
Have you ever found yourself smack dab in the middle of a cliché? Say, for example, you’ve been rolling your eyes for years about that whole “a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” thing, then you realize there’s an exact correlation between your son’s favorite foods and dinnertime declarations of love.
Well then, you’ll totally understand this.
A few weeks ago, my oldest son started asking me to bake him a “purcan pie” for Thanksgiving dinner. Although I have a favorite pumpkin pie recipe, I hadn’t yet found a recipe that recreated the smooth texture of the pecan filling without using corn syrup.
And that’s just sad, because pecan pie is my favorite pie ever. And my son’s, apparently.
So I got to baking . . .

. . . and baking . . . and then I started begging people to take my pie failures home.
As it turned out, getting the filling right was harder that I thought it would be. You see, where I grew up you absolutely do not put nuts in the filling, and it’s tricky to get it firm enough without turning it into a custard.
Fortunately, it was also completely worth it. The filling is exactly what I remember from my childhood – only without the corn syrup – and I can’t wait to share it with my mom in just a couple of weeks.
Sure, I can only eat a small slice because it’s pretty sweet, but that just means there’s more to share. I hope your family loves it as much as we do.
Also, don’t forget to pick up a pie crust protector before baking day. 🙂
Pecan Pie Recipe (Gluten-free, Grain-free, Paleo)
Equipment
- 9 inch pie pan
- pie crust protector
Ingredients
- 9 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups sucanat (aka rapadura sugar)
- ¾ cup maple syrup
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract (or make your own vanilla extract)
- 1 ½ tsp apple cider vinegar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ¼ cups pecan halves
- 1 homemade gluten-free pie crust
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Place butter, rapadura sugar, maple syrup and salt in a sauce pan and melt over medium heat.
- Bring mixture to a simmer, then stir for two minutes. Set pan aside and allow to cool for 10 minutes.(If you're doubling the recipe, wait 20 minutes because the mixture will take longer to cool.)
- After the mixture has cooled, whisk the eggs, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla together and then slowly pour them in the sugar mixture, whisking as you go. Pour filling in your prepared pie crust and place pecans on top.
- Place pie crust protector around the edge and bake at 350°F for 40-45 minutes, or until the center is firm but still jiggly. (Jiggly is a technical term, right?)
Notes

Nutrition
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