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No Bake Coconut Cream Pie is the frozen, tropical answer to turning on exactly zero appliances, a coconut flecked graham cracker crust filled with a whipped cream of coconut filling that slices like ice cream cake. I made it for a July cookout where the oven was legally off limits, and it disappeared before the burgers finished resting. If my no bake cheesecake is your summer hero, this is its coconut vacation self.
Fifteen minutes of mixing, six hours in the freezer, and the pie takes care of itself.
No Bake Coconut Cream Pie Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 15 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 0 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 6 hours 15 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 6 servings
- ⚡ Calories: 751kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Cool, creamy coconut with a buttery graham crunch
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, a press, whip, and freeze assembly
Quick Answer
Stir graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, sweetened coconut flakes, and sugar together, press into a 9 or 10 inch pie plate, and freeze while you make the filling. Whip the cream cheese smooth, mix in a 15 ounce can of cream of coconut and a half cup of coconut flakes, then fold in the whipped topping. Pour into the crust, smooth the top, cover, and freeze at least 6 hours. Rest 15 minutes at room temperature before slicing.
Jump to:
- No Bake Coconut Cream Pie Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Recipe Works
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- How to Make No Bake Coconut Cream Pie
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Serving Ideas and Suggestions
- No Bake Coconut Cream Pie FAQs
- Other Recommended No Bake Desserts
- No Bake Coconut Cream Pie
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Cream of coconut is the flavor engine. The sweetened, concentrated coconut cream carries both the sugar and the tropical flavor, so the filling needs no pudding mix and no extra sweetener.
- Cream cheese keeps it sliceable. Four ounces adds body and a slight tang that keeps the rich coconut filling from reading as pure whipped topping.
- The freezer is the oven here. Freezing sets the soft filling into clean wedges, this pie is built to serve semi frozen like an icebox ice cream cake.
- Coconut in the crust doubles down. Toasty flakes pressed into the graham base mean coconut in every layer, not just the filling.
- The 15 minute rest is part of the recipe. A short counter rest softens the filling from icy to creamy and releases the slices from the plate cleanly.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- No oven, no pudding mix, no water bath, just one bowl and a hand mixer.
- It waits in the freezer for days, ready whenever dessert is summoned.
- It lives in the freezer until you need it, the ultimate make ahead dessert, right beside my fried ice cream in the do ahead hall of fame.
- It has earned a permanent spot in our rotation, right up there with our creamy no-bake lemon cream pie.
- It has earned a permanent spot in our rotation, right up there with our coconut candy recipe.
- It has earned a permanent spot in our rotation, right up there with our coconut cupcakes with fluffy coconut frosting.
- It earns a spot in the rotation right next to our white chocolate mousse.
Key Ingredients
Seven staples, most of them straight off the baking aisle shelf.
- Graham cracker crumbs and butter: The classic press in crust, no baking needed.
- Sweetened coconut flakes: In the crust and the filling for texture and toasty flavor.
- Cream of coconut: One 15 ounce can, the sweet, intense coconut heart of the filling.
- Cream cheese: Four ounces for body, structure, and a little tang.
- Whipped topping: Eight ounces folded in for the light, freezer friendly texture.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
A blank coconut canvas, if you can call anything this good blank.
- Toast the coconut flakes for the filling and garnish for a deeper, nuttier flavor.
- Add a layer of sliced bananas over the crust before filling for a coconut banana cream mashup.
- Swap the graham crust for a golden Oreo or Nilla wafer crust.
- If citrus is calling instead, my key lime eclair cake scratches the same no bake itch.
- Drizzle slices with chocolate or caramel sauce, pina colada fans can add a splash of rum extract to the filling.
- Craving a different flavor next time? Our oatmeal cream pie ice cream bars delivers the same easy comfort with its own twist.
- Craving a different flavor next time? Our creamy coconut ice cream delivers the same easy comfort with its own twist.
- Craving a different flavor next time? Our sour cream coffee cake with sour cream glaze delivers the same easy comfort with its own twist.
- In the mood for something different? Our no bake peanut butter pie scratches a similar itch.
How to Make No Bake Coconut Cream Pie
- In a large bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, coconut flakes, and granulated sugar.
- Stir until the crumbs are evenly coated and the mixture holds together when squeezed.
- Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 or 10 inch pie plate, compacting it with the bottom of a measuring cup. Freeze the crust while you make the filling.
- In a large bowl with an electric hand mixer, whip the cream cheese until smooth.
- Add the cream of coconut and coconut flakes.
- Mix until combined, a few tiny flecks of cream cheese are fine.
- Add the whipped topping to the bowl.
- Fold it in gently, it may take a few minutes to fully combine without deflating the mixture.
- Pour the filling into the crust and smooth the top. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze at least 6 hours. Rest 15 minutes at room temperature, then slice and garnish with whipped cream and coconut.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Use cream of coconut, not coconut milk. They are different cans, cream of coconut is thick and sweetened, coconut milk will leave the filling loose and bland.
- Stir the can well before measuring. Cream of coconut separates in the can, the thick cream rises and the syrup sinks.
- Whip the cream cheese first, alone. Adding liquid to lumpy cream cheese locks the lumps in forever.
- Fold, do not beat, the whipped topping. The air in the topping is what keeps the frozen filling creamy instead of icy.
- Freeze it truly flat. A tilted pie plate in a crowded freezer sets into a lopsided pie, clear a level shelf first.
- Dip the knife in hot water between cuts. Warm, wiped steel glides through the frozen filling for bakery clean wedges.
- Make it a spread. When you are feeding a crowd, round out the table with our no bake oreo pie.
- Make it a spread. When you are feeding a crowd, round out the table with our easy banana cream pie.
- Make it a full spread. Our strawberry banana jello pie rounds out the table.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
Let the no bake coconut cream pie stand 15 minutes at room temperature, then slice and top each piece with whipped cream and a shower of toasted coconut flakes.
Still filling out the menu? Readers love pairing this one with our no bake cannoli pie, no bake chocolate peanut butter pie, and raspberry cheesecake bites.
Keep the no bake coconut cream pie frozen, covered, up to 2 weeks, it is a true make ahead dessert. Leftover slices go back into the freezer wrapped individually. For a softer, mousse like texture, let slices sit 20 to 25 minutes before serving instead of 15.
No Bake Coconut Cream Pie FAQs
It is a frozen icebox version of coconut cream pie, a coconut graham cracker crust filled with a whipped blend of cream cheese, cream of coconut, coconut flakes, and whipped topping. Everything sets in the freezer instead of the oven, and it slices like an ice cream cake with big coconut flavor.
Cream of coconut, like Coco Goya or Coco Lopez, is thick, heavily sweetened, and made for desserts and pina coladas, that is what this pie uses. Coconut cream is unsweetened and savory leaning. Swapping in the wrong can leaves the filling thin and under sweet, so check the label for the word sweetened.
Either the wrong coconut can, deflated topping, or not enough freeze time. Use sweetened cream of coconut, fold the whipped topping in gently instead of beating it, and give the pie the full 6 hours in the freezer. It sets by freezing, so the refrigerator alone will only ever get it to soft set.
Yes, whip 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar to stiff peaks and fold it in. Stabilized topping holds up slightly better through freeze and thaw cycles, but real whipped cream tastes richer, both set beautifully in the freezer.
At least 6 hours, and overnight is even better. The filling needs to freeze through to slice into clean wedges. Before serving, let the pie stand at room temperature for 15 minutes, that short rest softens the filling to creamy and helps the slices release from the plate.
It is practically designed for it. Make the pie up to 2 weeks ahead and keep it covered in the freezer, then move it to the counter 15 minutes before dessert. Add the whipped cream and coconut garnish just before serving so it looks fresh from the pastry case.
Made this No Bake Coconut Cream Pie? Leave a comment and a star rating below, and tell me if it survived until dessert time!
No Bake Coconut Cream Pie
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- ¼ cup sweetened flaked coconut
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
For the filling:
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 15 ounces cream of coconut
- 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
- 8 ounces whipped topping thawed
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, coconut, and granulated sugar until well combined.1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs, 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, ¼ cup sweetened flaked coconut, ¼ cup granulated sugar
- Press this mixture into a 9 or 10-inch pie plate. Press the crumbs down in the bottom of the plate and up the sides, making sure they are compact to form a crust. I like to use the bottom of a flat object like a measuring cup to do this.
- Place the crust in the freezer while you make the filling.
- In a large bowl with an electric hand mixer, whip the cream cheese until smooth.4 ounces cream cheese
- Add the cream of coconut and coconut flakes and mix until combined. If there are a few little pieces of cream cheese that are not completely mixed in, that’s okay.15 ounces cream of coconut, 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
- Add the whipped topping and fold it in; it may take a few minutes to combine the mixture fully.8 ounces whipped topping
- Pour the filling into the pie crust and smooth out the top.
- Cover with plastic wrap and place the pie in the freezer for at least 6 hours or until frozen.
- Before serving, take the pie out the freeze and let it stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before slicing, it will make taking the pie out easier.
- Cut and serve, garnish with whipped cream and more coconut flakes if desired.
Notes
- Use the bottom of a flat measuring cup to really press the graham cracker crumbs into the pie shell.
- Let the cream cheese reach room temperature before mixing to get that smooth texture.
- Freeze the pie for at least 6 hours. It can be tough to wait, but rushing can leave you with a half-frozen middle.
- Whether you’re adding toasted coconut or fresh fruit, do it just before you slice for the best crunch and color.
- If you love no-bake pies, you can adapt this method to other flavors. Swap the coconut for peanut butter, chocolate pudding, or lemon filling.
- If you want a thicker layer of filling, use a 9-inch or 10-inch plate and double-check the height of the sides.
Nutrition
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