How to Make Homemade Pumpkin Pie - from a Real Pumpkin, Not a Can! - Easily! With Step-by-step Directions, Photos, Ingredients, Recipe and Costs

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How to Make Homemade Pumpkin Pie - from a Real Pumpkin, Not a Can! - Easily! With Step-by-step Directions, Photos, Ingredients, Recipe and Costs

If you want to make a homemade pumpkin pie, but cannot get a traditional pie pumpkin, pumpkins are out of season, or you live in an area where they do not grow, then this page will help you find a local, available alternative which will make a pumpkin pie that is ever bit as good or even better than one made from a traditional pumpkin.

 

What is the traditional pumpkin variety used to make pumpkin pies?

"Pie pumpkins" are smaller, sweeter, less grainy textured pumpkins than the usual jack-o-lantern types.  Grocery stores usually carry them in late September through December in the U.S. In some parts of the country, they are also called sugar pumpkins or even "cheese pumpkins".  Go figure that one.  Note: the Libby's can of cooked pumpkin is just there for reference - it is the small can, so that gives you an idea of the size of a typical pie pumpkin.  They're only about 6 to 8 inches in diameter (about 20 to 24 inches in circumference). 

But there are pumpkins and winter squash that make better tasting pumpkin pies!

Many commercial pumpkin pie bakeries actually use butternut squash which taste almost the same but have better texture and are more readily available! 

Many farmers will tell you that if you really want to make the best tasting pumpkin pie ever, you should use one of these varieties, instead.  I'll present them in order of preference, based on my own taste tests:

• Jarradale
• Blue Hubbard
• Long Island Cheese
• Neck Squash,
• Cinderella
• Banana Squash
• Butternut squash

Just like selecting any squash, look for one that is firm, no bruises or soft spots, and a good orange color. One 6" pie pumpkin usually makes one 10 inch deep dish pie and a bit extra; or two 9 inch shallow pies! If you have extra goop, you can always pour it into greased baking pans and make a crustless mini pie with the excess (and the cooked pies do freeze well!)

If you live in the Far East (Thailand, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, etc.) and cannot get a pumpkin or a butternut squash, I'm told that Japanese pumpkins make a great substitute. Just cube the meat into small cubes and steam them for 35 minutes. The rest of the preparation is the same and I'm told the taste is great.

What if I cannot get ANY variety of pumpkin or winter squash?

And even though many of these pumpkins and winter squash can store for 6 or 8 months, under the proper conditions, this can happen when pumpkins are 8 months out of season (June to Spetember in the northern hemisphere).  In this case, consider using carrots.

That's right, This "faux pumpkin pie" looks and tastes just like a pumpkin pie, but is made from carrots instead.  It's even easier and faster to make! I  can guarantee, your guests won't know the difference; they will just think it's the best pumpkin pie, they've ever had!

What else can I make with these pumpkins and winter squash?

If you like this recipe, you will probably also like my

• easy pumpkin cheesecake recipe,

• pumpkin bread, 

• pumpkin muffins

• pumpkin butter,

• pumpkin soup

Other related seasonal and complete, easy directions are:

• Roast Turkey  dinner,

• easy, tasty, healthy turkey gravy,

• applesauce,

• easy apple butter,

• cranberry sauce and cran-apple sauce.

And if you have never canned or made jam, applesauce, apple butter, etc, before, never fear, it is easy with my canning directions. Don't forget to usesee these Christmas tree farm pages to find a cut-your-own tree farm or fresh-cut farm or lot near you!  They're loads of fun, often with Santa visits, sleigh rides or hayrides, sometimes even live reindeer and more.

Just have a Jack O Lantern? If all you have is a Jack O Lantern pumpkin (no pie pumpkin or butternut squash) then see this page for the recipe to make a pie from an ordinary carving pumpkin.

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Tips from Visitors

Making a pie with a Jack O' Lantern: Comments from a visitor on November 10, 2008: "I have a suggestion for those who want to use a jack o lantern pumpkin. My son was so happy when he went on his first field trip to the pumpkin patch. He made me promise to make pumpkin pies with his big giant pumpkin. I did just as you said baked it, put it in the frig over night. Then I put the pieces in a pot and cooked it until it was like mush added a big cinnamon stick and and the sugar boiled some of the water out and 4 great pies. Thank you for your recipe it worked wonder full!!!"

Excess pumpkin goop?  Comments from a visitor on November 30, 2009: "I love your pumpkin pie recipe! I've used it for two years now and the recipe is so dependable and thorough. One great way to use up the leftover pie filling is using it to make Pumpkin French Toast - it already had the eggs, milk, and spice. Just dip the bread in the filling and throw on the skillet. The toast goes great with a bit of melted butter, powdered sugar and some maple sugar! "

Covering the edges of the crust: Comments from a visitor on November 19, 2008: "After having lost my old beloved recipe, I tried this one and have to say this one is top notch! One tip that might help to pass on (especially to new pie makers) is to cover the edges with aluminum foil to prevent the crust from burning. It really works and makes those yummy pie crusts as delicious as the rest of the pie!"

Mashing the cooked pumpkin: Comments from a visitor on November 26, 2008: "Hello, great site here. I tried your pumpkin pie recipe and it came out great. Just wanted to add my two cents on pumpkin pie making. After cooking the pumpkin and scooping it out, you can use a potato ricer to mash it. When you first put the pumpkin in ricer and squeeze the handles together you get a decent amount of water squeezed out first. Then I put the ricer over bowl and squeeze the pumpkin out. The ricer mashes and gets water out at same time. Plus, another good thing is that a lot of the fiberous strings in pumpkin gets trapped at bottom of the ricer cup and not in the pumpkin puree. I bought my potato ricer at bed bath and beyond for fifteen bucks, so its cheap too. Hope this helps."

Maple syrup instead of sugar: Comments from a visitor on December 08, 2009: "Really like your site wanted to comment on the sugar alternatives, we use maple syrup 1 cup boiled down for thickness adds great flavor. Thanks "

Baking tips:

Comments from a visitor on November 19, 2008: "I learned a trick about baking large squashes and pumpkins many years ago. I just poke a few holes in it, put it on a baking sheet whole, and bake it at around 325 degrees until the squash/pumpkin is tender. When it's cool, it's easy to cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and peel. It is also much less watery this way. This has always worked well for me. You do have to start a little earlier, though. Baking it this way and then letting it get cool enough to handle

Comments from a visitor on November 20, 2008: "I have made pumpkin pies from pumpkins for years and the best, most flavorful method is to cut in half, oil and roast, face down on high heat -- it carmelizes a bit, then I do drain it and boil down the water til it is thick and medium caramel color and add it to the puree -- adds a lot of flavor. yum :)"

Oven prep method: Comments from a visitor on November 26, 2008: "Another way to prep pumpkin that seems to get a consistent non-stringy finish regardless of pumpkin species: 1. Halve pumpkin and remove innards. 2. Place halves face-down on a greased cookie sheet. 3. Roast at 400 long enough for skins to visibly darken. 4. All species will come out firm, golden, and generally already separated from the shell. 5. Puree can be accomplished with a potato masher if desired. More watery pumpkins will drain and cook like pie pumpkins. Though messier in your oven, I have the best luck using a flat cookie sheet that allows the water to drain off and burn in the oven."

Starting with a frozen pumpkin: Comments from a visitor on November 27, 2008: "Just wanted to add to your ideas about making pumpkin pies out of fresh pumpkins. I was preparing to make my pies for Thanksgiving and realized I had forgot to buy pumpkin. I read your site about the different ways to make pumpkin pies from fresh pumpkin ~ and, having pumpkins on my front porch for fall decorations, I went and grabbed one to use only to discover it had been frozen solid! (Our temps had dropped to 7° a few days before.) I had no choice but to give it a try. As it started to thaw it became soft. Here's what I did: Cut out the stem, cut the whole thing in half, scooped out the seeds, peeled the halves - I actually cut those in half to make peeling easier - and cubed the remaining into little bitty pieces. I put it all in a large covered sauce pan and slowly cooked it. Once they got soft enough I took a potato masher to it and cooked some more. Worked GREAT! I'll put it in a blender before using, but it was easy! Just cook real slow so as not to burn or scorch. But the frozen pumpkin started the break-down process and made cooking them much quicker and simpler. Just thought it a good alternative if anyone was interested. Thanks for the great site!!"

What to do with extra pumpkin goop: Comments from a visitor on November 03, 2009: "I didn't read too carefully and only bought one 9 in pie crust, I had so much left over mixture! I quickly grabbed my muffin pans and those cute little paper inserts- I put approximately 5-6 mini marshmallows in each one then filled 16 spots with the mixture. It was exactly the right amount of mixture. Let them sit for just a moment to allow the mellows to rise to the top (always add the mellows first because when pouring the mixture on top of them it coats the mellow to make the top brown in the oven much better) then finished filling them (the levels lower as the mellows rise). Baked at 350 for approximately 30 minutes. They were GREAT and so easy to bring to work the following morning! as a side note - i have 2 more pumpkins and look forward to making more goodies in the coming week or so. I LOVE this site, its easy to follow and with all your pictures I know i'm doing things right. I DONT cook or bake on a regular basis. In fact, this was the very first pie i EVER attempted - homemade OR canned. Anyway, i think that the mini-pies are really great addition to those wishing to share the desert with co-workers or family members. no cutting or serving. also, the marshmellows add a little something! mmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmm good! ~J"

Comments from a visitor on June 10, 2010: "Pumpkin Pie - Another idea for left over pie filling - Turn it into muffins. I had about 2 1/2 cups of left over filling (all ingredients combined) and thought, what can I do with this? I then I looked at the pumpkin bread recipe and thought, hmmm not too dissimilar. So here's what I did - I made pumpkin muffins!!! I took about 1 1/2 cups of plain flour, 1 tsp baking powder and mixed together, then added 1/3 cup oil and the 2 1/2 cups of my left over mixture. Put it into a muffin tin and baked till done (about 20mins cooking at the same time as the pie) turned out great! The amount of flour used would depend on your leftover but I used same approximately ratios as the pumpkin bread recipe."

Using a "Cinderella" pumpkin - Be sure to drain the pumpkin very well before mashing it or putting it through the food processor.  These pumpkins are very runny. It should be similar in consistency to canned pumpkin - otherwise the pies may not "set up" and be runny.

Pumpkins roasting over an open fire? Comments from a visitor on November 08, 2009: "I took another alternative to cooking my pumpkin... I wrapped it in aluminum foil and put it out in a bon fire... cooked it really well. Then let it chill in the night air, the next morning it was so easy to work with. It was great and very energy saving."

Using Japanese Pumpkins: Comments from a visitor  I am in Hokkaido, Japan, and locally grown kabocha (Japanese pumpkins) are easy to come by. I gave your recipe a try and figured out the following things.  Yes, they work very well! Kabocha are also naturally VERY sweet; you have to reduce the sugar a bit. One kabocha looks about the same size as one pie pumpkin, but kabocha have very thin shells. (At least, the ones in Hokkaido do.) So out of half a kabocha I got about two cups of "glop". The texture is naturally very smooth. It took me very little effort to get very smooth glop, even without a hand mixer or blender. My husband loved the pie. We hadn't had a good pumpkin pie in a long time.

Coconut milk:  Comments from a visitor on October 16, 2010: "Hi! Great pumpkin pie recipe! I however used vanilla coconut milk instead of evaporated milk. My son is allergic to milk and soy scares me! The coconut milk is a little thicker than regular milk and added a little more sweetness. I cut the sugar down to 1/3 c. Thanks so much for sharing! "

Vegan pumpkin pie recipe: Hi, Thanks for the great pumpkin pie recipe. I just wanted to suggest another option that you can add for vegans... instead of the 4 eggs you can use 2 mashed bananas. This gives the pie a sweeter, richer flavor and bananas are much easier to find than Ener-G egg replacer. Anyway, I just wanted to suggest that for your recipe. Thanks!

In Japan?  "Thank you for the pie recipe and all the great tips for substitutions. I am currently living in Japan with no access to an oven. I was afraid I would have to celebrate Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie, but I didn't want to go down without a fight. I decided to try making your pumpkin pie in my rice cooker - and it worked! It doesn't have a crust, but I figure we can dollop it onto cookies or just eat it like a pudding. I also saw a website that said you could butter the rice cooker and press the crust dough up the sides. Supposedly, if it is thin enough, it will cook through - I haven't tried that yet. Here are the alterations I made for pie filling in a 3 cup rice cooker: 1/2 a kabocha pumpkin (as recommended already) 2 eggs 1 small carton of whipping cream 1/2 cup sugar spices as you suggested I had to run it through the rice cooker cycle twice, but it came out perfect. You made our Thanksgiving. Thank you!"

Trouble mashing or too watery? Comments from a visitor on September 16, 2011: "On your pumpkin pie page, many comments from other readers have said they've had trouble with mashing and watery pumpkins. I've found a few ways to deal with these issues. A watery pumpkin is a blessing as I toss it into a powerful blender and pulverize it down (you'd burn out a powerful blender otherwise, or you can add a little water/juice to get the thinner consistency). Another option is to use an immersion blender, although that does take some time if you don't have a good blender. To get excess water out, I just toss the puree' into a crock pot and cook it down for a few hours. It's the perfect time to spice it up, and the house smells fantastic during the process, and leftovers (should there be any) can be used for a quick eat pumpkin butter, muffins, breads, or cookies. The only downside is that it makes you hungry! "

Excess water?  Give it to your dog! Comments from a visitor on October 02, 2011: "I was just reading your pumpkin pie "glop" recipe and would like to contribute a suggestion for what to do with the left over pumpkin water -- give it to your dogs! My little red terror [terrier] and Irish wolfhound both loved to drink it once it is cooled. (Unsweetened and without spices, of course) I'm sure it must have beta-carotene in it (great cancer fighter and good for their heart, as well as any of the water soluble vitamins -- and have hardly any calories. I use your canning recipes often, and make great use of your tips and shortcuts. Thanks for "being there". Carolyn "

Condensed Milk: Comments from a visitor on November 08, 2011: "I have used your recipe for many years now and last year I forgot to buy the evaporated milk. My neighbor gave me s cans of Nestle Table Cream and I used it with the same measurements as evaporated milk and the pies came out fluffier and a bit sweeter. I will be using table cream for now on."

Mace and more eggs: Comments from a visitor on November 03, 2011: "I have been making pumpkin pie from scratch for 30 years, and I started off by reading a few 18th century and 19th century cookbooks that had the recipe in them. The only thing that seems to be missing from your page, is the spice "mace." For those who don't know that spice, it is ground up outer fiber strands from around the nutmeg nut. Some people like it, and others apparently don't -- but I can't imagine a pumpkin pie without it. And some trivia for those who really want to taste a truly old fashioned pie, double the spices and use more eggs, up to 8 in a pie."

Cutting the pumpkin open: Comments from a visitor on November 07, 2011: "Opening pumpkins, hard squash, etc. I find that an inexpensive cleaver (not the thin Chinese cleaver) and a short dowel -2') work very well and very quickly. On your chopping board, lay the squash/pumpkin with the stem end facing away from you. Cradle the squash in a couple of kitchen towels so that it won't roll. Put the edge of the cleaver dead in the middle of the pumpkin, to cut along the axis with the stem. Wack cleaver with dowel. Instant split squash/pumpkin (for the timid / or the tough squash - several wacks may be necessary). A sub $10.00 hardware store cleaver is perfect for the job."
 

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q. I would like to make your pumpkin pie from scratch for my family for Thanksgiving. What would be the best way to do this? Can I make a pie now and freeze it? Can I buy the small pumpkins now and hold on to them until the week before Thanksgiving and make the pie?

Yes, the cooked pumpkin pies freeze pretty well, but of course, everything's a little better fresh. Pie pumpkins keep very well in a cool basement or garage (between 40 F and 60F), and they'd certainly keep until Thanksgiving if they are in good shape now (no bruises or soft spots).

Q. I live in Europe, so I do not have all of the U.S. ingredients over here. I'm also not that clear on the measurement conversions for Example: 1 Cup = how many oz or grams (better for me) dry goods-flour and from oz to grams or liters for wet goods-cream? I was wondering if you would also possibly know substitutes for the following items: Allspice (cinnamon?), Evaporated milk (Lowfat Cream? But then not sweetened! Add more sugar?), Crisco Vegetable Shortening (Help - no idea!)

No problem!  I lived and worked in Europe for 7 years, so I found a lot of good substitutions.

1 cup = 1/4 liter - about 250 ml

A visitor tells me that according to New Zealand's most trusted cookbook, Edmonds:
1 cup of Flour  = 175 g  (6 oz)

1 cup of  Sugar  = 225 g  (8 oz)

Evaporated milk is unsweetened milk that has the volume reduced by removing some of the water - it is sort of like concentrated milk - about 50% reduced, still quite watery.  You could make your own by adding 100 ml (by volume) of instant dried milk to each 100 ml of regular lowfat (or skim or nonfat) milk.

Allspice is it's own spice!  It is the dried, unripened fruit of a small evergreen tree, the Pimenta Dioica (typically grown in Jamaica). The fruit is a pea-sized berry which is sundried to a reddish-brown color. Pimento is called Allspice because its flavor suggests a blend of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. So you could make a blend of equal parts of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg instead. 

Crisco shortening is a vegetable substitute for lard, and adds no flavor.  You could use butter, margarine, or even (ugh!) lard, in place of it.  If you are the UK, there is something called Trex vegetable fat in the refrigerated section of the supermarket near the butter. I'm told it a good substitute for Crisco.

Q. My 8 year old son grew some pumpkins this year, so I tried your pumpkin pie recipe. I following all the instructions and the only thing I didn't do was make my own pastry I used the frozen variety. Unfortunately the pie only partially set and was full of clear liquid at the bottom making the pastry base soggy. I don't know what I did wrong?

Most likely it was the variety of pumpkin you grew - some are more watery. The small (8 inches across) "pie" pumpkins like they sell in Kroger are best. Next year choose a variety to grow that says it is good for pies, such as "Connecticut Field" or "pie pumpkin". Generally, these varieties are also more sweet, finer grained and less watery than Jack O Lantern pumpkins.

Easy solutions, if you must use a Jack O' Lantern type pumpkin are to let the pumpkin pulp sit in the fridge for a few hours. The water will separate and can be poured off. Another solution is to add 2 more eggs to the recipe and also cook another 20 minutes longer to get a firmer set.