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
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Happy Baking, my friends! Find all of Modern Honey Thanksgiving Recipes on www.modernhoney.com/thanksgiving.
Noemi
My first attempt ever at making a crust or a pie. It wasn't pretty but it tasted great.
In the instructions it doesn’t really specify during the adding of the ingredients at what speed to use the mixer.
My filling was quite fluffy when it was poured. It puffed up while baking quite a bit as well.
Anna
When making your pie crust for this recipe, do I make the double or single recipe? Thank you & so excited to make this for Thanksgiving next week!
Teresa
Hi! My pie my cracked on top and almost looked like cake. Any suggestions???
Rebecca
This was DELICIOUS. I even subbed the butter for Vegan butter, the cream cheese with Kite Hill Vegan cream Cheese and replaced the sugar with Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener for Baking (purple bag). Used Wholly Wholesome Gluten Free pie Crust. (gluten free and vegan!) Will make this for every Thanksgiving for the rest of my life. 🙂 (But, will actually reduce the sugar maybe by a cup. )
Nik
oh, happy to hear you used Monk Fruit!
Tracy
Should the butter in the pumpkin pie mix be salted or unsalted?
Mary
Hi!
Is it really 3 1/4 cups of powder sugar? It seams like a lot.
Thanks for your time.
Modern Honey
Hi Mary! It is 3 1/4 cups of powdered sugar but many people have reduced the sugar amount and it still tastes amazing. I suggest around 2 1/2 cups if you would like to reduce it.
Darla
I was just curious my slices fell whem cutting and when i dished it out. I did serve it slightly warm. Did i not cook it long enough? Or is the refrigeration needed for the pie to fully set ? It tasted Amazing just wasent a pretty full piece of pie if that makes sense lol
Modern Honey
This is a great question, Darla! This is a pie that needs time to set-up in the refrigerator. If it is still warm, it will not be solidified enough. It will firm up when chilled. I hope that helps! Thank you for trying my recipe. 🙂
Ashley Harris
I made this last thanksgiving and everybody LOVED it. I was lazy though and used a store-bought crust mix. The filling is what made it amazing though
Tulin
Hi. I've noticed you don't necessarily answer every question but im hoping you'll get to ne.
As asked above already but left unanswered would you suggest blind baking the crust to avoid sogginess?
Also how much do you think would i have to reduce baking time in a non deep dish?
And last do you put the pie in the fridge before letting it cool on the counter completely?
Thanks so much. Looking forward to your answers.
Modern Honey
Hi Tulin! Great questions. Okay here goes -- 1. You don't have to blind-bake ahead of time. The pros of blind baking would be a crispier bottom crust. The cons would be the sides of the crust may get too brown once you fill the crust and bake it. If you choose to blind-bake, I would suggest using pie shields or lightly covering it with foil about halfway through the baking time. 2. If you don't use a deep-dish, you will definitely have some filling leftover. You may even have enough for two pies! The best indicator is watching it like a hawk. I suggest reducing the baking time by about 5-8 minutes. The pie will have a small jiggle in the very center when it is done. It will set up as it chills in the refrigerator. 3. If time is on your side, you can let it come to room temperature and then put it in the refrigerator. The chilling part is super important to allow it to firm up. I hope this helps! 🙂
Tulin
Thank you so much for your response.
I gave it a try today. I used a deep dish the first time and definitely had filling left over. Unfortunately the custard part rose quite high causing it to overflow some. But it never baked at the suggested time. It nearly took twice as long which caused the tops to burn.
I gave it a second try, used two deep dish pie crust and split batter in half.
It rose again causing it to spill over, though this time it took less time to get done the pie started cracking all over while baking before it was done. Usually when pie cracks its because of the eggs firming up and ripping it apart due to overlooking.
Unfortunately that wasn't the case so I have no explanation for it. Maybe you do?
My family did however enjoy the flavor very much and I gave one of the cracklings to my neighbor whom I'm patiently waiting to hear back from.
The consistency towards the outside (the part spilled over) was almost a soft cookie consistency while the middle was perfect pie consistency.
I tried both, blind bake and raw pie crust and both came out good. Unbaked pie crust did not get soggy or disappear. The blind baked one did not burn or get overly dark.
I myself am not a big pumpkin pie fan so I can't say I cared or didn't care for it much. But my husband and daughter both got seconds even with the burned top. Lol.
All in all I'd really like to know why the pie cracks and rises so tremendously to overflow.
Hoping to hear back.
Noemi
Just to clarify does the pie crust need to be blind baked?
Tim
This question never gets answered. It's pretty vital imo. I'm gonna go ahead and blind bake for 15 min at 350. Using pillsbury pie dough this time. It's lard not butter
Modern Honey
Hi Tim! You don't have to blind bake ahead of time. If you do, you will most likely get a crispier bottom; however, the sides of the crust may get too brown. I suggest watching it carefully once you add the filling and begin to bake the pie. Lightly cover with foil or use the pie shields to keep the crust from becoming too brown. I hope that helps! 🙂
Faith
I’m not sure what I did wrong, but my cream cheese and pumpkin separated upon meeting... at 73 minutes, it finally was jiggly and not liquid waves.. and the top crusted and looks like cake.. Any ideas what could cause this? I did everything exact 🙁
A
Same thing happened to me idk what I did wrong, i hope she answers us because the batter tasted so good i would love to get it right! My batter was runny. And it came out like cake and sunk in the middle!
Julie
Mine came out mushy as well. The top crusted over (which was kind of yummy) and the middle was soupy. I baked it longer and still no bueno. I thought maybe it would set up over night. It did not so I baked it for another 50 minutes. Same thing. The taste was great but the texture was definitely like pumpkin pie. I also wonder what i could have done wrong.
Victoria
Do you suggest vanilla extract or vanilla powder?
Holly
where did you get that white pumpkin serve wear that is featured in your pictures?
Alexandra Correa
This is totally off topic, but where did you get those white scalloped dinner plates that are shown next to your delicious pumpkin pie? I have been looking for plates like this forever.
Thanks for sharing.
Allison
I accidentally used granulated sugar instead of powdered! Is there anything I can do to fix it? It’s like soup and is soooo sweet. So stupid of me ????♀️
Cindy
Thank you for sharing your recipe. It sounds absolutely delicious! I will be making it tomorrow. I have tried a couple of stores and I can't seem to find a deep dish pie pan. As it sounds like there is a lot of filling, would it be enough for two regular pies? Also, what would the cook time be if it's not in a deep dis pan?
Liz
Best pumpkin pie I've ever had. Came out perfect.
Blanca
Is it still suppose to be jiggly when you take it out of the oven??
Modern Honey
Hi there! It will be slightly jiggly and will set up as it chills. I like to put mine in the refrigerator to fully set up. It shouldn't be too jiggly though -- just a little in the center.
Michelle
A little in the middle is okay. I did leave mine in for another 15 minutes though and it was still jiggly when it came out. When it cools it is beautiful.
Morgan
This was the first time I've ever made pumpkin pie, and this was amazing!!!! I filled the pie dish waaayyy too full so for awhile it looked like a pumpkin pie soufflé lol. I browned it a bit on top as well and it was probably the best pumpkin pie I've ever had. My husband had 3 slices and my kids had 2 each, so definitely a success! Great recipe!!
Ozge
Hello I want to try this recipe, should I blind bake the pie crust ?
Anonymous
I was wondering the same thing; I’m honestly not sure but I think I will...