Granny Smith Apple Pie

This granny smith apple pie is made with all granny smith apples for a sweet-tart pie with no advance cooking of the fruit needed. Make your own all-butter flaky pie crust or use store bought for an easy dessert. This is a great beginner pie. It's as easy as peeling, tossing, and baking!

For more apple recipes, try our easier-than-pie cinnamon apple galette, a traditional German apple cake made with hasselback apples, or bake up a batch of sweet apple cinnamon rolls.

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Apples: you can sub half the apples for an eating apple, like Braeburn, Boskoop, or Honeycrisp. This makes for a more typical apple pie and one that's a bit sweeter than the full granny smith apple pie.
• Pie crust: all-butter pie crust will make for the tastiest pie. For a vegan pie, use vegan pie dough. We recommend this gluten-free pie crust if you need a GF option. If you want to try something different, make this with sourdough pie crust.
• Sugar: cane sugar and coconut sugar make good substitutes for white and brown sugar, respectively.
• Cinnamon: try subbing apple pie spice for the cinnamon - we recommend doubling the amount if you go this route.

Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the printable recipe card with full ingredient measurements and complete instructions.

Method

Before anything else, you need to get the pie crust ready (if you're making it yourself) and chilled.

Step 1: add the apple filling ingredients to a mixing bowl.

Step 2: mix until very well combined.

Step 3: roll out the dough, place it into a pie tin, and fill with the apples, topping with butter.

Step 4: top with the second crust and crimp the edges to seal.

Step 5: brush the top and edges of the pie with an egg wash.

Step 6: sprinkle the pie with coarse sugar.

Step 7: cut slits in the crust for steam to escape during baking.

Step 8: bake until golden and cool fully before slicing and serving.

Top Tips

• Peel the apples: while you can make pie with unpeeled apples, it's best to peel granny smith apples as they have an unpleasantly thick skin.
• Don't forget to chill the pie dough: if you're making it from scratch, keep in mind that you'll need to make it in advance, so that it has enough time in the fridge. You can make the dough a day in advance.
• Start hot: starting the baking hot and then reducing the temperature makes for a nice crisp crust and no soggy bottom. We highly recommend this! Since apple pie is baked for a long time, it's usually pretty good at having a crisp crust, but this makes sure.

Recipe Notes

While many apple pie recipes need the apples to be par-cooked before baking - this ensures that you don't get a gap in the crust - granny smith are famous for keeping their shape when cooked. It's ready in less time and the resulting pie is as beautiful as it is delicious.

Setting the pie, or letting it relax and cool for a while after baking, ensures nice clean slices and a filling that isn't too runny. You can serve a hot pie but the filling will leak when slices are cut. Let it cool for at least 3-4 hours before serving.

Place a baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven to catch any apple juices that bubble over the edges of the tin during baking. There's a chance they'll leak and burn to the bottom of your oven, which means a big cleaning job later – this removes the risk.

Coarse sugar on the pie crust makes for a more beautiful pie, with the shimmering pieces of sugar, and adds a nice bite. It's optional but delicious. Serve with a scoop of ice cream or Chantilly cream to take your pie over the top.

How to Store

Storage: keep in a sealed container at room temperature for 2-3 days. Note that the crust will soften over time as it absorbs juice from the apples.

Freeze Baked: for the easiest method, bake the pie in a tin pie pan (the type you can buy in packs of several). After baking and cooling, wrap the whole thing tightly in tin foil and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature and serve as is or warm up in the oven first.

Freeze Unbaked: unbaked pies can be frozen in the same way as above, for up to 2 months. Bake as instructed in the recipe without thawing first.

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