Chess Pie

10 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Resting Time 4 hours
Total Time 5 hours

Classic Chess Pie is a Southern custard pie with a golden brown sugar crust. Creamy pie filling made with sugar, butter, eggs, white vinegar, and cornmeal.

Old fashioned Pie Recipes like Buttermilk Pie are comforting desserts no matter where you grew up. Bring a little Southern style into your holiday desserts with these classic pies.

Baked Chess Pie with Slice Cut out and Emphasized

CHESS PIE

There are times for giving classic recipes an Oreo or cinnamon sugar twist, and then there are times when you are craving an old fashioned, all-American down home pie. Chess Pie is one of those traditional Southern recipes that is simple to make but full of so much flavor. There’s no wonder it’s been in American kitchens for hundreds of years!

Chess Pie is also known as Sugar Pie due to the simplicity of the main ingredients being sugar, eggs, and butter. Don’t be fooled though, this doesn’t mean that Chess Pie is overly sweet. The savory cornmeal and tangy buttermilk give it balance, making a slightly sweet custard like filling.

Chess Pie Custard Ingredients in Bowl Before and After mixing

The sugar and the starchy cornmeal also give Chess Pie a crackled, crispy top crust that goes perfectly with the custard pie filling. It will remind you of crème brûlée but richer with a bit of tang. The creamy buttermilk pie filling is smooth and buttery and is perfect topped with fruit like Strawberry Topping.

Chess Pie is meant to cook low and slow so that it will set correctly and you won’t end up with a quiche consistency. It’s important note that the bake time is going to be longer than 50 minutes because you allow the oven to fully cool before you remove the pie, similar to making a cheesecake in a water bath.

Chess Pie Custard in Pie Shell Unbaked

Patience really is the name of the game for a successful Classic Chess Pie. This pie needs to sit at room temperature for at least 2-3 hours before you start to slice it. If you are making Chess Pie for the holidays, you should make it the day before so it has plenty of time to set up.

After your Chess Pie is set, it’s time to dig in and enjoy every sweet tangy bite. To slice your pie neatly, run your knife under hot water for 15-20 seconds between each slice. Top your pie with a dollop of homemade Whipped Cream or dust with powdered sugar before serving.

MORE DELICIOUS, CLASSIC PIES

Tips to Make a Perfect Chess Pie

  • Chill your pie dough in the pie pan before you start making your filling so everything is the same temperature when it goes into the oven.
  • For a silky smooth Chess Pie, cream eggs, cornmeal, vanilla and sugar together before adding buttermilk and butter.
  • Top your Chess Pie filling with a little more sugar, no more than 2 tablespoons, before baking for a thicker, golden brown crème brûlée-style topping.
  • Place your pie pan on a baking sheet before placing in the oven to ensure an even bake on your pie crust.

Close Up side view of Baked Chess Pie with Slice Cut Out

VARIATIONS ON CHESS PIE

  • Chocolate: Make a Chocolate Chess Pie by swapping evaporated milk for the buttermilk and vinegar, and adding ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder.
  • Lemon: To adjust this recipe to make Lemon Chess Pie, leave out the buttermilk and vinegar and add 2/3 fresh lemon juice and use 5 eggs. It will be a rich custard pie and super lemony!
  • Buttermilk: Instead of Buttermilk, you can add another tablespoon of white vinegar and substitute ¼ cup milk of your choice, including non-dairy milk.
  • Flavoring: Use other flavoring in place of (or with) the vanilla extract like maple syrup, a bit of espresso, or almond extract. This simple buttermilk pie can take on most of your favorite flavors!

Chess Pie Slice on Plate cutting Small Portion with Fork

SOME DELICIOUS TOPPING IDEAS:

HOW TO STORE

  • Serve: Keep this pie at room temperature until it has fully set, about 4 hours. After that, it is ready to be served or stored in the fridge.
  • Store: Cover your set Chess Pie with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 5 days.
  • Freeze: Cool and set pie completely. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and aluminum foil, then place in a freezer-safe bag sealed airtight. Freeze for up to 3 months and reheat from frozen.

Chess Pie Slice on Plate with Small Portion on Fork

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Chess Pie

Classic Chess Pie is a Southern custard pie with a golden sugar crust. Creamy pie filling with sugar, butter, eggs, buttermilk, and cornmeal.
Yield 10 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 5 hours
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 1 pie crust
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter , melted
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 tablespoons cornmeal
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
  • Add the pie crust to your 9" pie plate and put in the refrigerator so it stays cold while you make the filling.
  • In a large bowl whisk together the butter, sugar, vanilla extract, eggs, cornmeal, flour, buttermilk and vinegar until smooth.
  • Pour the mixture into the pie crust carefully.
  • Reduce the heat 350 degrees when you put the pie in and bake for 50 minutes.
  • Turn off the oven, crack open the door and let pie sit in oven until completely cooled. Do not remove from oven until cool.

Nutrition

Calories: 304kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 74mg | Sodium: 176mg | Potassium: 43mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 30g | Vitamin A: 365IU | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg
Keyword: Chess Pie

Chess Pie Collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Sabrina, True Southern chess pie recipe does NOT have buttermilk. Your recipe is correct except for the buttermilk. Buttermilk in Buttermilk pie, Yes, but chess pie, No.

    1. Lucy, you are so rude!
      To unjustly bestow but one star for such a small deviation from YOUR norm… shows no willingness to think outside of the bounds or leap for new horizons!
      I made two Chess pies for my sons chess team, and by God those kids loved it. The Buttermilk in this Chess pie saved my dish, and added a new and unique flavor I would have never thought to experiment with. I used specifically Belching Beaver Buttermilk, and it turned out delightful.
      Thank you, Sabrina, for a wonderful twist on a classic dish.