What are Pie Weights? And When Should I Use Them? | KitchenAid (2024)

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What are Pie Weights? And When Should I Use Them? | KitchenAid? ›

Pie weights are used in blind baking

Line your pie shell with parchment paper. Don't skip this step, or your pie weights might stick to the dough. Use a square or circle of parchment paper that's large enough to allow for plenty of overhang — you'll need to be able to easily grab the sides without spilling the hot weights everywhere.

Pie weights are little weights used to fill the inside of the blind baked pie crust, to help stop the middle puffing up in the oven. You line the chilled pie crust with crumpled parchment paper, then fill the crust up to the edges of the crimps using pie weights.

They will work just as well and can be reused just like pie weights. The only caveat: If you use an edible item like dried beans as pie weights, you'll no longer be able to eat them. But you'll be happy to have an affordable alternative on hand the next time you go to bake.

Pouring uncooked white rice into a pie crust before blind baking can provide many of the same benefits as traditional pie weights. You don't need much, just enough to completely cover the parchment paper over the bottom of the crust, which even near-empty pantries usually have.

If you blind bake without pie weights, you might find that your pie crust forms air pockets that bubble up or that it shrinks as it bakes. Pie weights help to weigh down the dough, so that it holds its shape and stays nestled against the plate or pan.

Best substitutes for pie weights:

I use a mix of heirloom beans that includes dried black beans, kidney beans and pinto beans. Uncooked Rice – Most people have rice grains on hand and they are a great option for pie weights. Any variety of rice or grain would work here.

As a rule of thumb, a 9-inch pie will need around 2lb of weights.

If you don't have pie weights, you could use something similar like pennies, dry beans, dry rice, or even sugar. I don't recommend blind baking your crust without anything to weigh it down though, because it will likely lose its shape, bubble, and shrink.

If you don't have pie weights or dried beans, the most effective weight to use is another pie dish, if you have one. Nestle it gently into the crust-lined pan; it should cover both the thin bottom crust and the thick rim.

Which beans are best for pie weights? ›

If you have dried beans in your pantry, these can come in handy as pie weights, too. The type doesn't matter, so use chickpeas, black beans, pinto beans, even lentils. After using them a couple times, retire them as pie weights and turn them into dinner. (This Instant Pot method is a great place to start.)

If you use sugar as a pie weight, you'll be left with about 4 cups of lightly caramelized sugar granules which you can (and should!) easily reuse. Let the sugar cool to room temperature, run it through a food processor to break up any lumps, then store it in a cool, dry place like any other granulated sugar.

You've got lots of options and they all work really well; dried beans, uncooked rice, popcorn kernels, steel balls, sugar, glass marbles, metal chain, or smaller pie pan. As a pro alternative, use perforated baking equipment (eg. tart ring, baking mat) that let the air circulate without the need of using pie weights.

Add pie weights, dry rice, dried beans or (as I've done here) dry wheat berries, enough to fill the pan 2/3 full. Chill the crust for 30 minutes; this will solidify the fat, which helps prevent shrinkage. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 20 minutes. Remove the pie from the oven, and lift out the paper and weights.

You're all ready to blind-bake a pie crust when you realize you don't have any pie weights. The simple save: Line the crust with foil, top with 25 pennies and bake. The weight from the pennies will prevent the dough from bubbling while the metal in the coins conducts heat for a perfect crust.

Remove the pie weights.

Grasp the corners of the parchment (or foil), and lift the weights out of the pie. Transfer them to a bowl or plate to cool.

Many baking recipes for cakes, muffins or quick breads skip the parchment entirely and just call for greasing and flouring the pan to prevent sticking. For roasting or baking savory foods, aluminum foil is a good alternative that allows for a simple clean-up.

Line the crust with heavy duty foil.

Heavy duty foil is less likely to tear than regular foil when you are forming it in the crust or when you are removing it and the pie weights. I've used parchment, but it doesn't mold to the edges of the the crust the way foil can.

If you're a baking enthusiast, parchment paper is a must-have for baking cakes, brownies, cookies, pies, tarts, breads, and muffins in the oven.