Healthier Pumpkin Pie is an easy recipe made from scratch using real pumpkin, maple syrup, and dates to sweeten. It's a healthy, homemade pumpkin pie with a wholegrain crust that's even better than the classic! Best of all, this refined sugar free pumpkin pie is super simple to make!
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I think when it comes to pumpkin pie there are either lovers or haters.
If you are a hater I don’t understand you, but I DO appreciate you because I get to eat your slice of pie.
Pumpkin Pie is the best pie, because you can eat it for dessert, but I think that the lovers can all agree that there is no better breakfast than a leftover slice. It is SO good.
And honestly, it’s a pretty darn good breakfast. You’ve got pumpkin, eggs, milk, spices, and not all that much sugar.
Even better, THIS Healthier Pumpkin Pie is naturally sweetened with dates and a little bit of maple syrup, so you can feel smug and healthy about eating it at pretty much any time of day. It's got that perfect pumpkin spice flavor, great texture, and is absolutely perfect with a dollop of whipped cream on top or a scoop of ice cream on the side.
If you’re looking for a refined sugar free pumpkin pie recipe, this is the one you’ve been waiting for! It's perfect for Thanksgiving, or Thursday or anything you feel like pie. I’m going to show you how easy it is to make this recipe, with step-by-step photos below.
What’s in this recipe?
Only good things, my friends! Time to gather up your ingredients - here’s what you’ll need for this healthy pumpkin pie recipe:
- Pumpkin purée --> I use my homemade pumpkin purée, but canned is totally fine too!
- Dates --> Go for nice soft medjool dates please.
- Maple syrup --> Just a little bit of the good stuff.
- Eggs --> Three big guys are going in here.
- Milk --> We’re using whole milk today, my friends.
- Cinnamon --> Your pumpkin pie spice start.
- Ginger --> Pretty sure it’s illegal to make pumpkin pie without ginger.
- Nutmeg --> A little bit goes a long way. A pinch of cloves is nice too.
- Salt --> Just a smidge.
- Pie crust --> We’ll discuss your options below!
Equipment:
I make this pumpkin pie filling using my food processor, because it does a bang up job of mixing the dates and everything up into a very smooth filling.
If you don’t have a food processor I think that a high-speed blender would likely do the job just fine. Alternatively, you could roll up your sleeves and mince / mash the dates into a very fine paste.
What kind of pie crust is best?
So many options, you guys! You could use:
1) A wholegrain pastry crust. This is what I’ve used in these photos. I made a spelt flour pie crust that comes from one of my favourite whole grain baking books, but this recipe looks really similar.
2) A frozen pie crust. Pro tip: transfer it into your own pie plate and no one will ever know you didn’t make it from scratch! Need a gluten-free crust? Go for it!
3) A ginger cookie crumb crust. This option is easy and delicious! Just crush up ginger cookies into fine crumbs, mix with enough butter to hold them together, and press into the bottom of your pan.
4) Make a crustless pumpkin pie. All you need to do is butter the bottom of your pie dish before you pour in the filling and you’re good to go.
Whichever option you choose, you need to prepare the crust BEFORE You make the filling.
If you’re making a wholegrain pastry crust or using a frozen pie crust, you will need to blind bake it before you add the pumpkin pie filling. Blind baking sounds scary, but it is not.
Just be sure to thoroughly chill your pie crust before baking (I throw mine into the freezer for 30 minutes first) and use pie weights or dried beans to prevent shrinkage.
You’ll find easy instructions for how to blind bake a pie crust here.
How to make this recipe
Start by pre-heating your oven and blind-baking your pie crust if you’re using one. Then, we’ll make the filling!
Step 1: (above) Combine the pitted dates and maple syrup in your food processor. Pulse a few times to break up the dates, then run the food processor until the mixture is well combined.
It won’t be totally smooth at this stage. This is normal.
Step 2: (below) Add ½ cup of pumpkin purée to the date mixture and run the food processor until combined. This will help to break up the dates and smooth it out a bit more.
You’ll need to scrape down the sides once and then run the food processor again.
Step 3: (below) Add the remaining pumpkin purée, spices, and salt.
Run the food processor, scrape the sides and bottom, and run once more.
Step 4: (below) Add the eggs to the food processor, and run until they’re well combined.
Step 5: (below) Add the milk.
Note! Depending on the size of your food processor the bowl may be very full at this point. It’s completely fine to transfer the mixture to a bowl and mix in the milk with a whisk instead.
Step 5: (below) Pour the pumpkin pie filling into your prepared crust.
Step 6: (not pictured) Bake your pie! Depending on how deep your pie crust is, it will bake for around 35-40 minutes.
Note! Your pie is done when the sides are firm and there is still a bit of jiggle to the middle. It will continue to cook as the pie cools, and over-baked pumpkin pies are prone to splitting down the middle.
Now all you need to do is let your pie cool, slice, and serve. How easy was that?!
What do I do if my pumpkin pie cracks?
Funny you should ask, because the pumpkin pie in these photos had a HUGE crack down the middle once it cooled. You can see the before photos here.
If your pie cracks, please rest assured that it will still be completely delicious. So your easiest and most straightforward option is to just serve it as is.
If you do want to perform a repair job on your cracked pie, use a HOT metal offset spatula to gently pull the filling into place and reform the top of the pie. If you do this while your pie is still warm the results will be the best, but I’ve done it with a totally cold pie the next day and all was well.
Then, if you have extra pastry on hand, you can disguise your repair job with cute pastry cutouts.
NOW YOU KNOW MY SECRETS.
Can I make dairy-free pumpkin pie?
You sure can! Replace the whole milk with full-fat coconut milk or unsweetened almond milk and you’ll be good to go.
What about vegan pumpkin pie?
For a vegan pumpkin pie recipe I’m going to direct you to my girl Alissa from Connoisseurus Veg.
Can I make this recipe in advance?
You can and you should. Your healthier pumpkin pie will taste best if it’s chilled overnight in the fridge.
This naturally sweetened pumpkin pie will last 3-5 days in the fridge, but is best served within two days.
Can you freeze pumpkin pie?
YES YOU CAN! Leftover pumpkin pie is great frozen in individual slices, or you can even freeze whole pies. Just let them thaw before serving.
Is pumpkin healthy?
Glad you asked!
Pumpkin, and other yellow fleshed winter squash, are jam packed full of carotenes, including beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and other carotenoids. These are the compounds ultimately responsible for their bright yellow and orange colours, and also is a pre-cursor to Vitamin A (you need that so you can see).
Winter squash (including pumpkins) are also rockstars in the B vitamin department, with high amounts of vitamin B6, and a good amount of vitamin B2, vitamin B3, folate, and pantothenic acid.
Pumpkin also contains a good dose of dietary fibre, potassium, vitamin C, and manganese.
Other pumpkin recipes you might enjoy:
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Healthy Pumpkin Granola
Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
Pumpkin Chai Latte
Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Instant Pot Pumpkin
Healthier Pumpkin Pie
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pie crust see post for notes on options
- ½ cup soft medjool dates ½ cup packed with chopped, pitted dates
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 ½ cups pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- â…› teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 F / 180 C.
- In the bowl of a food processor pulse the dates and ¼ cup maple syrup together. It will seem like a chunky, sticky mess at first, but have faith.
- Add ½ cup of pumpkin puree to thin it out a bit, then run the food processor until the mixture seems smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times.
- Add the rest of the pumpkin, and the spices and salt, and puree until smooth.
- With the motor running, add the eggs one at a time until each is well incorporated. Add the milk, and mix until it is thoroughly blended in.
- Pour the filling into a blind-baked pie crust right up to the very top of the crust.
- Place the pie into the oven and bake for 40 - 45 minutes. The filling will be puffed up, and shouldn't be too jiggly when you give it a bit of a shake.
- Remove your pie from the oven and cool for about an hour, then place it in the fridge to cool for a few more hours, up to over night (I always think pumpkin pie tastes better the next day). Enjoy!
Notes
- Nutrition values are an estimate only and will vary depending the type of crust used.
- The pumpkin pie pictured in the photos is a deep dish pie and used 1.5x the recipe.
- Please see the post for crust options.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published November 20, 2012. It was retested, rephotographed, and republished on October 8, 2019.
Marguerite
I love this recipe! For once, I didn't have to tweak a recipe because it's too sweet, or there's regular sugar or whatever!
I made 2 deep dish pies for a friend's birthday (we kept one at home). That means I used NINE eggs! (And 1 ½ cups packed medjools, 4 ½ cups pumpkin, etc. . .) I can't remember the last time I used 9 eggs in a recipe! LOL!
Today I have a hankering for 'something' and decided to do it again (only one, without a crust) just for me. It's in the oven now. Thanks for a great pie!
Tammy
I made this pumpkin pie in advance and froze it. We defrosted it in the refrigerator and it was perfect. We opted for no crust, so it was more like a custard kind of a thing. It was very good I think I would put some pumpkin pie spice next year because I like a heavier pumpkin spice flavor! I recommend it and we used coconut whip to go with it!
Katie Trant
Yay! So glad you enjoyed this recipe as much as we do.
Brandi
This recipe is perfection! The flavor is perfect! The texture is spot on! I've tried other alternatively sweetened pumpkin pies, but nothing comes close to this! I made mine with homemade puree from a sugar pumpkin and wow! This was our Christmas dinner highlight.
Heather Morrison
I made this pie yesterday. It is even more delicious than the usual pumpkin pie recipe I've made in the past and not at all difficult. The texture is smooth and creamy. Not a hint of date bits. I used a half spelt flour crust which has a bit of a nutty flavour. I did blind bake it for a tiny bit too long so the edges were a bit overbrowned, but not burnt. Pumpkin pie makes a perfect pre swim brunch, right! I expect to be super energetic in the pool.
CIndy
Very good. My entire family loved it. I think it could be put in custard dishes with no crust and be quite tasty.
Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Katie Trant
Yes! I often do that with the any extra pie filling that doesn't fit into the big pie crust. Glad you enjoyed this recipe as much as I do!
Mary Aronson
Made this pie yesterday. It is delicious. I had trouble getting any crust on the sides - I tried to melt some butter so the cookie crumbs would stick but just ended up with a crust on the bottom which actually was fine. I only used 1/2 of the cookie crumbs. Yikes - I just re-read the recipe - forgot to bake the crust for 10 minutes - still came out yummy. I must have run the food processor long enough as I had no chunks at all - very smooth - and my dates were not-so-soft to start. Thank you for the recipe.
themuffinmyth
So glad you made it! It can be tough to get cookie crumbs up the side of a pie plate or springform pan. I think crumbs on just the bottom is enough, and like I said, I really enjoyed the crustless mini pies I baked in ramekins.
Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen
Fantastic looking pie, I always like when I see favorites redone with more natural sweetners like dates and maple syrup.
Heidi @ Food Doodles
Oh my, this looks amazing! The ingredients look awesome, and I'm so impressed with the pie(I don't like a shallow pumpkin pie!) I need to try this 🙂
themuffinmyth
I know, deep dish pumpkin pie is the best! I find that I always need to at least multiply the recipe by 1.5 to get the depth I'm after. I hope you try this version out and let me know what you think!
Lauren
This looks delicious!...and so healthy! I really like how you sweetened it with the dates. I find that my dates don't always blend the best (there are little bits left in what I put them in) unless I soak them. Do you soak yours or what type do you use?
themuffinmyth
Hi Lauren! I know what you mean about dates leaving bits behind - I often find that's the case when I blend them into my smoothies. I think because I started with really soft dates (if they weren't so soft I would have soaked them in hot water first) and blended them first with maple syrup and then with the pumpkin, they came out quite smooth. I was planning to pour the pie filling through a mesh strainer before I baked it in case of date bits, but in the end it was smooth enough I decided it wasn't necessary. If you're worried about the pie not being smooth I would go for it, though.
Sydney Kramer (@CrepesofWrath)
I love that you used dates in this to sweeten it up! I love dates all on their own and I bet that they add a rich, full flavor element to the pumpkin. I'm going to have to make this one next year! Happy Thanksgiving!
themuffinmyth
Hi Sydney! Between the dates and the maple syrup there are definitely caramelly undertones, but it suits the pumpkin pie spices well. I hope you give this a try!
heather
Yummy. If baking it without the crust would it need to be in a water bath like custard?
themuffinmyth
I didn't use one with the ramekins and they turned out just fine. Haven't tried it with a whole pie, though.
frugalfeeding
That looks really and truly utterly delicious! Gimme a slice 😀
Jess
My mother-in-law just sent canned pumpkin, so I've been contemplating how to use it - it's got to be for something good. We're not hosting Thanksgiving, but this is something I could make after the holiday and feel pretty good about eating it next week. Dates are sort of a wonder for baking, aren't they? So excited to try this!
themuffinmyth
Wow, that's some precious cargo! If you give it a go definitely let me know how it turns out. And yes, you could feel good about eating this next week, the week after, whenever. It'll definitely become a repeat item in my kitchen.
Kathryn
I'm not sure I've ever actually tried pumpkin pie but this version looks so much more appealing than most of the versions I've seen.
themuffinmyth
It's definitely a North American thing. And even then people either love or hate the stuff. I love love love it!