Holy moly this gluten free pumpkin pie is incredible!!! It’s smooth and creamy and is the best pumpkin pie I’ve ever had.
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Are you a pumpkin pie fan? There’s usually a line drawn of pumpkin pie lovers or pumpkin pie haters. I don’t hate pumpkin pie, but it’s my least favorite of all the pies. It’s always so boring to me. But this pie changed my mind completely about pumpkin pies and I will forever love this one!
here’s what you need to make this special pumpkin pie
- Cream cheese — this is the secret ingredient that makes this pumpkin pie extra special! It adds a creaminess that is unparalleled to any other pumpkin pie out there.
- Powdered sugar — another ingredient you don’t normally find in pumpkin pie, the powdered sugar makes the filling so incredibly smooth.
- Melted butter — everything is better with butter (am I right?!?!) and this pumpkin pie is no exception to that rule!
how to make incredible gluten free pumpkin pie
- Parbake the pie crust — my gluten free pie crust is the flakiest, easiest gf pie crust you’ll ever make. Roll it out, line your pie pan with it and crimp the edges. Chill, line with foil and add beans, rice, or sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes and then remove beans and bake an additional 5 minutes, or until very lightly golden brown and set. Cool.
- Whisk softened cream cheese in a large bowl with a handheld mixer or hand whisk until smooth.
- Add pumpkin puree and continue whisking until smooth.
- Add melted butter and vanilla, followed by eggs, beating just until combined.
- Slowly add powdered sugar and spices and whisk just until smooth. Don’t over mix.
- Pour filling into parbaked pie shell.
Pumpkin Pie FAQs
While most pumpkin pies do not require refrigeration, because of the cream cheese in this pumpkin pie, it must be refrigerated. I like to serve it cold, but feel free to allow it to come to room temperature before serving if that’s your preference.
It’s not absolutely necessary to parbake the crust, but it does prevent a soggy bottom crust and makes the crust perfectly crisp and flaky.
It should be set mostly, except for the very center, where it may jiggle a little bit. Remove it from the oven at this point so it doesn’t overbake and crack.
WHAT SHOULD I SERVE WITH THIS PIE?
There was a meme going around a few years back with two pictures of a piece of pumpkin pie. One was plain and the other was completely covered with whipped cream, like a frosted cake would be. You couldn’t even see the pie underneath!
I think I sent that meme to Scott on Facebook because it reminded me SO much of him. We joke that he’s having a little pie with his whipped cream, haha!! In all seriousness, I think whipped cream is the ONLY thing to serve with pumpkin pie. And I like my whipped cream fresh.
I never really use a recipe. Just pour some cream into a stand mixer bowl (once cream is whipped, it will double in volume). Add a few tablespoons or up to 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, depending on the amount of cream poured into the bowl. Also add vanilla extract or vanilla bean seeds. Whip on low at first until the mixture begins to thicken slightly, about 30 seconds. Then mix on high until soft peaks form. If you take the whisk and dip it into the whipped cream, then flip it upright the whipped cream will create a “peak” that will flop to one side. If you’re looking for a stiffer whipped cream, take it to “stiff” peak, where the peak stands straight up and doesn’t flop over.
For a change of pace from the usual boring pumpkin pie, give this gluten free pumpkin pie with cream cheese and butter a shot. I bet you’ll never go back!
Incredible Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
- 1 gluten free pie crust parbaked
- 1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
- 1 15-ounce can real pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling
- ½ cup (1 stick or 113 g) butter, melted
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 3¼ cups (406 g) powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- ¼ tsp salt
- freshly whipped cream for serving
Instructions
- Prepare the pie crust according to recipe instructions for a single parbaked pie crust. Allow crust to cool while preparing filling.
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- In a large bowl, whisk cream cheese until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and continue whisking until fully incorporated and mixture is smooth. You may need to switch back and forth between a whisk and a spatula if you're doing this by hand. Otherwise, you may use an electric mixer or stand mixer. Just don't overmix and incorporate too much air.
- Add vanilla, eggs, pumpkin puree, melted butter, and spices and continue to whisk until smooth and pourable.
- Pour filling into prepared pie crust. Bake pie for 30-35 minutes, or until center of pie is just barely jiggly when lightly shaken.
- Allow pie to cool on wire rack for 30 minutes and then chill in refrigerator for at least 4 hours before serving.
- Serve with freshly whipped sweetened whipped cream. Store pie in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Adapted from Modern Honey’s The Best Pumpkin Pie Recipe
I made this pie crust and used my pumpkin pie filling. It looked great . I put it in the oven and within 10 min. the crust melted in spots and fell onto the bottom of the oven causing a tremendous amount of smoke. I put the pie on a tray and continued to bake. I had made a regular crust pumpkin pie along with the gluten free and the regular turned out fine, but the crust on the gluten free was very dark even though I put on a crust protector. Also on the pie tray there was a puddle of melted butter when I took the pie out.
This pie is awesome. My husband loves pumpkin pie and said this reminds him of the pumpkin pie his grandma used to make. I used a mi-del graham crust and it was awesome. The filling for 2 pie crusts. So glad I made 2! Thanks for another winner Kim! I totally wish you had a Food network show and cookbooks!
Oh, haha! Thanks, Danae!! Maybe some day, at least the cookbook part 🙂
What do you do with the melted butter ? It is not incorporated into your mixing instructions ?
Hi Terri, the melted butter is added in step 4, with the rest of the wet ingredients.
I’m sorry, Terri. I inadvertently left it out of the recipe card at first and was alerted to this, so maybe you printed it out before I corrected it. I apologize, but it should be correct at this time.
The pie crust was wonderful. Easy to work with and very shaky. The timing on the baking of the pumpkin pie was way off. Nowhere near done at 30-35 min. Instead nearly an hour (like with all my other pumpkin pie recipes) was required to get to fully baked. Thus, I had to try to cover the edges with foil to prevent them from burning, which would have been easier/smarter to do during the blind bake of the shell. As for the filling, all that powdered sugar without any brown yielded a pie that was overly sweet and lacking in the depth I usually find with pumpkin pie. The younger crowd liked it but for those over 35 it was a miss. Every other recipe I have used from Kim has been spot on, just not this one (for me).
I’m so sorry the pie didn’t turn out, Liz 🙁 I’m not sure what could’ve happened as I actually made this pie for my Thanksgiving this year and it came out fabulously. Maybe it had to do with the size or depth of the pie pans. I believe mine is a 9 inch pie pan that’s rather shallow (pretty standard I think).