Tessa's Recipe Rundown
Taste: Like a massive peanut butter cup from heaven.
Texture: The crust is crunchy yet buttery, the peanut butter filling is ultra-light, fluffy, and luscious, and the candy on top takes it to a whole new level. Every bite is bliss.
Ease: Super duper easy!! You’ll get a few dishes dirty and need some patience for the pie to set, but this is a great easy go-to dessert recipe.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: It’ll become such a family-favorite, they’ll request it for every holiday and special ocassion!
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Life doesn’t get much better than this Peanut Butter Pie.
To me, peanut butter is one of the great pleasures of life. I’m OBSESSED with the stuff. Especially when it’s combined with chocolate… in PIE form.
This isn’t any old peanut butter pie. I mean, just look at it. It’s over the top, messy, and unapologetically sinful in the best possible way.
I’ve accompanied this recipe with a step-by-step video to not only show you how to make this beautiful pie, but to whet your appetite for it.
Because the chocolate + peanut butter flavors truly belong together.
This easy Peanut Butter Pie recipe is a total crowd-pleaser and won’t last long at all. That coupled with the fact that it can be made completely ahead of time makes it a perfect go-to recipe for easy entertaining. Everyone will want seconds of this pie. It’s that good!
How to Make Peanut Butter Pie WITHOUT Cool Whip
My favorite part about this pie recipe is that it’s entirely homemade! We make the filling with a mixture of peanut butter (of course!), cream cheese, heavy cream, and powdered sugar. Whipping the cream, then folding it in with the other beaten ingredients, gives this pie a light, creamy, yet rich texture without any Cool Whip (or any other highly-process whipped topping).
Pie Crust Variations
This recipe calls for a chocolate graham cracker cookie crust, but you could also use:
- Chocolate Teddy Grahams or chocolate wafer cookies (use the same amount by weight for best results, you should have about 1 3/4 cups crumbs total)
- Oreo crust (follow the crust ingredients & instructions in my French Silk Pie recipe)
- Regular graham crackers (follow the crust instructions in my Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Pie recipe)
- My all-butter Best Ever Pie Crust recipe , or a Lattice Pie Crust
Serving, Storage, and Freezing
To Serve: You can actually serve the finished pie frozen or refrigerated, depending on which texture you prefer – or how hot it is outside!
To Store: Covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.
To Freeze: Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to 1 month. Serve frozen, or thaw overnight in the fridge before serving, if preferred.
FAQs
Yes! Use the same amount of almond butter as peanut butter in the recipe. Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract to the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and almond butter filling (still adding the 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the heavy cream mixture as well). For the toppings, skip the Reese’s cups and peanut butter chips and instead garnish with almond butter cups and melted chocolate, or any other toppings of your choice.
Use as many or as few as you like – and feel free to customize! If you’d like to add some Reese’s Pieces in there, go right ahead – be as creative and fun as you wish.
This is entirely up to you and your taste preferences! Simply melt the peanut butter and chocolate in your microwave and drizzle as much as you’d like over your pie.
You can use any conventional creamy peanut butter for this recipe, such as Skippy or Jif. Natural peanut butter will give the best peanut flavor, but it MUST be well stirred and smooth before using. My favorite is the Kirkland Signature Organic Peanut Butter from Costco.
More Crowd-Pleasing Pie Recipes:
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Ingredients
For the crust:
- 14 whole (196 grams) chocolate graham crackers*
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
- 7 tablespoons (99 grams) unsalted butter, melted
For the filling:
- 8 ounces (227 grams) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup (94 grams) powdered sugar plus 2 tablespoons, divided
- 1 cup (270 grams) creamy conventional peanut butter
- 1 cup (240 grams) heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the topping:
- Melted peanut butter
- Melted chocolate
- Mini Reese’s cups
- Peanut butter chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
For the crust:
- In the bowl of a food processor, process the crackers and sugar until finely ground. Add the butter and pulse until moistened. Use the bottom of a measuring cup, glass, or ramekin to press the crust mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake until fragrant, about 10 to 12 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.
For the filling:
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese, 3/4 cup powdered sugar, and the peanut butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer with the whisk attachment to whip the heavy cream until thick and light. Add in the remaining 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar and the vanilla extract and continue to whip until stiff peaks form.
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture. Pour into the prepared pie shell and freeze for 3 hours or chill in the fridge at least 6 hours.
- Place your melted peanut butter and melted chocolate in separate resealable bags or piping bags. Snip off a tiny corner of the bag's tip. Squeeze slightly to drizzle the melted peanut butter and melted chocolate over your pie. Top with mini Reese's cups and peanut butter chips. Serve frozen or refrigerated.
- Store in the fridge, covered, for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Notes
This recipe was originally published in 2015 and was recently updated with new tips & photos. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
Hi!
I am making this for my daughter’s birthday and I am wondering about the graham crackers. Do you mean 14 whole sheets/rectangles?
Thanks so much! She is going to love this!
Hi Sherry! You’ve got it right, you’ll need 14 sheets of chocolate graham crackers. Happy early birthday to your daughter, what a delicious treat to celebrate! Enjoy 🙂
Hello! Did you use a regular or deep dish pie plate? Also, what type of chocolate did you drizzle on top? After searching hundreds of recipes, I am definitely making for Saturday night’s game night with friends!
Hi Kim! We used OXO’s 9-inch pie pan, which is nice and deep (and comes with a cover!), but you could definitely use a regular pie pan, and it’ll work just fine. Another reader actually made theirs in a springform pan with great results! It helps that the filling isn’t baked, so you don’t have to worry about overflow in the oven 🙂 Tessa prefers using semisweet chocolate for the drizzle! Can’t wait for you to try this pie, let us know what you think!
Delicious Peanut Butter Pie
When I take this dessert I am always asked for the recipe & I give them your website.
Thanks, Kathy! So happy you love this recipe, thanks for sharing!
I just made seven of these for a crowd of 48 people coming over tomorrow. No chocolate graham crackers or teddy grahams so I went with the prepared Oreo crust.
One question: generally speaking, do you find that people prefer it frozen or refrigerated? Say, if you had to pick one option….? Or should I put some in the freezer and the other half in the fridge?
Hi Christina! Hope everyone enjoyed your pie! As for the temperature, it honestly depends on the texture that you prefer! Most readers refrigerate their pie, but you’re definitely welcome to try both ways! 🙂
I didn’t cool the crust completely before putting in the filling. After pouring in the filling I put it straight into my chest freezer. Will the pie still be okay?
Hi Annie! We recommend cooling the crust before the filling is added. The sugar melts as it bakes and re-hardens as it cools and actually sets the crust. How did your pie turn out?
It turned out great! I was worried that the warm crust would change the taste of the filling, but it was delicious! Thank you!
Great! I’m so glad to hear that 🙂
the drizzle for chocolate and peanut butter. Can you just melt chocolate chips and plain peanut butter in mircowave and put into a ziplock bag and cut the end off?
Sure, that would be fine! Melt and drizzle each ingredient separately 🙂 Let us know what you think of this recipe!
Thank you so much. Wonderful
Holy peanut butter! I’ve tried several pb pie recipes with no success. This recipe is fantastic! The entire pie was eaten. I couldn’t find chocolate graham crackers so I used Oreos. I’ve already received a request to make again for Xmas
Great idea to use Oreos! Happy to hear this recipe was such a hit, thanks so much for the comment 🙂
I’ve made this peanut butter pie a couple of time, always 2 ies at once. IT IS AMAZING!!
It’s really rich. I cut it in small portions to try to slow people down; otherwise it is devoured at once. I work with 5 men and they could eat this every day. But it only lasts one day! And my adult sons could finish a pie between them in one sitting if they were allowed.
This Peanut Butter Pie is a Winner!
I follow the directions exactly, doubling the recipe for 2 pies every time.
Thank you for this wonderful, crowd-pleasing recipe!
haha love it! Thanks so much for sharing, Bobbi, so happy it’s such a hit! 🙂
We’ve made this pie several times and it’s a family favorite! We’re having trouble finding the chocolate graham crackers this time around. Any idea if Oreos would be an okay substitute for the crust recipe? Or another suggestions?
So happy to hear that, Megan! We haven’t tried an Oreo crust with this recipe, but I’d imagine it’d be delicious! Check out our French Silk Pie recipe and follow the instructions to make the Oreo crust there 🙂 You could try chocolate teddy grahams or other chocolate cookies as other substitutes. Please let us know how it goes!
Would a brownie base work instead of Graham Crackers?
Hi Judy! We haven’t tried that, though it sounds delicious! please let us know how it goes if you give it a try 🙂
My son loves this pie!!
So glad to hear that!