How To Make Pie Crust With Shortening In Food Processor

Learn how to make a flaky and delicious pie crust using shortening and a food processor. Our step-by-step guide will help you create a foolproof crust every time! Perfect for making pie crusts to freeze, so no more store-bought pie crusts!

This easy homemade pie crust recipe will yield the perfect pie crust every time. What pie recipe are you going to make first?! Homemade Blueberry Pie with lattice crust, everyone’s favorite Upside-Down Apple Pecan Pie, easy Meyer Lemon Pie, or a holiday Pumpkin Pie are all great places to start.

Why We Love This Pie Crust Recipe

I featured this shortening pie crust recipe as a guest post from my friend Shaina back in 2011. It still makes the best pie dough today, just as it did over a decade ago!

• Even novice bakers have success with a food processor pie crust.
• Easy-to-follow, step-by-step recipe instructions
• Helpful tips and notes with pictures
• Using a food processor distributes ingredients more evenly
• Removes the guesswork out of making pie crusts
• Golden, flakey homemade pie crust you made yourself!

Things To Know When Making Homemade Pie Crust

We all know that person who turns out perfect, golden pie crusts “in their sleep.” Just remember, all of them started from ground zero. Not one of them made a perfect pie crust without making a homemade pie crust! 

Arguably, the most crucial pie component is a golden, flaky pastry crust that highlights your pie filling. You can have the best apple pie filling in the world, but it’s noticeable if your pie crust is lackluster.

A pie without crust is, well, hardly pie. The beauty is that a homemade pie crust doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, it can be rather easy, especially with a food processor pie crust, and you barely have to get your hands dirty! 

The art of making pastry pie crust is in the doing, over and over. There is a bit of precision involved in making a shortening pie crust, but once you get past that, you’ll be well on your way to turning out successful pie crusts each and every time.

Baker’s Note: Pastry pie crusts can be made with various flours and shortenings. You’ll find staunch advocates of any of them: vegetable shortening pie crust (like Crisco), all-butter pie crust, lard pie crust, or a combination of these fats.

Ingredients For Homemade Pie Crust With Shortening

For specific amounts, please refer to the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.

• All-Purpose Flour – carefully measured. If you don’t have a food scale (333.33g), use the “fluff,” spoon, and level method.
• Granulated Sugar – only if making a sweet pie crust. Sugar can be omitted based on preference or dietary needs.
• Salt
• All-Vegetable Shortening – divide shortening into ¼ tablespoon-sized pieces and chill.
• Water – put a glass of water with ice in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. Strain out any remaining cubes.

How To Measure Flour Properly: Did you know THE WAY you measure flour matters? The most precise way to measure your flour is by weight using a digital kitchen scale. 1 cup of flour weighs 125 to 130 grams. If you don’t have a scale measure your flour by scooping flour with a spoon into the cup. Don’t use your measuring cup as a scoop, as it packs the flour down and gives a different measure.

Equipment Needed

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• Food Processor
• Standard S-Blade for food processor
• Plastic wrap
• Pastry Board, Silicone Pastry Rolling Mat, or clean countertop
• Rolling Pin
• Metal/Aluminum Pie Pan

How To Make Pie Crust In A Food Processor

With the food processor pie crust method, the food processor does the work for you! You can use your preferred shortening, Crisco, butter, or lard, but the key is in the “cold.” Aiming for uneven butter chunks rolled into thin flat sheets of fat, creating light, flaky layers.

When you are making this recipe, you’ll want to use the full recipe at the bottom of the page.

1. Measure and chill the pie dough ingredients accordingly, then add the flour, sugar, and salt to the food processor and pulse to mix.
2. Evenly distribute pieces of cold shortening around the bowl and pulse 3-4 times, looking for pea-sized chunks.
3. Sprinkle in 4-5 tablespoons of water and pulse a couple of times. Add one tbsp, pulse once, and continue until the dough looks moist enough to hold together.* 
4. When your pie dough is finished, gently wrap it as a disc and let it chill. (You can make pie dough a day or two in advance or freeze it for up to a month.)
5. When ready, remove one pie dough disc at a time, rolling* it into a circle a little bigger than the pie plate. Transfer the pie dough to the pan and press into place without stretching. Refrigerate while rolling out the second disc. 
6. Fill your homemade pie crust according to your recipe.

*A good rule of thumb is to continue adding water until a small clump of the pie dough will hold together without crumbling apart.

Professional Baker’s Note: Rolling a homemade pie crust with shortening between two pieces of parchment paper prevents it from sticking, avoids working the dough too much, and keeps the flour and shortening ratio. Viola! Tender, flaky, golden pie crust!

Recipe Notes & Tips

• The best tip for a flakey, melt-in-your-mouth pie crust is to reiterate the importance of properly measuring the flour. Pie crusts made from scratch recipes are carefully calculated with flour:fat:water ratios. 
• Skip a learning curve and bless yourself with a good food scale to measure ingredients by weight instead of volume. The difference is crazy once you start using it.
• Okay, tied for the “best tip” about making pie crust is cold, cold fat throughout the process. Besides the tender flake factor, firmer fat means less sticking while rolling out the dough. (Plus, adding less flour and overworking.)
• Chilled pie crust ingredients mean the fat will take longer to melt while baking, producing those flaky pockets of crispness. Chill pie crust for 30 minutes; an hour is optimum.
• If you “live” in a warm kitchen, you can go as far as chilling your bowls and equipment. Using a cold marble pastry board helps to keep the pie dough/shortening cold while it is being worked. (FYI, marble pastry boards are effective but should not be used as a cutting board.)

Professional Baker’s Tip: If your crust feels warm to the touch once it is rolled and crimped, re-chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Originally posted in November 2011. UPDATED May 2023. We spiffed up this post with more info and new photos.