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This gluten free apple pie recipe bakes to golden, flaky perfection on the outside and has a warm, gooey center. This delicious recipe will amaze your friends, they won’t know it’s gluten free.
Table of Contents
If there’s a staple Thanksgiving Pie (aside from pumpkin pie), it’s an apple pie or apple pie bars. I’ve never been to a Thanksgiving dinner that doesn’t have an apple pie on the dessert table.
Ingredient Notes
- Gluten-free flour: we like Bob’s Red Mill, but a similar 1:1 baking flour with xanthum gum works too.
- Cold butter: it’s important the butter is very cold to keep it extra flaky. You could also use cold vegan butter like Miyokos to keep it dairy-free too.
- Baking powder: this lightens and expands the crust to make it more flaky and soft. Pie crust is tricky and since we’re using gluten free flour, the baking powder helps rescue the dough from overworking it or if the butter wasn’t cold enough.
- Salt
- Ice water: adding in very cold water helps keep the dough very cold.
- Apples: peel and slice the apples thinly to layer in your gooey pie!
- Coconut sugar: I like using coconut sugar for an unrefined option, but granulated sugar works too.
- Lemon juice: the acid in the juice balances the sweetness from the pie and keeps the apples from browning.
- Tapioca flour: we’re using this to thicken the apple filling and make it extra gooey, but cornstarch works well too.
- Spices: cinnamon, all spice, cloves, nutmeg
How to make gluten free apple pie
Make and chill the dough
- Whisk together the gluten free flour, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour. Add the cold water 2 tablespoons at a time. Stop adding water when the dough comes together easily and starts to clump.
- Turn the dough out onto a gently floured surface and work gently until flour is combined to the butter. Form the dough into a ball and cut the dough in half. Shape into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to 5 days.
Make the apple pie filling
- Combine the sliced apples in a large bowl with the rest of the filling ingredients and stir well to combine. Set the filling aside to rest while you roll out the dough.
Roll and assemble the pie
- Remove one dough disc from the fridge and roll it out into a 12 inch circle between two sheets of parchment paper. Flip a 9-inch pie dish upside down in the center of one piece of dough then carefully flip both over so the crust is inside the pan. Poke the bottom of the dough a few times with a fork.
- Spoon the apple filling inside the dough and discard any extra juices from the bottom of the bowl. Remove the other dic of chilled dough from the fridge, roll into another 12 inch circle then lattice on top of the filling. between parchment paper. Lightly brush the top of the pie with the egg wash.
Bake
- Bake: Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes then, keeping the pie in the oven, turn the temperature down to 375°F (190°C) and bake for an additional 30-35 minutes. After the first 25 minutes of bake time, I place a pie crust shield or a piece of aluminum foil on top of the pie to prevent the edges from browning too quickly.
- Allow the pie to cool for at least 2 hours before serving. We love serving this gluten free apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
FAQs
Does apple pie contain gluten?
Traditional apple pie contains gluten because of the flour made in the pie crust. Water, butter and all purpose flour are the typical ingredients. However, there is an option to make it gluten free. It’s why I love to use a pre-made gluten free flour blend.
Is there a gluten-free ready made pie crust?
Bob’s Red Mill and King Arthur Flour both have ready-made gluten free pie crust mixes with great reviews. If you don’t want to make your own, you can use those!
What variety of apples to use?
I prefer a mixture of a few apple varieties including: granny smith apples, honeycrisp, braeburn or jonagold. These all are a great mixture between sweet and tart and they’re pretty firm. They stand up to the heat of the oven and don’t become overly sweet in the filling.
Can you make it in advance?
Make the dough, wrap them into discs and store them in the fridge for up to 5 days before. Baked pie also freezes well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and allow to come to room temp before serving.
If you make this recipe, I’d love for you to give it a star rating ★ below. You can also tag me on Instagram so I can see it
More apple desserts
- Healthy apple crisp (gluten free)
- Caramel apple paleo cake
- Snickerdoodle apple pie bars
- Peach apple crisp
Gluten Free Apple Pie
This gluten free apple pie recipe bakes to golden brown, flaky perfection on the outside and a warm and gooey apple center. This tried and true recipe will amaze your friends, they won’t know it’s gluten free.
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Servings: 10 slices
Ingredients
For the crust
- 4 cups 1:! gluten free flour blend (with xanthum gum) I like Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Baking flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup 2 sticks very cold unsalted butter or vegan butter diced and chilled
- 1 cup ice cold water
For the filling
- 6 large apples cored, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch slices (11 cups total)
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- Zest from 1 lemon about 1 teaspoon
- Juice from 1 lemon about 1/4 cup
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- For the egg wash: 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of water
Instructions
- Whisk together the gluten free flour, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Add the very cold butter cubes to the flour and use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour until all of the flour is coated. They should be larger than peas but not very large clumps.
- Combine 1 cup of water with ice and allow it to sit for about a minute to let the water get very cold then measure out 1 cup from there. Add the cold water 2 tablespoons at a time to the butter and flour and mix with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula after each addition. Stop adding water when the dough comes together easily and starts to clump. The dough will be a little sticky but shouldn’t stick to your fingers.
- Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and gently fold the dough onto itself until the flour is fully incorporated into the butter. Form the dough into a ball and cut the dough in half. Form each half into a disc and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 5 days. This would be a great time to make this recipe in advance by prepping the dough.
- When you’re ready to make the pie, preheat the oven to 400°F. Mix together the filling ingredients in a large bowl and stir really well to combine. Set the filling aside to rest while you roll out the dough.
- Remove one dough disc from the fridge and roll it out into a 12 inch circle between two pieces of parchment paper. Start in the center of the dough and work your way out with a rolling pin, turning the dough slightly between each roll to create an even circle.
- Flip a 9-inch pie dish upside down in the center of one piece of dough then carefully flip both over so the crust is inside the pan. You can also use a rolling pin to roll the dough up and then unroll onto the pie pan.
- Spoon the apple filling inside the dough and discard any extra juices from the bottom of the bowl.
- Remove the other disc of chilled dough from the fridge and roll into another 12 inch circle between parchment paper. Cut the dough into 12 strips and lattice the pie on top of the filling. See notes for lattice instructions. Once the lattice is done, crimp the edges all around the pie to seal. Lightly brush the top of the pie with the egg wash.
- Place the pie onto a large baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Keeping the pie in the oven, turn the temperature down to 375°F (190°C) and bake for an additional 30-35 minutes. After the first 20 minutes of bake time, I place a pie crust shield on top of the pie to prevent the edges from browning too quickly.
- Allow to cool for at least 2 hours before serving.
Last step! If you make this, please leave a review letting us know how it was!
Notes
How to lattice the top:
- Roll the dough out into a 12-inch circle
- Cut the circle into twelve 1-inch vertical strips using a pie or pizza cutter
- Remove every other strip and place them vertically on top of the apple filling one inch apart.
- Take the top of the farthest left strip of dough on top of the pie and pull it backward toward you, folding it over itself. Repeat this with every other strip.
- When every other strip is pulled back, take a strip of dough from the work surface and place it across the pie horizontally. You should start to see a weaving pattern come together.
- Put the strips of dough back and repeat the process with the alternate vertical strips until the whole pie is criss-crossed.
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 455kcal | Carbohydrates: 66g | Protein: 5.7g | Fat: 19.1g | Cholesterol: 48.8mg | Sodium: 245mg | Fiber: 4.6g | Sugar: 23.7g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I didn’t have much luck with the pie crust – but maybe it’s just me. Pies and I struggle sometimes. It was tough and chewy and the dough itself was much too dry to roll out well – it crumbled as I was putting it in the pan. Maybe I’ll give it another go, I truly wanted this to be THE ONE when it comes to GF pie crusts 🙂
Thanks for the feedback, Hayley!! I’ll take another look at this recipe and see if there’s something that may help. Pie crust can be so tricky!