No Fail Homemade Pumpkin Pie
How to make classic, unfussy pumpkin pie from scratch. This is our favorite way to make pumpkin pie. It’s easy, too! Jump to the Homemade Pumpkin Pie Recipe
How to Make Our Favorite Pumpkin Pie
We take it plain or, when feeling feisty, with a dollop of softly whipped cream. The pie filling is creamy, rich and has just enough sweetness to balance some spice from cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. You can easily go for an extra slice at the end of dinner. Don’t tell anyone, but we’ve even stolen a few bites for breakfast.
Making this pumpkin pie from scratch is easy — we think it’s one of the simplest (and tastiest) pies you can make at home.
The filling comes together in minutes and is made from pumpkin puree, eggs, cream, sugar, and fall spices. Everything is mixed together and poured into a pie crust. You can use canned or homemade pumpkin puree in this pie. I love the pie when we’ve used canned (especially since it is so consistent), but making your own puree is easy and means the pie is 100% homemade. (Bonus, you get to roast the pumpkin seeds. Here’s our easy recipe for roasted pumpkin seeds.)
We don’t add too many spices either — we like how the pumpkin gets a chance to shine. If you love spicier pies, just bump up the spice amounts listed in the recipe below.
For the crust, we use our own homemade pie dough. Our favorite crust calls for 100% butter and is pretty simple to make. You can even make it well in advance and refrigerate or freeze it until you are ready to make the full pie. If you have a favorite store-bought pie crust, then use it. It’s completely up to you.
The Crust – Blind Bake or not?
We’re usually partial to blind baking single-crust pies — especially those with liquid fillings. With that said, we don’t blind bake when making pumpkin pie. “Blind baking” means to partially cook the crust before adding the filling, which helps the crust stay crisp and flaky.
With pumpkin pie, though, we love how the crust becomes moistened a little from the filling. The base of the crust browns, but where the filling and crust meet, it’s soft and tender. That’s how we saw our mothers make it as kids, so we just can’t stray.
If you want to blind bake the crust, go for it. Line your pie dish with dough, prick the bottom with a fork and line with foil. Fill the foil with pie weights (or use uncooked rice or beans) then bake in a 450-degree oven for 8 minutes. Remove the foil (and weights) then bake another 5 to 6 minutes, or until golden. From there, fill the crust as usual and bake until the filling sets.
More Pumpkin Recipes
- Easy Pumpkin Mac and Cheese — How to make extra creamy pumpkin mac and cheese in under 1 hour. The perfect Fall dinner!
- Homemade Pumpkin Pancakes — We love these pumpkin pancakes: not too sweet with a hint of spice.
- Seriously Good Pumpkin Cupcakes — These moist spiced pumpkin cupcakes are hard to beat.
- Perfectly Spiced Pumpkin Scones — How to make the best spiced pumpkin scones inspired by Starbucks.
- Chocolate Orange Pumpkin Bread — This quick bread has pumpkin, orange, and is packed with chopped chocolate. Not too sweet, extremely moist and perfect for fall!
- Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte — How to make the best pumpkin spice latte at home with pumpkin puree, coffee, milk, and fall spices. Better than store-bought!
For more pie recipes, check out Our Favorite Apple Pie from scratch, Easy Homemade Blueberry Pie, this delicious Cherry Pie from Scratch and our Fresh Strawberry Pie topped with whipped cream.
Recipe updated, originally posted October 2013. Since posting this in 2013, we have added a recipe video and tweaked the recipe to be more clear. – Adam and Joanne
No Fail Homemade Pumpkin Pie
- PREP
This is a classic, unfussy pumpkin pie recipe. We take it plain or, when feeling feisty, with a dollop of softly whipped cream. The spices are not overpowering, here. If you like your pie spicy, increase the cinnamon and ginger a little. (We’d stay away from increasing the cloves, a 1/4-teaspoon should suffice).
Makes 1 (9-inch) pie
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
Chilled pie dough for one single-crust 9-inch pie, see our pie crust recipe
3 large eggs 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (65 grams) light brown sugar
1 (15-ounce) can pure pumpkin puree or 2 cups (440 grams) fresh pumpkin puree, see our homemade pumpkin puree recipe
3/4 cup (175 ml) heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions
- Prepare Crust
- Make Filling
- Bake the Pie
- To Finish
Roll out the dough so that it is two inches larger than your pie dish. Gently press dough down into the dish so that it lines the bottom and sides. (Be careful not to pull or stretch the dough). Trim dough to within 1/2-inch of the dish edge.
Fold edges of dough underneath itself, creating a thicker, 1/4-inch border that rests on the lip of the dish. Crimp edges. (You can see us do this in our pie crust recipe video). Refrigerate while you make the pie filling.
Whisk eggs and both sugars together until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, cream, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and the salt. Stir until well blended.
Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
Place the pie on a baking sheet. Pour pumpkin filling into the pie shell.
Bake pie at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick or thin knife plunged it into the pie, about 2 inches from the edge, comes out clean. Rotate once or twice during baking. If, while the pie bakes, the tops of the crust becomes too dark, cover with a thin strip of aluminum foil.
Cool on a wire rack for 2 hours or until room temperature. Cut into eight wedges and serve alone or topped with whipped cream. To store, cover the cooled pie loosely with foil or plastic wrap and keep in the refrigerator up to 3 days.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Substitute 2 ¼ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Here’s our homemade pumpkin spice blend.
- How to tell the pie is done: Take the pie out of the oven when the majority of the pie looks shiny and set on top. It should jiggle a little like jello, but not much more. The middle will still look wet on top. This is okay, it will continue to cook as the pie cools on the counter. And, as a final test, grab a toothpick or thin knife then plunge it into the pie, about 2 inches from the edge. If it comes out clean, the pie is done. As the pie sits until cooled to room temperature, it will continue to cook and set. We wait for 2 hours. If, when you cut into the pie, the middle does not seem to be set, let it cool a little longer. Or, cut the slice anyway and cover the end with whipped cream. It will still taste great.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
Nutrition Per Serving: Serving Size 1 slice (1/8th of pie) / Calories 365 / Protein 6 g / Carbohydrate 38 g / Dietary Fiber 2 g / Total Sugars 21 g / Total Fat 22 g / Saturated Fat 13 g / Cholesterol 131 mg
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I have a store bought already made crust, so I will follow only your filling instructions…Do you suggest cutting down the baking time since the crust does not need baking? thank you
Follow the bake time provided in the recipe, and then if you notice the pie crust is over browning, cover the edges with some foil. The filling will need the recommended bake time in the recipe.
I am a little confused about direction #2. Do we take the pie out of the Pan and put on a baking sheet? Or put the pie plate on said baking sheet. I asked my husband and he also didn’t know what you meant.
Place the pie dish on the baking sheet.
Made this recipe a few times and it’s definitely a keeper. The homemade pie crust and pumpkin puree take this pie to the next level. My only critique is that, when in the oven, the pie filling sometimes wants to bubble and/or the filling sometimes burns a little on the surface, negating that picturesque bright orange colour that that makes pumpkin pie stand out. Should I adjust the oven temperature or do you have any other recommendations? Does convection vs bake settings on the oven have an impact?
Such a good recipe – I am a pumpkin pie connoisseur and definitely recommend this recipe! I replaced the heavy cream with the same amount of double cream and it did the trick just as an fyi. Thanks for an easy and fun recipe!! 🙂
Fantastic pie. I made this and your never fail pie crust with the food processor. The only modification was the omission of the cloves. My mom has always made the best pumpkin pie in our family. I tried and could never come close to hers. While I am a great baker, there is a long standing family joke about my inability to make a pumpkin pie as good as hers. This year I redeemed myself with your recipe. Thank you for the great recipes.
I didn’t watch the video and just read the recipe. I realized after the pie was in the oven that I forgot the white sugar! The text is on the same line as eggs, so I missed it. The pie set up and was still pretty sweet! My kids even liked it! I guess it really is a no fail pie!
The video shows the filling being put into a raw pie crust, while the linked pie crust recipe says to bake the crust separately before filling it. Which is the correct thing to do for this pie? thanks.
We do not pre-bake the crust for this pie.
Hi there! This recipe sounds pretty good! I just have a small question, i have a pumpkin pie spice blend already, how much should i use for this recipe? Thanks!
I’d start with 1 teaspoon and adjust from there. If you were worried, you could hold the eggs back and whisk all the other ingredients first. This way, you can taste the filling to see if you need to add any more spice blend.
Great recipe easy to follow. Pie was smooth and a good balance of creamy and pumpkin flavour- delightful! Brought a pastry from store would recommend this desert to everyone in my family. I’ve made once a year but could eat it every week.
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe! Turned out great! It’s my new go to for pumpkin pie. I made two, we ate one and I froze the other. Everyone enjoyed it so much, the second one didn’t stay frozen very long. In fact my hubby and I both thought the second one was even more flavorful! Used your Pumpkin puree recipe as well – thanks again!
What a great recipe! I used store-bought pastry and made the pumpkin puree from your video with the smallest (uncarved) Halloween pumpkin that was a little green when we got it and ripened on the kitchen table over the last week and a bit. I translated the fahrenheit to celsius and adjusted for a fan oven and it came out perfectly. This was our first ever pumpkin pie and it is fabulous. Many thanks.
How big is the dish used for this pie?
An 8-inch or 9-inch pie dish is perfect.
I have never made a pie from scratch and the idea petrified me, especially crust. I used your crust recipe and no fail pumpkin pie. You were right!! No fail here. It was great and I will now be making homemade pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving for the first time ever. Thank you so much. The videos are very helpful.
Pumpkin pies amazing every time. In the fall I look for small (Pie) pumpkins every year because I know I have this recipe.