Easy Chocolate Pie

This easy chocolate pie is thick, fudgy and rich! Baked in a flaky all butter pie crust, this simple yet elegant chocolate filling is perfectly silky with effortless notes of espresso.

Satiate your most intense chocolate craving with this quick and indulgent chocolate pie! It has a fudge brownie-like texture complete with a crackly top. The sweetness is balanced by dark chocolate, cocoa powder, a little salt, and a flaky, buttery crust. A bit of secret espresso powder enhances the flavor of the chocolate, making this decadent pie taste even more chocolatey than you’ve ever tasted before!

Whisking together the eggs and sugar make the texture light and airy just like in my Fudgy Brownie Recipe, and it joins the ranks of chocolate perfection alongside my no-bake French Silk Pie and Chocolate Pound Cake. Serve it with a generous scoop of vanilla bean ice cream or lean in and dish out some of the best chocolate ice cream or homemade hot fudge sauce.

Professional Tips for homemade chocolate pie:

• Par bake your crust. No soggy bottoms here! Here is my post on how to par bake a pie crust so you can be sure your fudge filling sits on a flaky buttery crust every time.
• Whisk the filling until no streaks of eggs are visible. You want a smooth and homogenous filling so that it bakes evenly to perfection.
• Be careful with your chocolate. When melting the chocolate and butter together, be careful to let everything melt slowly and evenly. Chocolate can seize if it gets too hot, the heat is too direct especially around the edges of the bowl in the water bath, or if water gets into the melting chocolate. Avoid all of these scenarios by keeping the water simmering and not touching the bottom of the bow. Release the steam carefully to avoid stray water droplets falling into your pie filling. 
• Jiggle gently to check for doneness. Do not poke your chocolate pie for doneness, instead, you can tell it is done when it puffs a bit in the center, and when the whole pie filling jiggles as a cohesive unit similar to a cheesecake or Jell-O.

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• Par Baked Pie Crust: Use either store-bought or homemade pie dough. I would recommend my flaky butter pie crust or vodka all-butter pie crust! Make two and freeze one for later! 
• Butter: I use unsalted butter for baking, because you want to control the amount of salt you are adding. The fat and dairy in butter will round out the flavor and create a smoothness in this baked custard.
• Dark Chocolate: The kind of chocolate I like to use for chocolate pie is a chocolate that has at least 54% cocoa solids but up to 65% to balance the sweetness of the pie. Chopping bar chocolate is a better bet than chocolate chips because the bar will melt and incorporate better. 
• Cocoa Powder: I use Dutch processed cocoa powder, which means it has been treated with an alkaline solution. It has a rich, deep flavor and a darker color. It’s also the ingredient that puts my Best Red Velvet Cake Recipe over the top!
• Espresso Powder: Espresso powder amplifies the chocolate flavor in this recipe. You can omit it, if desired. I only use Medaglia D’Oro instant espresso when baking. Flavor and quality varies greatly between brands and I prefer this one. It isn’t bitter and it dissolves easily even in cold liquid.
• Kosher Salt: Kosher salt is less salty than table salt and a teaspoon weighs less than other finer ground varieties. It enhances the chocolate notes.  
• Granulated Sugar: Sugar is here for sweetness but also to add a little leavening when beaten with the eggs and protects the eggs from the heat of baking.
• Whole Egg: The egg in a baked custard is integral to thickening the custard. Whisking it first with the sugar protects it from the heat.
• Egg Yolk: Egg yolks in a baked custard are also thickeners like the whole eggs but they add more fat than the whole egg without the added moisture from the whites. This makes a thick, rich chocolate pie. Too many yolks will make it taste “eggy”.
• Light Brown Sugar

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Variations & Substitutions:

• Nuts: Go nuts and add up to 2 cups of roasted, chopped pecans or walnuts.
• Caramel Chocolate Pie: Pour about a cup of my salted caramel sauce on top after the pie has cooled. Chill thoroughly before slicing and serving. As it warms up, the sauce will loosen and sauce the pie. You could also add up to ½ cup of the sauce in the pie filling before baking. It would be kind of like my caramel pudding and dark chocolate pudding had a baby, but in pie form!
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie: Add ½ cup of your favorite brand of peanut butter and make it a chocolate peanut butter pie! {My great-grandma loved peanut butter too, as you’ll recall from her Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies.}
• Add streusel: Add an easy and delicious streusel topping. If you want more cohesive streusel pieces, use this brown sugar streusel recipe, or use the crumb topping from my pumpkin coffee cake for a lighter topping.
• Pie Crust: This old-fashioned chocolate pie would also be delicious in a pâte sablée pie crust, in a baked graham cracker crust or in an Oreo pie crust.

How to Make Chocolate Pie

Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.

Par-Bake your pie crust:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°F convection or 375°F conventional. If using homemade pie dough, roll out one portion of pie dough on a lightly floured surface until about 1/8th inch thick. Chill 30 minutes flat on a baking sheet. This allows the gluten to relax and the butter to re-solidify.

Step 2: Place chilled dough on top of a 9 inch pie dish or tin. Allow to warm up just enough to be workable. Lift up the edges and allow it to settle on the bottom. Gently press the sides to fit the dish allowing the edges to overhang the dish. Start on one side and roll the edges under towards the dish. Roll until you reach the dish then gently press it down on the dish to seal. Repeat with the rest of the crust.

Step 3: Flute the edges by pressing one knuckle on the outside and two knuckles around it from the inside of the crust. I prefer using my knuckles but you could also use your finger tips. Chill for 10-30 minutes depending on how warm it got. If it is still cold, just 10 minutes will do.

Step 4: Crumple a piece of parchment paper and line the inside of the chilled crust. Fill with pie weights, beans or rice. I find beans work best.

Step 5: Bake crust for 15-20 minutes and then remove the weights and parchment. I remove the parchment and weights when the crust has just begun to brown and doesn’t look raw anymore. This is the par-baked stage. The crust will bake again with the chocolate filling.

Make & bake the pie:

Step 6: Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F convection or 350°F conventional (no fan). On the stovetop, cover the bottom of a medium saucepot with about an inch of water.

Step 7: Choose a large bowl that will fit on top of the pot. The bottom of the bowl should not touch the water. In this bowl, place butter, dark chocolate, cocoa powder, espresso powder and kosher salt. Bring the water in the pot to a simmer and melt all the ingredients together, stirring occasionally.

Step 8: Meanwhile in another bowl, whisk the whole eggs and egg yolks together until they are slightly lightened, smooth, and no visible whites remain. Whisk in the granulated sugar and light brown sugar until the eggs are light and fluffy.

Step 9: Remove the chocolate mixture from the stove as soon as it melts. You want it to be melted but not hot. Stir or whisk.

Step 10: Pour the chocolate into the egg mixture at one time. Work quickly to keep the chocolate from cooling and seizing or the eggs from cooking prematurely in the warm chocolate. Whisk together thoroughly.

Step 11: Pour into the parbaked shell. 

Step 12: Bake in a preheated oven for 40 minutes or until it puffs in the center and jiggles slightly as a unit like Jell-O or a cheesecake. Try not to poke the pie with a knife or cake tester to test for doneness.

Step 13: Allow to cool completely at room temperature before wrapping and refrigerating. This pie slices best when cold.

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Before You Go

Check out our other delicious, chef-developed Pie Recipes! And, learn the tips for pairing this pie with the rest of the collection in my 20 Best Thanksgiving Pie Recipes!