Name: Chocolate Pecan Pie
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 80 min
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups cold butter (cubed); 3 cups flour; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/8 teaspoon sugar; 1 large egg (beaten); 5 tablespoons cold water; 1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar; 1 cup sugar; 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder; 3 large eggs (lightly beaten); 3/4 cup light corn syrup; 1 tablespoon butter (melted); 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 1 1/2 cup pecan halves

This CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE looks amazing and tastes even better! It is rich and sweet and is an excellent dessert for a holiday gathering. Our guests always ask to go home with the recipe.

slice of chocolate pecan pie on white plate with fork.

There is nothing better for Thanksgiving and Christmas dessert than pie. That’s a fact.

Sure, the cookies are great, but those are just snacks. They totally don’t count as dessert. (Or maybe I just say that so I don’t feel bad about eating 843 desserts on Christmas?)

Pie, on the other hand, is the star of the dessert show at the holidays.

Pecan pie is a classic, but spruce it up with some chocolate? Oh. My. Word.

Same goes for my pumpkin pecan pie. Also ridiculously, outrageously good!

Especially if you go all crazy and fancy and make your own pie crust.

Seriously. I’m a homemade pie crust convert. I spent years and years buying the box of refrigerated dough from the grocery store and then I decided to just get over my fear and master pie crust.

I’m so glad I did. I’m shocked each and every time I bake a pie by how simple it is and what a huge change it makes.

People tend to go a little crazy for homemade pie crust, which makes me feel like a rockstar.

How To Make Homemade Pie Crust:

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With a food processor: It’s tempting to just buy a crust from the store, but give my homemade pie crust a shot! It’s so simple with a food processor. Use the dough attachment (the plastic blade) and mix together the shortening, flour, salt, and sugar until you have coarse crumbs. Pour in the egg, water, and vinegar and mix until the dough just comes together. So quick and simple!

By hand: Making a pie crust by hand is simple, though a bit more work. You’ll want to use a pastry cutter to cut the shortening, flour, salt, and sugar together in a mixing bowl until you have coarse crumbs. Add the egg, water, and vinegar, and stir until the dough just comes together.

flour and butter cut together in mixing bowl.

Chill: Split the dough into two balls, flatten into a disc, and place them into separate freezer bags. This recipe will only use half the dough, so save the other in the freezer for a different pie recipe, or just make TWO of these glorious pecan pies!

The dough only needs to chill in the freezer for about 20 minutes before it is ready to be rolled into a pie crust.

Roll: After the dough has chilled, roll it on a floured surface into a ten inch circle and place in the pie pan.

Crimp the edges with your fingers like below, or use a fork like I did in these pecan pie photos.

Be sure to refrigerate the crust while you make the chocolate filling. Alternately, whip up the pie filling while the dough is chilling in the freezer.

Helpful TipS!

Vinegar: Don’t worry, we’re not using enough vinegar to give the pie crust any flavor. It just works to tenderize the crust and help those flaky layers form. You could also use vodka.
Shortening vs. Butter: We generally use butter in our pie crusts, but you can substitute with shortening – or use half of each! Shortening is easier to work with and the crust holds it’s shape a bit better, but butter does have a better flavor and mouthfeel, along with those flaky layers.
Food Processor: My food processor gets used daily in my kitchen. The Breville Sous Chef is my FAVORITE kitchen tool. It’s a total workhorse. It makes shredding, chopping, and slicing a total breeze. And it’s excellent at pie crust.

How To Make Chocolate Pecan Pie Filling:

Mix: This filling is really simple and really tasty! Just whisk together the sugar, cocoa, eggs, corn syrup, butter, and vanilla until well combined.

chocolate filling for pecan pie on whisk.

Pecans: Once the other ingredients have been well combined, stir in the pecans! When everything is well mixed your chocolate pecan pie filling is ready to go. Pour into the prepared pie crust.

pie crust filled with chocolate pecan filling.

This simple pie recipe is always a hit with friends and family.

Adding chocolate to a classic pie is a bit unexpected and everyone always looks a tiny bit skeptical, but that first bite confirms it: This is a DELICIOUS twist on the original!

chocolate pecan pie in homemade pie crust.

Helpful Tips!

Ingredients We Use:

Cocoa Powder: My pie looks deep, dark, and rich and that’s because I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder. I love to use it, because it looks so decadently rich and chocolaty.
Corn Syrup: We use Karo corn syrup in our chocolate pecan pie. It does NOT contain any high fructose corn syrup, which we do try to avoid. You may use any brand of corn syrup, but others do add HFCS, if that’s something you’re trying to avoid.

More holiday desserts!

This recipe was originally published in December 2012. It was updated with new photos and a video in October 2020. Original photo below:

A piece of pecan pie missing from the whole pie.