Maple syrup can replace corn syrup in this deliciously simple maple pecan pie recipe! Top with a little sea salt to balance out the flavors.
The most common question about pecan pie is: can I make pecan pie without corn syrup? My answer was always: yes, but the filling won’t really set or it won’t taste like pecan pie. So… no, you can’t. But that’s changing today. Introducing Maple Pecan Pie.
Video Tutorial
How to Make Pecan Pie Without Corn Syrup
Corn syrup is the glue that holds pecan pie filling together. Thicker than other liquid sweeteners, corn syrup works with the eggs to help ensure your pecan pie filling will set. The problem is that more and more modern bakers are looking for an unrefined substitution for the corn syrup. My goal was to find a solution to not only find a corn syrup substitute, but to guarantee the pecan pie filling will SET and TASTE DELICIOUS.
Taking a note from my pecan pie bars, I reached for pure maple syrup. This is a thinner liquid than corn syrup, but has the most remarkable flavor, as you know. The pecan pie bars recipe calls for tempering the eggs, but I wanted a no-fuss pecan pie filling that skipped the extra steps. Enter the magical ingredient:
- 1 tiny Tablespoon of flour
Maple Syrup + Flour Replaces Corn Syrup
Mixed with melted butter, 1 Tablespoon of flour thickens the pecan pie filling just as corn syrup would. The flour allows us to use a thinner liquid sweetener. Isn’t that incredible? So all you’ll need to prepare this maple pecan pie are eggs, pure maple syrup, flour, butter, brown sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and pecans. Simple, delicious, pure flavors gives us a maple infused + buttery sweet + deliciously thick slice of pecan pie.
Don’t Make My Mistake
I ran into 1 problem during my recipe testing. The pecan pie filling seeped through the bottom pie crust, lifting the entire bottom pie crust up into the center of the pie. It was the strangest thing. Frustrated, I almost gave up completely. Since the maple pecan pie filling is a little thinner than my regular pecan pie filling, I decided that pre-baking the pie crust was necessary. I shared an entire in-depth tutorial on how to blind bake pie crust earlier this year, complete with a video and all my tricks. Use that to help you. You only need to blind bake the pie crust for about 15 minutes in this recipe. Easy.
You can use my new all butter pie crust recipe or old faithful, my buttery flaky pie crust which uses a combination of shortening and butter. For the pictured pie, I used my buttery flaky pie crust. Brush the edges with egg wash before baking. (And if you’re interested, my how to crimp and flute pie crust tutorial will be helpful for achieving a beautiful decorative pie crust edge!)
Tell me about the sea salt! To balance out the flavor of this notoriously sweet pie, sprinkle a little flaky sea salt on top prior to serving. I always recommend this! You’ll love the sweet and salty flavors, plus added crunch sea salt flecks are a nice bonus.
How to Freeze Pecan Pie
Before I leave you with the recipe, let me share my tips for freezing pecan pie. This is a wonderful dessert to make ahead of time to freeze for Thanksgiving. The baked pie freezes well for up to 3 months, tightly wrapped in a couple layers of plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature before serving. You can also freeze the pie after you pour the filling into the cooled blind-baked pie crust. Freeze for a couple hours to set the filling, then tightly wrap the entire pie in 2-3 layers of plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then freeze for up to 1 month. When ready to bake, remove from the freezer, unwrap, and bake for about 20 minutes longer.
If youโre looking for more inspiration this fall season, here are all of our favorite Thanksgiving pies, including other classics like apple pie, pumpkin pie, and even mini pecan pies.
This recipe is part of Sally’s Pie Week, an annual tradition where I share a handful of new recipes that fit into the pie/crisp/tart category. Join the community below!
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Maple Pecan Pie (Without Corn Syrup)
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 6 hours
- Yield: 8-10 servings
- Category: Pie
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Maple syrup can replace corn syrup in this deliciously simple maple pecan pie recipe! Top with a little sea salt to balance out the flavors.
Ingredients
Crust
- Homemade Pie Crustย or All Butter Pie Crust (myย recipes both make 2 crusts; freeze the 2nd half for later use)
- optional egg wash: 1 large egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon milk or water
Filling
- 2 and 1/2 cups (250g) shelled pecans (pecan halves)
- 5 Tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon (8g) all-purpose flour*
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup (240ml) pure maple syrup*
- flaky sea salt for sprinkling
- optional: Homemade Whipped Cream for topping
Instructions
- The crust: Prepare the pie crust or butter pie crust through step 5.
- After the pie crust has chilled, adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC).
- Roll out the chilled pie dough and blind bake:ย On a floured work surface, roll out one of theย discsย 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 aย 9-inch pie dish.* Tuck it in with your fingers, making sure it is smooth. Flute or crimp the pie crust edges and brush with egg wash. Chill for 20 minutes in the refrigerator or freezer. (Crust will shrink otherwise!) Line the chilled pie crust with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Fill with 2 sets of pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove pie from the oven and carefully lift the parchment paper/aluminum foil (with the weights) out of the pie.
- The filling:ย Carefully spread pecans evenly inside warm pie crust. Set aside. Whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and flour together in a large bowl until combined and thick. Whisk in the vanilla extract, salt, eggs, and pure maple syrup until combined. Pour evenly over pecans.
- Bake the pie for 40-50 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned. After the first 20 minutes of bake time, place a pie crust shield on top of the pie toย 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 sprinkle sea salt on top. Place on a wire rack to cool completely. The pie filling will set as it cools.
- Slice and serve pie at room temperature. Top with whipped cream, if desired. (I usedย Wilton 8B Piping Tip.) Cover and store leftover pie at room temperature for 1-2 days or in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions – 1-5 Days Ahead:ย You can get started by combining all the filling ingredients (except the pecans) 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.
- Make Ahead Instructions – Freezing:ย The baked pie freezes well for up to 3 months, tightly wrapped in a couple layers of plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature before serving. You can also freeze the pie after you pour the filling into the cooled blind-baked pie crust. Freeze for a couple hours to set the filling, then tightly wrap the entire pie in 2-3 layers of plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then freeze for up to 1 month. When ready to bake, remove from the freezer, unwrap, and bake for about 20 minutes longer.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Rolling Pin | 9-inch Pie Dish | Pastry Brush | Pie Weights | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Pie Crust Shield | Cooling Rack | Piping Bag (Reusable or Disposable) | Wilton 8B Piping Tip | Flaky Sea Salt
- Freezing Extra Pie Dough: You can freeze the 2nd pie dough for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.
- Optional Egg Wash: For a golden brown sheen on the pie crust edges, feel free to brush with egg wash as noted in step 3.
- Cornstarch: 2 teaspoons of cornstarch work as a substitute for 1 Tablespoon of flour. Make sure the cornstarch is completely mixed in with the melted butter and brown sugar.
- Pure Maple Syrup: Use pure maple syrup, not breakfast syrup. Any variety of pure maple syrup is great, from golden to dark amber. Use what you love best.
- Pie Dish: I strongly recommend aย glass pie dishย so you can see when the crust on the sides is browning, which signals that the pie is finished.
- Room Temperature Ingredients: Make sure you use room temperature eggs. Cold eggs will solidify the butter and youโll be left with random chunks of butter in your filling.
- Try Adding Bourbon: Pie is delicious with a little bourbon. I recommend adding 2 Tablespoons, but make sure you reduce 2 Tablespoons of maple syrup from the recipe. (Use 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp of maple syrup.) Whisk 2 Tbsp of bourbon in with the maple syrup.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Would this work with a store bought deep dish pie crust in the aluminum tin? Or would the crust risk leakage/burning?
Hi Rachel, you can use a store-bought crust in the tin. Make sure to follow the same par-baking instructions here.
Yum!!!! Perfect !!!! second time making it for the Holidays!!!! Have a great Holiday Sally
Made this for a group Thanksgiving last year, and one friend said it was the best pecan pie she’d ever had. I take no credit; I followed the recipe slavishly. You can bet I’ll be making it again this year!
Can I sub coconut sugar instead of Brown!
Hi Kasey, we’re sure you could, but we haven’t tested it ourselves.
I’m so glad you included a no-corn-syrup recipe. This one looks great. I also found one that is similar but has 6 egg yolks, 1/2 cup heavy cream, and a tbsp molasses, a full cup of brown sugar and everything else is similar. It sets up like traditional pecan pie.
Made this for our thanksgiving and everyone loved it better than the recipes Iโve used using Karo syrup thank you
Could I use this recipe for 4 mini tart pans (4 in)?
Hi Liz, you should be able to make mini pies/tarts from this recipe without any changes. Hereโs our mini pecan pies recipe for reference.
Hi, I was curious if I could use a frozen or refrigerated pie crust just to make it easier? Thank you, can’t wait to try this recipe.
Hi Donna, you certainly can. Note that if using store-bought pie crust, you still have to pre-bake it. Hope you enjoy the pecan pie!
i could not find the temperature at which to bake the pie. 350 degrees?
Hi Gloria, yes, 350ยฐF (177ยฐC).
I made this recipe with 1/2 cup of coconut and just 2 cups of pecans, also added 1/4 cup heavy cream and used 2 tablespoons of flour, blind baked for 25 minutes, then baked for 50 minutes. There is just enough gooiness in the middle, not too firm and not too soft. The coconut makes a nice addition to kind of firm up the filling and of course it tastes absolutely delicious. I also used 1 tsp of cinnamon and 1 tsp of maple extract flavor. This is one of my favorite pie recipes.
This makes a wonderful pie! I love not having to use corn syrup.
Everyone loved it! Theyโre still commenting on how well it came out
Bummer! Ours was very soupy โ a half-inch of syrup slopping around in the pie dish. Had I baked it any more than I did (thinking maybe it would have firmed up more?), I think it would have been over-baked (and I did cover it with crust protector and tented foil during the last half of the baking process to protect the top from burning). It had a disappointing presentation and I missed the thick, satisfying forkful of regular pecan pie filling. Iโm always for natural sugars but this was a miss.
I made a similar recipe. Based on my experience, I’m wondering if you added enough flour? The recipe I used calls for 2 TBSP self-rising flour, compared to 1 TBSP of all-purpose flour in this recipe. Both recipes call for three eggs. The flour and eggs thicken the filling, so you want to use enough and ensure to mix them well in the filling. The eggs, as noted, need to be at room temperature before adding to the filling.
I made this recipe for Thanksgiving using the butter crust. Love that it didnโt corn syrup. My FIL was skeptical, however ended up taking most of the leftover home.
Can I add more pecans? Would I need to adjust anything if I do?
This is already more than twice as much as much pecans as the most pecan pie recipes call for. You going for a Keto version?
If you do try it let me know how it turns out!