This Chocolate Hazelnut Chess Pie is easy to make and full of chocolate hazelnut spread flavor! It’s sweet, rich and perfect for the holidays!

slice of chocolate hazelnut chess pie on a white plate

Why You’ll Love This Chocolate Hazelnut Chess Pie

Chess pie is super simple and is typically made with ingredients that are pantry staples. This pie takes the traditional chocolate chess pie recipe up a notch to include even more flavor, and it’s SO good!

Amazing flavor – If you’re a fan of Nutella and similar spreads, you will love this pie! With both chocolate and hazelnut flavor, it’s hard to resist. It’s rich, sweet and melts in your mouth.
Easy to make – As mentioned, chess pies are about as easy as it gets. Make a pie crust, stir together the quick filling and bake. You don’t even have to blind bake the crust! It doesn’t get much simpler than that.
Prep ahead – This is also a great pie to make ahead. You easily store it in the fridge for a day or two before serving, or even freeze it.

ingredients for chocolate hazelnut chess pie on marble countertop

What You’ll Need

Part of this recipe’s charm is the simple and short ingredient list. Scroll down to the recipe card below for the measurements.

Pie crust – You can use my flakey homemade pie crust or a store-bought crust. If using my crust recipe, keep in mind that you only need one crust. So you can make the whole recipe (which makes 2 crusts) and freeze one crust for later, or cut the recipe in half and make one crust.
Sugar
All-purpose flour – Helps to stabilize the pie and gives a smoother texture.
Unsalted butter – This should be melted. Salted butter would also be fine.
Vanilla extract
Eggs and Egg yolk – Be sure to use large eggs, not medium or extra large. They help to firm up the pie filling.
Hazelnut chocolate spread – There are lots of options out there. I used Nutella.
Milk – I would recommend whole milk or 2% milk.

chocolate hazelnut chess pie in white pie dish with Nutella and hazelnuts in the background

How To Make It

This pie is wonderfully easy to make, but you do want to mix the ingredients in the correct order to avoid a lumpy filling. Here’s a look at the process. You can find the printable version of the instructions in the recipe card below.

Make the crust

Make the pie crust, if making a homemade pie crust. Add the crust to a 9-inch deep dish pie pan and shape it. “Dock” the crust by pricking it with a fork. This helps the crust not bubble up during baking. Refrigerate the crust for 2-3 hours or freeze for about an hour so that it’s very cold.

docked pie crust in white pie plate — *Docked pie crust*

Make the filling

For the filling, combine the sugar and flour in a large mixing bowl, then add the melted butter and vanilla extract. It will be dry and crumbly.
Add the eggs and egg yolk and gently stir until well combined, then add the chocolate hazelnut spread and gently stir until well combined.

Sugar, flour, butter and vanilla extract combined in a glass bowl — Sugar, flour, butter and vanilla combined.

Ingredients combined after adding the eggs and egg yolk. — Sugar, flour, butter and vanilla combined.

Add about half of the milk and gently stir until well combined, then add the remaining milk and gently stir until well combined.

Bake, cool and serve

Pour the pie filling into the cold crust, then bake for 10 minutes at 425°F. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F and bake for another 35-45 minutes, adding a pie crust shield about half way through, if needed, to keep the crust from browning too much.

filled pie crust in white pie plate — Add the milk and add to pie crust.

pie with a homemade foil pie crust shield on it — Add the milk and add to pie crust.

Remove the pie from the oven and set on a wire rack to cool for 1-2 hours, until room temperature.
Carefully cover the pie and place in the fridge to cool completely, 3-4 hours. Pie can be made 1-2 days ahead and refrigerated until ready to serve.

chocolate hazelnut chess pie with a slice removed

Tips For Success

Dock the crust – This helps prevent the crust from bubbling up during baking, so that you don’t end up with big crust air pockets that can rise into your pie during baking.
Add ingredients in correct order – The ingredients are added one or two at a time to avoid a lumpy filling. It can be tempting to just add them all at once and stir, but you’ll end with lumps and likely over mix the filling.
Stir gently – This goes along with the last tip. You don’t want to stir too aggressively and add a bunch of air bubbles to your filling. They can rise to the surface of the pie during baking and cause cracks and such.
Room temperature ingredients – This makes it easier to combine the ingredients and stir gently, so as to not add too much air into the filling.
Non-stick spray – To help the pie crust not stick to the pie plate when you’re serving your pie, you can use a little non-stick spray.
Pie crust shield – I recommend using a pie crust shield about half way through baking to avoid a burned crust. You can buy a pie crust shield, or make your own with aluminum foil.

slice of chocolate hazelnut chess pie with a bite taken

How to Store

Make ahead. Chess pie can be made 1-2 days in advance. In fact, I recommend making it at least 1 day in advance so it has lots of time to chill. Just cover it with plastic or foil and keep it refrigerated.
Fridge. This pie can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days. Wrap the pie pan tightly with plastic wrap or, if you’ve already sliced it, wrap the slices in plastic wrap or place them in an airtight container.
Freezer. Before freezing, be sure to allow the pie to firm up completely in the fridge. Then just wrap it in a double layer of plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. Leftover individual slices can also be frozen too.

More Great Pies To Enjoy

This recipe was updated 11/10/2024. It’s very similar to the old version, but with different mixing instructions and more filling. To see the old version, download the recipe PDF.