No Bake Peanut Butter Pie is a delicious dessert recipe that’s easy to make and loved by everyone. No one can resist fluffy peanut butter filling with velvety chocolate topping and graham cracker crust.
Why you'll love this recipe
This no bake peanut butter pie recipe turns a few simple ingredients like peanut butter and chocolate chips into a restaurant quality dessert with minimal effort. It’s rich and decadent, yet isn't overly sweet.
Even if dessert isn’t your strong suit, a peanut butter no bake pie only requires you to combine a few ingredients and place it in the icebox to set up. It's as easy as this chocolate eclair cake and great for any occasion!
You’ll also love that we make peanut butter pie without cool whip and use one-ingredient homemade whipped cream instead. Oh and you will LOVE my crazy easy chocolate topping aka chocolate ganache – it just belongs with peanut butter. Trust me, you’ll thank me later for not keeping this easy peanut butter pie recipe a secret.
Ingredient notes
Get the ingredients amounts in the printable recipe below.
- graham cracker crust - use store bought 9-inch crust or make graham cracker crust from scratch with regular or chocolate graham crackers.
- cream cheese - Use any fat content and always soften to room temperature.
- peanut butter - I use unsweetened creamy peanut butter (from Costco).
- powdered sugar - This makes the perfect texture for peanut butter pie filling. Regular sugar is not recommended because it has no way to dissolve in the mixture.
- vanilla extract - A tiny bit goes a long way.
- heavy cream - Also called heavy whipping cream, which is blended into homemade whipped cream
- chocolate chips - Semisweet chocolate chips work perfectly for this recipe, but you can use your favorite chocolate.
- milk - Or heavy cream can be used.
- (optional) sea salt - This is your secret weapon garnish – optional, but delicious!
How to make this recipe
No bake peanut butter pie is easy to make, but there are crucial things to know about how the filling texture changes during the process. So, please enjoy these step-by-step photos and instructions. Grab the full printable recipe below.
Make peanut butter pie filling
To make the pie filling, blend the cream cheese and peanut butter together until combined.
To that, add powdered sugar and vanilla. Continue blending until the mixture becomes coarse and crumbly.
In a separate mixing bowl, whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Add that to the crumbly peanut butter mixture and beat until well-combined and creamy – but don't over mix.
Pour filling into graham cracker crust and spread evenly.
Cover and refrigerate the pie a few hours to set up the peanut butter mixture. You can serve it just like this, but trust me, you want to finish this job with a layer of velvety chocolate on top.
Notice how I snuck in some chocolate topping on the graham cracker crust before adding the filling. This is a bonus tip from yours truly for anyone looking at these photos. It's not in the recipe below. Enjoy!
Make chocolate topping
Make this super easy chocolate topping (also called chocolate ganache) by heating milk, adding chocolate chips, and stirring until silky. Allow to cool a few minutes at room temperature.
Pour the chocolate topping over the pie surface and spread in a uniform layer. Garnish with graham cracker crumbs and (optional) a sprinkle of salt. Since this is a no bake peanut butter pie, refrigerate a minimum of 2 hours to set up. You can make ahead and chill up to 3 days in advance of serving.
This is where it gets the name peanut butter icebox pie – and it is divine!
Recipe tips
No bake peanut butter pie can be made ahead a day or two and refrigerated until ready to serve.
When combining the filling ingredients, don’t overmix because it pushes the whipped air out the filling and causes it to not be as fluffy.
When serving, make sure peanut butter pie is thoroughly chilled. This helps preserve its shape when cutting into slices.
Recipe variations
You can use homemade graham cracker crust in place of store bought crust. Make a classic crust with regular graham crackers or use chocolate graham crackers to make a chocolate crust (my personal favorite).
To make a gluten free peanut butter pie, grab this Gluten Free Graham Cracker Crust recipe and use it in place of the store bought crust.
To make no bake peanut butter pie with cool whip, you can substitute a thawed, 4-ounce container of cool whip for the heavy cream in this recipe.
Store bought chocolate sauce can be used in place of my quick chocolate topping but, trust me, it won't be as good.
Can I freeze no bake peanut butter pie?
Yes! When frozen, it has a firm texture so it's super easy to slice and serve without ruining the appearance. To thaw, allow frozen peanut butter pie to rest a few hours at room temperature and serve immediately, or thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Oh, just imagine how refreshing this is on warm days.
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The BEST No Bake Peanut Butter Pie
INGREDIENTS
- 1 (9 inch) Graham Cracker Crust, store bought or homemade
Peanut Butter Filling
- ½ (8 ounce package) Cream Cheese, softened
- ½ cup Unsweetened Creamy Peanut Butter
- ½ cup Powdered Sugar
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ¾ cup Heavy Cream, or 4 ounces whipped topping (thawed)
Chocolate Ganache Topping (yields ¼ cup)
- 2 tablespoons Milk, or heavy cream
- ⅓ cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Remove any nonessential packaging from the PIE CRUST and set aside.
For the filling
- In a mixing bowl, blend CREAM CHEESE and PEANUT BUTTER to form coarse crumbles.
- Add POWDERED SUGAR and VANILLA; blend until combined and coarse crumbles form.
- In a separate mixing bowl, blend HEAVY CREAM until stiff peaks form (about 2 minutes).
- Add whipped cream (or whipped topping) to the crumbled peanut butter mixture and beat on low speed until creamy. Don't over mix.
- Pour peanut butter pie filling into graham cracker crust and spread evenly. Cover and refrigerate.
For the chocolate topping
- Add HEAVY CREAM to a microwave-safe container (I use a pyrex measuring cup).
- Microwave on HIGH 30-60 seconds until steaming, but not boiling over.
- Add CHOCOLATE CHIPS to the heated milk and allow to rest a few minutes.
- Whisk or stir ingredients until it becomes a smooth and velvety sauce. Allow to cool about 10 minutes.
- Pour chocolate topping over peanut butter pie surface and spread into an even layer. *see footnote about optional garnish
Allow pie filling to set up
- Cover the pit and allow at least 2 hours of refrigeration for the peanut butter filling to set. It's easier to cut when the filling has fully set.
Serving and storage
- Serve peanut butter pie chilled.
- To store, refrigerate in an airtight container up to 3 days or in the freezer up to 30 days.
- If frozen, allow the pie to rest a few hours at room temperature and serve immediately, or thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
RECIPE VIDEO
Traci's Recipe Notes
Equipment
- electric hand mixer or stand mixer
- microwave safe measuring cup (to melt chocolate)
- wire whisk or fork
NUTRITION
Nutrition data provided as courtesy estimates using unbranded ingredients from a nutrition database. Please consult preferred resource for precise data.
Suzanne McGuire says
Just to finish up with trying out this recipe. As I mentioned before it never got crumbly for me but after a couple hours in the fridge it set up nicely. I used the Cool Whip method too. Its definitely a keeper recipe. Not too sweet either even adding the powdered sugar and the Cool Whip which I was worried about.
The Kitchen Girl says
I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe 🙂 Thanks for the update on your experience too! Glad you enjoyed the level of sweetness too! I appreciate the feedback. Cheers!
Suzanne McGuire says
Have a question on the Peanut Butter Pie. If you use Cool Whip instead of the heavy cream whipped, do you still use the powdered sugar as the Cool Whip will have sugar in it?
Will be trying this recipe this weekend and may just have to make 2 so I can use up all the cool whip and cream cheese. I hate having to store half of anything. I have an older couple across the street that ends up with half my desserts so it doesn't stay around me to gorge on.
The Kitchen Girl says
Great question, Suzanne! If it were me, I'd still use the powdered sugar because it helps develop the filling texture and this pie isn't overly sweet. As for the amounts, you could always double the filling and use a slightly larger pie crust - it's ok if the filling isn't level on the top. Hope this makes sense 🙂 Enjoy!!
Joanne says
I made this pie so we'd have a dessert for a very hot and humid weekend. It was very easy to do and came out delicious, even though I didn't whip the heavy cream into soft peaks as the recipe describes, I mixed it in the with powdered sugar and peanut butter, but luckily it was quite good. I also appreciate this recipe for using easily found ingredients. Don't hesitate to try this, it's great!
The Kitchen Girl says
Yay! I'm so glad you gave it a go 🙂 Very interesting that you didn't whip the cream and I'm happy it worked out for you. Thanks so much for the feedback!
Karen says
Made it today!! Yummy!! Simple and delicious!
The Kitchen Girl says
Yayy! So glad to inspire that 🙂 Thanks for the feedback - I appreciate it!
Carol says
This pie was incredible! Peanut butter and chocolate are one of my favorite combinations so I was thrilled to find this recipe! This is going in my file of tried and true recipes! Thank you for sharing it!
The Kitchen Girl says
Awwww yay! So glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the feedback 🙂 Thank you so much!!!
Christy says
If I could give this recipe six stars I would! It was so creamy and delicious and got devoured by everyone I fed it to. I've already got people asking me to make it again! Thanks for the great recipe!
The Kitchen Girl says
Awwww best review evrrrr! I'm so glad you made the recipe and I love hearing how it went. Yay!!! Thanks for letting me know, Christy
John says
Recipe looks fantastic. About to try it and note that salt is mentioned as an ingredient for the filling but I can’t seem to figure out how much salt. Any advice? Do I need to brush up on my reading comprehension?
The Kitchen Girl says
Hi John, you are correct and I just fixed it. The salt isn't a critical ingredient in this recipe, but it does create that sweet and salty flavor profile. Thanks for letting me know 🙂
JB says
This peanut butter pie is outta hand! It's my new favorite dessert. Fluffy, chocolatey, and not too sweet (as promised). I can't wait until we make it again!
The Kitchen Girl says
Thank you, JB! This really makes my day ... I'm so glad you love it as much as I do 🙂
Priya Lakshminarayan says
What a gorgeous looking pie! It really looks so tempting.
The Kitchen Girl says
Thanks, Priya...glad you think so 🙂
Maria says
Very easy recipe! Can't wait to make my own version- my family will love it!
The Kitchen Girl says
Indeed! So glad you can enjoy this one, Maria 🙂 Thanks!
Pavani says
I LOVE no bake desserts and your peanut butter pie was just perfect. It was so easy to make and the pie was amazing - a total crowd pleaser.
The Kitchen Girl says
Awesome, Pavani! So glad to hear it and glad it was enjoyed Thank youuuu
Dannii says
Anything peanut butter is good with me and this is even better with it being no bake. It looks incredible.
The Kitchen Girl says
Thanks, Dannii! Glad you can enjoy this 🙂
Jess says
Peanut butter and chocolate belong together and this no bake pie is the perfect way to bring them together!
The Kitchen Girl says
Yessss, thank you 🙂 My feelings exactly. Love peanut butter and chocolate 4evr ❤️
Luci says
No-bake pie recipes are my favorite right now since it's still pretty warm where I live so this peanut butter pie is perfect! And I love peanut butter and chocolate together, it's the best combo ever! I can't wait to make this pie, I'm saving it for my family dinner this weekend!
The Kitchen Girl says
Yay Luci! Yep, warm here too so we're loving this pie right now 🙂 So glad you can enjoy this one...thanks!
Rebecca says
OMG I love a good PB pie! def need to make this soon, it looks so good & easy
The Kitchen Girl says
Thanks, Rebecca! Glad you love peanut butter pie too!
Tawnie says
This was SO good and simple to make. I always love a no bake dessert. This is a keeper!
The Kitchen Girl says
Yayy thanks, Tawnie...so glad you enjoyed it! Peanut butter pie is one of our favs too because of how easy it is
Chichi says
One of my absolute favorite things to indulge! Love peanut butter and this pie is top on my list. Yum!
The Kitchen Girl says
Thanks Chichi! It's one of my favorites too!
Maria says
Yummy! I love peanut butter! Love this healthier version and easy peasy recipe! ❤️
The Kitchen Girl says
Awesome, Maria! I'm a big fan of desserts that aren't overly sweet too! Glad you enjoyed...thanks! 🙂