Best Pumpkin Pie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What makes pumpkin pie taste so good? ›

Pumpkin pie typically calls for cinnamon with a little nutmeg and a pinch of cloves and ginger—already a heady mix! Cinnamon is already a rich, sweet, lovely flavor, and just a bit of sharper cloves and ginger give it a bit more dimension, and nutmeg is even sweeter and headier.

For a guaranteed browned bottom, prebake the pie crust

You may want to cover the edges with a pie shield or strips of aluminum foil, but the bottom will remain perfectly brown and crisp — not burned.

You can test the doneness by inserting an instant-read thermometer into the filling. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the internal temperature of pumpkin pie should be at least 180°F at its coolest point.

To complement pumpkin with sweet flavor pairings, consider using spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and vanilla, or sweet ingredients like chocolate, maple, honey, cranberries or brown sugar. Create savory dishes by pairing pumpkin with spices like chilies, cajun, cayenne or pepper.

Pumpkin is notorious for pairing well with warm winter spices – as found in a variety of Moroccan-inspired cuisines. Try incorporating cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cumin and chilli with your pumpkin dishes for flavour-packed feasts.

But don't dock it (docking is aerating the crust before baking by poking it with the tines of a fork). This will cause the custard to seep out into the bottom crust, defeating that whole "flaky" thing you were going for.

Pumpkin pie is a great make-ahead dessert to cross off your Thanksgiving to-do list. You can prepare and bake the pie up to two days in advance, and it will still taste great on the big day. Just make sure you store the pie in the refrigerator—not on the kitchen counter—until you are ready to serve it.

While a wobbly, runny pie is a telltale sign that a pumpkin pie is undercooked, an overcooked pumpkin pie is a bit harder to spot. When you've overcooked a pumpkin pie, you may see: The filling separating from the crust. The filling has visible cracks.

But the one surefire way to make certain your pie's crust will be golden brown, crisp, and delicious — just as appealing as its filling — is to prebake it. That's right: bake the bottom crust first, before adding the filling.

Should I egg wash the bottom pie crust? ›

Brushing on egg white will lead to a paler baked good with a very good shine. An egg white only egg wash is useful for brushing on the bottom of blind-baked pie crusts to create a watertight barrier between the filling and the crust. Or it can be used to help sugar adhere to pastry.

To avoid a soggy crust, I blind bake it until it's thoroughly dry before adding the filling.

But pie fillings for pies like pumpkin and pecan are delicate and can be toughened or dried out by initial high temperatures. America's Test Kitchen recommends cooking the filled pie at an initial 400°F (204°C) for 10 minutes, then lowering the heat to 300°F (149°C) for the remainder of the cook.

With one cup containing more than 200% of the recommended daily intake of vitamin A, pumpkins make an excellent dietary choice to protect your eyes. The ever-versatile beta-carotene also protects your skin from wrinkle-causing UV rays; but pumpkin pulp makes for quite the effective exfoliating face mask as well!

Some think it relates way back to our colony days where pumpkins were one of the only crops the settlers could sustain and so, subconsciously, pumpkin reminds us of our roots. Others believe that the seasonal appeal of the pumpkin-flavor is what creates the allure. Either way, the pumpkin spice craze is here to stay.

Q: My pumpkin pie doesn't taste much like pumpkin. Why not? First off, make sure you're using the right kind of pumpkin! Look for pumpkins labeled "sugar pumpkin" or "baking pumpkin." The pumpkins typically used for jack-o'-lanterns are stringy, watery, and bland.

Sugar Baby Pumpkin

Also known as Sugar Pie pumpkins, these thin-skinned squash are smaller (4-8 lbs.) and have a sweet, dense flesh with a fine-grained, smooth texture. The cooked flesh is a bit drier, which makes a great pie filling.