During the pandemic, many nostalgic recipes were revived as home cooks looked for budget-friendly recipes to try. We first started seeing Depression-era water pie on TikTok and we were instantly intrigued. A pie made with water? How could that work? Our Test Kitchen tested (and loved!) the the classic water pie recipe. It bakes into a buttery, custard-like dessert that's flavored with vanilla. Here's how to make water pie including the proper way to serve it.

What Is Water Pie?

During the Great Depression, many common baking ingredients, like milk and eggs, were in short supply and water pie was born out of necessity. Ingenious home cooks created this budget-friendly pie recipe using the pantry staples they had on hand. The custard-like filling is made mostly of water along with flour, sugar, vanilla, and butter. Rather than thickening the custard with eggs, this recipe uses the starch in flour. It comes together almost magically as it bakes. Our recipe testers found the finished water pie was less creamy than a traditional custard pie but still had the same sweetness and buttery flavor.

Water Pie Ingredients

Raid your pantry and fridge for the ingredients to make water pie. Chances are, you've got nearly everything you'll need to make this inexpensive dessert.

• Pastry Crust: You'll need one unbaked pie shell for this recipe. We're including our homemade pastry for a single crust pie but you could easily use a purchased pie crust instead.
• Sugar: White granulated sugar is all you'll need to make water pie.
• Flour: All-purpose flour is the thickener in the pie filling. Be sure to stir it well so there are no lumps in the finished dessert.
• Water: It may seem strange, but you'll pour the water, vanilla, and vinegar mixture right into your unbaked crust. Trust the process, it comes together as it bakes.
• Vanilla: Two teaspoons of vanilla extract provide most of the flavor here.
• Apple Cider Vinegar: You'll be surprised how a small amount of vinegar rounds out the flavors in the filling.
• Butter: To help balance the sweetness of the filling, our Test Kitchen recommends using salted butter in this water pie recipe.

How to Make Water Pie

This pie is very easy to assemble—in fact, it's one of the easiest pie recipes our Test Kitchen has tried.

Add the wet ingredients to the shell and sprinkle with the flour mixture. Dot on the butter slices and place in the oven. Bake for an hour, covering the crust edges halfway through. When you take the pie out, don't be alarmed if it's jiggly in the center. It will continue to set up as it cools. It will need at least 8 hours of chill time in the fridge before serving.

How to Serve Water Pie

This pie is best served chilled or at room temperature. In fact, we don't recommend heating it up at all. The filling will lose its texture when warmed. Our recipe testers liked it best when it was brought to room temperature before serving, about an hour from taking it out of the fridge.

How to Store Water Pie

Cover and store the pie in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.