Feel confident making your own pumpkin pie this year with this recipe. This filling has a smooth texture, balanced sweetness, and is spiced to perfection!
The best pumpkin pies start with homemade pumpkin pie filling made from scratch. This recipe will help you move away from fully store-bought pumpkin pies as it works great with any pre-made pie dough.
Homemade pumpkin filling + ready-made pie dough = the perfect balance of easy and impressive.
Any pie crust works great with this recipe. Pick one up at your grocery store, from a local bakery, or make your own. In this recipe, I'll show you how to blind-bake it perfectly for the best results!
Jump to:
🌟Why you'll love this recipe
🧾Ingredients in this recipe
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
🌟 Pro Tip
Did you know you can ask your local bakery to buy some of their pie crust dough? Buying pre-made pie crusts from local bakeries is a great way to support them and take a tasty shortcut to the perfect pumpkin pie filling.
🫚From-scratch pumpkin pie spice
The perfect pumpkin pie spice blend for this recipe is made as follows: 4 parts ginger, 4 parts cinnamon, 1 part cloves, and 1 part nutmeg.
In a pinch, you can use 2.5 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice in this recipe.
Store pre-made pumpkin pie spice in a sealed jar in a dark, dry area.
👩🍳How to Make This Recipe
🌟 Pumpkin puree in advance
You can keep the cooked pumpkin puree in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can also freeze it and defrost it overnight in your refrigerator.
🌟 Pro Tip
Cooking your pumpkin pie filling for a short while helps to release the amazing flavor and aroma of those spices!
📋Pumpkin Pie Filling FAQs
Insert a knife or toothpick into the center of the pumpkin pie. If it comes out clean, then it is ready. If you don't want to insert a knife in the center, then you can check the doneness of the filling by shaking the pie and making sure it isn't jiggly. This is a good alternative as inserting a knife into the center may cause the top to crack.
This happens because of drastic temperature changes, or if you've overcooked the filling. Help prevent cracking by leaving your pie to cool fully in the oven, after turning the oven off and cracking the oven door.
Pie pumpkins are sweeter and have a richer flavor than a carving pumpkin, which can be a little bitter. If you want to substitute, use a can of pumpkin puree.
Pumpkin puree in a can is just pureed, roasted pie pumpkin. Canned pumpkin pie filling is usually pre-sweetened with added sugar and spiced with pumpkin spice (cinnamon, allspice, clove, and ginger).
Yes, blind-baking the crust of a custard-based pie prevents a soggy bottom.
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Homemade Pumpkin Pie Filling
Ingredients
- 1 store bought pie crust the rolled frozen or refrigerated version at room temp
- 2 cups pie pumpkin usually 1-1.5 pie pumpkins, roasted or sub. 1 can pumpkin puree
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cups half-and-half
- ¼ cup 100% maple syrup
- 2 eggs beaten
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F with the rack in the lower half of the oven.
- Cut the pumpkin in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds. Place cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake 1 hour. Let cool. Remove skin.
- In the meantime, prepare your pie dish with the crust. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, until step 4.
- Once the pie pumpkin is baked, let them cool enough so you can touch it, and remove all the skin.
- Blind bake the crust by covering it with parchment paper and weighing it down with dry beans, pie weights, small shapes of dried pasta noodles, or even clean pennies and other change. Bake the pie crust for 10-12 minutes.
- While it's blind baking, add 2 cups of the pumpkin meat along with the granulated sugar, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt to a food processor and blend it for 1 minute.
- Add the puree to a saucepan. Whisk over medium heat until heated through, ~5 minutes.
- Add the half-and-half and maple syrup. Whisk until incorporated. Remove from heat.
- Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk until incorporated.
- Add the pumpkin mixture to your prepared pie dish.
- Bake ~1 hour, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let it cool for 1 hour before cutting into it.
Jack
I already have a family recipe for pie dough that I can make blindfolded, but I have been searching for a pumpkin pie filling that is equally as delicious. Tried yours and it is totally lives up to expectations. Luckily my local store had pie pumpkins and I was able to totally make it from scratch this time. So good!
Candice
I'm so glad the filling recipe lived up to your expectations, Jack... thank you for taking the time to share and enjoy!
Wendy
This is my go-to pumpkin pie recipe for the holidays! I've been sharing it with all of my friends so that no pumpkin goes to waste this year. It's so easy and the texture is unmatched.
Candice
So glad you love it, Wendy... thank you for taking the time to share! I just made my first pumpkin pie of the season on Sunday, too, and made some extra pumpkin puree for a second one this week :)... enjoy and happy fall!