This deep dish apple pie recipe features layers upon layers of sweet spiced apples nestled in a buttery flaky pie crust. Top with vanilla ice cream for the ultimate homestyle dessert.
Apple pie is my favorite pie on the planet. It’s my favorite of all the Thanksgiving pies, and I certainly don’t limit it to the fall season. I’ve been making this deep dish apple pie recipe for years and easily consider it to be the best apple pie. That is, of course, if we’re not counting salted caramel apple pie. The recipes are pretty similar, but the other includes salted caramel. I’m ALL about that!
Deep Dish Apple Pie
Today we’re diving deep… and I mean super deep… into homemade apple pie. Deep dish style should be the only pie style. The higher the layers of apples, the better. If apple pie doesn’t tower over the pie dish edge, it’s just not worth it. But did you know that there’s a craft to deep dish apple pie? You can’t simply add more apples to any apple pie recipe.
And let’s take some time to discuss that.
Start With Quality Pie Crust
You need a sturdy crust to sandwich all those apples. Whether you’re a pie crust beginner or pro, I encourage you to read through my pie crust recipe. There is nothing quite like homemade pie crust and my grandmother’s recipe has consistently proven its authority over the past several decades. It’s our family’s favorite and I’ve been using it ever since I could lift a rolling pin.
This recipe uses a mixture of butter and shortening to provide a quality combination of sturdy, flaky, and buttery. I also have an all butter pie crust if you’re interested. But for best taste and texture, swear by using both shortening and butter. You can taste the difference.
Deep Dish Apple Pie Filling Ingredients
This deep dish apple pie has a deliciously gooey, sweet, spiced, and layered apple filling. These next few ingredients are my go-to ingredients for most apple pie recipes. (Even my apple cheddar pie, too!)
- Apples – It’s best to use a variety of apples in apple pie. Just like when we make apple cake, I recommend using half tart and half sweet. I love tart Granny Smith apples paired with a sweet variety such as Pink Lady, Honeycrisp, Jazz, or Fuji.
- Spices – Apple pie isn’t apple pie without warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. It also isn’t apple pie without a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, but we’ll get to that in a second. Add allspice to the filling for a little something extra.
- Lemon – A touch of lemon is crucial in apple pies. Not enough to taste the lemon, but just enough to prevent the apples from browning and to keep the flavor bright.
- Sugar – Sugar sweetens the pie filling.
- Flour – Flour thickens the pie filling.
How to Make Deep Dish Apple Pie
- Roll out the bottom pie dough. Tuck the dough into a deep dish pie pan. Refrigerate as you prepare the filling. Remember, cold pie dough is key to pie making.
- Make the filling. Stir all of the filling ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Pile the filling into the pie dish. Don’t just pour the apples in. Instead, make sure the apple slices are compact inside. Tuck them in tightly so there’s hardly any air pockets.
- Add the top pie crust. I have a whole tutorial on how to lattice pie crust, which is how I topped this pictured pie. Alternatively, you can make a double crust pie by laying the 2nd rolled out pie crust on top. Slit some vents on top with a sharp knife.
- Flute the edges. If you’re unsure how, I show you how I flute edges in the video on my all butter pie crust page. You could also simply crimp the edges with a fork. I used to trim the edges of pie crust before fluting or crimping, but I don’t anymore. I like a thick-style pie crust edge!
- Brush with egg wash. Egg wash is a combination of egg and milk and gives the pie crust its golden sheen. Pie crust looks very dull without it. For a little crunch and sparkle, I always add a touch of coarse sugar on top too.
- Bake: Bake the deep dish apple pie until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling through the vents, about 1 hour. Baking the pie at an initial high temperature helps set the crust. After about 25 minutes, lower the oven temperature.
- Cool: The longer you let apple pie cool, the more the filling will set. I recommend cooling for at least 3 full hours before slicing and serving.
3 Tips for Deep Dishing
- Uniform Size Apples: Make sure your apple slices are uniform in size. Why? You don’t want some thick solid apples and some thin mushy apples. You want them all to be a deliciously crunchy-soft texture. Aim for about 1/4-inch thick slices. If the apple slices are too thin, they’ll just pack themselves down and you’ll lose all deep dishiness. –> the accurate term here.
- Use a Ton of Apples: This sounds like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many apple slices can fit into a pie crust. Pile them so high that it looks ridiculous.
- Use the Correct Pan: My all-time favorite pie dish is deep-dish style, but perfect for regular (non-deep-dish style) pies as well. You want a pie dish at least 2 inches tall.
Each bite of this pie is stacked with sweet spiced apples. There’s clearly no shortage of apple slices, so if you’re crazy for apple pie, this is a must in your baking future. Top it with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of salted caramel because you and I don’t mess around when it comes to dessert. A dollop of whipped cream would be excellent here, too! 🙂
More Classic Pie Recipes
- Salted Caramel Apple Pie
- Lemon Meringue Pie
- Pecan Pie
- Blueberry Pie
- Coconut Cream Pie
- Key Lime Pie
- Pumpkin Pie
Deep Dish Apple Pie
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 7 hours
- Yield: 8-10 servings
- Category: Pie
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Deep dish apple pie features layers and layers of delicious apple slices and a buttery flaky pie crust!
Ingredients
- Homemade Pie Crust (my recipe makes 2 crusts; 1 for bottom 1 for top)
- 8–9 large apples, cored, peeled, and sliced into 1/4-inch slices (11–12 cups, or 1375–1500g total)*
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (31g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) lemon juice
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon each: ground allspice & ground nutmeg
- egg wash: 1 large egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon (15ml) milk
- optional: coarse sugar for sprinkling on crust
Instructions
- The crust: Prepare my pie crust recipe through step 5.
- Make the filling: In a large bowl, stir the apple slices, sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg together until thoroughly combined. Set filling aside as the oven preheats. This gives the filling a chance to rest.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
- Roll out the chilled pie dough: On a floured work surface, roll out one of the discs of chilled dough (keep the other one in the refrigerator). 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 9×2-inch pie dish. Tuck it in with your fingers, making sure it is smooth. Spoon the filling into the crust and discard the leftover juices in the bottom of the bowl.
- Finish assembling: Remove the other disc of chilled pie dough from the refrigerator. Roll the dough into a circle that is 12 inches diameter. Lattice the pie crust. Crimp or flute the edges to seal.
- Lightly brush the top of the pie crust with the egg wash. Sprinkle the top with coarse sugar, if using.
- 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 the pie to cool for 3 full hours at room temperature before serving. This time allows the filling to thicken up. Cover leftovers tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead / Freezing Instructions: A couple ways to make ahead of time! Make 1 day in advance: After it cools, cover tightly and keep at room temperature. The pie crust dough can also be prepared ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Baked pie also freezes well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature before serving. Prepared fillings can also be frozen up to 3 months, thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Pastry Blender | Rolling Pin | Deep Dish Pie Dish | Pastry Brush | Pie Crust Shield
Keywords: apples, Thanksgiving, pie
My husband loves apple pie but does not care for deep dish style filing. How can I adjust this recipe for a more typical filling to crust ratio?
Hi Lee, you could try this apple pie!
I was so disappointed in this recipe! It looked absolutely beautiful, and the crust was delicious, but the filling was very bland. I brought it to Christmas dinner at my sister’s. People were so excited to see it, but there were no compliments about the flavor, except, “It’s good,” which is not what people usually say about my pies. Next time I will put in a lot more spices – or test it on my husband before I bring it to someone’s home.
★★★
Can this pie be made with a combination of pears and apples?
Hi Amena, that should work just fine! Swap some of the apples with pear slices, about the same thickness as the apples. Let us know how it goes!
I have my pie baking in the oven as I write this. Lovely aroma coming from the stove. I bake my pies on a pizza stone which allows the bottom crust to crisp. I also place the bottom crust in the frig for 15 minutes, before baking, having brushed the dough with egg white. Prevents a soggy lower crust. Note: I covered the entire pie with foil for the last 15 minutes as it was golden color and I didn’t want it to burn. Perfect pie. Wish I could include a photo here to show you how beautiful it is! Your proportions for filling are right on point. Thank you
★★★★★
Everyone I make this for says it’s the best apple pie they’ve ever had!!
★★★★★
Hands down, the best apple pie I’ve ever made or ever eaten. I made the blueberry too using the same pie dough and I had to hide it from my wife. Seriously had to ditch the two extra pies in the freezer in the garage so she couldn’t pound them down. Add the vanilla ice cream and it’s heaven on a plate.
★★★★★
I followed these instructions to the T. The taste was amazing and the crust was flaky and delicious. The one draw back was the apples were just a bit on the hard side. I used a apple slicer which sliced the apples into 8 wedges then sliced5hem again for 16 wedges per apple. Can you precook the filling part to soften the apples rather then add cooking time to the whole pie. If yes in a pan on stove top or bake in oven. Thankyou.
Hi Billy, Thanks for trying this recipe! If you try it again you want to aim for about 1/4-inch thick slices, which is probably more than 16 slices per apple. You won’t need to pre-cook them if they are sliced thinner.
Regarding the previous answer about oven rack position: when you say “ you can bake this pie on the middle rack” does this mean it is the recommended rack position? The recipe does not specify.
Hi Donna! All ovens are different, but usually the lower third to middle of your oven is the best spot.
Is this apple pie baked on the middle rack?
Hi Donna, yes, you can bake this pie on the middle rack.
I followed this recipe along with your pie crust and lattice instructions and the results were amazing! I love to cook and bake but have always been intimidated by pie crust and latticework but your detailed instructions & videos gave me the confidence to tackle this. Thank you!
★★★★★
Hi Sally, would it affect the bake time if instead of doing the lattice for the top crust, I just do a regular top-crust? Thanks,
Not at all. Same bake time.
Can I assemble this pie and freeze the whole thing over night, and bake the next day? Also, I don’t have a pie plate quite as deep as the one you linked. Will this recipe still turn out?
Hi Sarah! See recipe notes for our recommended make-ahead instructions. The pie will turn out in a smaller dish, you may have some extra apples that don’t fit.
I made this pie for the first time after thawing the pie dough and filling I prepared ahead of time in the refrigerator over night. I followed the baking instructions and it is cooling now. I am worried the bottom pie crust is not cooked completely. Is there a way to fix that before I serve it? Can I cover the top and bake it again when I serve it?
Hi Lisa! There unfortunately isn’t much you can do at this point, but you can warm it up in the oven before serving. That may help bake the bottom crust just slightly more. Let us know how it turns out for you.
Can frozen sliced apples be used? Should they be thawed first?
For best results, I would thaw them first, and blot some moisture off before mixing with the other filling ingredients.
Hello, could I blind bake this pie crust, put the filling, and bake some more for the lattice?
Hi Kimberly! We don’t find it necessary to blind bake the crust in this recipe and it can be difficult to adhere the lattice to the par-baked crust. But it can be done if you prefer to par-bake!
Is it possible to make the apple filling ahead of time and freeze? Would the consistency change?
Hi Kamie, Prepared fillings can also be frozen up to 3 months, thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.
Hi Sally,
My family LOVES Dutch Apple Pie. Could this same recipe be used, but just substitute the top crust for the crumble topping that’s on the dutch apple pie? Would anything else have to change?
Thank you!
Hi Jenna! The recipes for our apple crumble pie and this pie are very similar. You can use either, the bake time should be about the same.
AMAZING!!!! Another perfect recipe Sally!! This is my 3rd time ever baking a pie from scratch and the first two didn’t turn out that great. This was my first time making this specific pie with this crust and both turned out AMAZING! I cannot thank you enough Sally! I bake multiple times a week, all using your recipes! I can’t wait to make this for Thanksgiving
★★★★★
So glad this pie turned out for you, Amanda! Thank you for making and trusting our recipes.
This was my first pie and came out great considering that. I had some tearing of dough as I rolled it out but it was super flaky. I struggled to get it large enough for the deep pie dish but will aim to get better with practice. I used 8 apples and agree that you have to stuff with apples and will use 9 next time.