There are a couple of things I like about this pumpkin pie recipe: it can be dairy-free and still taste just the way I expect it to, it can put up with any kind of squash I have on hand, and it uses so many lovely and exotic spices, that also happen to be really fragrant (thereby spreading the most wonderful aroma through the house).
This pie filling also tastes good without a crust - it's kind of like a custard pumpkin quiche when baked without the crust. Or, some other pie crusts you may want to try are the cookie crust pie and the apple pie crust.
As featured in
Pumpkin Pie {grain free}
Update on 11/29/21: I reduced the amount of vanilla extract and swapped it out for vanilla bean powder to reduce the moisture in the pumpkin filling/custard.Update on 11/13/21. I baked this pie successfully at 325°F for 30 to 40 minutes and it came out great. So if you're burning the crust lower the baking temperature to 325°F and bake a bit longer. Updated on 11/20/2012. Both the crust and filling have been completely re-tested and re-written to be included in my book, Cooking for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Tip: Canned pumpkin is a bit more reliable because it's not as moist (watery), so to make sure the custard bakes in time, strain any excess water from you're puree, and make sure to use full fat coconut milk or use coconut cream. You can also swap out vanilla extract for vanilla seeds to reduce the moisture even further.You can use maple syrup or honey (only honey for SCD) in the filling. Some other pie crusts you may want to try are the cookie crust and the apple pie crust. I add parchment paper to the bottom of my tart pan because it is not the non-stick kind. You can also grease the sides a bit. For the baking time, it will depend on the size of your pie pan. A large flat tart pan will bake the custard filling faster than a deep pie dish. If you use a tart pan, it will take about 35 minutes to bake, however a deep dish will take closer to 45 minutes to bake the filling until the edges are firm. If you're baking in a deep dish I recommend turning the heat down to 325F. For a less sweeter crust, reduce the sweetener to 1 tablespoon of honey.
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 345kcal
Ingredients
Pie filling
- 1 ¾ cups pumpkin puree, homemade or canned about 15 ounces (remove excess moisture from homemade puree)
- ¼ cup dairy-free milk coconut, almond, or substitute with more squash
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup honey
- ½ teaspoon vanilla bean powder or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger, cloves, or allspice optional for a spicy pie; all or some of each
Crust
- 2 cups blanched almond flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup unsalted butter or ghee or coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons honey
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F/190°C.
- Add the dry crust ingredients to a food processor and pulse it briefly to blend well.
- Add the remaining ingredients and process briefly so that you have small grains of dough that stick together when you press them with your fingers.
- Press the crust into your pie dish or tart pan using your fingers. Use pie weights or insert a toothpick in several places around the crust to prevent the crust from bubbling while it browns.
- Bake the pie crust for 5 minutes, or until it is slightly browned.
- Cool the crust for a 10 minutes and then place in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, combine all the pie filling ingredients and whisk to blend well. You can also place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to blend.
- Place the filling in the chilled pie crust. I like to pour the filling just to the edge of the crust to prevent the crust from getting too brown. You can also cover the crust edges with foil to prevent it from baking too fast.
- Bake the pie for about 35 to 45 minutes, or until the outer edges of the pie filling are firm. A deeper pan will take longer to bake (closer to 45 minutes).
- Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
- Store in the refrigerator for a week or so.
Nutrition
Calories: 345kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 85mg | Sodium: 337mg | Potassium: 158mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 8648IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 99mg | Iron: 2mg
Rebecca says
Is the kcal for 6 or 8 slices of pie?
Erica says
Hi Rebecca. The calories are for one of eight slices.
Natalie says
I loved the flavor on this, however I had to cook it longer because it was still liquidy in the middle even after following your directions exactly. Are you cooking at a different elevation? Are you using canned pumpkins? Next time I will try omiting the almond milk to see if that helps. Thanks for the recipe!
Natalie says
I'll add that because I cooked it significantly longer the crust ended up burning and it was still mushy in the middle.
Erica says
Hi! sorry you had a few issues. I'm not at an extreme elevation, but it does make a difference if the pumpkin is watery or very moist. Canned pumpkin will be less moist and works well whenever I use it. Puree is a bit trickier. You can do a few things: strain out some of the liquid from the pumpkin, make sure you're using full-fat coconut milk, remove the vanilla and use vanilla bean powder instead. Also, lowering the baking temperature to 325F to avoid burning the crust. You may not need to bake the custard filling as long—as soon as it's mostly baked and a bit jiggly in the center is good enough. Hope all this helps!
Mara Ochoa says
Thank you!
Mara Ochoa says
Hi. This recipe is a family favorite but my Mom recently found out she is allergic to eggs. Do you have any ideas for a good substitution?
Erica says
I haven't tried it, but flaxseed egg or banana will probably work.
Kim says
Hi! Could I omit the honey in this recipe? Perhaps use a bit if liquid stevia instead?
Erica says
I don't really know if stevia would be enough to do justice to the flavor. Maybe some mashed banana as well as stevia?
Kim says
Thank you Erica! I was thinking possibly heavily sweetening a 1/2 cup of plain yogurt so that it provide a closer consistency.
Gayla Nelson says
Was wondering if these recipes are in your cookbook?
Erica says
Yes, this is in my SCD book 🙂
amanda says
This was my first pumpkin pie I have ever made, it came out great!
Erica says
That's great!
amanda says
For the crust is it 1/4 cup of softened or melted coconut oil?
Erica says
no melted needed, but you can use it at room temperature.
Meg Higgins says
Hi! I'm testing this out for Thanksgiving dinner this week. For some reason my filling isn't firming up, despite cooking it for one hour longer than suggested. Anyone else having this problem? I might try it again tomorrow, adding a little coconut flour to absorb some of the moisture and also might use less honey. The batch that is currently cooking is sweeter than I need it to be. I'm curious how others have fared with this filling, and I'm scratching my head to figure out why it's failing. Only three more days until Thanksgiving! Any feedback would be appreciated. 🙂
Erica says
Hi Meg. I was going to make this tonight actually, but for now, it could be that there's too much moisture, which I recall happened to me sometimes. I ended up baking it longer, but another option may be to leave out the coconut milk. Once I make this, I'll come back to your comment.
Erica says
Hi Meg. So I'm going to make this one more time today to confirm this, but I think it needs one more egg, and you can reduce the honey to about 1/2 cup (or maybe less, depending on the sweetness of the pumpkin/squash that you use).
Jenni says
Hi! I would love to try this tomorrow for a potluck dinner... can this be made crustless? I dont have ingredients for the crust!
Thanks
Erica says
Yes, absolutely.
sl says
I want to try this. It sounds so yummy! I want to make the cinnaon pie crust. Would i freezer the crust for 30 minutes then fill and bake pie? Bake for 60 minutes at 300 degrees? Thanks for your help.
Cassie says
Pumpkin pie isn't really something we make in Australia, but I thought I would try this for Halloween - it was delicious!! My only problem is that the crust didn't really go hard, and I couldn't seem to get the filling to firm up much either despite cooking it for about 1/2 an hour longer. Either way, topped with some SCD 24 hour cream it was amazing (although I must admit that I used speculaas spices with some added cinnamon in place of the ones on the list as I got home and realised that I didn't have some of the ingredients). Thank you for the amazing recipe!!
Heidi says
How do you keep the crust from burning?
Erica says
This is actually being discussed in the Cinnamon Cookie Pie Crust post. Some ideas include covering the crust with foil, cutting the burnt crust, placing exposed crust on the pie about 15 minutes before the custard is done. I think ideally it would be good to cook the custard ahead of time, or at a lower temperature.
Heidi says
Thank you Erica for writing back. I read the thread on the other pie crust recipe and I got to thinking. My sister-in-law bakes her pumpkin pie custard on stove top. I went searching online and found a few recipes. http://www.bakespace.com/recipes/detail/Granny-Mill's-Stovetop-Pumpkin-Pie/33009/
I bet you could also cook your spice squash recipe on stove top and then bake the crust separately. Poor the custard in the pie crust shells and let set in the refrigerator. I am going to try this next time and let you know about it.
jody says
am allergic to nuts, coconut and am looking for nut and coconut free recipes
Alan says
I know this is late, but just to let you know, a regular pumpkin, the kind most stores sell around Halloween for carving, aren't very good for eating at all. They're stringy, watery and lack flavor. If you're cooking with pumpkin, stick with the sugar type. I found out from nasty, watery, disappointing experience. 🙂
Erica says
Danielle - we meet again 🙂
So the story with us, at the moment, is that I avoid using canned coconut milk because of the gum additives. Too bad because it makes great ice cream (I used it all summer). Fresh is best of course, but hard and time consuming to make. You can re-constitute it from some products - Tropical Traditions has a product - coconut cream, or some stores carry solidified coconut cream that you can add water to. Or, just don't use the milk - the pie tastes great even without the milk. Almond milk is another good alternative.
Danielle says
Thank you so much for your blog! I'm an avid cook and just started the SCD diet 2 months ago. The recipes in the book weren't cutting it so I've been experimenting myself a bit. Question about the pumpkin pie- the BTVC book says no canned products. Do you use canned coconut milk or make your own?
Thanks!!
Erica says
Bobbie, so funny - process to death. I like that saying (I'll be using that technique in future posts 🙂
Glad it worked out. Happy Holidays!
bobbie says
Thank you so much for posting this recipe!! I tried it today, with huge success. My husband loved it, our six year old son even liked it, and he is NOT a fan of pumpkin. I wasn't able to get a sugar pumpkin, so resorted to raiding the fall decorations off of the porch. I think the biggest difference is water content and stringy. So, I drained it really well and pureed out it to near death in the food processor. And, after the honey, you couldn't tell that it's not one of the sweeter squashes. Thanks again.
Erica says
Tracee, I'm not quite sure. I've only baked sugar pie pumpkins, but I assume they taste better than a regular pumpkin. What I have found is some other types of squash are actually sweeter than sugar pie pumpkin. For example, a type of squash called Sweet Meat, is the sweetest I've tasted so far. It has a greenish-gray skin.
Tracee says
I love the new "do" (site look). I have had a few requests from family for a pumpkin pie this year. I'll have to give this a try. Does a sugar pumpkin taste sweeter than a regular one?