The Best Chocolate Pecan Pie Ever

This Chocolate Pecan Pie recipe will be a family favorite for the holiday season! Chocolate Pecan Pie is easy and quick to mix up with simple pantry ingredients. The taste is rich, decadent and delicious! Your family will beg you to make the Best Chocolate Pecan Pie ever, all year long.

I have to admit something here and say I do no like Pumpkin Pie, at all. I happen to gag if I even try Pumpkin Pie, I detest it that much. I remember as a child there was never Pumpkin Pie around during the holidays. I didn’t grow up eating it because none of my family members baked it, ate it or liked it. We are a family of fruit pie eaters and the much beloved Pecan Pie.

I will say that as a child I didn’t really care much for a Pecan Pie either. I loved Apple Pie the most. I loved my grandmother’s Apple Pie the most. She would labor for days making pies for my mom’s 7 brothers and sisters (my aunts and uncles) and the huge gaggle of cousins. Gathering together at my grandmother’s for Thanksgiving was a highlight because I was able to play with all my cousins. We were allowed to eat whatever we wanted, all day long, and no one said a word to any of us. It was fantastic!

When I went to my first Thanksgiving with my husband’s family, I was so surprised there was not one single fruit pie on the dessert table. How was this even possible?! My husband’s mother was highly offended when I declined her Pumpkin Pie, but I knew there was no way I would be able to gag a piece down for the sake of courtesy! This was almost 25 years ago and my mother-in-law is still highly offended I won’t eat her Pumpkin Pie! LOL! I simply DO NOT like Pumpkin Pie.

Over the years I have tried a number of different Pecan Pie recipes as well, adjusting the sugar levels, changing from light brown sugar to dark brown sugar, using light corn syrup versus dark corn syrup . . . and over the span of my married life, everyone has come to love MY Pecan Pie as much as I remember everyone loving my grandmother’s Pecan Pie!

I usually make two Pecan Pies for Thanksgiving because I love my Pecan Pie with chocolate and some of my family loves a Classic Pecan Pie without chocolate. This recipe below works great either way and there is no need to adjust any measurements if you exclude the chocolate chips.

I also need to explain what chocolate chips are the best in this BEST Chocolate Pecan Pie Ever Recipe. I have used different chocolate chips testing this recipe out and I have discovered that THE BEST chocolate chips to use are not even chocolate chips at all! I use Trader Joe’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks! The chocolate chunks also happen to be delicious right out of the bag and my kids love to snack on them! These chunks are 58.9% cacao, and have a lovely balance of bittersweet cocoa and sweetness, with a hint of vanilla. The chocolate chunks melt smoothly in this Pecan Pie. I never use any other chocolate in my Chocolate Pecan Pie recipes except Trader Joe’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks.

Chocolate Pecan Pie Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup semi-sweet Trader Joe’s Chocolate Chunks

2 cups pecans, roughly chopped**

1/2 cup pecans, whole

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

4 large eggs, slightly beaten

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 refrigerated or homemade pie crust, thawed

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a pie dish with nonstick spray. Drape your pie crust in your dish, letting it hang over the edges of the tin. Gently form the pie crust into your pie dish. Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork.

**The pecans can be roughly chopped and tossed in the bottom waiting for the batter. The 1/2 cup of whole pecans can be used to arrange on the top after the batter has been poured over the chocolate and the chopped pecans(you do not have to do this at all and can chop this 1/2 cup of pecans and toss in the bottom as well). It depends on my mood and how much time I have. LOL My daughters love to save the perfect pecans and arrange them on top of the batter to make a very pretty pecan pie. Anyway, simly scatter the roughly chopped pecans and semisweet chocolate chunks over the bottom of the pie dough. Set aside.

Over medium heat in a pot, combine the corn syrup and brown sugar. Bring to a small boil, combining the two completely together. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. (I usually complete this step first so it has a few minutes to cool while I form the dough and chop the pecans).

In a large bowl, stir the eggs, melted butter, vanilla, cinnammon and salt. Grab the slightly cooled batter and SLOWLY drizzle this mixture into bowl. Whisk continuously whilst drizzling all the batter and go very slowly so the eggs do not cook. Pour the combined mixture over the pecans and chocolate chunks in the pie dish.

The pie dish will be pretty full(unless you are using a very large pie dish) and this is what you want. Carefully place the pie dish in the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until the top is slightly browned. The top of the pecan pie will be puffy and crust should be slightly golden. I usually place pie crust shields around the crust after about 20-30 minutes to prevent the edges from browning too much. If you don’t have pie crust shields, you can fashion aluminum foil around the edge of the pie as well. Let the pecan pie cool for 1 hour before serving. The pie filling will settle as it cools and seem to deflate. This is completely normal.

ENJOY! If you have guests, bake two of these pies because it won’t last long. Thankfully, there is always Chocolate Pecan Pie left over the day after Thanksgiving so I can have another piece!

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