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:
The Best Pumpkin Pie Recipe
Ingredients
Pumpkin Pie Filling:
- 1 - 8- ounce pkg. Cream Cheese softened
- 1 - 15 ounce can Pure Pumpkin Puree
- ½ cup Butter melted
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla
- 3 Eggs
- 3 ¼ cups Powdered Sugar * (may reduce to 2 ½ cups)
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Nutmeg or 1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- All-Butter Pie Crust Recipe
Homemade Whipped Cream:
- 2 cups Heavy Cream
- ½ cup Powdered Sugar
Instructions
- Make pie crust recipe according to recipe directions. Find the recipe for an https://www.modernhoney.com/butter-flaky-pie-crust/Let dough chill in refrigerator, tightly wrapped.
- In mixing bowl, beat the softened cream cheese (ensure it is at room temperature) 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 (make sure it is not too hot) 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. See NOTES below for more details.
- Let cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. Then, let chill in refrigerator for 4 hours.
- Top with freshly whipped cream.
Video
Notes
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
PIN this IMAGE on PINTEREST:
Happy Baking, my friends! Find all of Modern Honey Thanksgiving Recipes on www.modernhoney.com/thanksgiving.
ANGELIQUE C BRIGHT
Great recipe, i lowered the amount of sugar and used 1 cup of brown sugar instead. Cream cheese really makes it come together
Heather
@Angelique
Did you just use brown sugar entirely and no powered sugar? How did it taste!? I'm curious!
Christine
How do you measure the powdered sugar for this? I'm worried I put to much because I didn't shift. I guess we'll see how it comes out. I'm super excited.
Modern Honey
Hi Christine! I hope you love it! I use the scoop and scrape method. I don't pack it down but do a light swipe across the top. You should be just fine! It should taste amazing!
B K
Hmm, guidelines on how firm or wiggly the center should be before removing from oven? Appreciate a tip.
Modern Honey
Hi there! It will be slightly jiggly but should be mostly firm. It will set up after it comes out of the oven but it needs to be almost fully set in the middle. If you try to remove it from the oven, and it looks like there's an earthquake in the center, it is not done. 🙂 Hope that helps! Thank you for trying my recipe.
Mary
I just pulled this pie out of the oven, it smells amazing! I can already tell this is going to be a keeper. So happy I found your site. ❤
Alex
Pie is in the oven now smelling Divine... the filling knocked my socks off, Melissa!! ☆☆☆☆☆ The idea of 3+c of powdered sugar made my teeth fall out just reading it tho, lol, so I used just 1c with a smidge of brown creamed with the cream cheese. Plenty sweet for my taste. Roasted a Jarrahdale for this and threw in a pinch of cardamom as well. Wish it was morning so I could throw the leftover filling in some pancakes. Wonderful recipe - thanks!
Kristina Smith
Leftover filling in pancakes?? Please tell me how you do this! And I agree with the sugar!! I’ll be using much less next time!
Kendra
My father-in-law made this for Thanksgiving and it was amazing! We are doing our annual pie party tomorrow and I'm adding this to the line up! Do you think it's ok to make it today for tomorrow? Would you keep it in the fridge overnight and up until serving? Thanks for any feedback!
Modern Honey
Hi Kendra! Love hearing that! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know. You can make it today, no problem. I had a lot of people do that for Thanksgiving and it turned out well. I hope that helps! 🙂 -- Melissa
Kendra
Great! Thanks so much! <3
Carolyn
This looks incredible!
Janet
Should you blind bake the butter crust first?
Excited to try this recipe.
Modern Honey
Hi Janet! You don't have to blind bake the crust ahead of time. You can just pour it into your unbaked pie crust and bake it all together. If you want a slightly flakier bottom crust, you can blind bake it for about 10 minutes, if you so desire. Thanks!
Richa Gupta
Oh my, the best and colorful Pumpkin Pie for sure!
Liren | Kitchen Confidante
Love how you used cream cheese!
Erin Clarkson
This looks so, so good!
Dawn Stackhouse
I never made a pumpkin pie before and nothing like the night before Thanksgiving looking for a recipe that uses ingredients I have on hand. It's in the oven now and I can't wait to try it tomorrow. We really liked the filling (we're not afraid of raw eggs. lol) so I'm sure we'll like it just fine baked.
Carrie
Hi there!
Do I cover the pie the whole time it bakes or just once the temperature comes down? I'm excited to make this!
Modern Honey
Hi Carrie. You only have to use the foil to cover the pie if the pie crust is getting too brown. I usually put it on the last 5-10 minutes. Hope that helps!
Megan @ Megunprocessed
Pumpkin Pie is a must have this time of year!
Umberto Umbertino
Just want to make sure — this is for a deep dish pumpkin pie, right?
Modern Honey
Hi Umberto! I did use a deep-dish pie pan when creating this pumpkin pie. If you use a smaller pie plate, you will have some extra filling. I hope that helps! Thanks for trying out my recipe. I appreciate it!
Cherie
How. Am I make this non dairy? Can I use margarine and toffuti cream cheese ?
Modern Honey
Hi Cherie! I haven't tested this recipe to be non-dairy but I think you should be able to use margarine just fine. I am not sure how toffuti cream cheese bakes up but I am hoping that it would still work. I hope that helps!
Caitlin Darrow
Why is it powdered sugar in the pumpkin filling? Can I use coconut sugar? Love the cream cheese idea!
Modern Honey
Hi Caitlin! Great question. The powdered sugar dissolves to nicely and helps to create a silky smooth texture. If you use coconut sugar, I suggest creaming it with the butter and cream cheese until it is light and fluffy. I hope that helps!
Jim
The pie is the best yet. I grow my own Blue Hubbard winter squash, this worked great. Here's a tip MAKE your own powder sugar. I take regular sugar and grind it in my coffee grinder. I would imagine that any sugar could be ground? Also, I only used 2 cups of my fresh ground powder sugar.
My Blue Hubbard squash puree is made by baking the squash/pumpkin at 350 for about 40 mins. Let it cool then I used my Vitamix to process the pulp. Nothing added to it. And freeze the rest in Mason freezer jars.
Garrison
Hello,
This recipe looks so interesting and creamy! Just wanted to verify the amount of sugar before I make it. Your recipe says 3 and 1/4 cups of powdered sugar. Is that correct. Thank you!
Modern Honey
Hi Garrison! Haha....my husband wondered the same thing! It does seem a lot but because of the unsweetened pumpkin and unsweetened cream cheese, it comes out just right. If you want to add a little less, you could probably get away with 3 cups. I hope that helps. Thanks for trying out the recipe! 🙂
Garrison
Hi!
The pumpkin pie was amazing! I have been a bit disappointed with pumpkin pie for a while. I wanted something a bit creamier and full of flavor. I doubled the cinnamon, used fresh nutmeg, and added a tsp of pumpkin pie spice too! But, I had to cook it a bit longer, an extra 25 minutes. It also had a caramelized crust on top. Needless to say, it was so creamy and delicious. Thank you for the recipe!
Modern Honey
Hi Garrison! Love the feedback. Those are some great additions -- I bet those extra spices made it taste amazing. I love the caramelized top so it sounds like you cooked it for the right amount of time. Thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it! --Melissa
Gwyneth Gower
I'm relieved to see someone else had to cook longer! I'm going on an extra 10 right now and sure it's not going to be enough. I have an egg allergy and was worried my substitute of applesauce was the culprit and was going to be bummed!!! There is hope! I'll let you know!
Clarissa
Sounds yummy since I am a huge cream cheese fan! Can't wait to try it! Tiff's mom (my mother-in-law) used to make a Pumpkin Chiffon pie that was delish! I will have to track down that recipe for you! I think it had gelatin in it or something.
Modern Honey
Hi Clarissa! You know I love those heirloom recipes! I hope your family loves this pie and has a wonderful Thanksgiving, my friend.
wifeoferp
I’m going to have to try this tomorrow as a test for thanksgiving! Can’t wait!
And I’m happy to see you don’t add ginger to your recipe. I always leave that out when I make my recipe too.
Modern Honey
I LOVE your dedication trying your recipes out early. You are setting yourself up for success! 🙂 I hope it made the cut for your Thanksgiving dinner. Thank you for trying out the recipe! 🙂 --Melissa
Schematic
If I am making my own pumpkin purée, would I need to make any alterations? Add any more sugar or butter?