We’re adding chocolate to our Thanksgiving dessert menu with dark chocolate pecan pie. Rich and delicious, this variation of a classic is garnished with sea salt, chocolate shavings, and homemade whipped cream.
Why mess with pie perfection? Years ago, I shared my late grandmother’s pecan pie recipe. Pecan pie isn’t the variety I typically reach for, but it’s a whole other story when grandma’s is around. Her pecan pie boasts a chewy texture underneath a layer of toasty pecans and offers a wonderful sweet-salty balance. The natural flavor of pecans truly shine and I knew using the base of her recipe would be ideal for today’s chocolate rendition. Not only do toasty pecans scream for a little dark chocolate, most Thanksgiving pie recipes are seriously lacking in the chocolate department. I will gladly welcome a sliver of deep dark chocolate-y pecan pie to my dessert plate.
Why You’ll Love Chocolate Pecan Pie
- A decadent adaptation of my favorite pecan pie
- Simple to make with only 9 ingredients in the filling
- Sugary and buttery, but not overly sweet
- Incredible texture
- The filling sits atop the best pie crust
- No pre-baking needed
- Great make-ahead Thanksgiving dessert
Chocolate Pecan Pie Ingredients
Since this pie is made with just a few ingredients, it’s imperative to use high quality nuts and spices. I genuinely love Diamond of California pecans and McCormick pure vanilla extract (though homemade vanilla extract is excellent too!).
For the BEST chocolate pecan pie, use these ingredients:
- Homemade Pie Crust: We’re talking mega flaky, mega buttery, and mega delicious. This is the one and only pie crust recipe I use. It’s been passed down through generations and stands the test of time. It’s old-fashioned, yet never out of style. Here’s my recipe for all butter pie crust if you’re interested.
- Pecans: An obvious addition!
- Dark Chocolate Chips: You’ll need 1 hefty cup of dark chocolate chips. If you can’t get your hands on dark chocolate chips, semi-sweet chips work just as well. Or chop up a couple dark chocolate bars and use those instead.
- Eggs: Eggs hold the filling together.
- Corn Syrup + Brown Sugar: I prefer to use dark corn syrup and dark brown sugar for a deeper flavor and highly suggest you try the same. Corn syrup sweetens the pie and helps prevent crystallization while the pie bakes. We’re only using 1/2 cup of brown sugar because the chocolate chips add sweetness, too.
- Salt + Butter + Vanilla Extract: Each give pecan pie its traditional flavor.
- Cinnamon: Cinnamon adds a little something special. 🙂
Baker’s Tip: Make sure you use room temperature eggs. You see, there’s melted butter in this pie filling. Cold eggs will solidify it and you’ll be left with random chunks of butter in your filling. Those chunks of butter will melt once the pie is baking, but then you’ll have random patches of pie with melty butter and others without. We can’t have butter-less bites of pie! Room temperature eggs definitely make a difference.
How to Make Chocolate Pecan Pie
- Make the pie crust.
- Roll out the pie crust. You’re aiming for a pie dough circle 12 inches in diameter. Carefully place the dough into a 9×2 inch pie dish.
- Spread the pecans inside pie crust.
- Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly on top.
- Whisk together remaining ingredients. Pour on top.
- Bake. I place a pie crust shield on top of the pie to prevent the edges from browning too quickly. If you find the whole pie is browning too quickly, tent a piece of aluminum foil over the whole pie.
- Slice and serve. The pie is delicious warm or at room temperature. Top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings or even salted caramel.
How to Freeze Chocolate Pecan Pie
Chocolate pecan pie is a wonderful dessert to make ahead of time. Simply bake the pie as directed, allow it to completely cool, then wrap tightly with plastic wrap or foil. Place in a freezer-safe zip-top bag or airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to serve, thaw overnight in the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature before slicing. This pie freezes and thaws beautifully; no one will ever realize it isn’t freshly baked!
Let’s Compare Pecan Pies
I’ve shared a few pecan pie recipes on my blog and you might be wondering which to make first. Here’s a quick review:
- My Favorite Pecan Pie: This pecan pie recipe is classic and simple with an unexpected dash of cinnamon. It’s the perfect combination of sweet and salty– my favorite for good reason.
- Dark Chocolate Pecan Pie: Today’s recipe! Dark chocolate pecan pie is a deep and decadent variation of my classic recipe.
- Maple Pecan Pie: You’ll love the warm and cozy flavor combination in maple pecan pie. And it’s made without corn syrup!
- Brown Butter Pecan Pie Bars: My brown butter pecan pie bars feature a brown butter crust. They’re easily portable and serve a big crowd.
- Mini Pecan Pies: Made with my favorite homemade pie crust and a salted pecan filling, these mini pecan pies are adorable and perfect for any holiday gathering.
- Pecan Pie Cheesecake: Enjoy pecan pie goodness on top of a brown sugar cheesecake in this crowd pleasing pecan pie cheesecake recipe. Two desserts in one!
Whichever you choose to make, you’re guaranteed pecan pie-fection!
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Dark Chocolate Pecan Pie
- Prep Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 5 hours
- Yield: 8-10 servings
- Category: Pie
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Deep decadent and delicious dark chocolate pecan pie with sea salt.
Ingredients
- Homemade Pie Crust (my recipe makes 2 crusts; you can halve the crust recipe or freeze the 2nd half)
- 2 and 1/2 cups (250g) shelled pecans
- 1 cup (180g) dark chocolate chips*
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup (240ml) dark corn syrup*
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed dark brown sugar (or light brown)
- 1/4 cup (60g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- sea salt for topping
Instructions
- The crust: Prepare my pie crust recipe through step 5.
- After the pie crust has chilled, adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Roll out the chilled pie dough: On a floured work surface, roll out one of the discs of chilled dough (you can freeze the 2nd for later use, see note). Turn the dough about a quarter turn after every few rolls until you have a circle 12 inches in diameter. Carefully place the dough into a 9-inch pie dish.* Tuck it in with your fingers, making sure it is smooth. Flute or crimp the edges of the crust. No need to pre-bake the crust.
- The filling: Spread pecans evenly inside pie crust and sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly on top. Set aside. Whisk the eggs, corn syrup, brown sugar, melted butter, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Once completely combined and thick, pour evenly over pecans and chocolate chips.
- Bake the pie for 40-50 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned. 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. You can also tent a piece of aluminum foil over the whole pie if the top is browning too quickly. Remove finished pie from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely. The pie filling will set as it cools.
- Sprinkle with sea salt (if using), then slice and serve pie. Top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, if desired. Cover and store leftover pie at room temperature for 1-2 days or in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Pecan pie is a wonderful dessert to make ahead of time. You can get started by combining all the filling ingredients (except the pecans and chocolate chips) one day ahead of time. Keep it covered tightly in the refrigerator until ready to assemble the pie. You can also make the pie dough 1-5 days in advance since it needs to chill. If you want to bake the pie 1 full day in advance, bake it as directed, allow it to completely cool, then cover tightly and keep at room temperature until ready to serve the next day. Baked pie freezes well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Dark Chocolate Chips, Glass Scalloped Pie Dish, Rolling Pin, Glass Mixing Bowls, Pastry Blender, and Pie Crust Baking Shield
- Extra Pie Dough: You can freeze the 2nd pie dough for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.
- Pie Dish: I strongly recommend a glass pie dish so you can see when the crust on the sides is browning, which signals that the pie is finished.
- Chocolate Chips: Instead of dark chocolate chips, you can use semi-sweet chocolate chips. Or 6 ounces of chopped semi-sweet, dark, or bittersweet chocolate.
- Corn Syrup: If desired, you can use light corn syrup instead.
Keywords: dark chocolate pecan pie
If you plan to use a store-bought, non-deep dish pie crust, this is way too much filling. I only added about 2/3 of the liquid filling before popping in the oven because I could see the writing on the wall. Unfortunately I didn’t account for the amount of liquid that would be displaced as the chocolate chips melted. Luckily I was able to grab a few baking sheets and alternate putting them in the rack below. I would say cut all of the filling by half if you go the store-bought route.
My pie is in the oven right now. I used your pie crust recipe and it worked perfectly. One question, the ingredients include “sea salt for topping” in addition to the salt in the filling but I don’t see when to add the topping of salt in the instructions. When does it go on? Thanks, and I’m really looking forward to this pie for Thanksgiving. Not one of your recipes has ever failed me!
Hi Rose! I usually add the sea salt topping before serving. Sorry for the confusion!
Planning to make this for Thanksgiving this year. Is it possible to make this pie 1/2 with chocolate and 1/2 without? I have a pecan-pie lover in the house that doesn’t want it with chocolate.
Hi Sandi, I don’t see why that wouldn’t work. Enjoy!
Hello Sally! I really wanna try this recipe, but here in Italy I have troubles finding corn syrup. Is it possible to substitute it with something else?maple syrup maybe? Thanks a lot. Your recipes are the best!
Hi Elena, We recommend following this maple pecan pie recipe and adding dark chocolate chips, just like with this dark chocolate pecan pie. Enjoy!
Hi Sally! Your recipes are always so reliable and delicious. THANK you. I’ve been looking for a dark chocolate bourbon pecan pie, which was the best pie I’ve ever had at a restaurant in Armonk, New York. (You could only get a hint of the bourbon, but that small addition was really heavenly!) This looks so close. If I were to add a little bit of bourbon in this recipe, 1) when should I add it, and 2) about how much would you recommend? Thank you in advance! The hubs will be sooooo happy if I make this for him.
Hi Sharon, We haven’t tested this recipe with bourbon, though you can certainly try it. I recommend a few Tablespoons and reducing the melted butter to only 2 or 3 Tablespoons. Let us know how it turns out!
It was great!
★★★★★
Hi Sally,
I was wondering if I could use milk chocolate chips instead of dark chocolate?
Thanks!
I am not an experienced baker at all. I followed your steps (love how detailed they are) and made the most beautiful pie today for Thanksgiving. Had to do two batches of the crust, as I did not heed your water warning on the first try, but the second time, it was perfect. Thank you Sally!
★★★★★
Such a delicious filling with the dark chocolate!
★★★★★
Hi Sally, I’m at a family member’s house and want to make this pie. She only has golden syrup in her pantry however. Can I use that instead of corn syrup? I’ve heard that golden syrup is sweeter than corn syrup, so perhaps I’d cut down the sugar a bit. Or if you can recommend any other substitute for corn syrup that she might have it on hand. Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
★★★★★
Hi Selina! You can use golden syrup and reduce the added sugar, but I can’t predict the exact results of that substitution. I recommend making my maple pecan pie (with maple syrup) and you can add 1 cup of chocolate chips with the pecans before pouring the filling on top.
I’m anxious to try this recipe but curious if I could do it in small quiche/tart pans? Would I have to change anything in the recipe or in the temperature or timing?
Hi Patty! No changes to the recipe needed, though you may want to chop up the pecans a bit so they fit a little better into smaller pans. The oven temperature remains the same, but the baking time will be shorter for smaller pies.
Sally,
Just ran across this recipe and had to try it…A little behind the times I guessI’m a big fan of all your tried and true recipes! I have made about a dozen thus far and they have all been fabulous. I was wondering if I melted the chocolate instead to create that beautiful layering if I should bake my crust first and for how long? Thanks for all you do. Also do you recommend toasting the pecans ?
Hi Annie, You can certainly try melting the chocolate first but keep in mind that if you cover the top of the pecans completely with melted chocolate it might stop the egg mixture from seeping down through the pie. The pecans toast nicely as the pie bakes so no need to pre-toast here! Let me know if you try it!
I just made this pie, my son was demanding a chocolate pecan pie because we didn’t have one at Thanksgiving. I used 3/4 cup light corn syrup and 1/4 cup molasses because it’s what I had at hand, and 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips as I could not find dark chocolate chips. My son loved the pie but for me I found it way too sweet. In comparison with the regular pecan pie recipe from Sally this has the same amount of sugar and corn syrup, but the addition of 1 cup of chocolate chips just adds too much sugar, in my opinion. Perhaps it would be different with the dark chocolate and they are not interchangeable. My other comment is that the pie dripped a lot of sugar. I lined the bottom of the oven with aluminum foil, halfway through the baking the oven was filled with smoke and the aluminum foil actually was in flames!
I made this with raw pecans since the recipe didn’t specify and that’s what was available in the baking aisle of the grocery store. The result wasn’t bad, but certainly wasn’t great either — next time I will definitely toast the pecans before making the pie (I hadn’t made pecan pie before, but I guess they’re usually made with toasted pecans). Luckily I used a good quality dark chocolate, which allowed the end result to still taste quite decadent. Might I suggest updating the ingredient list to specify toasted pecans for us novice pecan pie bakers 🙂
Do you need to chop up the pecans or is it best to leave them halved?
Making for Thanksgiving and can’t wait to try it.
Either way works! I usually give them a very rough chop; some are still halved.
How long would I bake these if I was making individual pies in a cupcake pan?
Hi Rachael! Individual mini pies baked in a standard 12-count muffin pan usually take around 25 minutes at 350F. Rotate the muffin pan halfway through bake time.
I’m baking this pie for a friend but don’t want to use one of my own pie dishes. What do you recommend as far as disposable pie pans? Will this effect the cooking time? Thanks in advance!
Hi Katie! You can use a disposable pie dish for this chocolate pecan pie. Cooking time is usually the same when baking in a disposable pie dish.
Hi. I am not the best baker, but I must have this pie. Can I use a store-bought crust instead? If so, should I use a standard or deep-dish crust?
Thank you,
D
Hi Deanna! Absolutely, store-bought is great if you don’t have the time to make homemade pie crust. A recommend a regular pie crust, not deep dish.
Thank you Sally for responding. I am going to take the chocolate pecan pie squares to my sister’s for Thanksgiving dinner.
Is there some way I can use this recipe to make it into squares using an 11×13 glass dish?
Hi Karen! Sure can. You can use this crust or the crust I use for my brown butter pecan pie bars recipe. The bake times will be similar.
Hmm I just made this pie this morning and I’m not sure what happened! I used a regular pie dish and the butter from the filling ran over in between the crust and pan- plus the crust bubbled up like crazy in the middle! Sounds like I should have blind baked, but you said you don’t have to? I’ve made plenty of pies before and never had this happen 🙁 I’m sure it’ll taste great though!
We made this for Thanksgiving and it was SO GOOD! The recipe was perfectly written- easy, no drama, and turned out fantastic. My dad is from the south and loves his ‘traditional’ pecan pie.. even he was won over by this version. Thank you so much for this recipe and I highly recommend everyone reading the comments to give this a try!
Made this pie for our Thanksgiving dessert. It was out of this world delicious!
Hi Sally!
So I made this pie last weekend for a Friendsgiving potluck and let me say, it was a HIT! It was also my first time making pie crust from scratch. I followed all of your tips and tricks and it came out great! I definitely feel more confident now to make my own pie crusts in the future (and I have the other half of the pie crust recipe sitting in my freezer that I plan to turn into poptarts for Christmas breakfast!)
One question though: my pie crust stuck a little bit to the bottom “corner” of the pie dish. I was using stoneware, not glass…should I have sprayed the pie dish at all before rolling out the crust? I assumed there was enough butter/shortening in the crust that it wouldn’t stick?
Hey Anna! WOW! So exciting you made from-scratch crust with no issue. I know the first time can always be a little scary. The crust is full of butter and shortening that it shouldn’t stick. However, the sugars in the filling tend to seep through every now and then. You can definitely try spraying the pie dish next time you try this pie. That would help.
Made this for our church supper last weekend – so easy and really impressed the church ladies! A hit that was sooooo easy!
Hi Orma! It definitely matters– and helps! The longer that crust can chill in the refrigerator, the better. I recommend rolling out the pie dough, fitting into the pie dish, refrigerating, then making the filling. No need to cover the pie dough in the fridge.
Hi Natalie! Definitely. I recommend following my maple pecan pie recipe and adding dark chocolate chips, just like I did with this dark chocolate pecan pie.