Vegan Pumpkin Pie

What a joy to have something on the menu that nearly everyone can eat without it being a big deal. Vegan pumpkin pie is just that. It’s virtually indistinguishable from conventional pumpkin pie and will delight all of the guests at your table, whether at Thanksgiving or a family dinner.

Better yet, it’s super easy to whip up with pantry ingredients. Grab your blender—yes, blender—and get set for a pumpkin pie you’ll want to make again and again.

No Eggs? No Problem

Pumpkin pie is a custard pie, one that relies on eggs for a filling that holds its shape. There are a few options for replicating the body of an eggy custard without using eggs. For this pie, silken tofu is the secret ingredient.

Instead of the eggs and heavy cream or evaporated milk usually found in conventional pumpkin pie, just open up a package of silken tofu. Once puréed with the pumpkin, sugar, and spices, it’ll bake into a smooth filling with just the right body and texture. 

The best part? It’s actually easier than making pumpkin pie the usual way. 

Silken Tofu Is the Way to Go

For this recipe, look for firm silken tofu in a shelf-stable package, not the water-packed tofu that’s refrigerated. You can often find shelf-stable in what a lot of grocery stores call the Asian aisle, though I’ve also seen it kept next to the refrigerated tofu.

Canned Pumpkin Means Less Stress and Better Pie

In years past, I did the whole deal: hacked apart and roasted a pumpkin for a 100 percent from-scratch filling. It was admirable, but I ditched that habit once I realized the results I got with canned pumpkin purée were more predictable, looked and tasted better, and saved me over an hour of time. 

I also appreciate how our modern pumpkin pies, which embrace convenience ingredients, are a marrying of traditions over centuries of North American holiday pie baking and pumpkin cookery. By opening a can and a block of tofu, I am strangely bound to those who, long before me, steamed pumpkins over hearths or roasted them over embers.

If you are a devotee of homemade purée, more power to you. You may use either. 

Choosing a Vegan Crust

The crust is another component where you can go the homemade route or opt for convenience. 

• Homemade: We have a homemade vegan pie crust recipe with plant butter that we created just for this pumpkin pie, but it’s so good you’ll find yourself trying it with other pies, too.
• Store-bought: Most people who make pumpkin pie start with a premade crust. If you are in that camp, you are in luck, because a few premade crusts are accidentally vegan. (Some major brands, like Pillsbury, contain lard and are not). Check the label to verify.  
• Gluten-Free: For a gluten-free pumpkin pie, you can use your favorite vegan gluten-free crust recipe or buy Wholly Gluten-Free frozen pie shells. 

No Need to Blind Bake

I love making pie, but I hate blind baking a crust. That’s when you bake the crust without filling so it’s nice and crispy, not soggy. The result can be beneficial, but the extra step is a pain.

Pumpkin pie has a dense, high-moisture filling that often leads to a doughy bottom crust in the baked pie. To get a fully baked bottom crust on my pumpkin pie without blind baking, I bake the pie on the lower rack so the bottom crust gets plenty of heat. 

We also start our pie at a high temperature (425°F) to blast it with heat, then lower the temp to 350°F for the rest of the baking. This gives you the best of both worlds: a silky filling and a crisp bottom crust. 

Make Ahead

I recommend baking the pie 1 day in advance, but no further than that (the edges of the filling dry out come day 2, though it’s still perfectly scarfable).

However, you may freeze the entire baked, cooled pie for up to 1 month. Defrost it on the counter for about 4 hours and let it come to room temperature before serving.

Hello, Pumpkin! (Vegan Style)

• Vegan Pumpkin Bread
• Chipotle Pumpkin Soup
• Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend
• Pumpkin Sourdough Bread
• Slow Cooker Pumpkin Soup