bakingwithtradition.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a way for websites to earn advertising revenues by advertising and linking to recommended products. Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.

The best chocolate pie is a pure dream for chocolate lovers: filled with a whole pound of chocolate, rich with cream and half and half, and with no starch, you get a silky smooth chocolate luxurious mouthfeel without any kind of chalky taste.

My Mom has been perfecting her chocolate pie for decades. Before her, my Gram made quite delicious chocolate pie. Still, Gram’s chocolate pie has less chocolate and is thickened with flour and starch. Mom’s chocolate pie is thickened with a whole lot of egg yolks not unlike vanilla pastry cream. Because chocolate thickens itself when combined with cream (think ganache), there’s no need for starch.

Call me crazy but a chocolate pie should taste like chocolate and not just be filled with a chocolate flavored pudding. Don’t get me wrong, that’s good too, but this is better when you want chocolate pie.

Once you’ve got your filling, you can pour it into a graham cracker crust and top it with a little bit of the best whipped cream frosting and you’ve got a chocolate pie EVERYONE will remember.

Bust out your best chocolate and let’s make something incredible.

The best chocolate pie

chocolate pie on plate with chocolate pie in pie plate, text overlay

Why this chocolate pie beats all the rest

Chocolate: there’s so much chocolate here! You can choose just about any combination of milk, dark, and semi-sweet for a truly wonderful pie.
Flavor boosters: there’s just a tiny bit of both cinnamon and instant espresso. There’s not so much that you’ll notice either, but they boost the chocolate flavor making it taste even more chocolatey.
Good size batch: This recipe makes enough for two 9″ pies, or one 9″ pie + eight 4″ tarts, or one 9″ pie + a load of pudding you can eat over the sink for the next week. Any way you slice it, there’s a generous bit of filling that you’ll want to keep on hand.

Chocolate Pie Ingredients

Egg yolks: serves as the primary thickener for the chocolate.
Granulated sugar
Half and half
Heavy cream
Cocoa: a good Dutch-process cocoa like Droste or Guittard
Instant espresso (optional)
Cinnamon (optional)
Chocolate: any combination of dark, milk, and semi-sweet.
Vanilla paste or vanilla extract
Graham cracker crust: either homemade or store-bought crusts.

Helpful equipment for making chocolate pie

Fine mesh sieve: You absolutely need one of these here. A fine mesh strainer will help you get out any bits of cocoa and egg particles that could make for a lumpy filling.
Instant read thermometer: it’s crucial to not let the custard mixture get too hot or it will curdle. Nobody wants chocolate scrambled eggs!
Heavy 4 qt pot: This is the best tool for heating up the milk. I’ve got my All-Clad I bought over 20 years ago, but use what you have.
Whisk: It won’t take long for the milk and eggs to get up to the ideal temperature, but while the mixture is being heated, you want to whisk whisk whisk. I prefer a flat whisk as it is good at getting into the corners of the pot.

The Best Chocolate Pie

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

No reviews

Author: Elizabeth Farr
Total Time: 3 hours 15 minutes (includes chilling time)
Yield: 2 9″ pies 1x

Print Recipe

Description

With a smooth silky starch-free filling that’s mostly chocolate, this is the chocolate pie that only a chocolate lover would ever dream up. Save your best chocolate for this pie and serve it with a dollop of whipped cream frosting.

Ingredients

Scale

Two 9″ Graham cracker crusts (homemade graham crust or store-bought)
1 cup granulated sugar (200 g)
2 Tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa such as Hershey’s Special Dark or Droste (10 g)
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder (optional)
Pinch of ground cinnamon (optional)
5 large egg yolks
1 and 1/4 cups half and half (295 mL)
1 cup heavy cream (236 mL)
1 pound chopped chocolate: any combination of dark, milk, semi-sweet or chocolate chips with maybe a square or two of unsweetened chocolate, (454 g)
1 teaspoon vanilla paste or vanilla extract

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Make the crust

Make two crusts (double the recipe) following the graham cracker crust recipe. You can also start with store-bought graham cracker crusts. Let the crusts cool while you prepare the filling.

Make the filling

Chop all of the chocolate into chocolate chip size pieces. Place the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl.
Whisk the sugar, cocoa, espresso, and cinnamon in a bowl to break up any lumps in the cocoa. Add in the egg yolks and whisk until smooth.
Pour in the half and half and the cream and whisk until smooth. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a 4 quart pot to remove any egg bits and cocoa lumps.
Gently heat the milk and egg mix over medium heat until it is 165-170 F (73-76 C). Be whisking constantly while the milk is heating, stopping every few seconds to check the temperature of the milk with an instant read thermometer. It’s important that the milk does not get hotter than this as it will curdle. At this temperature, the mixture will not really look like it’s thickening at all, and that’s okay.
As soon as the thermometer is in that magic range of 165-170 F, pour the milk immediately over the chopped chocolate through the fine mesh strainer. Let the chocolate sit for a couple minutes to absorb the heat, and then whisk until smooth. The filling will still seem quite liquid, but it will set up as it cools.
Pour the filling directly into the prepared crusts.
Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving. Pipe on some whipped cream frosting for an extra special slice.

Equipment

instant read thermometer

Buy Now →

fine mesh strainer

Buy Now →

flat whisk

Buy Now →

Notes

Chocolate Pie tarts: as good as this is in pie format, this filling makes incredible, adorable tarts that are even cuter topped with chocolate covered coffee beans. This filling will fill 8 mini quiche pans plus one 9″ pie pan. To do this, you can make 1 regular pie with a graham cracker crust and make the tarts with another batch of the graham crust using chocolate graham crackers, chocolate biscuits, or just make a double batch of the graham cracker crust.