What would Thanksgiving (or Fall!) be without something pumpkin. Whether it is Spiced Pumpkin Lattes or pumpkin pie, the taste and scent of pumpkin is a perfect companion to cool fall weather.
I was never actually a big pumpkin pie fan in the past. In the past couple of years, I’ve fallen in love with coconut and pumpkin… and this recipe is a good combination of both. It is grain free and can be made completely dairy free as well.
A Better Pumpkin Pie:
If your family considers pumpkin pie a part of the Thanksgiving feast, consider this healthier option this year! It has all the same flavors of traditional pumpkin pie but can accommodate those who are gluten free and dairy free. This recipe also uses natural sweeteners in place of the sugar or corn syrup used in many pumpkin pies.
Give it a try…
Grain Free Pumpkin Pie
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 6 -8
A gluten free (and dairy-optional) version of the classic pumpkin pie that uses natural sweeteners! Get all the flavor without the junk.
Ingredients
- For Crust-
- 1 cup of almonds or pecans, finely ground in blender until flour like (or almond flour)
- 3 TBSP of coconut oil plus some to grease pie pan
- 1 egg
- Cinnamon powder (1/4-1/2 tsp or to taste)
- For Filling-
- 1 (15 ounce) can of pumpkin (nothing added) or approx 2 cups of homemade pureed pumpkin with excess liquid drained
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup of honey or maple syrup (or to taste) - can substitute stevia, but the honey actually helps it hold better
- 1 Tablespoon of pumpkin pie spices or about 2 teaspoons cinnamon and 1/4 tsp each of cloves, ginger and nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon natural vanilla
- coconut milk to thin (no more than about 1/3 cup)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325.
- Grease pie pan with coconut oil and mix crust ingredients by hand in a medium sized bowl.
- Press crust into bottom and sides of pie pan and put in the oven while making the filling.
- In the same bowl (no need for extra dishes!) combine the filling ingredients (except coconut milk) and mix using an immersion blender. If you don't have one of these, use a regular blender or food processor. A hand-mixer will not get it as smooth! It should be smooth and spreadable, but not really pourable. Add coconut milk if needed to thin slightly.
- After 10-15 minutes, remove the crust as it barely starts to brown.
- Pour/smooth the filling over the crust and return to oven for about an hour or until center is no longer jiggly. Will set more as it cooks.
- Top with coconut cream or whipped heavy cream and some chopped pecans.
- Enjoy!
Courses Dessert
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What is your favorite Thanksgiving dessert? Any other recipes you want healthy versions of? Tell be below!
Oh thank you – I’m “flirting” with gestational diabetes and need to cut out the carbs but was getting really bummed out about Thanksgiving. This recipe makes things look a little better, lol!
Is the pie crust in the picture one that was baked from the recipe in this post?
Nope, its just a stock photo I had. I’m going to update as soon as I bake it again, but this is not one that lasts long at our house so I haven’t been able to get a picture yet 🙂
Just made it! Really a great recipe. I used fresh butternut squash and thawed it for the recipe. Prior to cooking the filling it was really runny and very pourable (didn’t add any coconut milk), however it cooked up great in 1 hour. Put a little less honey this time but will measure next time as it needed more to make the flavors pop. Might add more cinnamon also. The crust was great. Thanks for a great recipe!
Wow, my mouth is totally watering now. I’m down with it.
You might want to wander by my blog. The astonishing results of a Wheat-Free life keep adding up like compound interest. New design, fresh content.
I’m having a blast, you know, just being who I’ve always wanted to be. Me!
THANK YOU for this. For the past few years, I’ve been gluten-free, and I’ve made it through the holidays fine. But this is the first year that my kids are GF, and I’m a little concerned about how large family gatherings are going to go! That’s why I volunteered to bring some desserts 🙂
We’ll be making this for sure. And I’m looking for a GF apple dessert, too (**hint, hint**)
Thanks, Katie!
I made this yesterday and it came out great! One comment…the coconut oil in the crust was bubbling/foaming a lot while baking, but I just soaked it up a bit with a paper towel after taking it out of the oven. Not sure if this is a normal occurrence since I’ve never baked with it before. Thanks for the recipe!
I had the same experience. but in the end the pie turned out really good.
I used the equal amount in ghee and didn’t have an issue 🙂
Robyn, I made this today and had the same experience with my crust. I also sopped up the extra foam with paper towels. Looking forward to having this tomorrow!
Sorry, what is coconut cream?
what can one use instead of nuts for the pie crust?
Pepitas (aka shelled pumpkin seeds) work just wonderfully.
Do you have suggestions for folks with nut allergies? I’d love to make this at the holidays but my mom is allergic to all nuts. Maybe no crust?
You can skip the crust, or shredded toasted coconut works pretty well too if she can have that…
How would one go about making the crust with coconut? Would i just use the same recipe but sub the nuts for coconut?
Coconut flour would be a good sub.
Wow! That’s how I’ve been making my pumpkin pie filling for years and I’ve never seen the recipe online before now! 😀 So good to know that it’s as good for us as I thought it was. I will be giving your pie crust a go this year though, it looks so yummy and a great exchange for my flour based recipe!
THANK YOU!!! I haven’t been able to have pumpkin pie (my favorite) for years and years! Thank you for this low sugar wheat free DELICIOUS recipe!! I have been so thankful this Thanksgiving!
Could substituting applesause for the eggs work at all? Also, could I use a can of pumpkin pie mix?
No, apple saucr won’t work, the eggs turn it into a custard, therfore setting the mixture
Try this, 1/2 applesauce, 1/2 chia seeds. Be sure to wash the seeds or you’ll end up with a bad taste!
Can’t wait to try this. Thanks for sharing.
Have you ever tried maple syrup instead of honey? Just wondering if you did, what you thought.
I have not, but I bet it would be really good!
Well anyways- just so you are aware people – Don go burnin down yur house…
Um…Because instructions says preheat oven to 325. I must assume this is Farenheit as in
325 F?
In that case it would be about 160 C (celsius)
I´ve seen some other pie recipes saying set oven to 400F but that was not gluten free..
(Don´t know if that makes a difference though)
Cake with nutbased- bottom are generally not exposed to too severe temperatures..
Didn´t try this yet but will – looks straight-forward on ingredients as in not to much weird expensive or regional stuff. Easy to find in most of western world cities at least.
Looks yummy by the way. I love halloween, but this year i´m going to EAT the pumpkin. Not waste a perfectly healty and tasty vegetable. So.. candles in pumpkin jars pumpkin in stomach.
Can this be made without honey or stevia? I’m thinking maybe adding some coconut butter & agar agar might help it stick together?
This would most definitely be a great variation from “standard” winter squash pies. I’ll have to give this recipe a try with some of the squash I raised this year. The only thing I’d have to really add to this recipe is that the crust and the custard filling would both need some salt so as to keep the taste from being flat. Is there any reason that the recipe doesn’t include the addition of salt? Just curious.
Thank ye! 🙂
I used thick, tasty maple syrup instead of honey. Delish!
hi! thanks for this recipe! They are baking now, and wow, does it smell delightful in here! I’m a bit concerned because the filling isn’t sticky and I’ve got 29 minutes left to bake. I used coconut flour for crusts,. and I hope I’m not burning them.
I’ll let you know, but i’m tempted to yank out of the oven now.
You have to watch baking with honey. It will burn. I’d like to know what to substitute for coconut oil and coconut milk? I’m allergic to coconut.
My filling was not pourable but spread easily into the pie dish so I did not use any coconut milk, it baked up great. I would try it without coconut milk even if the filling seems too thick or maybe a little bit of almond milk, if I didn’t have those things in my kitchen I would have used water.
If I could not use coconut oil in my crust I would have tried ghee, when I used it in a muffin recipe it was a lot like the oil.
Butter or ghee works well, that what i used. And i didnt need any milk.
I made this pie for the first time yesterday, it was delicious! I’ve “taste tested” so much of it I’m going to make another one today. I forgot to add the vanilla and like another person commented I’m going to try a little salt in the crust so I’m looking forward to tasting today’s version. I was also thinking of making a banana and nut milk ice cream to go with it like the olden day’s when we had vanilla ice cream with our store bought pumpkin pie. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Help. I am reading all of the wonderful comments but I did not experience the same wonderful results. It took an hour and 40 minutes for mine to stop giggling at such low temp. (325F). I used real homemade pumpkin purée and only 1/4 cup of full fat coconut milk to get custard consistency. Batter was delicious. But the final product tasted like pumpkin omelette! Texture and flavour:(. Also the oils from the pie crust bubbled over and dripped all inside my oven! (I used pecans because of almond allergy) I am still trying to get that oily black sticky substance off the floor, walls and glass of my oven. It’s like tar!!:,(. Did I do something terribly wrong??
How did you make the pumpkin puree… did you pre-roast or boil the pumpkin?
This is a wonderful recipe. I had to make a double-batch of everything for a big pie module, but thankfully I had enough of ingredients. One can also whip up some egg whites with a bit of lemon & honey and add on top instead of whipping cream — a fabulous combination. I am happy to share the pictures with you. Where to send them?
What size pie plate does this recipe call for? The photo looks like several small pies and the recipe doesn’t indicate size. Thank you.
Sounds tasty! But what about honey heating? What do you think about toxins which can make in?
My husband said it the best tasting pie I ever made ….. Love it!!!! Thanks so much!
I made this recipe last night for guests. It turned out beautifully. It looked so perfect. I never eat processed sugar and I completely avoid grains. I have to say I found this recipe to be a bit bland. I would rather eat canned pumpkin puréed with a banana some milk and pumpkins spices. I won’t be making this again.
This recipe is wonderful! Thank you so much for it, this is my second time making it except for I was brave and tweaked it a little!
I followed the recipe exactly but instead of 1/4 cup of honey I used 1 tablespoon of honey and 1 tablespoon of Maple syrup along with 4 spoonfuls of stevia in the raw.
(For people who don’t like their pie over powering with sweetener, I personally like mine just sweet enough to enjoy the flavor.)
And I nearly doubled the spices,
1 Tablespoon of Pumpkin Pie Spice along with 1 tsp. Of cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp nutmeg (or a little more I love nutmeg), and 1/4 tsp cloves.
I made a gluten free oatflour crust (which I tweaked also) which did perfectly (only with sitting in the fridge for several hours since the oil it uses is coconut)
I baked the pie in a Toaster Oven on 325 for 40 minutes because I like the pie to set just enough yet be moist and soft (like pie should be) and then let it sit in the fridge over night as the flavors mix.
Also, I used a glass pie dish, I can’t vouch for metal as I don’t know the difference in how fast which cooks or how evenly distributed it would be.
Thanks! Plan on making her pie tonight (day before THE BIG DAY) and think I’ll use some of your tweaks!
Hi! Thanks for trying my tweaks!! Just remember to add more sweetener (honey or maple syrup) because I seriously don’t like sweet desserts. I enjoy them slightly sweet to where I can just taste the flavor so I would highly recommend you use more sweetener to your preferred sweetness.
Also, I found that the original spices in the recipe, when using pumkin pie spice, weren’t full of spice flavor which is why I added all the extra. Just becareful and make sure you enjoy being able to taste the mixture of the spices. Some people prefer just tasting more of the pumpkin and only using the spices to throw in a little flavor, like using a pinch of salt with the sugar in smoothies/milkshakes to make it pop.
🙂 I hope your thanksgivings great!
Thank you for all of your amazing recipes. ?
I made this recipe for the first time and we absolutely loved it. I used a 9.5-inch pie dish however, and the crust in this recipe wasn’t enough to cover the sides. I first added another half crust recipe, and that still wasn’t enough, so I ended up doubling the crust recipe to cover the entire bottom and sides of the pie dish.
Can we freeze this pumpkin pie? If yes, for how long?