No Bake Peanut Butter Pie

Peanut Butter Pie - A luscious, no-bake dessert with flaky graham cracker crust, fluffy peanut butter filling, and velvety chocolate topping. This super easy, not-too-sweet chocolate peanut butter pie is a fan favorite among my easy dessert recipes.

Chocolate peanut butter pie is a scrumptious dessert that tastes like it's made at your favorite restaurant. It’s rich, decadent, and satisfies sweet cravings ... without being overly sweet. This no-bake pie recipe is for anyone who wants to throw together a super simple, crowd-favorite dessert using mostly pantry ingredients. Trust me, chocolate peanut butter pie takes peanut butter and chocolate to a level that will find you, and your people, totally impressed with your (secretly minimal) effort.

Peanut butter pie recipe ingredients

* get full printable recipe below

• graham crackers
• brown sugar
• butter
• cream cheese
• peanut butter
• powdered sugar
• vanilla extract
• Kosher salt
• heavy cream
• chocolate chips

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How to make peanut butter pie from scratch

* get full printable recipe below

1. Make graham cracker crust - Process graham crackers and sugar into fine crumbs, add butter, press into pie plate, and refrigerate.
2. Make the pie filling - Blend together cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt.
3. Whip the cream - Whip heavy cream into stiff peaks and fold into peanut butter filling.
4. Fill the pie - Pour filling into pie crust, spread evenly, and refrigerate.
5. Make the ganache - Microwave heavy cream and chocolate chips together, stir until silky. Allow to cool a few minutes and pour over pie, spreading into a uniform layer.
6. Chill the pie - Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours up to 3 days (or freeze up to 30 days). Serve chilled.

I adapted this peanut butter pie recipe from my America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. I used a simple graham cracker crust in place of the suggested cookie crust (for less sugar). I also made a chocolate ganache topping sprinkled with graham cracker crust and a little salt because ... that's my jam (see my Chocolate Eclair Icebox Cake).

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How to serve peanut butter pie

• chilled - PB pie served straight from the refrigerator will be perfectly chilled and refreshing. The pie texture is semi-firm yet soft enough to require a sharp knife when slicing to avoid ruining the appearance. The flavor ... divine.

• frozen - When frozen, this PB pie becomes PB ice cream pie. It has a firm texture so it's easy to slice and serve without ruining the appearance. It's super refreshing on warm days and the flavor ... also divine.

It doesn't take very long for chilled PB pie to work its way to room temperature. It starts to become super soft and is difficult to maintain its shape and appearance. When this happens, it should be eaten immediately, which shouldn't be a problem because it's a lot like biting into a chocolate peanut butter cloud 😂

Peanut butter pie ingredient substitutions

• graham cracker crust - you can swap chocolate graham crackers for the classic grahams (my personal fav). Also, you can buy packaged graham cracker crumbs, but they'll be more expensive than whole crackers. You can always skip the homemade crust entirely and use pre-made graham cracker crust (or any pie crust).

• heavy cream (whipping cream) - if you don’t have a hand mixer or stand mixer to whip the heavy cream into whipped cream for the filling, you can use 4 oz whipped topping (such as Cool Whip). Just thaw and fold it into the filling.

• chocolate ganache - use milk chocolate or dark chocolate for this recipe. You can use the equivalent amount of any chocolate bar. I'm a fan of semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolate for this recipe.

Alternatively, you can use packaged chocolate sauce in place of the ganache. But, if you do, you'll miss the soft, rich, ganache experience like the one pictured here...

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Recommended tools:

• 7 cup food processor (fitted with mixing blade)
• 9" pie plate
• measuring cups and spoons
• mixing bowls
• hand-mixer or stand mixer
• rubber spatula
• microwave-safe bowl (to melt chocolate)
• whisk or fork

More easy dessert recipes

• No Bake Chocolate Eclair Icebox Cake
• Bananas Foster
• Orange Olive Oil Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache

No Bake Peanut Butter Pie

Peanut Butter Pie - a luscious, no-bake dessert with flaky graham cracker crust, fluffy peanut butter filling, and rich chocolate topping. This super easy, not-too-sweet peanut butter pie recipe is a crowd-pleaser for any occasion!

5 from 10 votes

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Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 0 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 16 2 oz slices

Author: Traci - TheKitchenGirl.com

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust

• 8 sheets Graham Crackers or 1 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
• 1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
• 4 Tbsp Unsalted Butter melted

Peanut Butter Filling

• 4 oz Cream Cheese softened
• 1/2 cup Natural Peanut Butter
• 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 3/4 cup Heavy Cream or 4 oz whipped topping

Chocolate Ganache Topping

• 1/4 cup Heavy Cream 2 oz
• 1/3 cup Chocolate Chips 2 oz

Recipe Instructions

For the crust

• Blend whole GRAHAM CRACKERS and SUGAR into crumbs using a food processor (or ziploc and rolling pin). *see footnote #1
• Add BUTTER and pulse until combined. Reserve a pinch or two of crumbs to garnish top of pie.
• Press graham cracker crumbs evenly into baking pan and refrigerate until ready to use. *see footnote #2

For the filling

• In a mixing bowl, blend CREAM CHEESE, PEANUT BUTTER, POWDERED SUGAR, VANILLA, and SALT until well-combined.
• In a separate mixing bowl, blend the HEAVY CREAM until stiff peaks form (about 2 minutes). *If using frozen whipped topping, allow to thaw.
• Gently fold into peanut butter filling. Pour filling into the graham cracker crust and spread evenly. Refrigerate while making the ganache.

For the chocolate ganache topping

• Add HEAVY CREAM and CHOCOLATE CHIPS to a microwave-safe bowl.
• Heat in 30 second intervals on HIGH setting until it's almost boiling (don’t let it bubble up).
• Gently stir with a whisk until it's smooth and velvety.
• Allow the ganache to cool about 10 minutes, give a stir, then pour over peanut butter pie surface.

  Spread ganache into an even layer. Garnish with sprinkles of the reserved graham cracker crust crumbles and a few flecks of Kosher salt (the secret weapon). Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight before serving.

Serving and storage

• Serve chilled or frozen ... and watch it disappear!
• To store, refrigerate in an airtight container up to 3 days or in the freezer up to 30 days.

Tried this recipe? I'd love your review!Visit the comments below and tell me how it went.

RECIPE NOTES

Recipe Footnotes

1) Making graham cracker crumbs - If you don't have a food processor, place graham crackers in a gallon sized ziploc bag and mash with a rolling pin to create crumbs. Alternatively, you can use packaged graham cracker crumbs.

2) Crust - When pressing the crust, use the bottom of a measuring cup or a small bowl to press for a uniform crust.

Option to bake crust - If you prefer a firm, cookie-like crust (instead of flaky), you can bake the graham cracker crust at 350° for 8 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow crust to cool completely before adding pie filling.

Nutrition

Serving: 2oz | Calories: 196kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 112mg | Potassium: 86mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 403IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 1mg

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The Kitchen Girl

Recipe author and food photographer at The Kitchen Girl

I'm on a mission to help you eat healthy AND save money through simple, everyday recipes, product reviews, and budget-friendly kitchen tips.

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