Forget Mud Pie — Grab The Buttermilk For This Old-School Chocolate Pie

If you're a fan of over-the-top, decadent desserts that prominently feature chocolate, we've got an old-school Southern alternative for you: chocolate buttermilk pie. It has the familiar chocolate richness you'd expect from a mud pie, but the addition of tangy buttermilk gives the filling a more nuanced flavor and a silky custard texture. Our chocolate buttermilk pie recipe has essentially the same structure of a traditional buttermilk pie: an egg-based custard made with ingredients such as sugar, butter, flour, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk — with the addition of unsweetened cocoa powder. Once baked, it transforms into a smooth, creamy filling with a distinctive softly sweet flavor.

Perhaps obviously, buttermilk is the key ingredient that makes this pie stand out. Despite its name, cooking with buttermilk won't make the finished dessert taste like a glass of sour milk, but rather add acidity that can cut through the pie's sweetness. That kind of balance is essential, as so many chocolate pies and cakes can taste overwhelmingly rich or sugary. Buttermilk also contributes to the pie's texture, giving the pie's filling a soft, luscious mouthfeel.

That's where it differs dramatically from mud pie. Despite both being chocolate pies, they're fundamentally different desserts. Mud pie is typically a more elaborate, layered dessert built around a chocolate crust (often cookies) and fillings that can range from pudding, cake, brownies, ice cream, whipped cream, fudge — or all of the above. There isn't one definitive recipe, but you'd best go to town with chocolate in all its forms.

Despite sounding like a modern mashup TikTok recipe, chocolate buttermilk pie has its roots in the traditional Southern dessert canon. Buttermilk pie itself hails from English custard-style desserts, and became a practical Southern favorite because it didn't call for any seasonal fruit or refrigeration. It's not unlike chess pie, another subtle Southern staple with a mildly sweet custard filling. Meanwhile, one slice of Mississippi mud pie can have you down for the count.

You'll likely have some buttermilk left over after baking, and although the thick, slightly sour beverage is a favorite among older Southerners, there's plenty of sweet and savory buttermilk recipes out there, too. From marinating fried chicken to ranch dressing to homemade crème fraîche, the versatile drink pops up in many different dishes. If you don't want to purchase buttermilk at all, there's several substitutes you can use in a pinch, although experts recommend you stick to the real stuff if the recipe calls for more than 1 cup of buttermilk.

In the end, the two desserts don't really compete with one another. While the Mississippi mud pie is chocolate dessert turned up to 11, buttermilk takes a different, subtler approach. It's rich but not heavy, sweet but not cloying, and creamy without relying on layers of pudding or ice cream. Both will satisfy any sweet tooth, and both are classic American desserts that deserve a spot at your next dinner party.