The BEST PUMPKIN PIE RECIPE
Award-winning creamy pumpkin pie recipe has a secret ingredient to make it extra special!
I spent most of my life making the pumpkin pie recipe on the back of the Libby’s pumpkin can. It is a yummy recipe and produces a classic pumpkin pie. But it might just be a tad boring. Most of my kids reach for any other pie but pumpkin so I set out to change it.
Last year, I made a simple perfect pumpkin pie using sweetened condensed milk. This year I decided to up the ante and really change up the classic pumpkin pie recipe. The result was pumpkin pie perfection.
How to make the best pumpkin pie recipe:
So what makes this the best pumpkin pie recipe? Two ingredients — Cream Cheese and Butter. Instead of using evaporated canned milk, we add cream cheese and butter. Duh. Why have I not thought of this before? The creamy cheese and butter add a touch of rich creaminess to the pumpkin pie. My son, Carson, who will NOT even touch pumpkin pie, is in hog heaven with this pie.
The cream cheese and butter also softens the strong pumpkin flavor. Don’t you worry…it is still a perfectly pumpkin flavored pie but is much creamier than the original. When paired with a buttery flaky pie crust and fresh whipped cream, it just screams holiday.
This Best Pumpkin Pie Recipe actually just won 1st Place in the Pumpkin Pie Bake-Off competition — Pumpkin Pie Bake-Off. What a fun surprise!
The best pumpkin pie recipe starts with a homemade all-butter pie crust. Click here for the recipe. I include step-by-step instructions on how to make butter pie crust. I use a deep-dish pie pan for this recipe since there is plenty of filling.
There’s nothing like homemade whipped cream. It begins with heavy whipped cream, whipped until soft peaks form. Powdered sugar is added to sweeten it.
Find the recipe for the Best Pumpkin Pie Recipe here:

- 1 - 8- ounce pkg. Cream Cheese softened
- 1 - 15 ounce can Pure Pumpkin Puree
- 1/2 cup Butter melted
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla
- 3 Eggs
- 3 1/4 cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Nutmeg or 1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
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- All-Butter Pie Crust Recipe
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- 2 cups Heavy Cream
- 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
- Make pie crust recipe according to recipe directions. Find the recipe for an all-butter pie crust here. Let dough chill in refrigerator, tightly wrapped.
- In mixing bowl, beat cream cheese for 5 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides often with spatula. The whisk attachment works the best to whip the cream cheese.
- Add pumpkin and mix for another 5 minutes.
- Add melted butter and vanilla and mix for 1 minute.
- Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Add powdered sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice and salt.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Place pie dough in a deep-dish pie pan.
- Pour pumpkin pie filling into pie crust and place pie plate on baking sheet. Depending on the size of your pie pan, you may have some extra filling.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature of the oven to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 42 - 48 minutes. Watch the crust carefully to make sure it isn't becoming too brown. Cover with pie cover or foil to prevent browning.
- Let chill in refrigerator for 4 hours.
- Top with freshly whipped cream.
Click the links below for more pie recipes:
Caramel Apple Pie
White Chocolate Macadamia Chocolate Ganache Pie
Double Chocolate Marble Pie
The BEST Pumpkin Pie
Old-Fashioned Pecan Pie
Sweet Cherry Pie
Traditional Perfect Pumpkin Pie
Caramel Banana Cream Pie
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Happy Baking, my friends! Find all of Modern Honey Thanksgiving Recipes on www.modernhoney.com/thanksgiving.
OMG tbis was the best pumpkin pie I have ever had!!!
It was so creamy and just the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor. I used a frozen deep dish pie crust that i defrosted and blind baked for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. I added some freshly grated nutmeg and a tiny bit of mace because i had it on hand. I had extra pie filling that I turned into fantastic pumpkin cornbread. To make the cornbread I just added about 2 boxes of jiffy cornbread mix to the pie filling I didn’t add anything else. Then baked at 350 for 30 minutes or so.
My family has already requested another pie and wants pumpkin cornbread pancakes thid time.
I made the pie for Thanksgiving and it was very good, but I accidentally came up with something we loved.. I had doubled the pie recipe for two pies but found I had extra filling. I made a graham cracker crust with one package of crackers, topped the crust with chocolate chips and spread the filling over the chips. I baked it with the pies. I will definitely make the pies again next fall, but these cookie bars will be a regular. Thank you so much for such a wonderful and easy pie recipe.
This was amazing! Best pumpkin pie I’ve ever tasted! Next time I’ll be sure to pre-bake the crust. I was a little confused with your butter pie crust directions and if I should bake it ahead of time. It wasn’t soggy but it came out a little soft and didn’t really brown but still tasted amazing! Going to make this again for Christmas! Thank you!
My family is not a big pumpkin pie fan, but they are obsessed with this pie! I’m making it again this weekend to enjoy!
Can you substitute the powder sugar for Splenda
Best pumpkin pie recipe ever, so creamy and smooth yet firm and set beautifully. Could not have been better. I am making another one tonight to freeze for the holidays. Thank you for the great recipe.
Thanks for the recipe!
I want to try to make the pie for Christmas but I have a doubt about the powdered sugar quantity. Is it 3 1/4 cups as in 406 grams? It seems like a lot so I was wondering if I’m reading that right (I’m not used to the cups system). If this is indeed 406 grams do you think I can reduce it to about 300 grams? The French don’t like their sweets too sweet.
I only have one can of pumpkin puree cause I live in France and they don’t sell that here so it was hard to come by. I wouldn’t like to mess it up :/
Thanks a lot for the help!
Emilie
Hi Emilie! I have had a lot of readers have success with lowering the sugar amount. I think it will still be great with 300 grams of sugar. Let me know how it turns out!
I have made this twice and just about halved the sugar because it did get pretty sweet for our taste as well. It turned out great! Bonne chance!
Hello! We thought the same thing at first – we never expected this to taste good with that much powdered sugar! It tastes amazing though and it seems that amount is perfect! Merry Christmas!
I’ve made this pie 3xs n it is delicious! Tonight I used an 8 oz container of a pumpkin cream cheese spread that we had for the holidays n never used. I used that in place of plain cream cheese! It’s still too warm to taste but it looks good! I had trouble with rolling out the crust n ended up molding it into the pie dish by hand. Will let you know how it turned out. Thx for a great recipe.
I’ve made this three times. Everyone who tries it loves it and wants to know what it is that makes it so delicious compared with traditional pumpkin pie. Seriously. Everyone.
I reduce the sugar quite a bit, to about 2 and 2/3 cups, but I think even 2 and 1/4 cups would be fine. The recipe does make A LOT of filling. Way more than even a dip dish 9.5-inch pan. I’ve also made this into bars in a 11×7 pan, and still had leftover filling. (I use leftover filling in ramekins, no crust, and bake for about 30 mins while pie is in oven too.)
One thing to note, I don’t know if it’s due to the fact that I use less sugar, but my pies always seem to set pretty quickly, around 35-40 mins. But bake times do vary according to ovens.