Dried beans weigh down your pie crust to prevent misshaping during blind baking like traditional pie weights. Dried rice – Another popular pantry ingredient, dried rice is a great aluminum pie weights substitute as the small grains easily fit into smaller pie crusts or tart shell molds.
Best substitutes for pie weights:
- Dried beans – there are plenty of substitutes out there, but dried beans are a popular choice and also my favorite. I don’t actually own pie weights but I do have a jar of “baking beans” that I use year after year with great success. I use a mix of heirloom beans that includes dried black beans, kidney beans and pinto beans.
- Uncooked Rice – Most people have rice grains on hand and they are a great option for pie weights. Any variety of rice or grain would work here.
- Plain White Sugar – Not only can you use sugar as pie weights in a pinch, but have you ever had toasted sugar? It adds a toasty, caramelized quality and is great in many baking recipes. A benefit of using sugar is having some toasted sugar on hand afterwards!
- Popcorn Kernels – I always assumed using popcorn kernels for pie weights would cause it to pop, but it doesn’t! Without steam it works like other dried beans and grains do.
- Second Pie Plate – In a pinch you can also place a second pie plate of similar size on top of a layer of parchment paper inside your crust to weigh it down!
Supplies needed to Par-bake a crust:
- Aluminum foil
- Parchment paper
- Pie dish
- Cooking rack
Here’s How to Blind Bake a Pie Crust
FAQ
Can you put beans directly in pie crust?
Dried beans are the perfect size and shape to weigh down your pie crust—this is probably the most common sub for pie weights. Set aside a bag of dried beans for this purpose, because you can’t cook and eat them after they’ve been used.
Why are dried beans used in a pastry shop?
They are important as they help to keep the pastry in shape as it cooks. Without the weights the pastry on the base can puff up and the pastry on the sides can collapse inward.
How to blind bake a pie crust with beans?
Fill the lined shell with pie weights (ceramic pie weights, dried beans, or rice work well) all the way to the rim of the pan. Place the pie plate on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake 14–16 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and carefully lift out the parchment paper and weights.