This homemade pumpkin pie recipe is the best I’ve ever made! With a golden, flaky pie crust filled with the easiest, most delicious pumpkin pie filling, your search for the perfect pumpkin pie is over.
I love homemade pumpkin pie, especially this one. The filling is outrageously simple and made with heavy cream instead of sweetened condensed milk, which makes it super rich and creamy.
This pie’s filling can be made in under 5 minutes and tastes amazing. You can use canned pumpkin (it’s excellent!) or make your pumpkin pie from scratch with homemade pumpkin puree. This recipe is a keeper!
Key Ingredients
- Pie Crust: You can use your favorite homemade pie crust or a store-bought one. I love using my homemade butter pie crust for this classic pumpkin pie. It hasn’t failed me yet.
- Pumpkin: This pie recipe works well with either canned or homemade pumpkin puree. I love using canned puree (I use Libby’s), but making your own fresh pumpkin puree is easy and means your pie is 100% homemade. Plus, when you make your own puree, you get to roast the pumpkin seeds! If you prefer sweet potatoes, I highly recommend our sweet potato pie.
- Eggs: I use 3 eggs to help the pumpkin pie filling set up. They also add a rich flavor that you’ll love.
- Sugar: This pie is less sweet than other pumpkin pie recipes. I hold back on the sugar but love using both granulated and brown sugar together. The brown sugar adds a bit of extra flavor.
- Cream: Instead of sweetened condensed milk, I use heavy cream, which makes the pie filling super smooth, rich, and delicious.
- Spices: I like tasting the pumpkin in the pie, so I don’t go overboard with my spices. I love using vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, ground cloves, and some salt. Since publishing this recipe, we have shared our pumpkin pie spice blend, which you can use in our recipe below (tips are below the recipe).
How to Make My Favorite Pumpkin Pie
Our pumpkin pie filling takes less than 5 minutes to make. You’ll whisk the pumpkin, eggs, sugar, cream, and spices until blended. For our crust, I use my butter pie crust, which you can make well in advance (I’ve shared make-ahead tips in my pie crust recipe).
This is a single-crust pie, so you’ll need to roll out enough pie dough to fit into the bottom of your pie dish (watch the video to see how I do it). Then, you’ll pour in your pie filling and bake!
I do not blind-bake my crust for pumpkin pie. Blind baking means partially cooking the crust before adding the filling, which helps it stay crisp and flaky.
I actually LOVE the more soft and tender bottom crust when you don’t blind-bake the crust in this pumpkin pie recipe. The bottom of the crust is golden and flaky, but where the crust and filling meet, it’s softer and tender. If you’d prefer to bake blind, feel free! I have shared tips for blind baking the crust in my pie crust recipe.
I use two oven temperatures when baking pumpkin pie. First, I preheat my oven to 425°F. The pie bakes for 15 minutes, and then I reduce the oven temperature to 375°F for the remaining bake time.
From there, you want to cool your pie to room temperature and, if you have the option, refrigerate it overnight. I do this with both pumpkin and sweet potato pie. Refrigerating overnight improves the texture of the custard filling. It also makes this pie perfect to make in advance!
I love making this pie for Thanksgiving. For more classic Thanksgiving recipes, see my favorite apple pie, this incredible homemade apple cobbler. I also have to share this garlic herb butter turkey with you (it seriously makes the best Thanksgiving turkey).
Easy Pumpkin Pie
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
I love this easy, homemade pumpkin pie recipe. You can use canned pumpkin or our homemade pumpkin puree to make a fresh pumpkin pie from scratch. I prefer a lightly spiced pie. For more spice, increase the cinnamon and ginger a little.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 (9 inch) single crust homemade pie crust, our recipe makes enough for 2 single crust pies
3 large eggs
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (65g) light brown sugar
1 (15oz) can of pure pumpkin puree or 2 cups (440g) homemade pumpkin puree
3/4 cup (175ml) heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Homemade whipped cream, for serving
Directions
- Prepare Crust
1Roll out half of the pie dough to fit a 9-inch pie dish (keep the remaining dough chilled). To prevent sticking, sprinkle flour on your work surface and rolling pin. Roll from the center outwards for even thickness, lifting and rotating the dough by a quarter turn as you go. Check the size by inverting the pie dish over the dough (it should be about 2 inches larger).
2Carefully place the dough into the pie dish without stretching it, and trim the edges to within 1 inch of the dish. Refrigerate while you prepare your filling.
- Pumpkin Pie Filling
1Whisk the eggs and both sugars together until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, cream, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt. Whisk until well blended.
- Bake the Pie
1Preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C). Set aside a large baking sheet.
2Place the pie dish on your baking sheet. Pour the pumpkin filling into the pie shell.
3Bake the pumpkin pie at 425°F (218°C) for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F (190°C) and bake for 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 is baking, the top of the crust becomes too dark, cover it with a thin strip of aluminum foil.
4Cool completely on a wire rack for 2 to 3 hours or until room temperature. Serve or refrigerate overnight (the pie sets even more after a night in the fridge).
5Cut into eight wedges and serve alone or topped with whipped cream.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Since pumpkin pie has eggs and cream, we recommend storing it in the refrigerator unless you are serving it. It can sit out at room temperature for 2 hours. Homemade pumpkin pie will last in your refrigerator for up to three days. As a bonus, the texture of the filling improves after some time in the fridge.
- Freezing pumpkin pie: Let it cool completely, then wrap it tightly in foil before freezing. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw frozen pumpkin pie overnight in the fridge.
- How to tell when pumpkin 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. It will continue to cook as the pie cools on the counter. 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.
- Pumpkin pie spice: Substitute 2 ¼ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Here’s our homemade pumpkin spice blend.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
My husband proclaimed this the best pumpkin pie he’s ever had! I humbly agree. Thank you for this delicious and easy recipe!
Thank you for this recipe. I made it exactly as the recipe said and it turned out lovely, although I had shallow pie tins so divided the filling between two pie crusts. Please could you advise me whether the pie freezes OK?
Hi Emma, You can freeze this pie. Here are the tips for freezing from the recipe: “Let it cool completely, then wrap it tightly in foil before freezing. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw frozen pumpkin pie overnight in the fridge.”
The first time I made this, I followed the recipe exactly as written and it tasted a little odd to me because of the vanilla. So the second time I made it I left out the vanilla and it tasted so much better. The flavor is perfect. I also made the pie crust recipe and it turned out great.
Delicious recipe, will make again
I love this recipe, and it’s earned me lots of compliments and requests for second helpings, also requests for the recipe itself for others to use. Thank you 😊I used the full pumpkin spice mixture with the allspice and nutmeg added to the other spices. By the way, I’m not good with shortcrust pastry and I’ve started adding a small amount of ground almonds to the flour, and this seems to have improved the texture
Did not care for this at all and nor did the family. We can’t put our finger on why. Perhaps the cream…
Thanks for giving the pumpkin pie recipe a try! I’m sorry to hear it wasn’t a hit with you and your family. It’s always a bummer when a recipe doesn’t quite meet expectations. Since you mentioned the cream, could it be that the filling was too dense or rich for your liking? I love the silky texture, but that’s me.
This looks like a great pumpkin pie recipe I’d like to make. I’d like to have it less sweet by cutting the amount of sugars in half. What should I do to make up for how this might affect the overall texture of the pie? Thanks!
That’s a great question! We’ve only tested this recipe as written, so we can’t guarantee results if you change the sugar content. Reducing the sugar could affect the pie’s texture and consistency. Sugar plays a role in browning, moisture, and overall structure. On a personal note, I don’t like super sweet desserts and love this pie.
It would be worth experimenting with using a 1:1 sugar substitute like swerve to replace some of the sugar in this (if you’re worried about sugar content). Or, I wonder if a splash of bourbon would provide a nice foil to the sweetness if you are just worried about taste. I actually did find this one borderline too sweet, personally. I normally use the old school Festal Golden Pie recipe for pumpkin pie. It doesn’t actually use less sugar, but uses more milk and a different ratio of spices so maybe that’s why. Also, brown > white sugar for pumpkin pie
this was lit
Hi I’m English and despite 40+ trips to the US I have never had pumpkin pie so I have just made one! Not tasted yet, but I fear I’ve overbaked it. I followed the instructions to the letter, timings temps etc but it is a bit darker than I expected and it has unfortunately cracked and I had no jiggle! I baked it for15 mins at high temp then checked after about 31 mins at reduced temp but maybe my oven runs a bit hotter? It smells delicious and I’m sure it will taste just as good. Thank you for a great recipe
It sounds delicious, and I bet it will still taste great! It does seem like your oven might run a bit hot, which is common. For future pies, maybe try a slightly lower temperature to prevent over-baking. Consider buying an oven thermometer to double-check the actual temperature inside. I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe despite the little hiccup.
I wanted to love this recipe. I really did. But it did NOT fill 2 pie crusts (well, the filling is 1/2″ deep/tall). The baking instructions were odd. I felt like the pies were probably done after 10 minutes at the lower temp, but continued baking. They aren’t burned but the color is unappetizing and the taste just isn’t there. I’ll go back to the Libbeys recipe after this.
I’m sorry to hear the pumpkin pie recipe didn’t meet your expectations! To clarify, this recipe is intended to fill one pie crust. It seems there might have been a misunderstanding about the yield. Regarding the baking time, the initial high temperature helps set the crust, and the lower temperature allows the filling to cook through without burning. However, oven temperatures can vary, so it’s always a good idea to keep a close eye on the pie and adjust the baking time as needed.