Pumpkin Pie Alternatives for Thanksgiving
The canned-pumpkin shortage is worse than originally predicted. If you were going to use this ingredient in your Thanksgiving pie this year but can't find it, we've come up with a list of alternative pies that don't use pumpkin. Why not try one of them this Thanksgiving? We give you 40 pumpkin-free recipes to consider (after the jump), but first, here's our favorite pie crust recipe: Cook's Illustrated's Foolproof Pie Dough.
[Special @jaydeflix/simon addendum: You can always roast fresh pumpkins for your pumpkin pie—if you can find them; heavy rain this year has negatively affected pumpkin crops in parts of the U.S. Alternatively, Carri points out, "You can also use cooked butternut squash or yams in place of pumpkin."]
apple-based
The Pioneer Woman's Scrumptious Apple Pie. [Photograph: Ree Drummond/The Pioneer Woman Cooks!]
Scrumptious Apple Pie [The Pioneer Woman Cooks]
Alton Brown's Apple Pie [Food Network]
Apple Cranberry Crisp with Pecan Topping [SE]
Apple Cranberry Crumble Pie [Simply Recipes]
Easy Apple Tart with Bourbon Whipped Cream [Steamy Kitchen]
Baking with Dorie: Ann Brettingen's Swedish Apple Cake [SE]
Reconstructed Tarte Tatin [Herbivoracious]
squash-based, sweet potato–based (and other misc., hard-to-categorize pies)
Pim Techamuanvivit's Best Fig Tart Ever. [Photograph: Pim Techamuanvivit/Chez Pim]
Chestnut and Pear Tart [Dorie Greenspan]
Cousin Eunice's Grated Carrot Pie [SE]
The Best Fig Tart Ever [Chez Pim]
Sweet Potato Buttermilk Pie [Smitten Kitchen]
Buttermilk Sweet Potato Pie [Baking Bites]
Grandma's Squash Pie [Salad in a Jar]
Butternut Squash–Apple Pie [Good Food on KCRW.com]
chocolate, caramel, peanut-butter, and other candy bar–esque pies, etc.
Lee Zalben's Easiest Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Pie. [Photograph: Lee Zalben]
Caramelized Nut Tart [Simply Recipes]
Food & Wine Magazine's Caramel Cream Pie with Crispy Rice Topping [SE]
Chocolate Truffle Tart [Orangette]
The Easiest Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Pie [SE]
Chocolate Espresso Pecan Tart [Good Food on KCRW.com]
De-LICIOUS Chocolate Pie [The Pioneer Woman Cooks]
Chocolate Whiskey Tangerine Pie [White on Rice Couple]
Potluck Chocolate–Peanut Butter Pie [The Pioneer Woman Cooks]
Snickerdoodle Pie [Baking Bites]
Peanut Butter Pie [Homesick Texan]
Peanut Butter and Apple Pie [SE]
Heavenly Pie [101 Cookbooks]. This one might need some explaning:
...I made it, we ate it, and subjected everyone who had a slice to the "guess what's in it" game. Imagine a honey-sweetened graham cracker crust filled with a cream cheese chocolate filling. Sounds pretty typical, but here's where it gets interesting. The recipe calls for equal parts tofu and cream cheese in the filling. This combination creates a decadent, mousse-like texture that's also a breeze to cut into precision slices. It wasn't overly sweet, and the buttery crust played off the light chocolate flavor beautifully....
cranberry-based
Cakespy's Cranberry Bourbon Pecan Pie. [Photograph: Jessie Oleson/Cakespy]
Cranberry Bourbon Pecan Pie [Cakespy]
Cranberry Upside-Downer [Dorie Greenspan]
Cranberry Raisin Pie [David Lebovitz]
pecan-based
Jessie Oleson's Cherry Almond Osgood Pie. [Original artwork and photograph: Jessie Oleson/Cakespy]
Osgood Pie [Not Martha]
Cherry Almond Osgood Pie [SE]
Deep-Dish Pecan Pie [Matt Bites]
flourless, low-sugar, gluten-free, etc.
Sautéing bananas for Gluten-Free Girl's Gluten- and Dairy-Free Banana Cream Pie. [Photograph: Shauna James Ahern/Gluten-Free Girl]
My Favorite Gluten-Free Pie Crust [Gluten-Free Girl]
Low Sugar and Flourless Apple Cranberry Crumble [Kalyn's Kitchen]
Flourless Apple Crisp made with Olive Oil [Kalyn's Kitchen]
Banana Cream Pie (Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free) [Gluten-Free Girl]
Raw Pecan Pie [SE]
Butterscotch Crème Brulée [Gluten-Free Girl]
Flourless Chocolate Torte [Gluten-Free Girl]
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28 Comments:
Free yourselves from the tyranny of canned pumpkin! Make your own pumpkin custard!!!
simon at 5:15PM on 11/18/09
You can also use cooked butternut squash or yams in place of the pumpkin in your pie, just sayin'!
Carri at 5:23PM on 11/18/09
I gotta say, as someone who grew up only ever eating pumpkin curried with shrimp--sweet pumpkin pie is about the least appetizing thing I can imagine. It might be the only thing that I won't eat even out of politeness.
I don't seem to have this problem with other usually savoury, suddenly sweet (or vice versa) foods...but I cannot abide either the sweetness or texture of pumpkin pie.
I, for one, welcome our non-pumpkin pie overlords.
BananaMonkey at 5:23PM on 11/18/09
@simon: Good point. And I thought of that while compiling this list. Still, part of the reason the shortage is worse than expected is that the rains in the Midwest this year ruined the season's pumpkin crop—pumpkins the canners were hoping would enter the pipeline to alleviate the downturn. Not sure if that's the case in other parts of the country (I haven't looked for pumpkins 'round these parts myself), but if fresh pumpkins are hard to get, folks can still consider these pies.
Adam Kuban at 5:24PM on 11/18/09
Wow that fig pie photo looks so nice!
Since Canadian Thanksgiving was earlier, I looked into making pumpkin pie too, and a quick research yielded that most canned pumpkin are made with a kind of squash (Dickinson Field squash) related to the pumpkin. This was a Santa-is-not-real kind of moment for me. I innocently always thought pumpkin pies were made from those jack-o-lantern pumpkins....
Zelnox at 5:32PM on 11/18/09
I roasted one of those big French pumpkins yesterday and it's true that it takes a little time (mainly, letting it sit in a colander to drain after cooking since it has a lot of water in it), but it's only once a year and the color of pie is a gorgeous orange you don't get from canned pumpkin.
PS. I don't actually eat pumpkin pie (hate it); I make them for a community center dinner.
CatBoy at 5:33PM on 11/18/09
I think I'd definitely go down the pecan pie route. Not sure why, but it feels as though that would fit a pumpkin pie shaped hole quite well.
Richard @ The Bewildered Brit at 6:19PM on 11/18/09
My husband is French Canadian, so around this time every year I make Tarte au Sucre, or Sugar Pie. It's made with butter, evaporated milk, and brown sugar, and it's delicious warm with vanilla ice cream. Unlike just about everyone else on this thread, I really do like pumpkin pie, but sugar pie is a nice alternative that's really easy to make.
apsalar at 6:24PM on 11/18/09
i've had no problem finding pumpkin in manhattan...i feel like i should start conserving some for use later in the winter!
rebeccadiamond at 8:01PM on 11/18/09
Sorry to be the lone hater, but I hate pumpkin pie, this is a great excuse to make a double pecan pie instead!
Just follow the recipe on the dark Kayo, and double the amount of Pecans (use good ones, Sunnyland will ship you some). The extra pecans balance out the super sweet caramel custard filling.
If you are too lazy to make a crust, buy the Pillsbury Just Unroll, which Cook's Illustrated rates #1 in premade. It's bland, but not offensively bad.
peekpoke at 8:14PM on 11/18/09
I, too hate pumpkin pie. Or at least the "traditional" slippery, overly spiced canned pumpkin pie with the wet crust. But give me a sweet potato pie and I'm all over it. And fresh pumpkins don't do much for me, either. The smell of the innards makes me gag. Don't tell my family but the pumpkin pies they've loved for so many years have actually been sweet potato pies (evil grin).
kathyvegas at 10:55PM on 11/18/09
Well, I love pumpkin pie, and I don't just eat it at Thanksgiving - I enjoy it all year long. But if pumpkin wasn't available - well, sweet potato pie tastes just as good, and you don't even need canned anything to make it.
And pumpkin or sweet potato pie at least have some nutritive value - not a lot, but there's some fibre and beta carotene hidden inside, as well as a whack of Vitamin A. Tarte au sucre? I'm Canadian, so it seems unpatriotic to say so, but you may as well mainline the sugar into your blood. Same thing with most pecan/shoofly/etc. pies - all sugar, no nutrition.
KevinB at 11:15PM on 11/18/09
I'm not a fan of pumpkin pie, but isn't this Serious Eats? Shouldn't this article be about how to transmogrify a real honest-to-goodness pumpkin into a gourmet pie?
Oh, and also, since Canadian Thanksgiving is long past, and I've got like four cans of the stuff in the pantry that I won't need till next year. I'll ship it to whoever makes the best offer :)
Actually, it's pumpkin puree. But it's only about four common ingredients away from being pumpkin pie filling.
kevster at 11:29PM on 11/18/09
Hrm, I've had no problem finding canned pumpkin, either (Southern California). I read about the shortage and saw that my local market was out one week (thus confirming the story to me), so the next time I saw some I stocked up. However, ever since then (it's been a couple of weeks now) the market hasn't run out. Either no one's buying it, or SoCal is hoarding the nation's canned pumpkin.
blisseau at 5:23AM on 11/19/09
My "pumpkin" pies have always been squash pies. Very similar flavor, but more delicate. I was able to buy canned pumpkin as usual, but I got it back when the shortage was first noted. Hubbard squash will make a great pie if you want to use fresh.
lemonfair at 7:08AM on 11/19/09
That should have read "I was able to buy canned squash as usual"
lemonfair at 7:09AM on 11/19/09
There are other brands of canned pumpkin out there too! It's silly to think that Libby's is the one and only brand to buy. We have a regional canned pumpkin here and it is cheaper and better than Libby's. No shortage where I am either. Also, one of our grocery stores sells their own generic brand of pumpkin. Don't feel like you need to buy name brand food just because it is the most popular or most advertised (like on SE).
xwafflesx at 9:07AM on 11/19/09
What? You mean you guys don't grow your own winter squash? :-)
(Actually, I didn't get a crop this year either. Drought.)
Isn't canned pumpkin actually cushaw squash? I think I heard that somewhere. The only difference between a "pumpkin" and a "squash" is cosmetic, anyway.
Sweet potatoes seem plentiful, and sweet potato pie seems more forgiving than pumpkin pie. They're a lot easier to peel, for starters. If you really must have a custard pie made with an orange vegetable, it seems sweet potato would be the way to go. Butternut squash is probably a runner up. Much higher flesh to seed ratio than pumpkins.
Neohippie at 11:01AM on 11/19/09
this pear pie is another good option (if I do say so myself)
Shelby at 11:55AM on 11/19/09
Even canned pumpkin is not always pure pumpkin. Sometimes there's other varieties of squash in it. Just substitute your favorite squash. Delicata makes really good pie.
aharste at 12:02PM on 11/19/09
I've never been a fan of pumpkin pie, so any other alternative is a welcome treat! In my family I'd have to say Banana Cream Pie is the favorite of most of those who aren't on a diet!
Kalyn at 12:38PM on 11/19/09
Don't forget the citrus! We have big lemon fans in my family and it's really nice after a big meal. I'm making my own meyer lemon curd this year *fingers crossed*.
annet at 3:39PM on 11/20/09
This article is pretty much completely useless.
anambitiouscook at 6:45PM on 11/22/09
If you want a large delicious pumpkin pie go to Costco. Theirs is fabulous and cheap. Never a shortage. I am not a big fan of pumpkin pie but the Costco version is great. This seems like an especially good suggestion for the people who can't stand pumpkin pie but make it for others.
JohnFred at 11:23AM on 11/23/09
Also not a fan of pumpkin pie; everyone in my immediate family finds it equally loathesome. I am making fruit pies, and found this interesting varistion on apple pie: http://www.oneforthetable.com/oftt/pies/pomegranate-apple-pie-2.html. I quite like the idea of the tartness of pomegranate to counterbalance the sweetness of the apples and the blandness of the crust.
koshercurry at 12:01PM on 11/23/09
@johnfred...I agree Costco pumpkin pie is a great one! $5.99!!
beachbum at 12:05PM on 11/23/09
How about cheesecake? Everyone loves it, and there are 500 ways to make it. I made a strawberry cheesecake yesterday for Hunter's Thanksgiving, and it's all gone.
warmfood at 1:24PM on 11/23/09
Guess I'm just an old fuddy-duddy - I love pumpkin pie and have been making it for 70 odd years - when my son and daughter were young, they would devour it - this year for the first time, we ordered a pumpkin tart from a wonderful French bakery in Cary, NC, after sharing a slice Sunday afternoon with a latte - really scrumptious -
And while I'm here, I want to wish one and all a wonderful Thanksgiving - may everything you eat bring you pleasure.
Monelle at 5:16PM on 11/23/09