Perfect Pumpkin Pie
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After more than 25 years of cooking professionally—and hosting plenty of Thanksgivings—I’ve made a lot of pumpkin pies. This is the one I make every year, and the one my family looks forward to most.
Pumpkin pie is a Thanksgiving classic, and when it’s made well, it’s hard to beat—a silky, warmly spiced pumpkin filling baked into a buttery, flaky crust. But for a dessert that seems so simple, pumpkin pie can be surprisingly finicky. Over the years, I’ve tried at least a dozen recipes and run into just about every issue: fillings that won’t set, unsightly cracks, and soggy crusts. Let’s just say the person who coined the phrase “easy as pie” had clearly never baked a pumpkin pie!
The good news is that all that testing paid off. This pumpkin pie recipe turns out beautifully, with a flaky crust, rich pumpkin filling, and smooth, crack-free top. And the best part? It’s truly easy to make.
If you’re planning your holiday dessert lineup, don’t miss my pecan pie, sweet potato pie, and apple pie—they’re all wonderful alongside this pumpkin pie.
“I’ve been baking pumpkin pie for what seems like an eternity. The custard always cracks. Not this time…it’s absolutely delicious!”
What You’ll Need To Make Homemade Pumpkin Pie
- Pie Crust: Use a homemade pie crust or store-bought—whichever you prefer. If using store-bought, opt for the frozen kind in an aluminum pie pan; it’s easier to blind bake and less likely to shrink.
- Pumpkin: For the best results, I recommend Libby’s canned pumpkin purée.
- Egg & Egg Yolks: The whole egg helps set the filling, while the extra yolks add richness and give it a silky texture.
- Granulated Sugar & Light Brown Sugar: Using both gives the filling a more complex sweetness, with a subtle molasses note from the brown sugar.
- All-Purpose Flour: Slightly thickens and stabilizes the filling, which helps prevent cracks.
- Spices (ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves & black pepper): This classic blend gives the pie its warm, spiced flavor, with just a hint of heat from the black pepper.
- Evaporated Milk: Gives the filling its rich, creamy texture without making it too heavy.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
How To Make Pumpkin Pie
Blind bake the crust: If using a store-bought crust, follow the package directions for pre-baking the crust. For homemade dough, fit it into a deep-dish pie pan and chill it. Line the chilled crust with parchment, fill it with pie weights (or dried beans), and bake until the edges look set.
Remove the weights and bake a bit longer until the bottom looks dry and lightly golden. If the crust puffs up, gently press it back down with a flat spatula. Blind baking gives the crust a head start so it stays nice and crisp once the wet pumpkin filling is added.
Make the filling: Whisk the filling ingredients together until completely smooth, making sure there are no pockets of flour or spices. Pour the filling into the pre-baked crust.
Bake and serve: Bake the pie at 325°F so the custard cooks gently and evenly. It’s done when the filling looks set and dry around the edges but still has a slight jiggle in the center when you nudge the pan—don’t worry, it will continue to set as it cools. If the crust edges start to brown too much before the filling is done, loosely cover them with foil.
Let the pie cool completely before slicing. Serve at room temperature or chilled, with whipped cream if you like.
Make-Ahead Instructions
Pumpkin pie is ideal for making ahead. You can bake it a day before serving, let it cool completely, then cover and refrigerate it overnight. For longer storage, the baked pie can also be frozen; see the recipe card below for full freezing instructions.
Video Tutorial
More Holiday Desserts You’ll Love
Perfect Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
- 1 homemade pie crust or 9-inch deep-dish frozen pie crust shell thawed
- 1 (15-oz) can pure pumpkin (about 1¾ cups)
- 1 large egg
- 3 large egg yolks
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup (packed) light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1¼ cups evaporated milk (you'll need one 12-oz can but you won't use all of it)
Instructions
- Blind Bake the Crust: If you’re using a store-bought frozen crust, follow the pre-baking instructions on the package. If you’re using a homemade crust, roll out the dough and gently fit it into a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan, making sure it’s snug against the bottom and sides. Chill the crust for at least 30 minutes.Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Place the chilled crust on a baking sheet (it makes it much easier to move in and out of the oven). Line the crust with a piece of parchment paper and fill it about three-quarters full with dried beans or pie weights.Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven, lift out the parchment and weights, and tent the edges with a few strips of foil folded in half lengthwise to keep them from getting too dark. Return the crust to the oven and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, until the bottom looks dry and lightly golden. If it puffs up a bit, just press it down gently with a flat spatula—try not to puncture it. Remove the foil, but keep it nearby in case you need it again later.After blind-baking the crust, reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.
- Make the Filling: In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, egg, egg yolks, granulated sugar, brown sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, pepper, and evaporated milk. Whisk until smooth, then pour the filling into the pre-baked crust.
- Bake and cool: Bake the pie for 50 to 60 minutes (at 325°F), until the filling is just set. It should look dry around the edges, but the center should jiggle just slightly if you nudge the pan. Keep a close eye on the pie as it bakes; if ever the crust looks like it's browning too quickly, tent the edges with foil strips. Let the pie cool on a rack (leave it on the baking sheet) to room temperature, a few hours. Slice or refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Way too much ginger for my taste. Very disappointed!
With black pepper? Did i read it right?
Lol – yes. The pepper adds a little kick – you won’t really taste it.
We are pie snobs in my family and everyone said it was the best pumpkin pie they’ve ever had. I used the pie crust recipe too! Thank you!
This was wonderful last year! Goingbto make it again tomorrow. Looks like you used a ceramic pie pan, any differences with glass?
Glad you liked it! And glass is perfectly fine to use here with no modifications.
Hi Jenn,
I’m inquiring after reading the recipe. You say in the recipe that all of the evaporated milk will not be used but it isn’t explained. Could you elaborate please as I don’t know how much to use?
Hi Gail, You’ll need 1¼ cups of the evaporated milk and the can contains 1½ cups, so you’ll have 1/4 cup left over. Hope that clarifies. 🙂
This truly is a perfect pumpkin pie recipe.
You can really taste the love in it!
Thank you so much, and Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi Jenn! Quick question – when you say “deep dish” how deep is the pie pan that you are using? Would 1.5 – 2 inches be in the range of deep dish or does it need to be deeper?
1.5 to 2 inches deep would be considered deep dish.
I don’t bake much but I wanted a better pumpkin pie than what I found in the supermarket and I did not want to pay $20 for a bakery pie. The first pumpkin pie I made, I just followed the directions on the back of the can and it was just OK. I decided to try this recipe based on all of the great reviews. I used a frozen pie crust, Marie Callender’s, and I did not blind bake it because I am lazy. I made the filling nearly exactly like the recipe called for except I omitted the black pepper, only put a quarter teaspoon of salt and I only put about 2/3 cup of sugar, half light brown sugar and half granulated sugar. There did seem to be a lot of filling in proportion to the crust but again, I am lazy, so I just poured all of the filling into the pie shell up to the tippy top. It just barely didn’t overflow. I baked it 70 minutes on a sheet pan based on all of the all the reviews I read. The center did not jiggle when I took it out but it looked darn good to me. I did put foil around the edges for the first 40 minutes and then took it off for the last 30 minutes. I probably could’ve taken the foil off 10 minutes earlier, the edges probably could’ve gotten a little bit browner. It came out absolutely perfect and creamy and delicious and the crust was crispy. Maybe that Marie Callender‘s got a good thing going with her pie crust. I’m going to make this pie again for Thanksgiving.
Hi Jenn, could I substitute whole milk for the evaporated milk? Love your recipes, by the way.
Hi Kathryn, I wouldn’t recommend whole milk, but you could get away with heavy cream.
Absolutely delicious! Tastes like autumn on a fork, the blend of spices is perfect. Wouldn’t change a thing
I usually do the Joy of Cooking pumpkin pie recipe but was intrigued by the claims of this one. I got nervous when I saw it calls for more than DOUBLE the sugar in my usual pie recipe but I went for it anyway just to be thorough and exact.
Painfully sweet. I guess I’m in the minority on this but it is nearly inedible. I gave two stars rather than one because the recipe did indeed NOT crack as it cooled so it’s got that going for it.
I totally agree… It is way too sweet. I have been perfecting my pie for years and found that reducing the sugar to 1/2 cup works best. Use 1/4 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar for more depth in flavor. Try it… My family loves it.
I agree. I followed the recipe almost to the letter, but just omitted the Granulat sugar altogether (i.e. just put brown sugar). I still got some cracks when I took it out of the oven, but much to my surprise they closed almost completely. With my old recipe, the cracks would just get bigger.