Earthy matcha and floral pistachio flavors come together perfectly in this vibrant green matcha pistachio pie recipe. This pie can be as intricate or as easy as you want with my options for store-bought shortcuts. Disclaimer: this post may contain affiliate links.

Do Matcha and Pistachio Go Well Together?

If you’re a frequent Mochi Mommy reader, you’ll know I’ve been kind of obsessed with this flavor pairing recently. The earthiness of matcha and the floral aroma of pistachio are great complementary flavors. Plus, the matcha actually helps color baked goods naturally green, which is difficult to achieve when using pistachio alone.

What Matcha Powder to Use for Baking?

Ignore all labels about ceremonial vs. culinary and just go for the strongest matcha flavor with the brightest green color. For me, the best matcha powder for baking I’ve tried is Maeda-en Ceremonial matcha, but it’s very pricy. For a more affordable blend, I often use their universal quality matcha instead. For more information about how to choose matcha and what the labels mean, check out my Ultimate Guide to Matcha post.

Homemade Pistachio Butter or Storebought?

This pie is essentially a type of custard pie made predominantly from pistachio butter, milk, and eggs. When I first made this recipe, I ground up pistachios with sugar in a food processor or blender to make a smooth paste that mixes easily with liquid. However, grinding my own nut butter at home never gets it quite smooth enough for my tastes. Inevitably, there would still be some chunks of pistachio, which you could leave in for some crunchy textural bites, if that’s your sort of thing. Recently, I’ve just been craving really smooth custard fillings (maybe it’s all that mochi I’ve been eating…), so I’ve been opting to strain out the larger nut pieces.

This photo shows the filling with the pistachio chunks kept in instead of strained out.

In the end, though, it’s a lot of work! And it creates more cleanup! So I was really happy when I found the Pistakio brand of pistachio spread. Relative to other pistachio butters, it’s fairly affordable. It has a great pistachio flavor and no artificial preservatives that you might find in other nut butters, so I feel really good about eating it in large quantities. I’ve left in the instructions for grinding your own nut butter, but honestly, I pretty much use Pistakio every time. By the way, I am not affiliated with Pistakio and make no money off these links. I just really like them!

Tips for Making Pie at Home

I really pride myself on making recipes that even beginner bakers can make at home, but honestly, pie can get a little complicated.

If you’re a beginner baker or if you’re just short on time, which, let’s face it, I frequently am, I recommend taking the first recipe shortcut of using a store bought pie crust. There’s no shame, it’s totally fine.

In this recipe, you actually bake the crust first, then add in the cooked custard filling later, which sets in the fridge. So if you find one, you can buy a fully cooked pie crust that’s already in the pan. That’ll save you a ton of time.

You can see my pie crust is DEFINITELY homemade with its irregularities ><

The second recipe shortcut is to use store bought pistachio butter instead of grinding your own, which I discussed in the previous section. Alternatively, you could also find pistachio milk for another shortcut. And that’s about as easy as I can make this recipe! If you really wanted, you could use a box of instant pistachio pudding and add matcha to it, but I feel at that point you’re sacrificing a little too much in pistachio flavor.

Adapting This Recipe

This recipe makes enough filling for a 9-inch pie with deep sides. I use a Pyrex pie dish, but if you have a shallow metal pan, you will have extra filling. That’s okay! You can honestly eat the excess filling as a pudding or mousse topped with whipped cream and strawberries.

Or, since the filling gets cooked on the stovetop, you can make a shortbread crust or graham cracker crust like in my Okinawan sweet potato pie or yuzu bars and pour this filling on top. This filling should be enough for a 9×9″ square pan, since it makes enough for a deep dish pie. The filling works for tarts as well, if you have a tart pan.

And that’s it! I hope you enjoy this recipe. If you do, please leave a comment and rating below! And be sure to browse my other matcha recipes for more inspiration.

matcha pistachi pie overhead view with whipped cream
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Matcha Pistachio Pie

This matcha pistachio pie is made from scratch (no box mix). It's super creamy and gets a nice bright green color from the matcha. Simplify the recipe by using a store bought crust, or use my recipe for a homemade one.
Servings: 1 9″ pie
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Chill Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
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Ingredients
  

For Pie Crust (Makes 2)

  • 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 300g
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt, 3g
  • 1 cup cold, unsalted butter, 227g
  • 3/4 cup ice cold water, 177mL
  • additional flour for dusting

For Matcha Pistachio Pudding Filling

  • 1 cup unsalted raw shelled pistachios (see note), 140g
  • 3/4 cup sugar, 150g
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch, 28g
  • 1 tbsp matcha, 6g
  • 1 tsp kosher salt, 6g
  • 2 1/4 cup whole milk, 531mL
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/4 tsp almond extract

For Whipped Cream Topping

  • 1 cup heavy cream, 236 mL
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Equipment

  • pie tin
  • Rolling Pin
  • pie weights OR extra granulated sugar
  • strong blender or food processor

Instructions
 

To Make Pie Crust

  • If using store-bought crust, skip down to the step where you preheat the oven. Otherwise, in a large mixing bowl, whisk flour and salt.
  • Cut cold butter into smaller cubes and add to the flour.
  • Either using a food processor, pastry cutter, or by hand, work the butter into the flour until you get a sandy texture and pea-size chunks of butter remain. Note: You can achieve different textures of pie crust depending on how much you work the butter into the flour, so feel free to adjust to your preferences.
  • Pour in 1/2 cup of the ice cold water and gently mix by hand. Continue adding water 1 tbsp at a time until the dough comes together in a ball. Dough should no longer be dry and crumbly but also not be sticky. Different brands of flour will absorb water differently, so you need to go by feel. You will not probably not need the full remaining 1/4 cup of water.
  • Split dough in half, wrap each half in cling wrap and place in fridge for 20 minutes to rest. You can also let it sit overnight to finish the next day. The extra pie crust can also be frozen for a different recipe.
  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
  • Dust a clean surface with flour and take out one of your chilled crusts. Roll out to a 12 inch circle, dusting with flour to keep from sticking. Note: If you are using a deeper dish pie tin, then you will need to roll out slightly larger.
  • Transfer dough to your pie tin, trimming off any excess that overhangs down the sides of the dish. Crimp the edges and poke holes in the bottom of the crust with a fork. Note: You can wrap and freeze the dough at this point to finish the recipe at a later date, if needed.
  • To blind bake the crust, cover the entire crust with aluminum foil. You can use pie weights, or, if you're like me, simply pour some granulated sugar into the foil to weigh down the crust and keep it from rising. The baked sugar gets toasted and can be reused after it's cooled down for other recipes.
  • Bake for 15 minutes. Then remove the foil and weights (remember to save the sugar, if using) and bake, uncovered, for an additional 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Set aside to cool while you make the filling.

For the Matcha Pistachio Pudding Filling

  • If using store-bought pistachio butter, measure out 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp (150 g) and skip to the next step. Otherwise, in a food processor, blend pistachios and sugar until a nut butter is formed. Option to strain out larger chunks of remaining pistachio and save for topping or leave them for a crunchier filling.
  • In a pot, mix nut butter with milk (if using store-bought pistachio butter, add the sugar in this step). Heat on stove over medium heat, stirring to avoid scalding, until steaming.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk cornstarch, matcha, salt, and eggs.
  • Pour a small stream of steaming pistachio milk into bowl with the cornstarch while continuously whisking to temper the eggs (i.e. warm up the eggs slowly without cooking them). Then pour what's in the bowl back into the pot with the remaining pistachio milk.
  • Cook on stovetop until filling thickens to a pudding-like consistency. Do NOT turn the heat up to high or you will curdle your eggs.
  • Remove from heat and stir in almond extract.
  • Pour thickened pudding into baked pie crust. If you notice any lumps of matcha or curdled egg, I recommend straining the mixture into the crust. Cover and refrigerate until cold, at least two and a half hours, but preferably overnight.
  • When ready to serve, beat heavy cream, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract to make a whipped cream.
  • Transfer to top of chilled pie and sprinkle with matcha or the strained pistachio chunks from before. Leftovers keep in the fridge, although the whipped cream may deflate.

Notes

  • This recipe makes two pie crusts, so you can save one to make a different recipe at a later time. Alternatively, you can halve the pie crust recipe and make just one.
  • Feel free to use a store bought crust if you don’t want to make one from scratch.
  • For this recipe, I used maeda-en universal quality matcha, which is pretty strong and has a nice bright color, so one tablespoon is enough. If you know you have a weaker matcha, you may want to add more
  • I almost always use pistachio butter instead of grinding my own pistachios now. See blog post above for recommendations.
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