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Pie Weights

For a perfectly baked pie crust, use the best pie weights.

By Carolyn Grillo ･ Published May 17, 2019. Appears in America's Test Kitchen TV Season 24: Pies Big and Small

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Ease of Use
Performance

WinnerMrs. Anderson's Baking Ceramic Pie Weights

One package of these weights contains 1 cup of ceramic balls. To completely fill an aluminum foil–lined pie shell, we found that we had to use four packages, or 4 cups, which weighed about 2 pounds. When we completely filled a pie shell with these weights, they were heavy enough to keep the bottom from bubbling or puffing and the fragile sides from slumping.

Model Number: 108Material: Ceramic stonewarePrice at Time of Testing: $5.99 each or $23.96 for set of 4 (our recommended amount)

Full Ratings & Specs

Ease of Use
Performance

Model Number: 108Material: Ceramic stonewarePrice at Time of Testing: $5.99 each or $23.96 for set of 4 (our recommended amount)

Full Ratings & Specs

See Everything We Tested

What You Need to Know

Many of our pie recipes call for blind baking—baking the crust either partially or completely before adding the filling. But without a filling to hold the raw dough in place, the bottom can puff up or the sides can slump as it bakes, resulting in ugly, misshapen pies. To prevent this, the test kitchen uses pie weights. We do this not just for aesthetics: A slumped pie crust provides less room for filling.

While bakers can use dried beans, raw rice, and granulated sugar as pie weights, we wanted to find the best product designed specifically for the job. We tested four models of pie weights, priced from about $6 to about $60 per package, in a range of materials and styles, including a set of ceramic balls, a set of aluminum beans, a 6-foot-long stainless-steel chain, and a steel disk ringed with soft silicone flaps. As opposed to the balls and beans, the steel disk model consisted of just one piece, theoretically making it easier to use and store than traditional loose pie weights.

Members of the tastings and testings team discuss the results of a test in which they used the pie weights to prebake tart dough. They were looking for evenly browned crusts that didn't slump during baking.

Were They Easy To Use?

We used each model to partially bake 9-inch pie shells (Three-in-One All-Butter Pie Dough) and 9½-inch tart shells (Sweet Tart Pastry). For each test, we evaluated how easy the pie weights were to use, how evenly the crusts browned, and how successfully the weights prevented the doughs from puffing up or slumping down.

At the start of testing, we had high hopes for the chain and the disk models. It was a breeze to position both of them snugly in the dough-lined plate and extract them with one simple movement once the crust was baked, but those were the only things they excelled at. In every other evaluation, they flopped (more on that later).

A one-piece model made by Chicago Metallic failed to keep the crust in place as it baked.

To test the ceramic balls and aluminum beans, we followed our recommended test kitchen procedure. We placed two layers of aluminum foil on the chilled raw dough, loaded in the pie weights, and baked. To remove the weights in a tidy fashion, we pinched together the sides of the foil (holding two corners in our right hand and two corners in our left) and lifted. Placing the weights on top of layers of foil kept them from touching the raw dough, which meant that we didn’t have to wash them afterward. And while using the balls and beans was a little more time-consuming than using the chain and the disk, the balls and beans gave us much better results, so we didn’t mind the extra steps.

Weighing The Results

Next, we turned our attention to performance. Unfortunately, the chain didn’t live up to the promise on its packaging that said it “prevents crusts from bubbling.” We tried arranging it on the dough in a variety of ways, placing it freeform right on top of dough, placing it freeform on top of dough that we’d lined with foil, and coiling it tidily in a circle on top of dough. In each test, the dough puffed up to different degrees between gaps in the chain, leaving behind bumpy, bubbled crusts. In addition, the chain, even at 6 feet, was too short to cover the sides of the dough, resulting in slumped sides and less room for pie filling.

The second innovative model, the disk-shaped pie weight, performed a bit better than the chain, but not by much. The disk fit snugly into the bottom of the dough-lined pie plate and gave us bottom crusts that were evenly browned and baked. But the silicone flaps encircling its perimeter barely covered the sides of the dough, leaving them unsupported and resulting in slumped and shrunken sides. We tried the model with a third type of dough, made from butter and shortening, which is less prone to slumping than an all-butter dough, and it worked much better. But overall, its results were too inconsistent for us, and we didn’t want our dough choices to be limited by the pie weights we’re using.

The Best Pie Weights: Mrs. Anderson’s Baking Ceramic Pie Weights

The traditional ceramic and aluminum beans were the best performers overall, but even they weren't perfect: Neither came with enough pieces in a single package to completely fill our pie shells, which is critical to ensure that both the bottom of the dough and its sides remain snugly pressed against the pie plate during baking. One package of ceramic balls contained just 1 cup of weights, while one package of aluminum beans contained 2¾ cups. This is where cost entered the equation. To adequately fill pie shells with these weights, we’d need multiple packages, and two packages of aluminum beans would cost more than $100. So we zeroed in on the less expensive option, Mrs. Anderson’s Baking Ceramic Pie Weights, purchasing four sets (for a total of 4 cups) for about $25. This amount weighed more than 2 pounds and filled the pie plate. With these ceramic balls piled high and pressing firmly against the dough’s bottom and sides, the bottom of the crust turned out crisp, flaky, and golden brown and its sides stood tall. We had a winner.

Heavy enough to keep the bottom and sides of crusts from puffing up, baking unevenly, and slumping and shrinking into the dish
Inexpensive enough to make it reasonable to purchase 4 sets, enough to fill a pie shell

Use each model to parbake 9-inch pie shells made with our Three-in-One All-Butter Pie Dough recipe
Use each model to parbake 9½-inch tart shells made with our Sweet Tart Pastry recipe
Use the highest-rated and lowest-rated models to parbake 9-inch pie shells made with our Foolproof Pie Dough recipe to see if they performed differently with a dough containing shortening, which is less prone to shrinking

03:42

America's Test KitchenPie Baking RoundupWatch Now

Everything We Tested

Good 3 Stars out of 3.

Fair 2 Stars out of 3.

Poor 1 Star out of 3.

One package of these aluminum beans, which contains 2¾ cups of beans and weighs 2 pounds, fit perfectly in our winning tart pan, so its sides stood tall and the dough was very crisp. But in pie plates, one package reached only two-thirds of the way up the sides of the pie dough, and the sides slumped slightly. Two sets of these beans would have sufficiently kept both the bottom and the sides in place, but at a cost of more than $100, these beans are not worth it. Our winner was a quarter of the price and performed just as well.

Model Number: 340001Material: AluminumPrice at Time of Testing: $56.02

Ease of Use
Performance

Model Number: 340001Material: AluminumPrice at Time of Testing: $56.02

Not Recommended

Ease of Use
Performance

Chicago Metallic Pie Weight

This perforated metal disk ringed by silicone flaps, which we used to recommend until our test cooks started reporting that it didn’t perform well in all types of dough, performed inconsistently in our tests. When we used this model with our all-butter pie crust, the dough slumped and then caved in on the pie weight, rendering the crust unusable. This model struggled with our tart dough as well; the walls slumped significantly. Although it worked OK with a dough made from a mix of butter and shortening, we can’t recommend this model—we wanted a pie weight that would work with different types of pie and tart doughs.

Model Number: CMB164Material: Silicone and steelPrice at Time of Testing: $13.38

Ease of Use
Performance

Model Number: CMB164Material: Silicone and steelPrice at Time of Testing: $13.38

Ease of Use
Performance

Mrs. Anderson's Baking Pie Weight Chain

We liked the idea of a weighty stainless-steel chain, but at 6 feet, it wasn’t long enough or heavy enough to perform well. In one test, the dough puffed up between gaps in the chain, leaving behind deep impressions in the crust and less room for filling. The crust also slumped so badly that it became unusable. When we covered the dough with aluminum foil before putting the chain in place, the bubbling wasn’t as pronounced, but the sides of the dough still slumped. Arranging the chain in a tight coil didn’t work either.

Model Number: 43611Material: Stainless steelPrice at Time of Testing: $9.24

Ease of Use
Performance

Model Number: 43611Material: Stainless steelPrice at Time of Testing: $9.24

*All products reviewed by America’s Test Kitchen are independently chosen, researched, and reviewed by our editors. We buy products for testing at retail locations and do not accept unsolicited samples for testing. We list suggested sources for recommended products as a convenience to our readers but do not endorse specific retailers. When you choose to purchase our editorial recommendations from the links we provide, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices are subject to change.

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The Expert

byCarolyn Grillo

Senior Editor, ATK Reviews

Carolyn is a senior editor for ATK Reviews. She's a French-trained professional baker.

Carolyn Grillo is a senior editor for ATK Reviews. She studied French patisserie at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and worked as a baker before joining the review team. Her culinary background helps her evaluate bakeware and write about ingredients. Carolyn is also responsible for writing The Well-Equipped Cook, a weekly newsletter about kitchen equipment. Hailing from the land of Taylor ham and Italian delis (New Jersey), she has strong opinions about both and isn't afraid to share them.

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