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 small ceramic or metal balls that you use when blind baking a pie crust. To blind bake a pie crust means you bake it naked, without its filling. A recipe may call for blind baking if the filling itself is not baked (say, a cooked custard or a filling that sets when it's chilled).

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.

Instead of pie weights, you can use dried beans or rice, granulated sugar, popcorn kernels or steel ball bearings. If you are not using pie weights, the idea is to mimic what the pie weight does and to make sure that the alternative is oven-safe.

Pie weights perform the necessary function of weighing down an empty pie crust while it parbakes, helping the pie shell keep its shape. They also prevent air pockets from forming and encourage the crust to crisp (no soggy bottoms here).

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.

Most fruit pies bake at a temperature between 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Some recipes call for baking the pie in a 450 degree F oven to begin with, then turning down the oven to about 350 degrees F.

When should you not use parchment paper for baking? ›

This means that if you're cooking in a skillet over medium, medium-low, or low heat, you'll probably be fine using parchment. Hill uses it in the oven all the time for any temps under 450°F, but never risks using it on the grill, with the broiler, or in a skillet over high heat because the temperature can exceed 500°F.

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.)

Line the chilled crust in the pan with parchment or foil. Fill the crust with pie weights completely flush to the top edge of the crust to prevent shrinking or slumping. Place on a rimmed, parchment-lined baking sheet. This will help catch any butter that might bubble over.

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

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.

Don't be misled by the small containers of pie weights sold in stores — every time you par bake a pie, you should fill the pie plate all the way to the top edge with weights. This rule holds true no matter what type of pie weights you use, from dried beans to sugar to ceramic weights.

You can roll pie dough on any surface when your dough is extremely cold, because the cold dough is what really helps to keep it from sticking. Just a light dusting of flour applied many times is better than one big thick coating of flour. Just add flour as needed as too much flour can toughen the dough.

Tip 6: Forget Weights, Use Sugar

It's also more granular than any other option. That lets sugar settle into every nook and cranny of the aluminum-lined crust, distributing its considerable weight across the bottom and sides of the pan, and butting up against the taller edges, too.

But there are alternatives to baking beans – some of which you may even have in your cupboard. If you're new to blind baking, the simplest homemade solution is rice. It acts as a great pastry weight and does not burn – plus it's easy to tip out or save to use again.