Make your no bake desserts even easier with this no bake graham cracker crust. Made with just 3 ingredients and a few minutes of your time, you can have a crust ready for any no-bake filling or pudding.
While I usually grab a storebought crust when I can, there's nothing wrong with homemade graham cracker crusts. They're easy to make, cheap, and quick too, especially when you skip the oven.
When I'm looking for a quick dessert, I'll grab a can of pie filling or a box of pudding mix and throw together a no bake pie in almost no time flat. The kids love it, and I love that it can help me use up random odds and ends from the pantry.
If you love no bake recipes, be sure to check out my No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake, No Bake Kool Aid Pie, No Bake Lemon Icebox Pie, and No Bake Oreo Icebox Cake.
Why This Recipe Works
- Minimal ingredients. You only need 3 ingredients to make this recipe, which means it's perfect for minimal shopping as you may find some, if not all, of these ingredients in your home already.
- No oven is needed. You will need access to a freezer (at least enough space to place a pie plate). But this no bake pie crust is great for keeping the house cooled and the oven off.
- It's fast to make. With just three ingredients and a few minutes of your time, you can have this pie crust chilled, set, and ready to use. What you choose to fill it with may require a few additional minutes.
Jump to:
🥘 Ingredients
Graham crackers- This is the base of the recipe. You can buy a box of graham crackers or buy them as crumbs in a bag in the baking aisle. I recommend the box of plain grahams as they'll be cheaper, and then you'll have leftover cookies for snacking on later.
Sugar- Adding in a little granulated sugar will help to give the crust a little more stability and sweetness.
Butter- Melted butter is what moistens the crumbs and sugar and gets them to press nicely into the pan. Once chilled, the butter helps to hold everything together too.
For specific quantities, see the recipe card below.
🍽 Equipment Needed
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🔪 Instructions
Check out how to make No Bake Graham Cracker Crust with these simple step-by-step instructions:
Add your butter to a small bowl.
Microwave for about 30 seconds until melted. Set aside.
Add your graham crackers to a food processor.
Blend until fine crumbs.
Add in the melted butter and sugar.
Pulse to mix until combined.
Pour the mixture into a 9-inch pie plate.
Press out into a crust. Make sure to cover the bottom and sides well so that there are no gaps.
Carefully place the pie crust into the freezer and chill for at least 10 minutes.
Fill with your favorite no bake fillings and either place in the fridge until ready to eat or slice and serve (follow the instructions on your filling, if it needs time to set, let it set).
Enjoy!
🧾 Substitutions
Sugar. You can replace the requested granulated sugar with brown sugar or powdered sugar or omit it completely. Note that if omitted, the crust may be more brittle and prone to breaking when served.
🍴 Recipe Tips
If you don't have a food processor you can place the graham crackers into a Gallon sized ziploc baggie and roll over them with a rolling pin until well crushed.
You can use a mini food processor to crush the crackers, but to do so would require working in batches and adding them to a large mixing bowl to combine with the sugar and butter.
If you find it difficult to get the crust to stay in place when pressing it into the pan, use the backside of a metal spoon or measuring cup. It's far easier than using your fingers most of the time.
If the crust is breaking upon serving or not coming out of the pan easily, for whatever reason, a great tip to remove the crust is to dip the pan in water.
Dipping the bottom of your pie plate (not a springform pan) in warm water, just enough to cover the bottom of the pie plate and a tiny way up the sides, can warm the butter in the crust and help it to pop out of the pan perfectly.
📖 Baked Crust Option
If you really want to bake this crust, simply add it to the oven at 350 degrees F and bake it for 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely before adding your filling.
🥣 Recipe Add-Ins
For added flavor, you can add in ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
You can also add in up to 1 cup of rainbow jimmie sprinkles for a fun colorful appearance!
🥧 Filling Ideas
- You can fill your pie with any canned pie fillings that are ready to eat right out of the can (usually fruity ones like apple or cherry).
- You can make a no bake cheesecake filling or buy premade cheesecake filling from the grocery store (near the cream cheese).
- You can whip up a batch of instant pudding mix and pour it into the crust. Fold the pudding with thawed whipped topping for a lighter consistency.
👩🏻🍳 Storage
Keep your crust stored well covered in the fridge for up to 5 days. Once filled, follow the storage instructions requested by the filling as some may last longer than others.
💭 FAQs
While it's common to bake the crust before use, it's not actually needed. Because there are no components to this crust that require heat treatment, it's perfectly fine to keep it chilled, and it sets just as well as if it were baked.
If you don't have any graham crackers handy, you'll want to use some other form of cookie. Some good ideas include Nilla wafers, shortbread, oreo cookies, etc.
There are many reasons why your crust may be too hard, including too much butter (adding more than directed) or pressing on the crust after it's been set. You want the crust pressed enough to form a base and sides in a pie plate, but you do not need to overpress it.
More great pie recipes to check out soon
- Apple Pie with Graham Cracker Crust
- Pumpkin Hand Pies
- Homemade Peach Pie Filling
- Applesauce Custard Pie
📖 Recipe
No Bake Graham Cracker Crust
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups Graham crackers (1 sleeve) ($1.26)
- 2 Tablespoons Granulated sugar ($0.02)
- 6 Tablespoons Butter, melted ($0.56)
Instructions
- Add your butter to a small bowl. Microwave for about 30 seconds until melted. Set aside.
- Add your graham crackers to a food processor. Blend until fine crumbs.
- Add in the melted butter and sugar. Pulse to mix until combined.
- Pour the mixture into a 9-inch pie plate.
- Press out into a crust. Make sure to cover the bottom and sides well so that there are no gaps.
- Carefully place the pie crust into the freezer and chill for at least 10 minutes.
- Fill with your favorite no bake fillings and either place in the fridge until ready to eat or slice and serve (follow the instructions on your filling, if it needs time to set, let it set). Enjoy!
Notes
Substitutions
Sugar. You can replace the requested granulated sugar with brown sugar or powdered sugar or omit it completely. Note that if omitted, the crust may be more brittle and prone to breaking when served.Recipe Tips
If you don't have a food processor you can place the graham crackers into a Gallon sized ziploc baggie and roll over them with a rolling pin until well crushed. You can use a mini food processor to crush the crackers, but to do so would require working in batches and adding them to a large mixing bowl to combine with the sugar and butter. If you find it difficult to get the crust to stay in place when pressing it into the pan, use the backside of a metal spoon or measuring cup. It's far easier than using your fingers most of the time. If the crust is breaking upon serving or not coming out of the pan easily, for whatever reason, a great tip to remove the crust is to dip the pan in water. Dipping the bottom of your pie plate (not a springform pan) in warm water, just enough to cover the bottom of the pie plate and a tiny way up the sides, can warm the butter in the crust and help it to pop out of the pan perfectly.Baked Crust Option
If you really want to bake this crust, simply add it to the oven at 350 degrees F and bake it for 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely before adding your filling.Recipe Add-Ins
For added flavor, you can add in ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon. You can also add in up to 1 cup of rainbow jimmie sprinkles for a fun colorful appearance!Filling Ideas
- You can fill your pie with any canned pie fillings that are ready to eat right out of the can (usually fruity ones like apple or cherry).
- You can make a no bake cheesecake filling or buy premade cheesecake filling from the grocery store (near the cream cheese).
- You can whip up a batch of instant pudding mix and pour it into the crust. Fold the pudding with thawed whipped topping for a lighter consistency.
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