Coconut Cream Pie

Ingredients

• 1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust (store-bought or homemade), fully baked and cooled
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut, divided
• 2 tbsp butter, 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup heavy cream, whipped with 2 tbsp sugar (for topping)

Method

1. If not using a pre-baked crust, blind-bake the crust at 400°F (205°C) with pie weights for 15 minutes, remove the weights, and bake 5 more minutes until golden. Cool completely.
2. Whisk the milk, sugar, cornstarch, and egg yolks together in a saucepan.
3. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and bubbling, about 8 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the butter, vanilla, and 1 cup of the coconut.
5. Toast the remaining 1/2 cup coconut in a dry skillet until golden, and reserve for topping.
6. Pour the warm filling into the cooled crust and press plastic wrap directly onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming.
7. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, or until fully chilled and set.
8. Top with sweetened whipped cream before serving.

The Tale of Coconut Cream Pie

Story updated September 18, 2026

Coconut cream pie's history is tangled up with the broader story of coconut's arrival in American kitchens. Isolated recipes using coconut go back further than most people assume, an 1824 cookbook, The Virginia Housewife, includes a recipe for 'cocoa-nut cream,' but coconut remained difficult to import, store, and prepare until the 1890s. That changed after Philadelphia miller Franklin Baker began processing shredded, dried coconut on a commercial scale starting in 1895, finally making the ingredient affordable and shelf-stable for ordinary home cooks. Recipes for coconut cream pie specifically began appearing in American cookbooks in the early 1900s, building on the country's existing custard and cream pie traditions. It grew steadily in popularity over the following decades and had become a full-fledged staple of mid-century American dessert cases and church potlucks by the 1950s.