Why you’ll love this dairy free pumpkin pie
Believe it or not, Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and I’m already hard at work testing pies and casseroles and all sorts of pumpkin-related things. I wanted to make sure you were prepared for the holiday with the best dairy free Thanksgiving recipes because I don’t want you to miss out on your favorite dishes just because they have dairy in them.
Pumpkin pie has been a tricky one for me. Traditional recipes call for evaporated or sweetened, condensed milk, which tend to be hard to substitute. So to keep things simple, I decided to make my pumpkin pie with coconut milk in place of evaporated milk. I did change the ratio of liquid-sugar-eggs just a little to make sure we didn’t end up with a soft, gooey mess when it came out of the oven. See also: Are eggs dairy?
More dairy free pumpkin recipes: dairy free pumpkin cookies / roasted garlic pumpkin hummus / pumpkin dinner rolls / pumpkin cream cheese muffins / pumpkin risotto
A few notes on pie crust:
I should start by saying that I am a fan of store-bought crust. I don’t think it’s worth the energy to make your own, especially since dairy free cooking can be so complicated and time-consuming. If you have a favorite pie crust recipe, than definitely use it. To give myself a little more crust to work with for the edge, I always roll mine out just a little.
Do I need to pre-bake the crust for pumpkin pie? You don’t need to blind bake your crust for this recipe, but it wouldn’t hurt. The process of blind baking just allows the crust to crisp up a little more, so you don’t end up with a soggy crust.
Melissa’s tips + tricks:
- Choose the right coconut milk. I recommend using a full-fat, canned coconut milk that contains about 60% coconut. If your coconut milk contains too much water, you will end up with a soggy, mushy pie.
- If you have a pie crust shield, use it when baking your pie to prevent the crust from getting too brown.
- Check doneness by inserting a toothpick into the very center of the pie. If it comes out clean, it’s ready.
- Serve your pie with dairy free whipped cream or your favorite dairy free vanilla ice cream.
More dairy free Thanksgiving recipes: dairy free green bean casserole / homemade stuffing / vegan scalloped potatoes
Dairy Free Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
- 1 store-bought pie crust, or
- 1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup canned full-fat coconut milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
Instructions
- Prepare your crust. Preheat your oven to 425˚F. Roll your crust to fit your pie plate and trim or flute the edges as desired.
- Blind bake the crust. Crumble a piece of parchment paper to make it more pliable, then add it to your crust and fill with pie weights. Then, bake the crust for 15 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven and carefully remove the pie weights. Allow crust to cool completely before filling.
- Make the filling. In a large bowl, mix remaining ingredients with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour into cooled pie crust and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350˚F and continue baking for 40 – 45 minutes, or until filling has set.
- Bake the pie. Remove from oven and allow pie to cool completely before loosely covering. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Can i make this a few days before serving? Will the crust be soggy even if I bake the crust blond before filling it ?
You can make it a day or two in advance, but the crust might lose its crispness a bit.
When mixing up the solid and liquid parts of the canned coconut milk, did you do it with a mixer or a spoon. And are you suggesting we try to mix it together first before mixing with other ingredients? Or just use the solid parts only from the start. It seems the amount would be variable and may not work out. Thanks
I just shake the can really well before opening it, and if it’s still separated, I will whisk it until smooth.
It’s baking now, and my crust is burning, yikes! I made a makeshift foil ring to cover the crust but I’m afraid I checked on it too late. I also see lots of “glossy dots” in the pie, and I’m wondering if it is because I did grab some of the liquid from the coconut milk can.
Is this a regular or deep dish pie?
I have made this twice. Just confused because the printed copy of the recipe contains different instructions for prebaking the crust than the body of the recipe write up includes. Should give us one or the other, not two ways to do it The pie is beyond delicious.
This recipe was excellent. I actually substituted the brown sugar with Splenda brown sugar. To me it tasted like traditional pumpkin pie. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you!!!
Why are the instructions for blind baking the crust different up above than in the recipe itself?
Would like to make this, but wondering if it could be frozen? Have you ever tried?
My daughter is dairy free and I needed a quick recipe for Thanksgiving. It was perfect. I used a stand mixer on low just for a few seconds to make sure it wasn’t too runny. I also added Hershey’s chocolate syrup for deeper flavor. It set perfectly in the oven for suggested time. Thank you for the awesome recipe.
This is amazing! Have made it twice in less than a week! Thank you!!
I just made it and it’s excellent. I followed exactly your wonderful recipe, except I substitute brown sugar to coconut sugar and it’s divine. Will definitely make this again. Thanks for sharing it.