It doesn’t get much more quintessentially southern than this Southern Buttermilk Pie. This dessert pie is an easy, rich chess pie your whole family will love!
Headed to a get-together and want to bring a quintessentially southern dessert? Look no further than my Southern Buttermilk Pie! This delightful dessert is a rich and creamy pie with a custard-like texture. It is sure to bring back all those fond memories of family, food, and all things Southern.
You can even dress this pie up a little as you see in my photos. A dollop of whipped cream with a few fresh berries pairs so well. Delicious! Or, you can just keep it simple. The pie really speaks for itself in flavor. No matter how you plate it up, everyone loves this traditional buttermilk pie!
Recipe FAQs
- How can I make sure the ingredients all blend together consistently? My best tip for making sure all your ingredients blend together evenly in this buttermilk pie recipe is the make sure your butter is at room temperature before you cream it together with the sugar. Cool butter when creamed with sugar can lead to clumps. You can also take this a step further by allowing your eggs to reach room temperature before adding them in.
- What type of butter should I use? You can use either salted or unsalted butter. It’s really up to you. However, as a general rule of thumb, if the recipe doesn’t specify, I’d use unsalted.
- Can I make a substitution for the buttermilk? I do not recommend using homemade buttermilk or a buttermilk substitute in this recipe because I’ve specifically calibrated all the ingredients with grocery store cultured buttermilk. Therefore, I’m just not confident it will turn out any other way.
- How should I store buttermilk pie? You must store this pie in the refrigerator because it’s a custard pie.
- Where’s the cornmeal? Many traditional buttermilk and chess pie recipes include a few tablespoons of cornmeal. It adds to the texture of the pie and helps to thicken it a little. But in all honesty, I just don’t love the texture of buttermilk pie with cornmeal, so I don’t include it in my recipe. You are welcome, however, to include it here.
Other Traditional Southern Pie Recipes:
Chocolate Chess Pie – Chocolate Chess Pie is an easy-to-make, decadent, rich dessert that’s perfect for any occasion. Made with simple ingredients, this pie is sure to please everyone at your table.
Old Fashioned Vinegar Pie – This Old Fashioned Vinegar Pie is a super easy vintage recipe that makes a silky, delicious chess-style pie your family will love!
Old Fashioned Coconut Cream Pie – Old Fashioned Coconut Cream Pie is deliciously thick and creamy with tons of coconut flavor. And I just love the complement of the sweetened whipped cream on top. Yum!
Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Meringue Pie – This recipe for my Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Meringue Pie is a vintage recipe that you probably remember from your childhood! The pie has a sweet and creamy custard layer, two layers of peanut butter, and a light and fluffy meringue topping!
Recipe Card
Southern Buttermilk Pie
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- dash of nutmeg
- 1 prepared deep dish pie crust, unbaked
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.Cream butter and sugar together with a hand mixer.
- Add eggs; mix well.
- Add buttermilk, flour, vanilla, salt and nutmeg; mix well.
- Pour into unbaked pie crust and bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour, or until set. The middle may be slightly jiggly but should not be liquidy. Allow to cool completely before slicing.
Nutrition
* If nutritional values are provided, they are an estimate and will vary depending on the brands used. The values do not include optional ingredients or when ingredients are added to taste. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, I recommend grabbing your favorite brands and plugging those ingredients into an online nutritional calculator.
From Original Post – March 20, 2012
Today’s a little bittersweet for me and my family. Today our house goes on the market. It’s a little tough because this was the home that Heather and I came home to as a married couple. It’s the house we brought our little boy home from the hospital to. We know it’s the right decision, but it’s still a little hard. I know home is where you make it, but this place has memories. It’s a great little house and we’re sure to miss it. But the truth is, we didn’t really plan on starting a family as early as we did and the yard just isn’t great for a 3 year old. The backyard has a huge slant and there just isn’t much place to play. And our little guy needs LOTS of room to play. That kid would be outside from sun up to sun down if we’d let him. We need a little more room to spread out, too.
It’s the first of many changes on the horizon for us. Heather will graduate in May and she’ll be transitioning to a new job. And just have to brag a minute, she’ll graduate with honors. Yep, Magna Cum Laude… I’ll be more like thankya laude ~grins~. Kidding aside, it will be great to have the stress off of her. That will allow her to relax a little. She’s done a pretty good job though being a full-time student, mom, and wife all while holding down a full time job as an RN. I’m so proud of that girl!
Well, I just felt like I hadn’t chatted with y’all in a while and just wanted to let you in on what’s going on in my life. I’ll have a little bit more free time now that my travel with work is over, so I hope to be able to chat with y’all a little bit more than I have been so far this year. By the way, what happened to January, February, and the first half of March??? Whew! Seems like I was just taking down Christmas decorations. Good grief! Well, y’all be good!
Lisa Artacho
Delicious and perfectly sweet. Custard was smooth and creamy. I made it into mini pies in a muffin tin, baked at 350 for 25 minutes. Everyone loved them. Adding to Thanksgiving menu this year!
Thanks, Lisa! So glad you enjoyed it!
Marie Vassar
Mmmmm Good! I cooked 2 pies and in one pie I replaced pure vanilla extract with coconut extract and it was also Mmmmm Good!
Sounds delicious!
Sharon
Turned out GREAT! Friend had been talking abt buttermilk pies he ate as a child so I baked yours and he loved it. Funny thing was that I ate almost the same pies but they were called Chess pies because we grew up in different states.
Yep! they’re all so much like with a few regional variations! So glad y’all enjoyed it!
Patricia
Delicious Is not enough a word. This is my favorite recipe for this pie. it’s the best one out.
Awww! Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it!
Victoria
This is the best Buttermilk Pie recipe I’ve ever used. This recipe is a keeper. It actually made 2 pies.
It’s absolutely beautiful! I’m so glad it turned out great for you!
Ghislaine Connell
Would it be possible to show the nutrition values?
I don’t normally include nutritional info. Here’s why: https://southernbite.com/heres-why-i-dont-post-nutritional-information-with-my-recipes/
Tami L.
Love, love, love this pie! Always graces my Thanksgiving table right beside the pumpkin and pecan pie.
Awwww Tami, you sure know how to make a guy feel good!
Stormy Cox
Help. Our butter and sugar aren’t Creaming! We have dumped 3 x. And the last time we just went with it. Will let u know.
So sorry this happened! Next time make sure that the butter is room temperature and if its not creaming just keep mixing it!
Lyvonne Hunt
I love your receipts. I have not tried them yet, but plan to soon. Thank you for them. They are recipes we will use.
Lyvonne Hunt
Thanks, Lyvonne! Hope you find lots you enjoy!
Mandy
Salted or unsalted butter?
Either will work. As a general rule of thumb, if the recipe doesn’t specify, I’d use unsalted. Enjoy!!
Merri Brabham
If I use one deep dish pie crust this amount of mixture runs over but it is perfect for two regular pie crust. Does it seem that way to anyone else? Great pie recipe.
I’ve not had that trouble.
Robert Henderson
I went exactly by the recipe and it filled the pie crust perfectly. Even scraped the sides of the mixing bowl. The pie after cooking had little to no jiggle. Hey, men can cook! Lol
YES, we can!
Sarah
Sadly I have to confess that I have now followed your recipe to a tee TWICE and it has not gone well… I had it in the oven for an hour and a half and it was still incredibly jiggly and soupy. I’m so sad about it… not sure what I’m doing wrong but just has not been successful for me at all 🙁
Ugh! I’m so sorry to hear you had trouble. Did you try chilling the pie completely after baking? It can be pretty jiggly coming out of the oven while it’s still hot, but firms up pretty well once cooled or even chilled.
Angie Gilmore
This was amazing. I told my mom it was like a vanilla custard with a think cookie crunch on top! Bravo!
How do you store it? In the fridge or just out?
Best,
Angie G
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed it! Since it’s a custard pie, it needs to be stored in the fridge.
Destiny
So I asked my aunt yesterday how to make a buttermilk pie…. She said hang on just a second. Then she sends me a link to this recipe on Pinterest!! She is usually one of those types of people who can throw it together and it be delicious. She hasn’t been doing to good lately and was actually in the nursing home for the last month almost until today and she had to be rushed back to the hospital. She wasn’t going to be home for the holidays this year and the nursing home won’t allow anyone to bring outside food in, so I decided to practice this recipe tonight in hopes to make it for Thanksgiving this year. I took pics of the finished product and sent to my aunt hoping I made her proud. She doesn’t have her phone right now and I haven’t talked to her since she sent me the recipe yesterday, bc as of about 12 today she has been unaware of her surroundings. I pray tomorrow she is better and comes to some, I can’t wait for her to see it. And I probably will fix this as one of the desserts for Thanksgiving just with a little less sugar. I love it and my husband said it was a little rich so I’m going to tone down the sugar for him!!
Praying for you and your Aunt, Destiny! I know she’ll be so proud to see your pie!
Cooper
I followed the recipe and cooked for 1 hr. The bottom 1/2 inch of the pie was not set, it was runny. Is that normal?
Certainly not. What kind of dish/pan did you use?
Cooper
I used a frozen pie crust that is in an aluminum pie plate.
It may be that the crust was not thawed completely.
Alice
Thank you for your reply Stacey. I’m going to use a rolled crust in a pie plate next time. The pie is delicious and I’ll keep making it.
Love hearing that! Enjoy!
Sherry Smith
This was delicious Stacey !!! I can’t even begin to tell you how many recipes from your wonderful cookbook that my family has raved over !!! So simple , so southern , perfect !
Thanks so much, Sherry! It makes my heart so happy hearing of folks getting good use out of those pages!
Lily
Can I use homemade buttermilk in this recipe?
I actually wouldn’t recommend it as this recipe was developed specifically with grocery store cultured buttermilk. I just can’t guarantee it’ll work with something different. How do you make your buttermilk?
Lily
A tablespoon of white vinegar with enough homo milk added to make one cup and let it stand for 5 minutes.
Gotcha. That’s actually just a buttermilk substitute, not real buttermilk – thought I use it all the time in a pinch. However, I wouldn’t recommend it in this recipe.
Faith
I used the milk and vinegar trick and my pie turned out great! Not as amazing as regular buttermilk but it set just fine and it’s still really good.
Glad to hear it worked for you!
Vera
My grandmother used to make a Lemon Chess pie which I loved. I’ve tried making them for my family but they prefer I do a different dessert. (I don’t have the magic touch, I guess.) Have you heard of anyone using the baking type artificial sweetener when baking pies?
I have, but don’t have much experience with it.
Frances Brinlee
This is one of my favorite pies to bake. When I take to to my church lunch it disappears in a hurry.
janice
I found that this pie was too sweet for my taste. Maybe less sugar would work. Don’t know?
You can certainly reduce the sugar amount if you see fit.
Debra Chohamin
Please do or buy something very special for that LADY of yours,,,you are BLESSED,,Congrats to the family!!!
Vickyv
Add some lemon zest and a couple teaspoons of lemon juice! WOW! I have a similar recipe in my Historical Indiana Cookbook.
YUM!
Tammy
Is buttermilk pie like custard pie?
Very much so!
Diane L.
Is Buttermilk pie the same as chess pie?
In my opinion, they are very similar but not quite the same.
Mary
I have made this recipe and used a pre-made graham cracker crust because I was lazy once, and it turned out fabulous!! My family now prefers the graham cracker crust! The extra sweetness and crunch was great, and some of the buttermilk “juices” soak into the crust before it gets very hot. But don’t let it sit after pouring, put it right into the oven!
Sounds GREAT! Thanks for sharing!
Mary
Enjoy your postings! Tell your wife congrats on cum laud, many RN’s in my family! And good luck with new house, home is truly where the heart is!
Carie
I am looking forward to trying this Buttermilk pie. I think you need a chess pie recipe on your site. I just love chess pie my grandmother who was born in Coldwater,Mississippi made it and it always reminds me of her.
Audria
It is hard to sale a place after many years and memories…have been right where you are. My two kids are now married and now have their own lives and houses to take care of. Just me and my husband and our dogs 🙂
Hope all goes well when you move and I know you are very proud of your daughter. My daughter told me a few days ago she and her husband are now ready to have children…so maybe soon I can post am going to be a Nanny! God bless!
Lori
Congrats on the Magna cum laude!!Hard work pays off!
I understand the bittersweet you are talking about. We lived in our first house for 25 years. When we built the house we live in now (8 years now), I was afraid it would never be “home” but it didn’t take any time until it did. It was where my family was, therefore it was home! Gives real meaning to “home is where your heart is”.
anne harris
Just a quick comment, congrats on the magna cum laude!! As for the house, it’s a bittersweet moment, but when you find the right house..
it will be home!
best wishes to all of you!
Annie
emily willingham
do you know if the buttermilk powder will work in this recipe?
Unfortunately, I don’t know. It seems to me that it would, but I’ve been wrong before. I would give it a go if I were you. 🙂
Sallie
Buttermilk powder works well when making buttermilk pie.
Awesome! Thanks for the info, Sallie!
Sara
Hi there, Sallie!
How do you use powdered buttermilk for this pie? Do you just mix it with water or milk? If so, what ratio do you use? The brand I use is SACO CULTURED BUTTERMILK. Thank you and I look forward to your response.