Keto Root Beer Float Pie (No-Bake Filling, Baked Almond Crust)

Slice of keto root beer pie topped with whipped cream on a white plate
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Introduction

A root beer float is two ingredients doing one job: vanilla and root beer, and the fizz where they meet. This is that, rebuilt as a pie you keep in the refrigerator.

The part worth saying out loud, because it surprises people: the root beer in here is root beer. Not an extract, not a concentrate — three quarters of a cup of actual diet soda, poured into the filling along with the pudding mix and the almond milk. That is where the flavor comes from, and it is why the ingredient list has a can of soda sitting in the middle of a dessert recipe.

One Half Bakes, One Half Doesn’t

This is really two recipes stacked on top of each other, and it helps to think of them that way.

The crust bakes. It is almond flour with cream cheese and butter worked through it, pressed into a pie pan and baked until it browns. That is the only thing in this recipe that goes near heat.

The filling never does. Sugar-free vanilla pudding mix, almond milk, root beer, vanilla, and whipped topping, blended together and folded. It goes into the pan soft — softer than you will expect if you are used to a baked custard pie — and it firms up in the refrigerator rather than in the oven.

The crust still has to be baked properly — browned and cooked through, not pale and soft. But the two things that most often go wrong come after the oven, and both are about temperature.

Let the crust cool completely before the filling touches it. A warm crust will start melting the whipped topping out of the filling, and once that separates it does not come back together.

Then give it the full four hours. This is the step people cut short, and it is the one that decides whether you get a slice or a spoonful. Four hours is the minimum; overnight is genuinely better, and it is easier to plan around anyway — this is a dessert you make the day before, not the hour before.

Keto Root Beer Pie

Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
25 minutes
Additional Time
4 hours
Total Time
4 hours 40 minutes
Yield
10 slices
Course
Dessert
Cuisine
American

Ingredients

For Crust

For Filling

Nutrition Facts

10 servings per recipe
Trans Fat 0g 0% 0g 0%
Total Sugars — —
Allulose 0g 0% 0g 0%

Where you see an em dash: one of the ingredients in this recipe does not publish a figure for that row, so we cannot add one up honestly. We would rather show you nothing there than a zero we cannot stand behind.

About these numbers: We are home cooks, not certified nutritionists. Nutrition is shared as a courtesy. We pick a representative product for each ingredient, and our recipe system works out the totals from the amounts in this recipe, so please treat them as a helpful estimate rather than a guarantee. The brands you buy, any swaps you make, and how generously you portion the recipe will all move these numbers.

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

    Let the oven come fully up to temperature before the crust goes in, so it browns evenly rather than drying out while the oven catches up.

  2. Mix the ingredients for the crust until well combined.

    Combine the almond flour, softened cream cheese, softened butter, vanilla extract, xanthan gum, egg, and Swerve confectioners sugar substitute in a large mixing bowl.

    Mix thoroughly until the dough forms a crumbly texture or until all ingredients are evenly incorporated.

  3. Press the crust into a well-greased 9-inch pie pan, then chill it for 15 to 20 minutes.

    Grease the pie pan to prevent sticking and ease the pie removal later on. Use your hands or the back of a spoon to evenly press the crust mixture into the pan, ensuring it covers the bottom and sides evenly.

    Refrigerate the pressed crust for 15 to 20 minutes before it bakes. Chilled dough holds the shape you pressed it into instead of slumping down the sides as the butter loosens.

  5. Bake for 20-25 minutes until browned and cooked through.

    Place the pie pan in the oven and bake the crust until golden brown. Baking times may vary, so keep an eye on the crust to avoid overcooking.

  6. Blend the sugar-free vanilla pudding mix, almond milk, half the whipped topping, diet root beer, and vanilla until well combined.

    Use an instant pudding mix rather than a cook-and-serve one - the filling is never heated, so a cook-and-serve mix will not set. One small 1 oz box is what goes in. Ignore the proportions printed on the box - the almond milk and root beer here are measured for this pie, not for a bowl of pudding.

  7. Gently Fold in the remaining whipped topping.

    Add the remaining half of the whipped topping into the filling mixture. That helps to create a smooth and creamy consistency.

  8. Evenly spread the mixture into the cooled pie crust.

    Once the crust has cooled down, pour the filling mixture into it. Evenly spread it to create a level surface.

  10. Chill for a minimum of four hours.

    The filling goes in soft and sets in the refrigerator, so this is not a step to cut short. Four hours is the minimum; overnight is easier to plan around.

  11. Garnish with the reserved whipped topping before serving.

Notes

The Pan and the Crust

A standard 9-inch pie pan, greased properly. This crust has cream cheese and butter in it and it will stick if the pan is dry — grease it more thoroughly than feels necessary, or line it with parchment.

Leave the cream cheese and butter out for about 30 minutes before you start; if you microwave them, stop at soft, not melted. The chill that follows is in the method above, and it is the other half of what makes the crust hold its shape.

Start the filling while the crust is in the oven. It comes together faster than the crust cools, so there is no reason to do them in sequence.

Swapping the Soda

The root beer is diet root beer — the drink, not an extract or a concentrate. Any zero-sugar one works.

If you would rather have a different flavor, diet cream soda and diet orange soda are where people look first. The three quarters of a cup here is a root beer amount, and we do not have a reliable amount for either of those.

Storage

Keep it refrigerated and covered — there is cream cheese, dairy and whipped topping in here, so it lives in the fridge rather than on the counter. It holds for 3 to 4 days, though the crust softens as it sits.

If you are stacking slices in a container, put a sheet of parchment between them or they will weld together.

We do not have freezing directions for this pie - no wrapping, no thawing step and no time limit.

Serving

Cut it with a sharp knife wiped clean between slices — the filling is soft and a dirty blade drags it across the cut face. Ten slices out of a 9-inch pie is a sensible size given how rich it is.

A scoop of sugar-free vanilla ice cream next to a slice gets you closest to the actual float this is named after. Unsweetened iced coffee is the other good pairing, mostly because it cuts the sweetness rather than adding to it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this keto root beer float pie suitable for a ketogenic diet?

It is built to be low in carbohydrate: an almond flour crust, a sugar-free pudding mix, zero-sugar soda and a powdered sweetener that measures 1:1 with sugar.

Whether a slice fits your day is a different question from whether the recipe is low-carb, and it depends on the size of the slice and on everything else you have eaten. The per-slice figures are in the Nutrition Facts panel with the recipe.

Can I use a different type of flour for the crust?

Almond flour is what this crust is built on, and a cup and a half of it is doing the structure alongside cream cheese, butter and an egg.

Coconut flour is the one usually suggested next, and it is worth saying that it is not a nut flour at all — it is milled from the dried coconut meat, and it drinks up several times the liquid almond flour does. Swapping it in is a rebuild of the crust rather than a change of flour, and we cannot give you coconut-flour amounts for it.

Can I use regular root beer instead of diet root beer?

Regular root beer contains a significant amount of sugar, which would significantly impact the pie’s carb content. Stick to diet root beer or other soda options for a keto-friendly version.

How do I prevent the crust from sticking to the pie pan?

Grease the root beer float pie pan well before pressing the crust to prevent sticking. You can also line the pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking liner for easy removal.

Can I use a different flavor of sugar-free pudding mix?

The set comes from the pudding mix rather than from the flavor on the box, but this pie is written for vanilla.

What it costs you is the point of the pie. The pudding is the vanilla half of a root beer float, so a chocolate or butterscotch mix makes something else. Carb counts vary between flavors too, and the panel here is calculated for the vanilla.

Can I make the keto root beer float pie ahead of time?

It is better made ahead than not. The filling needs four hours in the refrigerator at minimum and cuts more cleanly after a night, so the day before is the natural time to make it.

Keep it covered in the refrigerator and use it within three to four days. The crust softens the longer it sits.

Can I freeze the keto root beer float pie?

We do not have freezing guidance for this pie — no wrapping, no thawing step and no keeping window — so we cannot tell you how it comes through.

The refrigerator is where it belongs: the filling needs four hours there to set, and the pie keeps there afterwards, covered, for three to four days.

How can I make the root beer float pie firmer?

Give it longer in the refrigerator. Four hours is the minimum for the filling to set, and a pie left overnight cuts noticeably cleaner than one pulled at the four-hour mark.

If it is still softer than you want after a long chill, the likely cause is the liquid — measure the almond milk and the root beer rather than pouring by eye, and fold the second half of the whipped topping in gently instead of beating it, so it keeps the air that gives the filling its body.

Is there a dairy-free substitute for the whipped topping?

A coconut-cream whipped topping is the usual stand-in, and it folds into the filling the same way.

Worth knowing before you start, though: the whipped topping is not the only dairy in this pie. The crust has cream cheese and butter in it, so swapping the topping alone does not make the recipe dairy-free.

Can I use a different sweetener for the crust and filling?

The crust is the only place sweetener is measured in — two tablespoons of Swerve confectioners. Another powdered sugar substitute that measures 1:1 with sugar goes in at the same amount.

The filling is already sweetened by the pudding mix and the whipped topping, so there is no sweetener to swap there. Taste it before you spread it in, and if it needs anything, add it a little at a time.

Wrap Up

If it is the drink you were actually after, we have the Low Carb Root Beer Float too, and it takes about two minutes.

Have you tried this recipe or any other recipe on the blog? Please rate it below and let us know your thoughts in the comments! We love hearing from you!

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Correction — October 2, 2026: The card claimed 40 minutes and left out the four hours the filling needs to set. The total time now includes that chill.