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My recipe for Pumpkin Pie from real pumpkin is a delicious, smooth version of this classic that you will love! It is an easy pumpkin pie recipe that is homemade too! Save this to Pinterest now so you can make it year after year!
Pumpkin pie is my favorite fall pie. I fall into the group of people that adore pumpkin and could eat it all year round. Autumn, Thanksgiving and all the other holidays, are truly the time when pumpkin shines. It is a season define by comfort, warmth and coziness of home. My recipe for Pumpkin Pie from Real Pumpkin with homemade pie crust is one of those recipes that truly just adds to the seasonal magic. It is smooth, spiced just right and has a crust that is just tastes perfectly moist while pulling everything together.
Pumpkin Pie during the holidays
Growing up, no Thanksgiving (or even Christmas) was complete without pumpkin pie. Even among a sea of desserts, including Italian cannoli and tiramisu, pumpkin pie was always in high demand. We would top it with billowing whipped cream, sip a little coffee (not me because I was too young) and sit back, talk, laugh and share all the good things in life.
My family didn’t have a specific recipe. In fact, many years I remember Baker Square being the baker of our pumpkin pies. But like most things that have changed since moving to the farm, homemade baking around the holidays – or just homemade baking in general – is one of those things that I place a lot of value in. I think we can all agree there’s nothing like homemade baked goods, including my homemade pumpkin pie recipe.
I will tell you that I’ve had this recipe for a few years now. I’ve been slow in putting it on the blog because, well, sometimes I’m slow with life. The swirling school activities of fall, running the farm, the kids and working are something I image we all deal with. But when it comes to something I want you to try eating, I also do my best to make sure you are really going to love it. So, I’m delighted to share my recipe for Pumpkin Pie from real pumpkin with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does.
Homemade pumpkin pie crust
This is my favorite homemade pie crust. It is a sour cream butter crust, which is basically a combination of two different pie crusts. It’s perfect for all kind of pies, pumpkin included. It is made with a few more ingredients than a traditional pie crust and it doesn’t hold it’s shape perfectly, but I love the flavor. I find it to be almost a cross between a cookie and a crust.
I created the recipe for the first time about seven years ago for my apple hand pies {HERE}. It’s been the base for all my pie crusts ever since because I love the flavor so much. There is a chill time with the dough for the crust but it can be as short as one hour. However, you can also make the dough a day or two in advance too.
I will say this homemade pie crust recipe is not the best if you want to make shapes or cut it to use on top of the pie with designs. It has baking powder in it and tends to morph a little bit. You can see that in the photos. This gives it a really lovely flavor for a homemade pie crust and an amazing texture. This is why I keep it as my recipe for this pie. I realize I say that and I am showing you photos of my pie with a design on top. However, in order to make that happen, I had to roll these really really thin. I’ll explain more below.
How to make my Sour Cream Butter Crust
To make the pie crust, you combine all the dry ingredients, including the sugar. Then you add in all the wet ingredients. The butter in this recipe should be slightly room temperature. That means either take it out of the refrigerator about 4 hours before you want to use it, slice it and set it aside. This is different from a traditional pie crust where you cut the butter into the dry ingredients. The wet mix will be very lumpy looking and that is fine. Just try to make sure there are no overly large clumps of butter. Small ones are okay.
Once everything is combined, pull the dough into a ball and cover and chill for 1 hour.
When the hour is up, remove the dough from the bowl and turn out onto a floured surface. Use some flour on your hands if needed to pull the dough into a nicer ball shape and then use the floured rolling pin to roll it out. Once, rolled, place it in a buttered pie pan and make sure the dough reaches the edge of the pan. Crimp with a fork if desired (it will help with shrinking) and then pierce the bottom with a fork. Cover the edges with tin foil and let it rest for 20 minutes to allow the gluten to settle. In this time preheat the oven and make the filling.
Homemade pumpkin for the pie
The first rule for my recipe for Pumpkin Pie from real pumpkin is that I do not use canned pumpkin. I made my own smashed pumpkin to use about 6 years ago and I have never turned back. It’s so simple and you can make it a week in advance as long as it is stored in an air tight container in the refrigerator. Essentially, it is just water roasted pumpkin. You can find the recipe for that {HERE}.
Basically, you start with a pie pumpkin and slice it in half. Scoop the seeds and then place the pumpkin insides down in a roasting/baking pan with 1-inch of water. It cooks at 400 degrees for one hour and you get beautiful Pumpkin for anything you want to make.
The creamy Pumpkin Pie filling
The filling for my recipe for Pumpkin Pie from real pumpkin with homemade pie crust uses a few ingredients. Along with the real pumpkin I use, eggs, a touch of salt, sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. This combination of ingredients makes the pumpkin pie filling come out creamy, smooth and perfectly, lightly spiced. I generally love a good creamy pie and this one takes the cake. 🙂
Roman – my picky 8-year-old – asked for seconds and thirds the first time he ate this because he loves it so much. However, my perfect and weird child eats this with his hands like he is eating a pizza. When he started eating it this way a few Thanksgivings ago my mom and I burst out laughing. He continues to enjoy my easy pumpkin pie recipe this way.
Working with fresh pumpkin
When you are working with fresh pumpkin to make this recipe, it should be a nice, packed puree in the cups you are using to measure. If for some reason you see extra water in whatever container you are using to store your fresh pumpkin, strain the water off before measuring it out.
Using Sweetened Condensed Milk
This recipe uses Sweetened Condensed Milk which is cows’ milk that has had the water taken out of it. Then sugar is added. That’s it. When buying it check the label and make sure that it just says milk and sugar. This will add the sweetness and make for a creamier pie without adding any sugar or brown sugar.
Make sure you are buying the full fat version and not a fat free. And do not use evaporated milk as a substitute.
Toppings for Pumpkin Pie
There are several ways you can top the pumpkin pie from real pumpkin. They include:
- Whipped cream. You can use store bought or you can use my homemade Whipped Cream in this recipe {HERE}.
- You can also use rosemary and sugared cranberries for a more rustic look. (Or to hide imperfections. 🙂 )
- You can also use pie crust cookies. Keep in mind this pie crust has baking powder in it so it will fluff and expand. The “cookies” will not bake up like the ones I have in the photos unless they are rolled really thin, like paper thin. When I made those I had to experiment with the dough and I was scraping the shapes up off parchment paper with my finger nail. So truly paper thin. Then in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes.
Optional Egg Wash
The pie you see in the photos here does not have an egg wash. I’ve made it with and without before and it is good both ways. The wash will brown the crust a lot more and if you like that look/taste then go for it. I personally prefer the crust a lighter color and without much of the browning as shown. However, I have instructions in the recipe below if you want to use an egg wash.
How to prevent over shrinking pie crusts
- Since this pie crust tends to shrink a little, plan on that. Bring the dough all the way to the edge of the pan and even let it overlap a bit if needs be.
- Crimp the edge of the dough. Crimping tends to help. You can see I didn’t do that here but it will help. Full disclosure I think I just forgot before I put this one in the oven because it is something I always do with this dough.
- I find the kind of pie dish I use for this is also helpful. You can use any dish but I find more fluted dishes like this work better.
- Wrap the edge of the pie in foil or use a pie crust guard. This is especially important in the first half of the cooking when the most shrinking will occur.
Tips for making my recipe for Pumpkin Pie from real pumpkin
- The best pumpkin to use for making my recipe for Pumpkin Pie from real pumpkin is a sugar pumpkin. Sugar Pumpkins are smaller, sweeter and have less fibers than larger varieties of pumpkin. That makes them perfect for using when you want pureed pumpkin for cooking.
- When making the crust, keep in mind it doesn’t shape in a way that will look nice when you cook it. The baking powder causes it to rise a bit, which gives it an amazing texture and mouth feel for a crust. But it doesn’t make it the prettiest for design work.
- Keep in mind the filling will firm when cooked (thanks to the eggs). It will truly firm up while it is cooling.
- I added Cinnamon to my crust for easy pumpkin pie recipe because I wanted a little extra touch of flavor there. It does not need to be included in the crust if you prefer a more neutral crust.
- Make sure to pay attention to those notes above on the Sweetened Condensed Milk.
- Make sure to pay attention to the notes on the butter. It is not cut into the crust here like it would be a traditional pie crust. But I promise, it is easy to make.
- This pie needs about 5 hours to completely cool. Plan to make it – or at least the dough for the crust – in advance of needing it.
- To store the pumpkin pie from real pumpkin, you can cover it well and leave it on the counter for a day if you like. Or you can refrigerate it right away too.
- If you want to use my homemade whipped cream for the homemade pumpkin pie recipe, click {HERE}. Just leave out the strawberries from that recipe. It can be made the day of use and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you need it.
More frequently asked questions
- How do you know when pumpkin pie is ready? My recipe for homemade Pumpkin Pie from real pumpkin will be done when the edges of the pie are set and the center has a slight juggle to it.
- Does Pumpkin Pie set after baking? Yes. Since pumpkin pie is a custard/egg type pie it will continue to bake after it is removed from the oven. It will set as it cools on the counter and then in the refrigerator.
- Will the pie separate from the crust? Sometimes, yes. This happens more dramatically if the pie is over baked. Because my crust “grows” as it is cooked from the baking powder you might see less of this.
Looking for more pumpkin recipes?
If you are a pumpkin lover too, try these pumpkin recipes!
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting {HERE}
Gnocchi with Creamy Pumpkin Sauce {HERE}
Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte {HERE}
Salted Caramel Pumpkin Milkshake {HERE}
Pumpkin Chorizo Soup {HERE}
Thank you so much for visiting today, friends! I hope you love my recipe for Pumpkin Pie made from homemade pumpkin. You can find a full, printable recipe below with all the ingredients and steps. Happy Eating!
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Recipe for Pumpkin Pie from real pumpkin
My recipe for Pumpkin Pie from real pumpkin and homemade pie crust is a delicious, smooth version of this classic that you will love! It is an easy pumpkin pie recipe that is homemade too! Save this to Pinterest now so you can make it year after year!
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: easy pumpkin pie recipe, homemade pumpkin pie, real pumpkin pumpkin pie, recipe for pumpkin pie from real pumpkin
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Chill time: 4 hours
Servings: 10 - 12 pieces
Author: Rachel
Equipment
Pie dish
Mixing bow
Mat or parchment paper for rolling
Rolling Pin
Hand mixer
Spatula
Ingredients
For the crust
- 2 1/5 cups flour Plus a little more for the rolling pin.
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup salted butter, softened and cubed
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1/4 cup sour cream, room temperature
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
For the pumpkin pie filling
- 2 cups homemade pumpkin Make sure the homemade pumpkin does not have a lot of extra water. If it does, strain it out before using.
- 2 eggs
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Optional egg wash ingredients
- 1 egg
- 2 Tbsp water
Optional Pie Crust cookies
- Extra pie crust
- Flour for your hands
- Egg wash from above
Instructions
Instructions for the crust
To make the pie crust, combine all your dry ingredients together and whisk thoroughly.
Then add the butter, eggs and sour cream and mix well with a hand mixer. Make sure the butter has mostly combined with the other ingredients. If you still have small lumps of butter that is fine.
The dough will be very sticky but that is okay.
Once everything is combined, pull the dough into a ball and cover and chill for 1 hour.
When the hour is up, remove the dough from the bowl and turn out onto a floured surface. Use some flour on your hands if needed to pull the dough into a nicer ball shape and then use the floured rolling pin to roll it out into a circular shape.
Once rolled, place the crust in a buttered pie pan. Try not to stretch the dough at this point. It will shirk more if the gluten springs back. Make sure it goes all the way to the edges or even has some overhang. Plan for the crust to shrink a little bit.
Then crimp the edges of the pie and prick the bottom of the crust with a fork several times. Let the dough rest for at least 20 minutes in the pie pan to let the gluten settle. This will all help the pie crust so it doesn't shrink too much.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Instructions for making the pumpkin pie filling
Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the pumpkin pie filling in a bowl and mix well.
Pour the pumpkin pie mix into the pie crust.
Cover the edge of the crust with tin foil or a pie crust guard.
Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Then lower the temperature of the oven to 350 and bake for an additional 45- 50 minutes. When it is done the edges of the pie will be set and the middle will still be jiggly. Remove the foil from the edge of the pie about 5 minutes before the pie is done to brown the crust.
Let cool to room temperature for 1 hour and then chill for 4 hours.
Top with whipped cream and enjoy!
Optional Egg Wash
Combine eggs and water and whisk to create the egg wash. Then brush over the crust before placing the tin foil on.
Optional Pie crust cookies
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll the extra dough very thing dough very thin and use a cookie cutter to cut it out. Like paper thin. Use a fork to create leaf veins.
Brush the egg wash over the cookies lightly and then bake for 10 minutes.
