Gear Heads | The Best Pie Weights for Perfect Pie Crusts

Many of our pie recipes call for blind baking-baking the crust either partially or completely before adding the filling. But without a filling to hold the raw dough in place, the bottom can puff up or the sides can slump as it bakes, resulting in ugly, misshapen pies. To prevent this, the test kitchen uses pie weights.
Buy our winning pie weights: cooks.io/4bKrC53
Buy our best buy pie weights: cooks.io/4c52NQN
Buy our new book The Perfect Pie: cooks.io/4aS7qwJ
Read the full review of pie weights: cooks.io/2rcAKxW
ABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America's Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.
If you like us, follow us:
Hannah's Instagram: / hannah_crowley8
Lisa's Twitter: / lisamcmanus
americastestkitchen.com
/ americastestkitchen
/ testkitchen
/ testkitchen
/ testkitchen

[@jamesdooling4139]

My family used to own a factory. One of the traditional gifts for any new bride marrying in was a huge wooden box full of stainless steel ball bearings collected from a machinery to be used as pie weights.

[@mpuppet1975]

I've been using the same bag of pinto beans as pie weights for about 10 years. Screw buying pie weights.

[@KarenSchumacher]

I use the 'filled foil' method, but my fill is sugar. Just plain granulated sugar. Will go through 2 or 3 uses before it's the caramel color I use for baking cookies. Beans can't later be used for cooking, pennies are a pain to keep track of and can often heat with an odor. Pie weights cost money I don't want to spend. I always have sugar on hand, and it can always be used for something else.

[@barbarapearson5896]

That's actually a good tip @ Karen Schumacher.

[@heather1538]

Gonna try the sugar, thank you for the tip! Plus I don't want to spend the money for pie weights AND I want to bake tomorrow (smile!). Thanks again!

[@barbarapearson5896]

Or you could buy a bag of beans for about a buck and use them for years if you wanted to. Easy, peasy and cheap.

[@drizzyrauvryar6992]

My chef still uses her beans from 2005

[@fromflabtofourteener9596]

I don't know why they didn't mention dried beans. I bake pies all year round, and have used the same beans for a year now. I also use parchment paper instead of foil. Two bags of beans, and they go all the way up the sides, for a perfect crust!

[@RickDeckardMemories]

I know, right? If one is using foil, then ANYTHING can be used. They mentioned pennies. What is wrong with pennies? )))

[@NANAbingbangboom]

Beat me too it 😁👍

[@annhutcheson5770]

Was so happy to see this video up this morning! I had just six months ago purchased two of the four that you demonstrated and reviewed. I purchased both the chain weights (one strand) and the ceramic weights that won the top spot. Unfortunately my chain weights purchased from Amazon did not come with the cute little handy spoon tag, so I had to use tongs to retrieve it from the pie crust with tongs and 🙏🏻 it doesn’t slip and burn something/someone. Also, the crust under the chain weight was underbaked while the sides and crimp were perfect. If I have to place a sheet of aluminum foil under them, their attractiveness fades rapidly. Fail. The ceramic weights used with a piece of aluminum foil produced a perfectly set and baked pastry crust. I had ordered only one box to start with, but after I used them, I reordered two more, so deep dish pastries stay put and bake to perfection. Loved this one. Thanks, girls! ❤️

[@PecanPie1102]

You didn't test the beans or Penny's test for a significantly cheaper better option.

[@PecanPie1102]

And it is pennies (multiple single form )

[@denisgonzalez3883]

Because they're not pie weights... they're beans

[@seikibrian8641]

@@denisgonzalez3883 Since beans are often used (and have been since my grandmother's day) as pie weights, it would have been valuable to use them as a control.

[@denisgonzalez3883]

@@seikibrian8641 Yes, you are right. But they're only using products specifically marketed as pie weights so I understand why they did not use beans

[@lukerinderknecht2982]

@@seikibrian8641 I agree, would have been nice to see some alternative options and how they perform

[@berighteous]

Literally EVERY book that has pie recipes for two hundred years suggests using beans. You can reuse the beans a thousand times.

[@Marpurrsa]

and when you can't reuse them anymore it's not like beans cost a fortune either

[@ChatBot1337]

Beans all day. Anyone that spends $100 on pie weights doesn't deserve money. 😲😆

[@stephennielsen2134]

Or a piece of pie.

[@Paelorian]

The best suggestions I've gathered from the comments here and from thinking about it are small cheap pieces of stainless steel or aluminum (being lighter than steel) that you can easily buy in bulk like balls or nuts, dry rice or beans dedicated for the purpose, gravel or small rocks (you could pick it off the ground or get a small bag used for fish tanks at the pet store), marbles if you can find food-safe ones (those toy marbles from overseas may have lead or other contaminants in them), an appropriate sand, cheap clay balls that you can buy or make yourself if you have access to a kiln, and my favorite: sugar. If you bake with white sugar once it probably won't significantly change its character, but if you bake with the same sugar a few times you'll have slightly browned carmelized toasted granulated sugar which is delicious in many desserts. It's taste is more complex and less sweet. It doesn't clump and bakes just like white sugar so you can use it where a recipe calls for white sugar to add a little caramel flavor without using caramel, brown sugar, or molasses, all of which would greatly alter many recipes (due to different pH, water content, and/or temperature). You can read all about it here: www.seriouseats.com/2016/05/how-to-make-caramel-without-melting-sugar.html I'm sure the $24 ceramic weights are fine but I think I'd rather spend $2 on a bag of beans or rice or a block of clay, or else upgrade to a bag of indestructible stainless steel which would still probably cost less than commercial loose pie weights if you're buying a few pounds of the right stuff. You may be able to get clay or gravel for free off the ground. But I won't knock the ceramic pie weights ATK picked. They're prettier than the improvised alternatives and someone who bakes a lot may really enjoy having them. They seem like they could be a nice gift item to upgrade a frugal friend from the jar of old beans they've been using for the last decade. At $24 for the set of four that ATK recommends, it's not an extravagant purchase. It's just that we know the extra cost is for aesthetics, not an increase in baking performance. But the way the things we interact with look and feel is a real concern and it's often worth it to spend a little extra money to have finer things even if they don't do more than look better. We may enjoy them more. I know there are many bakers who would rather feel like they have professional equipment rather than something they improvised like a jar of beans or a bag of steel nuts from the hardware store, even if they work just as well. I may be too frugal to buy something as luxuriously unnecessary as commercial pie weights for myself, but if I baked pies regularly I'd appreciate good ones as a gift and would enjoy using them instead of any improvised alternative. Unless I start using more toasted sugar... After considering the subject I now think it's likely that I'll never need any pie weights at all, and probably wouldn't use them if I had them, because I should instead be incorporating more toasted sugar into my baking. Toasted sugar tastes good. Many people deliberately toast sugar, but using sugar as a pie weight you can get the toasting done "for free". Two birds with one stone. One of my favorite bakers, Stella Parks ("BraveTart"), wrote the guide to toasted sugar that I linked above and swears by the pie weight technique: www.seriouseats.com/2016/10/how-to-blind-bake-a-pie-crust.html

[@mrsneeklamy]

Very good points Paelorian, and the caramelised sugar tip is brilliant. One other thing they didn’t give attention to was storage requirements, those aluminium baking beans take up a large amount of space. I’ve got a moderately sized kitchen, those or the ceramic balls would take up valuable space or have to be shuffled off somewhere and then would rarely come out.

[@RWCU2B]

Wow, terrible audio on this one.

[@Chr1st8l]

I love these two personalities!!!!!

[@Mlxf5]

Should they have used multiple chains to fill up the pie like they did with the other options?

[@bosahvandenberg]

The issue with multiple chains is they tangle and you undo any convenience. There is room in here for a weird solution. Perhaps washed pennies.

[@susansparke3462]

Years ago, ignorant and inexperienced me bought a single box of ceramic pie weights that appear to be the same as the winner shown here instead of a chain simply because I thought that they would be more versatile by fitting into mini/personal pie, quiche or tart pans. Have I ever gotten around to using them? No. Have I dropped some of them and chased them all over the kitchen floor? Yes. Silly me didn't realize that I'd need 4 boxes worth of weights for a 9" standard depth pie! I wonder how many boxes it would take to fill a 9-1/2" Deep Dish Pie?

[@alexisdix6704]

Thanks for the advice. I needed it. I'm going to be baking pies for the first time this coming Wednesday.

[@janehall2720]

I used rice and kept it in a tub to reuse. Line the shell with parchment for easy removal. Shame on ATK for not offering an affordable alternative.

[@janwc1]

Great video. Thanks for keeping it family friendly and informative.

[@jonathangeorge8255]

Just in time for thanksgiving! You guys are the best!

[@semco72057]

I have seen the winning pie weights used by others on different channels and the users seem to love them.

[@Pastel_Pistol]

You two are great together!

[@SteveMillerhuntingforfood]

Thanks ladies....just ordered the ceramic pie weights (4x) and some new leaf cutters for decorating the rim of the pie.

[@michaelshane1979]

How come foil was used instead of parchment paper as a liner?

[@hearttoheart4me]

Pinto beans. 2 packages. $1.50 reuse pretty much an eternity. I have also blind baked without weights. I have not had pie dough slump on me. Then when I pulled it out I gently pushed the center of the pie dough down with a fork.

[@jodiealamode]

Dried beans or rice is the way to go; every pastry chef uses them. Even when they get too burned to use anymore, it's just a couple of bucks to replace.

[@lowreedman]

Go to hardware store and pick up a couple of pounds of stainless nuts. use with the aluminum. use them basically forever.....super cheap.

[@christinehultquist4554]

I have Mrs. Anderson's. I have more than one package, probably two or three. I think you need that many for most pies. Also, the package directions say to bake according to recipe and remove pie weights and bake for another five minutes.

[@airmojo]

I was wondering how the ceramic ball pie weights were used... now I know ! Someone posted on a Facebook Slingshot group about using them for slingshot ammo. I think I will just stick with the 3/8" clay ammo that Walmart sells in a big plastic bottle for about $800 (1500 count). My wife makes wonderful pies... she learned from her mother ! I asked her if she knew what "pie weights" were, and she had no idea, so I told her (from watching this video). She says she has never had an issue or need for them... suggested it may be because of how she first cooks the pie crust in the micro wave, before she sticks them in the oven.

[@lennart637]

You know you can buy ceramic and steel balls by the pound.

[@JonMeFree]

Yeah! No need for overpriced pie-specific weights.

[@shannonfisher2011]

Thank u ladies always wondered how GRANDMA made perfect shells Now I have choice. U ladies ROCK!!!!!🥧❤💜💙💚💛💛😘

[@jlsagely6892]

More Hannah!!!

[@krissydad1209]

Hi is there any chance that you will be doing a best food dehydrator in video?

[@susancham6025]

Would I need 8 packs of ceramic pie weights for a tall, springform quiche crust?

[@bl6973]

if all else fails, make pie crust chips and pie filling dip.

[@pam_jackson]

Lucky for me years ago I collected pennies that were 95% copper, pre 1982. I do double up with the foil as they are heavy. And yes I learned this the hard way, one time my foil ripped and I had hot pennies going everywhere.

[@meldlew]

I wonder if the foil in combined with the disc would work

[@thefarmlife4720]

"Is it wrong" if I just don't bake any pies that require blind-baking the crust? 0.o

[@annhutcheson5770]

No. You just miss out on a whole lot of scrumptious pies, baked to perfection. ❤️

[@juliemcinnis3472]

You don’t get the soggy bottom on the pies.

[@brandonhoffman4712]

Is there gold in those aluminum beans? You could buy stainless weights from the tackle shop for less. And were talking stainless that has had a hole intent fully placed in the bean! Thank the planet for Mrs. Anderson!

[@unclerat2131]

I don't do a lot of baking, but I have never heard of pie weights like these. When did they become a thing?

[@yuukisama2001]

It's an interesting way of keeping things in order, but I still love my late grandma's made from scratch crust pies. Whether they looked crazy or not. She never had an issue. But then again she never got fancy with the sides. They still tasted good. I miss my grandma and her pies. 🤗🤗

[@ohmy9479]

...I’ll keep using dry kidney beans!👌🏻👌🏻

[@anderander5662]

I think this is getting a little ridiculous..... Best pie weights??? I've been waiting breathlessly for this episode

[@nancymerrifield4878]

I wonder if you could use beach stones, I use stones in my art and have a lot on hand....??

[@SquishySenpai]

Hooray for dollar stores and bags of marbles. Depending on your pie tray, you can often just sit a plain metal pie tin inside with just a handful of marbles to give it a little weight.

[@RickDeckardMemories]

Norm Macdonald likes pies. The ones left on the window sills to cool.

[@TheLukemcdaniel]

The chain might have worked better if it had more to it, or if you played fair and used 3-4x of it like you did for the loos ones.... It definitely looked way too small going in.

[@Clothmom1]

So THAT’S why my pie crusts look like that!

[@realsugar7056]

I use a bag of fish tank gravel. 10 dollars and works great. Been using the same rocks for years.

[@HarithBK]

i like the idea of the chain ball it is honestly just too short. i feel like it would would had it been long enough to where you fill it up like the rest ceramic balls.

[@thefarmlife4720]

It is curious that they had no problem using 2-4 packages of other brands yet decided that they would only use the one dinky chain to test. Seems incredibly biased testing to me.

[@bcbock]

They used multiple packages of the aluminum beans and the ceramic balls. You’d think they could have tried multiple chains. That said. Beans. Rice. Both dirt cheap.

[@bcbock]

@@thefarmlife4720 Exactly.

[@ltkell2028]

The crust of a pie is more important than people think, regardless of how yummy the filling is, if the crust is bad the pie won't be as good as it could be. I honestly can't figure out why there's so much shrinkage since I've never experienced it (a bit of shrinkage only) I've been making pies for 40 years, my crusts are tender & flaky, in the past I've sold my pies to local delis etc. The only crusts that I use weights for are butter based, my regular crust have never shrunk like the 2 shown. What is the reason for that extreme shrinkage?

[@grannysweet]

Butter has water in it. Call the brands available to you to see what the butter fat content is. Bake with highest fat butter you can get. Or melt your butter and put in refrigerator. When solid drain water off it use in recipe if water is called for. That butter will still have shrinkage but no where near what it would have. Shortening crusts are easy. Butter taste better,lol.

[@NANAbingbangboom]

@@grannysweet what about crisco butter in the yellow can?

[@kaffepojke]

Great test, but I would have liked to see what I use; a bag or two of beans. Total cost about $1.25 and can be reused at least several dozen times. Keep them in a large zipper bag, and you're good to go.

[@grannysweet]

I love this host and all her reviews. However if your going to explore a $100 aluminium option you should have provided the other end option, like dry beans or ? And grearheads love our toys but whos got time/ space for lots of little pieces that will need cleaning. 2 piece pie plate, normal size pie plate with perforated dark metal inset pie plate. Perfect crust every time. $7 @ mallwort more than a dozen years ago. Surely someone is still making that product. Lovely crusts ladies, great hosts. Lousy corporate friendly guide lines, How about some real hacks? Does the job and maybe some others as well, healthy, well made, cheap, easy to clean/maintain, beautiful. Your comparisons are shallow but at least we got to see and hear you and not that bossy cow thats usually on. I wish they would fund you to do real tool hacks. Corporate funding makes for limited truth,is thats whats happening here?

[@scottgray6276]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@barbarapearson5896]

Granny Sweet which 'bossy cow' are you referring to?

[@joshchicago2008]

Dry white beans for 99¢ that I reuse everytime. Just line your pie crust with foil! Easy peasy!

[@roberts459]

Like others have said, just use old dry beans, I've used the same beans for years.

[@pattystaples1100]

How do you stop a merengue pie from weeping

[@NBK1122]

Make it laugh?

[@cloudfannotthatcloud8306]

Ask it for a dance.

[@satoshiketchump]

1:58 Mrs. Anderson sure seems kinky, inventing a multifunctional bead like that.

[@garryr]

Useful information but the audio was all over the place in this one.

[@rbbiefah]

I'm Concerned about Alzheimer's disease from the aluminum . Why not just put a slightly smaller greased glass pie plate on top or use ceramic beads on coffee filter type paper ? Also if you are going to use foil or filter paper why not use inexpensive pea gravel ?

[@elund408]

if you can't bring yourself to use 2 pounds of dried beans you can buy marbles at the dollar store or Walmart.

[@nicolejohnson9763]

I was wondering why? Pie weight's! But to everyone I was thinking a bag of pinto bean's as well 1st thing came to my mind! I do not want my grandmother's homemade Lemon chess pie smelling like bean's! To Worm party! I am guessing there is no leftover smell! Thanks guy's!

[@borderlineiq]

Even Martha Stewart tells us to use beans. Promoting expensive pie weights isn't cool. It also take a lot more energy to make pie weights than it does to simply grow rice or beans, so your solutions are not green friendly either. Boooooooo.

[@Anthony_DP]

Well said.

[@Paelorian]

I'm sure in many areas you could make clay weights with less environmental impact than growing the same volume of rice or beans. Clay occurs naturally and all you have to do is form it into the shape you want and heat it up to harden it. Plants can sometimes take a lot of water, energy, and labor to grow.

[@borderlineiq]

@@Paelorian I'm sorry, but you don't seem to realize that clay weights are not merely balls of clay. They have been shaped with a machine, powered by energy, and then fired at a high temperature to make them permanently strong and hard. That's a LOT more energy than it takes to grow a pound of beans or rice, and usually involves some form of fossil fuel to power the kiln in firing, as well as to shape the perfect balls.

[@margaretmccullough4457]

Why can’t you just put another pie plate inside the crust and bake it like that sandwiched between two pie plates?

[@ajc5869]

Or beans......

[@johnlord8337]

So what you are saying is - toss all of these. Use 2 pie tins, roll out your pie crust, put into the bottom pan, then push down the top pan, and put into the oven and pre-bake the crust. Remove the top pan, fill up the pie, top pie lacing, and completely bake !!!

[@tuberfying]

I was thinking of the same thing! But wondering, the pan pie on top would have to be smaller right?

[@johnlord8337]

@@tuberfying No, they all fit together with the same angles, so one can control the thickness of the crust by the downward pressure. And if you have glass pyrex pie glassware, this provides its own see-through and downward pressure for the crust.

[@johnlord8337]

@@liamharrell Nah. Pies smoothed edged - pyrex cookware. Crimped crusts, use pie tins.

[@Questchaun]

Back to plain beans. Then.

[@NANAbingbangboom]

I use raw beans about $1😄

[@rabblerouser8195]

all I think of is the tryguys where the pie weights melted

[@Apocalypz]

1:04 When did pennies or beans become *unusable* ... as I sit here with my 20,000 pennies and 100 lbs of dried, haricot beans gifted by my Nan.

[@whysoanger]

Hello

[@gingerginger999]

this is where you lose credibility....buy pie weights,just use beans like countless people here will comment about. please do a review for the best " moss covered 3 handled family credenza"

[@yourfullofsheite]

gravel

[@sabrinam2280]

Catch me buying a bunch of nuts at home depot

[@houchi69]

Pennies are infinitely reusable...

[@sms17762000]

Sorry, but this is bull, you use 4 packages of the ceramic beads. Meanwhile you used only one chain. Obviously if you need to use that many ceramic beads you need to at least attempt an equal proportion of chain. Also why didn't you just prick the bottom and sides of the pie shell and bake that for a control.

[@rasputanrasputan1380]

Dollar store ..garden department…stones …very heavy…did the job…for a dollar..

[@sanchoc4860]

Whatever I got a butt load of marbles. Free thanks

[@lukerinderknecht2982]

Wow, $100 for pie weights??? Just use something around the kitchen, like ice cubes. Throw 'em in, then pick them out when done. Voilà.

[@shet0011]

what about pennies? 1000 pennies costs $10. And you can get your money back.

[@erinnkemp]

Just use dried beans

[@gregg48]

Know what else works really well without all this nonsense? Sugar. No docking needed. Credit to Stella Parks at Serious Eats.