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Learn how to make a Graham Cracker Crust from scratch. Homemade Graham Cracker Crust is sweet, buttery, and miles ahead of anything you can buy at the store.
From cheesecakes to custard pies, so make of my favorite dessert recipes start with a Graham Cracker Crust. As a classically-trained chef and a busy mom of 3, I know when it’s fine to take a shortcut to save time and when homemade really is best. When it comes to graham cracker crusts, I encourage you to skip the store-bought version and make this recipe yourself.
Store-bought graham cracker crusts can taste bland or stale, or even worse, turn out to be cracked. Making your crust from scratch means you can use butter, rather than palm oil, to hold your crumbs together, too. A homemade graham cracker crust comes together with just 3 ingredients in minutes, and you can bake it or chill it as your final recipe requires.
Put your graham cracker crust to work in Vanilla Cheesecake, Cheesecake Bars, Chocolate Cream Pie, and more. And for extra credit, consider making Homemade Graham Crackers for the best flavor and texture you can imagine.
Table of Contents
Homemade Graham Cracker Crust Ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
- Graham crackers: Honey-flavored, cinnamon, or even chocolate graham crackers all work well. If graham crackers aren’t available in your part of the world, you can substitute 1 ½ cups crushed digestive biscuits. (9 sheets of graham crackers yields about 1 ½ cups of crumbs.)
- Sugar: Or substitute 2 tablespoons brown sugar or omit from the crust entirely.
- Butter
How to Make Graham Cracker Crust
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a food processor, blender, or in a plastic bag with a rolling pin, finely crush graham crackers (you will have about 1 ½ cups crumbs).
- In a medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar.
- Pour into a 9-inch springform pan. Using the bottom of a measuring cup, press the crust evenly and firmly into the bottom and up the sides of the pan.
- Bake until golden brown and fragrant, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.
How to Store Homemade Graham Cracker Crust
- Yield: This Graham Cracker Crust recipe creates enough to fill a 9-inch springform pan, which will serve about 12 to 16 slices. Or, use this recipe for a 9-inch square baking pan.
- Make ahead: After baking, cool completely and then store covered (or wrapped in plastic) in the refrigerator up to 3 days in advance.
- Freezer: Freeze the baked, cooled crust up to 3 months in advance. Thaw at room temperature before using.
Graham Cracker Crust Recipe FAQs
Sure. Keep your kitchen cool and the oven off; simply chill the crust (to solidify the melted butter and sugar mixture) for at least 2 hours before filling it.
You can’t go wrong with Chocolate Cream Pie, No Bake Lemon Cheesecake, Key Lime Pie, Pumpkin Cheesecake, or Cheesecake Bars with Strawberry Topping. Or soften and scoop any ice cream flavor inside and finish with your favorite sundae toppings for a semi-homemade ice cream pie.
This crust works great for desserts assembled in a 9-inch square pan, too.
To make sure your graham cracker crust stays together through slicing, start by grinding your graham crackers well with a food processor, blender, or in a bag with a rolling pin or pallet. Large, coarse pieces don’t hold together as well as finely ground crumbs. Next, use enough butter to coat the crumbs evenly. Then, be sure to press it tightly into the bottom of your baking dish. I suggest using a flat surface such as the bottom of a measuring cup or glass, or even the back of a spoon. Be sure to either bake or chill the crust depending on your final recipe, too.
If your graham cracker crust didn’t set, perhaps your crumbs weren’t ground finely enough and had large, coarse pieces. You also may not have had enough butter to coat the crumbs, or you didn’t press it tightly enough into your baking dish. If you haven’t filled the crust yet, try regrinding the crumbs (butter and all) and pressing into your pie plate again.
Homemade Graham Crackers
This easy Homemade Graham Crackers recipe is made with 100% whole wheat flour and brown sugar. These crackers are truly something special and beyond anything you can buy at the store.
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Desserts with a graham cracker crust
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Cheesecake Bars Recipe
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Chocolate Cream Pie
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Key Lime Pie
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Graham Cracker Pie Crust Recipe
Ingredients
- 9 graham crackers (see note 1)
- 5 tablespoons butter melted
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (see note 2)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a food processor, blender, or in a plastic bag with a rolling pin, finely crush graham crackers (you will have about 1 ½ cups crumbs).
- In a medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar. Pour into a 9-inch springform pan. Using the bottom of a measuring cup, press the crust evenly and firmly into the bottom and up the sides of the pan.
- Bake until golden brown and fragrant, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Graham crackers: Honey-flavored, cinnamon, or even chocolate graham crackers all work well. If graham crackers aren’t available in your part of the world, you can substitute 1 ½ cups crushed digestive biscuits (9 sheets of graham crackers yields about 1 ½ cups of crumbs).
- Sugar: Or substitute 2 tablespoons brown sugar or omit sugar from the crust entirely.
- Yield: This Graham Cracker Crust recipe creates enough to fill a 9-inch springform pan, which will serve about 12 to 16 slices. Or, use this recipe for a 9-inch square baking pan.
- Make ahead: After baking, cool completely and then store covered (or wrapped in plastic) in the refrigerator up to 3 days in advance.
- Freezer: Freeze the baked, cooled crust up to 3 months in advance. Thaw at room temperature before using.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
Is it okay to substitute 5 TB dark honey instead of the butter when making graham cracker crust and also eliminate the sugar? Should that be sufficient to bind the crushed gram crackers to make a crumbly textured crust?
Thank you,
Yvonne Metzger
Hi Yvonne, I haven’t tried this substitution, so I can not say for sure that it would work. I would start with 3 to 4 tablespoons of honey, and add more to adjust the consistency of the crumbs. You can add more graham cracker crumbs, too, if you find the mixture tacky. Hope this helps! Please write back if you try it! – Meggan
Hi Meggan,
I see that some people use light brown sugar when making graham cracker crust. What is the difference between using brown or white sugar? What is best? Thank you.
Hi Tee, using brown sugar and white sugar when making a graham cracker crust depends on personal preference. White sugar is neutrally sweet and helps the crust have a crumbly texture. Brown sugar adds a molasses flavors, moisture, some more light brown color to the crust, and helps the crust have a more chewy texture. Best is whichever you prefer! You can always experiment with one, the other, or a combination of both to find the texture you like best. I hope this helps! Please write with any more questions! – Meggan
Do you bake ahead if using for a pie filling that needs to be baked?
Hi Sherri, yes, possibly. The time it needs to bake may vary depending on the type of pie you are making, so I would recommend following the directions in the recipe. – Meggan
Crazy how easy this is to make and turns out so much better than the store bought stuff! Yum