Sawdust Pie (A Family Favorite)

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With its rich buttery taste and irresistible nutty filling, it’s no wonder sawdust pie is a family favorite.

A slice of sawdust pie.

If you’ve never had sawdust pie before, I really do feel it could become a fast family favorite. The taste is rich and buttery, and the addition of whipped cream and sliced bananas make it sheer perfection. I just use store-bought pie shells for mine (ain’t no shame in my game!) but you can make homemade pie crust from scratch if you prefer.

This sawdust pie recipe is easy peasy to whip up with only a mixing bowl and a spoon and bakes up in about half an hour. Put it in the oven as you sit down to dinner and then let it bake for about half an hour before serving warm with the bananas and whipped cream. Mmmmm.

This pie is one of my mother’s all-time favorites and a must-have whenever we visit Paducah, Kentucky. There is a restaurant in Paducah called Patti’s that is one of Mama’s favorite places in the world to eat. They have the thickest pork chops you’ve ever seen and serve huge helpings of sawdust pie topped with whipped cream and bananas for dessert. Mama couldn’t wait to start making her own version of sawdust pie and now we all get to be benefitting from that.

Where did sawdust pie get its name?

Sawdust pie was actually first baked at Patti’s sometime after 1975 and became famous after the recipe was published in Bon Appétit in May 1983. When all the ingredients are thrown together it is supposed to look like sawdust but honestly, it has so many wonderful flavors.

Egg whites galore; it’s a sign

What’s even better is that the day you make this pie is the perfect day to make another one of my very favorite things to eat: Grandmama’s Fruit Salad. You see, this sawdust pie recipe calls for seven egg whites whereas Grandmama’s Fruit Salad calls for six egg yolks. Now if that ain’t a sign that they oughta be made at the same time I don’t know what is! 

ingredients for sawdust pie

Recipe Ingredients

  • Eggs
  • Walnuts or pecans
  • Coconut
  • Sugar
  • Graham cracker crumbs
  • Pie crust
  • Whipped cream (Here is a recipe to make homemade whipped cream).
  • Bananas

Place egg whites in a large bowl.

I separated my eggs and placed just the egg whites in a large bowl; saving the yolks to use in the sauce for my fruit salad.

Add nuts to mixing bowl.

Add walnuts or pecans. As I said, the recipe called for chopped pecans but cheapie me went for walnuts instead.

Add coconut to mixing bowl.

Add in coconut.

Mama usually gets her coconut in a can on the baking aisle and I usually get mine in a bag on the same aisle. Either works. Get the sweetened kind, it’s yummy! 

Add sugar to mixing bowl.

Add sugar.

Add graham crackers crumbs to mixing bowl.

Add in graham cracker crumbs.

Mix sawdust pie ingredients together.

Mix all of that up well with a spoon.

Pour pie mixture into pie shell.

Spoon it into an unbaked pie shell. I used deep dish but Mama says she always uses a regular pie crust.

Baked sawdust pie

Bake the sawdust pie at 325 for about 30 minutes, or until it looks done all over the top.

It will look kind of like a pecan pie with a thick coating of streusel on it.

slice of sawdust pie

Cut slices while warm and add a dollop of whipped cream and some banana slices.

Trust me, this pie is delicious but the bananas and whipped cream just MAKE it!

Storage

Store pie leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. They’ll last for up to 3 days.

Recipe Notes

  • I used store-bought whipped topping but if you’d like my recipe and instructions on how to make it from scratch (which is even better), just click here.
  • Don’t worry over graham cracker crumbs if you have graham crackers on hand, just put some in a plastic bag and crush them yourself and they’ll be fine. Likewise with the pecans or walnuts. Sometimes pecans can be a wee bit expensive so chopped walnuts are a good substitute if you like.
  • If you don’t have whipped cream on hand, I also recommend serving your pie with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce. Yes, please!
  • Feel free to add a cup of chocolate chips to your pie ingredients.

You may also like these other decadent pie recipes:

Cherry Cream Cheese Pie

Strawberry Cream Pie

Coca Cola Pie

Easy Pumpkin Pie Recipe From Scratch

Mint Oreo Ice Cream Pie

Triple Chocolate Brownie Pie

bite of sawdust pie

Sawdust Pie

With its rich buttery taste and irresistible nutty filling, it's no wonder sawdust pie is a family favorite.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: pie
Servings: 4
Calories: 544kcal

Ingredients

  • 7 egg whites
  • 1 1/2 C Sugar
  • 1 1/2 C Graham cracker crumbs
  • 1 1/2 C Pecans or walnuts - can omit nuts if needed
  • 1 1/2 C Sweetened Flaked Coconut
  • 9 " unbaked pie shell

Instructions

  • Mix all ingredients together and stir by hand. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake in preheated 325 degree oven until set, about 25-30 minutes. Do not over bake. Serve warm with sliced bananas and whipped cream.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 544kcal
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

 

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117 Comments

  1. Going to try this tonight! But, how is it “buttery” when there is no butter in the recipe?

    “With its rich buttery taste and irresistible nutty filling, it’s no wonder sawdust pie is a family favorite.”

  2. Is it OK to skip the shredded coconut for this recipe? Can you suggest another ingredient as an alternative? I don’t like dried coconut. Thanks.

    1. Not having the coconut will change the texture of the pie but if that doesn’t bother you and you want a crunch to it, the closest thing would be finely chopped nuts such as macadamia nuts. You could try other nuts though as macadamia can be a bit $$.

  3. What a beautiful piece and the craftsmanship is beyond fabulous! I’m fortunate to live in an area where there are several Mennonite communities and they are known for their fair prices, excellent quality work and their handshake is their word. Their latest work was hanging a 100+ year old church door in the barn to enclose a storage room then turning a deck into a porch. When I was quoted a price to put a keypad on the driveway gate, the young man stood by the price quoted even though he ran into extra work. I reminded him of the extra work and he said, “No mam; you don’t pay for my mistakes. I pay for those. The price I quoted is what you owe me.”

  4. Yummy pie. I love the bananas and your whipped cream with it. TY for the link for the fruit salad to use the yolks. I like to take tubs of the fruit salad to my neighbors.

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