Over the holidays, I experimented a lot with recipes for pecan pie. Pecan pie is one of my dad’s favorites and since he went grain free, he has missed this on holidays.
I also was obviously not going to use the high fructose corn syrup and regular corn syrup that are in most pecan pie recipes, so I experimented with the ingredients I had on hand until I came up with a recipe that was (very much) kid and grandpa approved.
Fortunately, (or unfortunately) the first one I made that tasted right wasn’t in a pan that would photograph well, so for the sake of the blog, I had to make another one. This worked out great since we ended up with more people than we expected, including some family members who are not grain free.
To my surprise, a few of them said it was the best pecan pie they’d ever had. They didn’t even know it was a healthy recipe. It has been years since I’ve had regular pecan pie, but from what I remember, I think the real food version tastes better!
Please note that while this recipe is refined sugar free, it does have a lot of natural sweeteners and is not meant to be an everyday treat! I looked at dozens of recipes and experimented with what I had, but I got the ideas to pre-heat the maple syrup and add gelatin to the crust from this great post from Deliciously Organic.
Grain-Free Pecan Pie
Servings
Ingredients
CRUST:
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1 tsp gelatin powder
- 1 TBSP coconut flour optional
- ½ cup butter or coconut oil cold/solid at room temperature
- 2 tsp coconut sugar
- 1 egg
FILLING:
- 1 cup maple syrup or ½ cup each maple syrup and honey
- 3 eggs
- 3 TBSP butter or coconut oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- 1½ cups pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- In a food processor, pulse the almond flour, gelatin, and coconut flour until evenly mixed.
- Add the butter or coconut oil, coconut sugar, and egg and pulse until it forms a ball.
- Press into the bottom of a pie pan and set aside.
- For filling, in a small saucepan, bring the maple syrup to a simmer and simmer for about 5 minutes or until it reaches 225 degrees or starts to bubble up. I got this tip from this post.
- Pour into a bowl and add the butter/coconut oil, vanilla, and coconut sugar.
- Use an immersion blender to combine.
- Add eggs and blend until smooth.
- Pour over pie crust and top with pecans.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the center is mostly set. Do not overbake!
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Notes
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Are you a pie eater? What’s your favorite? Ever made a healthy version like this? Share below!
Pecan pie, my fav, well I am not good with desserts but I will try the pie, Thank you.
Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
I made it dairy free to accommodate someone with an allergy, but otherwise followed the recipe to a T. It was great and surprisingly easy. Will be making again next Thanksgiving.
The trick is definitely heating the maple syrup to 225. Luckily I have a candy thermometer—I probably would have taken it off the heat too soon without the thermometer.
I made this with regular crust and heated the 3/4 c. maple syrup and 1/4 c. honey just to melt the sugar and blended the eggs and combined them when the syrup cooled down. I baked it for 30 min. It was lovely!! I would recommend this recipe. I want to keep it to use again! Thank you!
I made this pecan pie today and it looks wonderful. But when I cut a slice it was runny in the middle. I followed your recipe and I only cooked 30 minutes so I wouldn’t over bake as you mentioned. I am not sure what went wrong. Any idea?
Katie, I put my pecan pie back in the oven for 10 more minutes and it set up nice.
Love following your recipes! I find this to be a bit too temptingly sweet for my addictive sweet tooth, so I’m going to make the following substitutions and will write back with the results:
¼ cup maple syrup
6-10 medjool dates processed till smooth (optional: presoak in hot, diluted decaf coffee for extra flavor depth (comes out to ~½ cup pureed dates)
¼ cup homemade apple butter
4 eggs (instead of 3)
2-4T organic, homemade ghee (for that richer flavor)
Wish me luck! No matter what, soupy or set, I’ll eat and share with friends and family!
Just made this with added chocolate chips!! Can’t wait to try it….
If you use honey with the maple syrup do you pre heathat as well?
Thank you for this recipe.
Yes
Looks delicious!! Have you or anyone tried it using egg substitutes?? Trying to heal 4 yr old food allergies (egg one) by healing her gut but until then, no eggs. Ideas???
I used just the yolk and the crust was not crust-ish but still tasty! Did you use the whole cup of Maple Syrup or did you half it with Honey? I did half and half, and though the middle was a little to gooey to cut without refrigeration, it was delicious and not soupy like I was afraid of. This was my very first pecan pie and I was really happy with it. So was my hubby! Pecan is his favorite pie 😉
Got partway through making the crust then realized that the ingredients call for one egg, but the directions call for the egg yolk (but does not specify quantity). Is the crust supposed to have one whole egg or one egg yolk? I guess I should have read through the entire thing first before diving in Thanksgiving eve! Thanks for all of your informative and inspiring posts!
What did you wind up doing? I have the same question!!! Whole egg or just the yolk??
I ended up throwing the whole egg in, and the crust turned out amazing! The rest of the pie however… I followed directions to a T but the pie came out pretty much all liquid with some pecans mixed in 🙁 It took almost two full days to set properly. BUT, once it set it was one of the most delicious pecan pies ever! And since it wasn’t ready for everyone to enjoy on Thanksgiving, I got to enjoy it over and over again the following week and a half!
Hi and thanks for this recipe! I plan to make it for Thanksgiving next week but was wondering, could I prepare the crust and filling separately, freeze them then thaw them in the fridge over night Wednesday night and assemble and bake the pie Thursday and it still be the same?
Did you ever get a response or did you give the freezing a try? If so how did it turn out? I’m interested in trying the same thing since I have to travel and want to prep ahead for easier baking day of.
Thank you for these Thanksgiving recipes. I have printed all of them and will make all of them during Thanksgiving and Christmas. I can do these. not too many weird ingredients. finally a site with recipes I can take advantage of. love it.
I look forward to a pecan pie I can actually eat this year!! Gluten and dairy free, thank you so much, looks like it will taste good too 🙂
Great pecan Pie!
I’m glad you like it! Thanks for reading!
Can you use a blender instead of a food processor?
I want to thank you so much for all your posts and for your willingness to share these wonderful health recipes to all who sees them. I went on your site because I was about to make some barley grains I had bought at the health food store, and saw where grains weren’t healthy for you. What and eye opener. Knowledge is very important when it comes to eating healthy. I suffer from many symptoms and my husband as well. I’m always tired even when I get up in the morning and throughout the day. Thank you again.
Teresa,
Since my naturopath put me on the mediclear shake every morning, AND had me avoiding corn and rice and even white potatoes (i’m only allowed roots) I’m not tired anymore in the morning – I used to feel like I was hungover for hours – almost until late afternoon. And now here I am writing at quarter to 7, up and about.
I wish you luck – and ask your naturopath about the mediclear as well, you may have an overburdened liver from years of grains and whatever else you may have been exposed to.
This one looks much better than the one I tried on thanksgiving. It didn’t turn out nearly as well as I had hoped, everyone that tried it did it was good, but nobody went back for seconds. With traditional pecan pie, everyone gets seconds. My crust turned out very dry, hopefully, this one will turn out better for me!
This looks sensational! I have got to give this one a go! Thank you for all your experimentation and recipes, it is so amazing to be able to whip up one of your recipes knowing it will be delicious! Such a treat!
This sounds delicious! I just started using Tropical Traditions coconut oil and I love it! 🙂
pecan pie is my favorite–can you use organic refined sugar?
Have a look at mama’s post on sugar, GI index is quite high still, and even though it’s organic, it has the same effects on the body as granulated white table sugar.
Maple has a lower GI, and honey is a whole food so you’re really decreasing the insulin spike by using her recipe, and it tastes marvellous!