pecan-tart-pie/