Name: Meta Given's Pumpkin Pie
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 3/4 cups canned or fresh cooked pumpkin puree; 3/4 cup sugar; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger; 2 eggs; 1 cup cream; 1/2 cup milk; Unbaked, unpricked, chilled 9-inch pie shell (we like lapadia\'s simple Himalayan Blackberry Pie crust, also on FOOD52)

Photo by James Ransom

Test Kitchen-Approved

Author Notes

Caramelizing the pumpkin puree means that this is a pie with guts, one that won't just sit there phoning in the pumpkin flavor, burying it under lots of spice. But its genius is much more than that. You don't have to blind bake the crust. You use real milk and cream instead of evaporated milk, with predictably better results. And because you blast it at 400 degrees the whole time, it bakes in 25 minutes -- less than half the time of your average back-of-the-can recipe. From Meta Given's Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking, an underrated gem of a cookbook. —Genius Recipes

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Meta Given's Pumpkin Pie

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 ³/₄ cups canned or fresh cooked pumpkin puree
³/₄ cup sugar
¹/₂ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¹/₂ teaspoon ground ginger
2 eggs
1 cup cream
¹/₂ cup milk
Unbaked, unpricked, chilled 9-inch pie shell (we like lapadia's simple Himalayan Blackberry Pie crust, also on FOOD52)

In This Recipe

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Directions

Turn pumpkin into saucepan and stir over direct heat for 10 minutes until somewhat dry and slightly caramelized, stirring frequently. Remove from heat but keep hot.
Mix thoroughly together the sugar, salt, and spices, and stir into hot pumpkin.
Beat eggs, add cream and milk, and beat into pumpkin mixture until smooth.
Pour immediately into unpricked pastry-lined pie pan and bake in a moderately hot oven (400° F) for 25 to 30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown and only an inch circle in the center of the filling remains liquid. Cool thoroughly on cake rack before cutting.
Note: Perfectly baked pumpkin pie has no cracks on its surface. Baking hot filling in a chilled crust at 400° F for 25 to 30 minutes produces a smooth, shiny good textured custard and a well-baked crust free from soaking. But if your pie dish is thicker glass or ceramic instead of metal, or you loathe underdone bottom crust, you might still want to blind bake it a little. Here's what we'd recommend: Blind bake at 350 F lined with parchment and filled with baking beans/weights until sides are dry and firm, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove weights, then bake until completely dry and firm (including bottom crust) and starting to turn golden, 5 to 10 minutes more. Cool thoroughly. Then watch the pie closely as it bakes -- it might be done early, since the cold raw crust isn't there to protect it. And if the edges are starting to look wrinkled while the middle is very jiggly, turn the heat down to 350.

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Smaug
Rachel V Halliburton
Austin Burges
Элла Элен
JoanB

Review

Popular on Food52

192 Reviews

Asha S. November 30, 2019

I made this pie for Thanksgiving using an all butter crust. Added 2 tablespoons of Grand Marnier in the filling. It was divine, very light and silky. Definitely a keeper!!

JenniferJ November 28, 2019

Love this! I might add slightly more of the warm spices next time. What sets this apart for me is the wonderful soft custard achieved with the high temp and short time in the oven. I notice a lot of commenters baking it a lot longer. I encourage trying it exactly as written--just use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is hot enough. I don't know that I noticed a huge taste difference due to cooking the pumpkin but the hot filling, cold crust, hot oven, short time--great result in terms of silky custard texture.

judy November 13, 2019

Never thought about caramelizing the pumpkin. Now, only 1-3/4 c pumpkin--what do I do with the rest in the can? about 3 Tbsp? Also, I have never had much luck with pie crust. going so far one year as to trying about 8 different pie pans--very expensive experiment. Last year a game changer--bake the crust ON TOP of the pie. Amazing. No soggy crusts. I now do this exclusively, forgetting the bottoms altogether. Decades of raw pie-dough or soggy dough. No more. I finally gave up the quest for cooked crust in a pie--even pumpkin.

Alex November 14, 2019

I used the whole can, which is 1&3/4 cups according to the nutrition label. I wouldn't sweat a few tablespoons of puree, if your label is different.

Deedledum November 14, 2019

Did you try blind-baking first instead? I do it almost always because I don't like soggy crusts either.

tosacem November 21, 2019

Either my brain isn't working this morning or??? I don't understand what you mean by--bake the crust ON TOP of the pie?

Alex November 21, 2019

Filling goes in the pan first. If using any crust, it tops the filling. I'd delete it altogether for a custard pie. I make crustless quiche all the time because I'm not a big fan of pie crust.

Lori November 13, 2019

This looks interesting and sounds like it tastes amazing. Question: the written recipe calls for 1 3/4 c pumpkin, however the video lists 3/4 c. Which is it?

JenniferJ November 27, 2019

That's pretty much the same thing as a normal can is 15 oz. I used the whole can b/c I didn't want a dab of pumpkin left. It was no problem to use the whole 15 oz can.

JenniferJ November 27, 2019

(Sorry--thought you meant 3/4 of a can versus 1 3/4 cups. It's the 1 3/4 cups--or almost the whole can. Use the whole can.)

Smaug November 12, 2019

Interesting- this is very similar to the Maida Heatter recipe I use for my very occasional pumpkin pie (she covered pretty much everything)- precooking the puree is new to me. For the record, her baking method is preheat to 450, pour warm filing into frozen shell, bake 10 min. at 450, turn down to 350 and continue baking 30-40 min.

Rachel V. December 16, 2018

Game changing pumpkin pie filling. Did a standard Pate Brisee crust.

Austin B. November 22, 2018

The Pie was amazing, the whole table agreed it was the best they'd ever had. The referenced pie dough was awful, though. Way too liquidy. Ended up tossing it and throwing together the All Buttah Pie Dough.

Serena D. October 2, 2018

Love the cooking method
I have never read a recipe that cooked down or caramelized the pumpkin!
Consistency spot on
Next time I will use less sugar
-I used glass pie plates and did not blind bake the crusts. They were perfect.

Элла Э. November 27, 2017

Not that it's a comment on the original recipe, but I cheated and used Paul Virant's pumpkin butter instead of caramelized pumpkin puree+spices+cream. The pumpkin butter already contains spices, sugar and butter, plus it's well caramelized. Almost what the recipe calls for. I only needed eggs, a cup of plain milk and almost two cups of pumpkin butter. And it was so, so perfect!
Using the Genius Recipes feed feels like having a capsule wardrobe, only that it's a capsule recipe collection where you can mix and match and feel good. You inspire me. Thank you.

Anna November 26, 2017

I made this pie this Thanksgiving, and it was so delicious! A crowd pleaser for sure. Even my mother, who really doesn't like pumpkin pie, loved it. I was a little worried because I had never made a pumpkin pie before, but the instructions were pretty easy to follow. As for the baking time, I baked it for about 20 minutes at 400F. Then I reduced the temperature to 350F, covered the top loosely with foil, and baked it for another half an hour approximately. Turned out perfectly.

Bascula November 24, 2017

This was very good!

JoanB November 24, 2017

I made this pie yesterday for the third time. Followed the recipe for the crust. Baked the pie in my convection oven at recommended temp in a metal pan. Placed the pie on a baking sheet that I put in the oven 10 minutes early. Pie took about 38 minutes and was perfect. Crust fully cooked but not overdone. I probably could have removed it from the oven 3 minutes earlier. It was delicious and got many compliments.

cbelako November 23, 2017

Just served this for Thanksgiving, and received tons of compliments. I typically dislike pumpkin pie, but found this to be really velvety and flavorful.
I did blind bake my crust, and am glad that I did. I baked it for the suggested tiand temperature, but added another 20 minutes on 350 degrees. Thanks for the awesome recipe,

Shannon November 23, 2017

Thank you for helping me change up my Thanksgiving. Your recipe came out perfect. I doubled recipe and both pies were beautiful. We ate most of one last night.Important to know your oven and its true temperature, also wait 10 minutes after preheat to put in pies.Thanks again for making my Thanksgiving taste so good.

Elizabeth November 22, 2017

Any thoughts on storage? I made earlier this morning to eat tomorrow, and it's been sitting refrigerated, but the top is starting to look a little watery - is refrigerating a better choice?

Anna November 26, 2017

My reply is probably late now, but I made this pie for Thanksgiving too. My pie produced a little bit of water/oil on top too, but I just gently dabbed it away with a paper towel before serving it. Pretty sure the water/oil is all just a natural process -- nothing to worry about. As for storage, refrigerating pumpkin pies is a good idea, I'd say. Store bought pumpkin pies usually can stand at room temperature because they have added preservatives, but homemade should be refrigerated.

Psneyers November 22, 2017

Can this recipe be doubled?

Kristen M. November 22, 2017

Hi there, it can definitely be doubled into two 9-inch pie crusts—is that what you had in mind? Or were you thinking of a larger pie?

Psneyers November 22, 2017

Can it be doubled?

Heidi November 21, 2017

I want to adapt this to make a galette, which requires the filling to be less liquidy. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks :)

Kristen M. November 22, 2017

Hi Heidi, I'm not sure about this—while a slab pie might work, a luscious custard pie like this one really needs a rim so it can slosh around till its set. You might try one of these much less liquidy ones, and you can even add Meta's step of caramelizing the pumpkin! Just cool again before adding to the crust. https://food52.com/recipes/65342-pumpkin-galette https://food52.com/recipes/24722-autumn-apple-and-pumpkin-galette

marlena.mac November 18, 2017

Has anyone tried baking this on a baking stone to avoid the undercooked crust issue (thanks Erin McDowell for the tip!)? If so, did it work and how long did it take to bake?

Kristen M. November 22, 2017

I haven't but it's a great idea! I may try on a preheated baking sheet this year myself (no baking stone in our rental).

Deedledum November 14, 2019

Blind bake-works perfectly.

Leslie November 15, 2017

I keep kosher. Any suggestions for substitutions for the heavy cream? thanks!

Leslie November 15, 2017

I should clarify - the issue with heavy cream is that it is dairy, which we can't serve at Thanksgiving because we're eating turkey :-)

Mulzee November 15, 2017

You could try with coconut milk maybe. It’d probably change the flavor a bit but worth a try perhaps

Leslie November 15, 2017

good idea!

Elizabeth November 22, 2017

I just made this with coconut cream & milk in lieu of the dairy, and it turned out well! I had to cook for about double the time - not sure if that was b/c of the substitution, or just my oven.

Val October 20, 2018

Have you tried Ripple? Made from pea protein and much thicker than other milk subs.

Author Notes

Ingredients

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Directions

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Recipe by: Genius Recipes

Popular on Food52

192 Reviews