This delicious homemade pumpkin pie recipe is made completely from scratch. Once you taste how good it is, you’ll never go back to store-bought pumpkin puree and evaporated milk again!
The most crucial ingredient to a good homemade pumpkin pie is the pumpkin puree! We love Luxury Pie Pumpkins and have had success growing them for the past few years.
The most important thing about that pie pumpkin is it’s properly cured. You can’t always guarantee your grocery store pumpkin has been properly cured, so be sure to grab your pumpkin a couple of weeks early, then watch this video tutorial for how to properly cure and cook your pie pumpkins for all your fall goodies.
How to Cook Your Pie Pumpkin
Once your pumpkin has been properly cured (you should barely be able to dent the skin with your thumbnail, but not be able to pierce it), you’ll want to cook your pumpkin.
The first step is to remove the stem by banging it on a solid surface until it pops off.
Using a sharp knife, pierce through the pumpkin. It may be helpful to sharpen your knife beforehand.
Place your pumpkin in a pan and bake at 350 degrees until you can easily poke through the skin of the pumpkin with ease. The time will vary based on the size of your pumpkin. Start checking after about 20 minutes.
Once it’s cooked through, remove it from the oven and let it cool. Peel away the skin from the pumpkin. It should come off very easily.
Break open the pumpkin and remove the seeds and any stringy bits.
Take the pumpkin flesh and use an immersion blender to puree it. You could also use a blender, food processor or mash it by hand, but you want to make sure you get it extremely smooth.
How to Make Pumpkin Pie – From Scratch
This pumpkin pie recipe is large enough to make three standard 8-inch pies or two big deep-dish pies. When I cook it up, I oftentimes bake it in a 9×13 pan without a crust and serve it up for breakfast.
Ingredients Needed
- Pumpkin Puree – For this recipe, you’ll need 6 cups of pumpkin puree or home-canned pumpkin. Note, do NOT use pumpkin pie filling for this recipe.
- Eggs – We love using farm-fresh eggs, but water-glassed eggs would work, too!
- Milk – You can alternatively use cream, heavy cream or even half and half. This recipe is a great way to use up excess milk!
- Brown Sugar – We love the added flavor of molasses that brown sugar brings. If you don’t have any brown sugar, regular granulated sugar or maple syrup are great substitutions.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice – If you don’t have any pumpkin pie spice, you can make your own. Simply mix together 3 Tablespoons ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg, 1 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 teaspoon ground allspice and a pinch of black pepper (optional).
- Salt – As always, we love our Redmond Real Salt. It’s all we use here on the Homestead. If you click through that link and use coupon code “HFSalt” at checkout, you’ll receive 15% off your order.
- Vanilla – Not everyone likes to add vanilla to their pumpkin pie, but we love the additional flavor. Feel free to add or omit it.
- Homemade Pie Crust – This recipe makes three standard-sized pies or two deep-dish pies. Or, skip the crust and make a pumpkin pie casserole in a 9×13 pan. We love making homemade pie crusts and then freezing them until we need them. They defrost beautifully. Alternatively, you can make a double batch and store it in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic wrap, then put in a zip-top bag for up to a few weeks.
Step-by-Step Directions
- Get three pie pans and roll out your pie dough. Lay them in the pie pan and crimp the edges, or make any fancy designs you’d like. Place the pie crusts in the refrigerator until ready.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
- Place your homemade pumpkin puree in a bowl and add the eggs, pumpkin pie spice, salt, vanilla, milk, and brown sugar.
- Take an immersion blender and blend until silky and smooth. You can alternatively mix all your ingredients in a blender or food processor.
- Get your pie crusts from the refrigerator and pour custard equally between 3 standard-sized 8 or 9-inch pie crusts, 2 deep-dish pie crusts or pour into a greased 9×13-inch pan for a breakfast pumpkin custard.
- Bake at 350°F for approximately 45-55 minutes (depending on pie size). The pie is finished baking when the custard is completely set but still just a tad jiggly in the very center (not watery or runny).
- Allow to cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes or so (until they’re just above room temperature). This allows the pies to set completely.
- Best served with a generous dollop of homemade vanilla whipped cream.
Other Recipes You May Enjoy
- Spatchcock Turkey: The Ultimate Thanksgiving Hack
- Chestnut Stuffing: A Savory Holiday Favorite
- Quick & Easy Cobbler Recipe (DIY Cobbler Mix)
- Nantucket Cranberry Pie Recipe
- Delicious Chocolate Potato Cake (Historical Recipe)
- Rhubarb Breakfast Cake Recipe
- Parker House Rolls Made With Sourdough
Homemade Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
- 6 cups pumpkin puree
- 12 whole eggs
- 2 cups milk, cream or heavy whipping cream
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice mix
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 homemade pie crusts
Instructions
- Add pumpkin, eggs, milk, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and salt into a large bowl.
- Blend well with an immersion blender (or pour into a stand mixer, food processor, or mix by hand) until silky and smooth.
- Pour filling into pie pans that have been prepared with rolled out pie crust dough.
- Bake at 350°F for 45-55 minutes or until custard is set and the very center of the pie is slightly jiggly when lightly shaken.
Notes
- When making this for a breakfast custard we decrease the sugar to about 1 cup.
- Check out our video on making your own pumpkin pie puree.
- Be sure to taste your pie pumpkin before adding ingredients to know how sweet it is, this will let you know about how much sugar you should add.
- Many times homegrown and properly cured pie pumpkins and other sweet squash will be so sweet that you can decrease the sugar even more.
- You can sub maple syrup for the brown sugar and it’s very delicious. Start off with about 1 cup of maple syrup and adjust for desired sweetness.
