Julie Clark
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Homemade Custard Pie Recipe
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Homemade custard pie is a popular dessert recipe to have on your holiday dinner table. It’s creamy, sweet and lightly dusted with nutmeg for a classic holiday flavor. It’s simple, cool and delicious. And if you love custard, try our frozen custard and coconut custard pie!
It was over a year ago that we shared our homemade baked custard recipe. That traditional recipe is the same is this in the way that it calls for scalding the milk. This creates the best flavor and texture for your pie.
The secret to good custard pie.
Matt grew up eating baked custard and absolutely loves it. He ate it often with his grandmother when he was sick, so its the ultimate comfort food for him. I did not grow up eating custard, but quickly fell in love with the simple mixture of baked eggs, sugar and milk.
When I look through my old fashioned recipe books, I often see recipes that call for scalding milk. One reason old recipes called for this was to kill any bacteria in the unpasteurized milk.
Store-bought milk is now pasteurized, but scalding is still helpful because it gives the custard pies a creamy texture and better flavor. Don’t skip that step. It’s our secret to making the best custard pie.
This egg custard pie is the ideal dessert to usher in the holiday season.
Enjoy! -Julie
What is the best crust for a custard pie?
This is a baked pie, so you’ll want an unbaked pie shell for this custard pie.
This recipe works well with my grandma’s traditional pie crust recipe. Or get fancy and use a cinnamon roll pie crust, whole wheat pie crust or sourdough pie crust.
Homemade Custard Pie Recipe
Only 5 ingredients make up the filling to this homemade custard pie recipe.
Servings 8
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups whole milk
- 4 large eggs (slightly beaten)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 9" unbaked pie shell
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400º Fahrenheit.
- Scald the milk in the microwave, heating it until just before boiling (to 180ºF).* You can also scald the milk in a saucepan on the stove. 2 ½ cups whole milk
- Whisk together the eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla. 4 large eggs, ½ cup granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Take 1 cup of scalded milk and drizzle it into the egg mixture, whisking quickly and constantly**. Once you’ve drizzled in the first cup, then slowly drizzle in the rest of the milk, whisking the entire time.
- Line a 9” pie plate with your favorite pastry crust and flute the edges of the pie dough. *To avoid a soggy pie crust, brush the bottom bottom of the unbaked pie dough with whisked egg whites. This forms a barrier and helps keep the crust from getting too soggy.* 1 9" unbaked pie shell
- Pour the custard filling into the prepared pie plate. Sprinkle the top of the custard with nutmeg. ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Bake the pie for 30-35 minutes. The pie will seem “jiggly”, but a knife inserted into the center of the pie should come out clean. Do not overbake.
- Allow the pie to cool to room temperature, then store the pie in the refrigerator. Top with freshly whipped cream and a sprinkling of nutmeg, if desired.
Notes
*Scalding the milk helps to develop the flavor of the pie and improves the texture.
**This step is called “tempering the eggs”. If you add the hot milk to the eggs to quickly, the eggs will cook and create little egg pieces in the custard. You want your custard smooth, so be sure you drizzle a cup of the hot milk in and whisk quickly to slowly bring the temperature of the eggs up.
Storage: Because of the eggs and milk you should refrigerate custard pie. Allow the cake to cool completely at room temperature, then cover the pie and refrigerate it.
The calories shown are based on the pie being cut into 8 pieces, with 1 serving being 1 slice of pie. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information.**
Nutrition
Calories: 229kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 102mg | Sodium: 224mg | Potassium: 171mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 259IU | Vitamin C: 0.001mg | Calcium: 112mg | Iron: 1mg
I just baked this pie for the first time, also using your pie crust recipe. Looks absolutely delicious, can’t wait for it to cool down!
Loved the custard recipe, happy to see it’s the same for the pie. I par baked my crust, will see how it goes!
Can I use evaporated milk instead of regular milk?
Can you use2%milk in the custard pie