My whole family was in absolute heaven when I created this paleo pumpkin pie recipe—a dessert you can swoon over and not feel too guilty about eating! My daughter exclaimed, “If all my vegetables tasted like this, I wouldn’t even eat my dessert first at school, I would eat my vegetables!”
Alas, I didn’t want to clarify that anything sweetened should be called a dessert and not a vegetable, but this is a wholesome treat to be feeding my family!
I use fresh pumpkin puree for my pies. It really takes them to the gourmet/utterly amazing level. Unfortunately, not all pumpkins and squashes should be baked and eaten.
Like any fruit or vegetable, picking the best and ripest one ensures success and mouthwatering results. On my blog I go into some detail about choosing and baking your own squash and pumpkin. Toni has instructions for cooking a pumpkin in the slow cooker. Ultimately, you can use a can too, but I wanted to encourage you to use fresh!
If you haven’t tried fresh pumpkin, I highly recommend it. Did you know that when you purchase canned pumpkin it is actually a mix of squashes. That is why using fresh pumpkin makes recipes so much sweeter.
If you don’t know where to begin using fresh pumpkin check out this tutorial. It will change your life. Well maybe not change your life, but it will make your pumpkin experience 1000x better!
You can use any premade or homemade crust you prefer. This filling will work in anyone’s crust! The crust below is free of grains and dairy, and it is totally flaky!
Paleo Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 1 cup almond flour
- 3/4 cup tapioca flour
- 2 tablespoons coconut flour
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 6 tablespoons palm shortening or allowed butter
- 1 egg
- Water by the tablespoon just to bind 1-3
For the Filling
- 2 generous cups fresh pumpkin or squash puree
- 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk or cream
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup palm sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon or pie spice if you prefer
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- First prepare your crust. In a large bowl, mix the flours and salt.
- Add the shortening and cut in using a pastry cutter until pea sized chunks of fat remain.
- Mix in the egg and just enough ice cold water to bring the dough together. Knead a couple of times with your hands to make a cohesive dough.
- Lay out a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap. Pat the dough into a disc, wrap securely, and place in the freezer for 10 minutes while you prepare the filling.
- In a blender or bowl, blend all filling ingredients together until no lumps remain.
- Using two pieces of parchment or plastic wrap, roll the dough out to an even thickness large enough to accommodate a 9 inch pie pan.
- Peel a piece of parchment off, and invert the dough into a greased pie pan. Remove the top layer of parchment.
- Flute your edges, smooshing together with your fingertip if you need to repair any tears in the pastry.
- Poke holes in the bottom of the crust, and prebake for 7 minutes.
- Remove from oven and pour in the filling. Bake for 45-60 minutes until firm and not wet to the touch. The water content of squash/pumpkin purees varies the cook time.If you notice the crust starting to brown, bump the heat down to 325 degrees, and cover the crust with aluminum foil.
- Let cool completely before cutting and serving...if shape is important to you at least!
Notes
By contributing writer Tessa
Julia @ Swirls and Spice says
I’ve made pumpkin pie with coconut milk filling before, and now I have your crust recipe to go with it. Looks delicious!
Yuliya says
Yum! This looks absolutely delicious! I really need to make it soon 🙂 Pinned!
Miranda W. says
I did a test run of this pie yesterday and had it tonight because I needed to make sure it held up! The crust turned out wonderfully. It stayed crispy and held together well, which is quite the challenge with paleo pies!
Good job!
tessa says
Great Miranda! I am glad you liked it too! I am excited to make ours for Thanksgiving!
Cat Neligan says
Looks amazing! I’ve been looking for a paleo-friendly pie crust and this looks like one to try!
tessa says
let me know what you think Cat! It is my favorite that I have tried!
Kelly @ The Nourishing Home says
Tessa, this recipe looks AMAZING! I can’t wait to try it for Thanksgiving! 🙂 Thankful for you!
tessa says
Thanks Kelly! I made mine, and now I am wishing I made TWO!! It’s the first pie my kids go nutzo over too!
Eva says
The crust turned out great. I’ll give you a shortcut I used. I threw all the ingredients in a food processor (I used butter from pastured cows), pulsed until cohesively crumby then just put in the pie pan. I used my hand and a small glass to roll it out in the pan and push it up the sides, then I pinched the top all around. Then I refrigerated for about 20 minutes, poured the filling in without pre-baking the crust. Turned out great! Skip the rolling out in parchment paper, you don’t need too. Thanks for the recipe!
tessa says
Great idea Eva, I’ll have to try that technique sometime!! Thanks for your feedback!