Water Pie – Recipe from the Great Depression
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Discover the magic of water pie. A Great , it takes simple ingredients to create this deliciously creamy and buttery pie. You won’t believe one of the main ingredients is water!
Water pie is one of those magical recipes that came out of the depression era where cooks with little to nothing figured out how to make delicious dishes for those they love. This Depression era pie recipe was shared with me by Kay West and I published it in my third cookbook, Sweetness: Recipes to Celebrate the Warmth, Love, and Blessings of a Full Life.
This recipe belonged to Kay’s grandmother, who had eight children and made her family of 10 three meals from scratch every single day. During leaner times, she developed this recipe so that her family could still enjoy dessert from time to time, no matter how hard their days were. These recipes are such a special treasure to us!
I think you’ll really enjoy the simplicity of this water pie. It has a creamy buttery taste, similar to a or warm vanilla cookie once it’s chilled and sliced. Half the thrill will be telling your family the name and that the main ingredient is water! Once you have had this pie you are going to be in the mood for all different kinds of pies like Apple Pie, Cracker Pie, Strawberry Cream Pie, and German Chocolate Pie.
Recipe Ingredients
You know when a recipe was created to make something out of nothing, it’s going to be simple on the ingredients.
- A deep-dish pie crust (see tips for success at the bottom of this post).
- Water
- Sugar
- Flour
- Butter
- Vanilla extract
Helpful Kitchen Tools
- Deep Dish Pie Pan (Splurge)
- Deep Dish Pie Pan (Budget Friendly)
- Small Mixing Bowl
- Measuring Cup
Begin by pouring water into your deep dish and unbaked pie crust, which should be in a . You can either use a pretty ceramic one like this or a disposable one doesn’t have to be , either – just straight from the tap is fine.
In a , stir together flour and sugar.
Sprinkle the flour mixture over your water in the . The original recipe called for doing this with a spoon so I’m showing you that way but I usually just use my hand to sprinkle it because I feel like I can get it more even that way.
This is our water with flour/sugar sprinkled over. Don’t stir.
Drizzle vanilla over this. Don’t stir.
Place pats of butter on top.
Place your pie pan in the oven at 400 for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, reduce temp to 375 and cover the edges of the flaky crust if need be to prevent burning. Cook for another 30 minutes once you have reduced the temp.
The pie will be very watery in the center when you remove it from the oven. Allow to cool completely and then refrigerate for several hours before cutting.
Enjoy this creamy buttery pie recipe that came about from good-hearted cooks wanting to bake up something sweet for their loved ones during hard times!
Storage
You can store pie leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.
Recipe Notes
- I use a Pillsbury all vegetable frozen deep-dish pie crust, unbaked, for this recipe. I suggest a store-bought deep-dish pie crust because homemade pie crusts in your own dish are going to vary in terms of depth and may result in the filling not getting fully done in the prescribed amount of time.
- Before you begin making this pie, tear off a piece of foil large enough to cover your pie dish. Cut an X in the center and peel back the X. This will make it quick and easy to cover your pie should the edges begin getting too dark and will keep you from losing valuable heat during the baking process.
- The pie will be bubbly and could be watery in some spots when you pull it out of the oven. It will gel fully as it cools. It is best if you allow this pie to cool completely and then cover and refrigerate until chilled before cutting.
Recipe FAQs
What is the difference between a water pie and a Sprite pie?
A Sprite pie is basically a modern-day version of the water pie. It became famous in 2020 when TikTok took the world by storm. They both taste very similar, like a delicious sugar cookie. If you’d prefer to make a Sprite pie instead of a water pie, simply substitute the water for 1 can of Sprite. Follow the same instructions and ingredients in the recipe card and voila, you have yourself a Sprite pie!
Because you can never have too many great pie recipes:
Peanut Butter Pie Recipe: Made the Old Fashioned Way
Ingredients
- 1 9-inch deep-dish pie crust, unbaked
- 1 1/2 cups water (that is one and a half cups)
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 5 tablespoons butter, cut into 5 pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 and set empty pie crust on a baking sheet.1 9-inch deep-dish pie crust, unbaked
- Pour 1 + 1/2 cups water into the pie crust.1 1/2 cups water
- In a small bowl, stir together the flour and sugar. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the water in the crust. Don't stir.4 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1 cup sugar
- Drizzle the vanilla over the water in the pie crust. Place pats of butter on top of this.2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 5 tablespoons butter, cut into 5 pieces
- Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 and cover sides of crust if needed to prevent burning. Continue cooking for an additional 30 minutes.
- Pie will be watery when you pull it out of the oven but will gel as it cools. Allow to cool completely and then cover and place in the fridge until chilled before cutting.
Nutrition
Meanwhile my lizard brain is wondering if the “gel” formed from the flour acting on the water could be deep fried so as to actually deep fry water itself, and also is wondering if water could be substituted with another liquid since apparently this can be done with sprite as well? My idea would be to try vanilla coke.
Made a pie just on a whim. Was very pleasantly surprised by how good the pie is. Mine remained just a little too runny so will use slightly more flour. I highly recommend this and it’s so easy!
So happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much Sarah. You are very kind!
Really appreciate the rating 🙂
Hello Christy! Buck here.
I ran across your page on that new Parler gadget. A prepper did a blurb on ‘water pie’ and put the link to your piece here.
On the occasions when I go looking for something different it never ceases to amaze me that some of the best crafted articles on the net are on cooking pages. You certainly put a lot of work into it with your text and fine fine photos. You make it so simple that even *I* can dig it.
Anyway, the name ‘water pie’ drew me in as it makes no sense. I know that much about cooking anyway. So I took it as a challenge and drew the wife (who is smarter than me) into the thickening plot. I always had a chemistry set around when I was growing up so for me it was an experiment to do with molecular coagulation. (Just possibly invented that phrase.)
Long story short I found the link here yesterday and today we procured the pie shell and did it. I suggested using a flour sifter for the deed and it did an outstanding job. About an hour ago I fetched that pie….it had jelled JUST LIKE YOU SAID. That was a relief. The whole thing went like you said it would. Piece of aluminum foil on top and the works.
But…but…the taste. It was crazy good Christy. Impossible, really. No eggs, separated not broken. No yak cream. No arugula or hard to come by Indonesian root powder…. Just the goofy flour, sugar, and butter sifted into water of all things.
It’s my new favorite thing. Imagine all the variations that can be made with lemon flavoring, heavy peach syrup…sorghum syrup, you name it. (I think I’m sticking with vanilla, however!)
Had all the fun with the chemistry experiment today. Thanks 50 times. You did GOOD! Beautiful article and a dirt simple tasty no fail recipe! Wow!!!
Buck you are my new favorite person on all of the internet! Thank you for taking the time to leave such a detailed, helpful, and encouraging comment. You also took the time to encourage and help others here, wow!!! It is a joy to “meet” you and an even greater joy to start my day off getting to chat with you here. Thank you for being a true gem of a person!
Thanks so much for your comments Buck! Glad you had fun 🙂
Hi there! When using the frozen pie crust do you allow it to thaw completely before adding in the filling or is thawing not required?
Thaw it enough to be able to poke some holes in the bottom with a fork. Yeah…I didn’t get it either. This way water can’t seep under and make it shoot up like the Saturn 5, so I’m told. You’re gonna be soooo surprised when you taste what you just made!
Hi Buck! Thanks for the advice! When you poked the pie shell with the fork, did you poke all the way through the shell or just part-way?
Regarding the aluminum, could you just use a regular pie-shield if you have one availalble?
I used the pie protector on mine before I ever put in the oven and it worked great!
I really enjoyed making this recipe with much skepticism in my head but it tastes really good. I didn’t expect to like it as much as I do. I do wonder if I made a mistake somewhere. I made the pie last night and this morning, it’s semi-set. Set enough to cut but then it kinda splooshes out on the plate. Also, the butter kind of formed a sort of crust to break thru on top. It doesn’t taste of pure butter but is sort of congealed (not sure that’s the word I want but hopefully conveys what I mean). Any ideas?
Hey Lee! I’m so glad you like the taste of it. It is a surprisingly delicious pie! I also appreciate your dedication to trying it again, sounds like you and I have a similar stubborn ethic and it has served me well! I would reduce the temp by 25 degrees and give it an extra ten minutes or so. I think that might solve the issue.
Not meaning to butt in. Ours turned out perfect. The diff mebbe is that we have a convection oven which effectively cooks 25 degrees higher than a standard oven. That being the case with a standard, doing just the opposite of what Christy told you, why not increase the temp by 25 degrees and follow the recipe to the letter?
I’m betting that if you try it my way and it still flops then your thermostat is to blame. Ha!
I never thought I’d agree with someone who suggested to do the opposite of what I said but I like your rebel attitude and I think your advice is sound!
This water pie recipe does not work. I tried it and followed directions exactly. The flavor was good but it would not solidify/congeal. Very disappointed.
I made this, placing blueberries and walnuts (plus a bit of lemon zest and lemon juice) in the water before adding the other ingredients. It tastes great and I like the texture, however – excess butter was floating on top, and once refrigerated this made a thin layer of chilled solid fat atop, which isn’t so appetizing. I have some ideas to contend with this – such as warming to soften the butter, then poking holes in the pie (perhaps poking the holes first, then warming it?) to incorporate the butter, or perhaps softening it then sopping up the excess with paper towels. However, I’d like to know if others have had this occur and how to deal with it in your experiences. Thanks!
I had the same experience yesterday. After it was baked there was a puddle of butter left on top. I ended up sopping up most of the butter using a paper towel. I covered it in foil when cool then refrigerated it overnight. Looking at it today…..it looks perfect. We all enjoyed it (I did the recipe as written). I was thankful that you could still taste a buttery flavor despite the fact that I sopped up butter before chilling. I wrote a comment yesterday asking the same question about the butter. No one seems to have mentioned the butter on top. So I “winged it” and it turned out great.