Pistachio Pudding Pie is such an easy, dreamy, creamy no bake dessert. Make it from scratch with this recipe made cool whip, a graham cracker crust, and instant jell-o pudding. While this one is made without pineapple, check out our variations with chocolate (grasshopper), coconut or pineapple. It's so quick and easy to make and is great to take to any summer get together.
While this green dessert is most popular in the summertime, it can definitely be found year round! This green pie is also popular for a St. Patrick's Day dessert, or a Christmas/ Grinch dessert.
This was inspired by my Easy Banana Cream Pie on this site and would be great served next to our No Bake Mousse Cheesecake, Chocolate Cream Pie or Fruity Pebbles Cheesecake which are also bright fun no bake desserts. If making for St. Patrick's Day, we recommend checking out these 90 Easy St. Patrick's Day Recipes.
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What You'll Love About This Recipe
- Easy Easy Easy! This pistachio pie recipe truly is so quick and easy to make! It comes together quickly and is very basic and straightforward
- Great for Entertaining- need a Grinch Pie, St. Patrick's Day Dessert or Ghoul Pie for Halloween? This fits the bill perfectly!
- Perfect to Make with Kids - this recipe is easy enough older kids can make it by themselves and younger kids can help and have fun helping. It also makes a great kid treat as they love the sweetness and the green color.
Ingredients
- milk - I used 2% milk. You can also use whole milk, however skim milk is not recommended for this recipe.
- pistachio pudding mix - we recommend Jell-o brand pudding. Other puddings don't always set up the same way.
- butter - I used salted, for that yummy salty sweet. The pistachio filling is plenty sweet and nicely complimented by the salted butter.
- graham crackers - these can be any brand! I haven't found any difference between brands when it comes to a graham cracker crust. We also don't add sugar to our graham cracker crust as we find the pie overall too sweet with it.
- Cool Whip- you can use off brand for the Cool Whip. The most important thing is to make sure it's completely thawed so that there aren't any lumps.
- Whip Cream (homemade or in a can)
- pistachio bits (optional)
- toffee bits (optional)
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
1. Crush graham crackers. Do this by either smashing them with a rolling pin or putting them in a food processor. Don't process too long or you'll end up with a fine crumb. Melt butter and pour on top of crushed graham crackers. Mix and press into a 9" pie plate.
Optional: set crust by baking it at 350*F for 3 ½ minutes. Make sure crust is cooled completely before adding the pudding mixture on top!
2. Whisk cold milk (any fat content will work here, skim- whole) and pistachio pudding together in a bowl. Whisk for 2 minutes.
3. Place thawed Cool Whip in the bowl with the pudding. Fold to combine. Do this by hand with a spatula.
4. Pour pudding mixture into the graham cracker crust and spread smooth.
5. Top with whipped cream (either homemade or canned) and pistachio bits or toffee bits, if desired. Chill for 2-24 hours before serving.
Hint: Fold the Cool Whip into the pudding gently. This will help keep the filling light and fluffy.
Substitutions
- Sugar Free - This pie can be made (mostly) sugar free pretty easily. Use sugar free graham crackers or biscuits instead of regular, sugar free pudding instead of regular, and ¼ teaspoon stevia instead of sugar in the pudding mixture.
- Gluten Free - use gluten free graham crackers to make this gluten free.
- Dream Whip- Make one package of dream whip as directed on the box and use it instead of the Cool Whip mixture.
Variations
- Cream Cheese - cream cheese can be substituted for the Cool Whip. Beat the cream cheese with 2 Tablespoons of milk and ½ cup sugar. Stir into the pudding.
- Deluxe - add ½ cup crushed pineapple (drained and patted dry) to the pudding mixture and top with maraschino cherries
- Grasshopper Pistachio Pie - Use crushed Grasshopper cookies instead of graham crackers for the crust and add ⅛ teaspoon peppermint extract when making the pudding for a fun chocolate-mint variation.
- Coconut- mix in ½ cup shredded coconut when combining the pudding mix and the pudding mixture. Sprinkle with more shredded coconut on top.
- Frozen Pistachio Pie - Freeze! This can be made ahead and frozen. After making, quickly decorate then freeze right away. Freeze for up to 1 month. If making the pie to freeze, we highly recommend using whole milk. The higher fat milk used, the less likely you will be to get little ice shards in the pie. To serve: thaw at room temperature for 1-2 hours until desired texture is achieved.
Helpful Hints
- In a hurry? Use a store bought graham cracker crust and use that instead!
- Make sure the Cool Whip is all the way thawed before use, or you'll end up with little lumps of Cool Whip. We recommend thawing in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.
- Wait to decorate until serving. If using whip cream, it will melt into the pie by the time you are done serving. To keep it beautiful, decorate as close to serving time as possible.
Equipment
Storage
Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. It won't go bad for another few days, but the pudding will start to weep into the crust, making it soggy and it won't be as delicious.
Top tip
Work quickly with the cold milk! Don't get the milk out of the refrigerator until ready for use. Keeping the milk cold will help everything set up nicely and more quickly.
Get a box of Jell-o instant pistachio pudding. Make a graham cracker crust with butter and crushed graham crackers. Make pistachio pudding using less milk. Fold thawed Cool Whip into the pudding mixture then put on top of crust. Top with whipped cream and pistachio bits. Chill.
Recipe
The Best Pistachio Pie
Ingredients
For the graham cracker crust:
- 1 sleeve graham crackers
- ¼ cup butter melted
For the Filling:
- 4 oz Cool Whip
Pudding mixture:
- 1 ` 3.4 ounce package pistachio pudding mix
- 1 ⅓ cups cold milk
Topping:
- whipped cream homemade or canned
- pistachio bits optional
- toffee bits optional
Instructions
- Thaw Cool Whip in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.
- Crush graham crackers. Do this using a rolling pin or a food processor. Be careful not to process too long or you'll end up with a fine crumb.
- Melt butter and mix with crushed graham crackers.
- Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9" pie tin. To set the crust, bake in a 350*F oven for 3 ½ minutes (optional)
- In a bowl whisk together pudding mixture and COLD milk. Whisk for 2 minutes.
- Using a spatula, combine the Cool Whip with the pudding mixture using a folding motion, until well combined. Pistachio pudding has little bits of pistachio in it, so there will be tiny chunks of pistachio. See photos above for a visual.
- Pour into graham cracker crust and smooth out. Chill for 2-24 hours. Can be served immediately, but the filling will be extremely soft and pudding-like.
- Decorate with whipped cream and pistachio bits and/ or toffee bits if desired.
Notes
- This recipe is for a typical 9" pie tin. If you have a deeper dish pie plate, double the recipe.
- Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. It won't go bad for a few more days after that, but the pudding will start to weep into the crust making it mushy and less delicious.
- Freeze! This can be made ahead and frozen. Freeze right after making. Freeze for up to 1 month. Whole milk is recommended for this, as the less fat in milk, the more likely there will be little ice shards in the pie.
- Thaw for at least 1 hour at room temperature before serving.
Kali A
The best pistachio pie I’ve found!
Nicole
Yummm we really enjoyed this pistachio cream pie recipe. The graham cracker crust cream cheese mixture mixed in complimented the Jell-o pistachio pudding so nicely! We love a good no bake dessert for summer. Next time I might make a double batch and put it in one pie pan to make it fuller.
JC
Made this when I needed to make a last minute dessert to take to a BBQ. It was perfect. Super super easy to make! Delicious pistachio pie. We liked the cream cheese in it. Can't wait to try it with the cherries and pineapple next time.
Cam
This pistachio pie is one of my favorite recipes to make in the summer because it comes together in no time! I brought it to a family BBQ last weekend and everyone enjoyed it so much!
Suja MD
Delicious yet simple recipe that the whole family loved. So creamy and yummy. We really liked the crust too. Can’t wait to make it again!
Shadi
I Just tried this recipe and my family loved it. It was so easy and the flavors were fantastic. Loved how easy it was with the Jell-o pudding.
Elaine
This pistachio pie was so yummy. Everything you could want or expect from a pistachio cream pie. I liked the cream cheese in it. YUM!
Tayler Ross
I love pistachio desserts, but this pie is one of my favorite that I've ever tried! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
Kasia
Delicious! I doubled the filling recipe for my 9in Pyrex pie plate, and it was just full- which is how I like my pies! We don’t like things too sweet, so I put 2tbs sugar instead of 6tbs into the cream cheese and it was PERFECT! Definitely going to make this again 🙂
Kasia
NB I made this gluten free by using Pamela’s GF graham crackers and it was awesome. 1 box of grahams and 1stick of butter (melted) made the perfect sized crust.
Nicole
We're so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the GF option
Meghan
Followed to a t, it's ridiculously sticky, almost like a slime toy a cild would have. There's no way this is going in a pie tin!
Nicole
Hi Meghan! By nature, Pistachio pudding can be a little goopy or even almost slimy before it sets up. We recommend completing the recipe and allowing time for it to set up.
Pam
The flavor was good. The consistency wasn’t right. Chilled over 24 hours and still like pudding. I will keep searching
Pam
Had this in refrigerator for over 24 hours then cut. Still very loose.. why??
Nicole
Hi Pam, I'm sorry this didn't work out for you. In my recipe I used Jell-o brand pudding and Philadelphia brand cream cheese. I'm curious if you used a budget brand cream cheese or pudding? I have made cream and pudding pies before with budget pudding mixes that have not set up. Budget cream cheese can also be watery. I'd love to hear from you so that I can inform my readers, it is very important to me to provide quality recipes and instructions. Also, this is a pudding pie and will be similar in texture to like a banana cream pie. I'm sorry if that is the case and I just wasn't clear on it.
Levi
Super easy recipe! You for sure need to let it set for the set time on the recipe but then it's perfect. My family loved this pistachio pie. I made it for an Easter Party yesterday and it was a hit. I'm keeping this recipe for St. Patricks day next year!
Kate
I see cream cheese in the recipe ingredient photos but it is not mentioned in the recipe itself...how much is needed?
Andrea
For this recipe we used a mixture of pudding mix and cool whip. You can use a cream cheese variation instead though by substituting the cool whip. You'll want to beat the cream cheese with 2 Tablespoons of milk and ½ cup sugar. Then stir that into the pudding. We hope you like it!