Dolly Parton’s Peanut Butter Pie (No-Bake)

Dolly Parton’s peanut butter pie is a no-bake pie with a filling of cream cheese, powdered sugar, creamy peanut butter and whipped topping, beaten together, spooned into a graham cracker crust and chilled overnight until it slices like a cheesecake. It takes 15 minutes of actual work, needs no oven at all, and cuts into eight generous slices.

In short: beat 8 ounces of cream cheese with 1 cup of powdered sugar and 1 cup of creamy peanut butter, fold in 8 ounces of whipped topping, fill a 9-inch graham crust and chill for 8 hours. Peanut butter pie takes 15 minutes of work, serves 8, about 430 calories a slice.

This is the version of peanut butter pie that Southern potlucks are built on, and the reason it is attached to Dolly’s name is that it is exactly the kind of dessert she stands for: four ingredients, a store-bought crust, nothing fussy, and better than it has any right to be. The filling is light and mousse-like rather than dense, the peanut butter flavor is loud, and a piped border of whipped topping is all the decoration it needs.

What Is Dolly Parton’s Peanut Butter Pie?

Dolly Parton’s peanut butter pie is a no-bake cream pie in the Southern icebox tradition. The filling is cream cheese beaten smooth with powdered sugar and creamy peanut butter, lightened with thawed whipped topping, then set in the fridge rather than the oven. There is no custard to cook and no egg to temper, which is why it has stayed on church supper tables for decades.

What sets it apart from a chocolate peanut butter pie is restraint. There is no chocolate layer, no ganache and no candy on top; the graham crust and the peanut butter do all the talking, and the whipped topping keeps the filling from turning into a block of sweetened peanut butter. It eats like a cross between a cheesecake and a peanut butter mousse.

If you want the chocolate version, a peanut butter s’more scratches the same itch in a hand-held form, and the homemade peanut butter cups are the candy-shop take on the pairing. This pie is for the night you want peanut butter and nothing else.

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Ingredient Notes

• Cream cheese. Eight ounces, full-fat and softened to room temperature. Cold cream cheese leaves lumps that no amount of beating will remove. Leave the block on the counter for an hour, or unwrap it and microwave it for 15 seconds.
• Powdered sugar. One cup. It dissolves instantly into the filling; granulated sugar stays gritty in a no-bake recipe. Sift it if it has clumped in the bag.
• Creamy peanut butter. One cup of a traditional, no-stir brand. Natural peanut butter separates and can make the filling oily or loose, as the section below explains.
• Frozen whipped topping. An 8-ounce tub, thawed in the fridge overnight. It is what makes the filling light and keeps it stable for days. Three cups of stabilized whipped cream can replace it.
• Graham cracker crust. One 9-inch crust, store-bought or homemade from a cup and a half of crumbs, a quarter cup of sugar and 5 tablespoons of melted butter. The recipe card has the homemade method in the notes.
• Toppings. Extra whipped topping for piping around the edge, as pictured, plus chopped peanuts and a drizzle of melted chocolate if you want them. All optional.

Cool Whip or Whipped Cream in Peanut Butter Pie

The original recipe uses frozen whipped topping, and it is the better choice for this pie. Whipped topping holds its volume for days in the fridge, so the filling stays airy from the first slice to the last, and it does not weep liquid into the crust. The Illinois Extension has a plain comparison of the two if you are curious about what is in the tub.

Real whipped cream works, with two adjustments. Whip a cup and a half of cold heavy cream with 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar to stiff peaks, which gives about 3 cups, and fold it in gently. Then plan to eat the pie within 2 days, because unstabilized cream softens and the filling slowly loses its lift. A tablespoon of instant vanilla pudding mix whipped into the cream stabilizes it for longer.

The peanut butter matters as much as the cream. Regular creamy peanut butter is emulsified so the oil stays put, which is exactly what a no-bake filling needs. Natural peanut butter, the kind with oil on top, breaks when it is beaten with cream cheese and can leave the pie greasy. The National Peanut Board explains the difference between the two styles, and for peanut butter pie the regular jar wins.

How To Make Peanut Butter Pie

First, put the softened cream cheese and the powdered sugar in a large bowl and beat them together with a hand mixer on medium until smooth, scraping the bowl once so no cream cheese hides at the bottom. Next, add the peanut butter and beat on medium-high for a minute or two, until the mixture is uniform, pale tan and slightly fluffy. It should hold a soft peak when you lift the beaters.

Then, switch to a rubber spatula and fold in the thawed whipped topping in two additions, turning the bowl and cutting through the middle rather than stirring, until no white streaks remain. Folding keeps the air in; beating it in with the mixer gives a denser, heavier pie.

After that, spoon the filling into the graham crust. It will be thick but spreadable. Level the top with an offset spatula, or swirl it into soft peaks if you are not piping a border later.

Chilling and Topping

Finally, cover the pie loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 8 hours, or overnight. The filling needs that long to firm up enough to slice cleanly; a pie cut at 4 hours still tastes right but comes out as a soft scoop rather than a wedge.

Just before serving, add the toppings: the piped border of whipped topping, chopped peanuts, a drizzle of melted chocolate, or nothing at all. Slice with a thin knife dipped in hot water and wiped between cuts, and serve the peanut butter pie cold.

How To Tell When Peanut Butter Pie Is Set

A set peanut butter pie is firm to a light press in the center and does not jiggle when the dish is nudged. After 8 hours in the fridge, a knife drawn through the middle should leave a clean channel that holds its shape rather than slumping back. If the filling clings to the knife and the cut closes up, it needs more time, and overnight is the safe answer.

The filling can only fail to set for two reasons. Either the cream cheese was too soft when it was beaten, which thins the base, or the whipped topping was not fully thawed and deflated into liquid as it was folded in. Both are fixed by a longer chill; a pie that is still soft the next day can go in the freezer for an hour before slicing.

Make It Ahead

Peanut butter pie is a make-ahead dessert by design, because the overnight chill is part of the recipe. Make it a full day before you need it, and up to 2 days ahead without any loss. The crust stays crisp under the filling for 2 days and only starts to soften on the third.

For a longer lead, freeze the whole pie, unwrapped, until the surface is firm, then wrap it in plastic and foil. Move it to the fridge the night before serving, and pipe the border and add the peanuts once it has thawed. The texture after freezing is slightly denser and still very good.

Storing Peanut Butter Pie

Keep the pie covered in the fridge for up to 5 days. The filling holds its shape and flavor the whole time; the crust softens gradually, which some people prefer. Cover it with a cake dome or an inverted bowl rather than plastic wrap pressed onto the surface, so the piped border is not crushed.

To freeze slices, set them on a tray until firm, then wrap each one in plastic and store them in a freezer bag for up to 1 month. Eat a frozen slice after 20 minutes on the counter for an ice cream pie texture, or thaw it in the fridge for the original creamy one. Do not microwave peanut butter pie to speed the thaw; the filling turns to sauce.

Variations and Substitutions

Crust Options

Chocolate crust. A chocolate graham or Oreo cookie crust turns this into a peanut butter cup pie. Add a layer of melted chocolate on the bottom of the crust and let it set before filling.

Pretzel crust. Two cups of crushed pretzels, a quarter cup of sugar and 6 tablespoons of melted butter, pressed into the plate and baked for 10 minutes at 350°F. Salty and crunchy under the sweet filling.

Homemade graham crust. The notes in the recipe card have the method. Bake it for 10 minutes so it holds together when sliced.

Filling Changes

Crunchy peanut butter. Swap it in cup for cup for small nutty pieces through the filling.

A jam swirl. A quarter cup of strawberry or raspberry jam dropped over the filling and swirled with a knife before chilling makes a peanut butter and jelly pie.

Less sweet. Reduce the powdered sugar to three quarters of a cup. The whipped topping is already sweet, so the pie does not miss it.

Nut-free. Cookie butter in place of the peanut butter gives a spiced, caramel-like pie that uses the same method.

What to Serve with Peanut Butter Pie

Strong black coffee is the natural partner, because the pie is rich and sweet and the coffee is neither. A tall glass of cold milk works the same way for anyone skipping caffeine. A small scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side turns a slice into a sundae, and a spoonful of hot fudge over the top is the full diner treatment.

After a heavy meal, a thin slice is enough. After something light, like a grilled chicken salad, a proper wedge with all the toppings makes sense. For a dessert table, set it beside a no-bake lemon icebox pie so there is something sharp next to something rich, and add peanut butter banana ice cream sandwiches for the children.

Peanut Butter Pie FAQ

More Questions About the Pie

Beat the filling in the morning, slide the pie into the fridge, and dessert is ready by dinner the next day. Peanut butter pie in Dolly Parton’s style is the kind of recipe worth keeping on a card in the kitchen drawer, and a lemon icebox pie made the same way is the one to learn next.