The Best Thanksgiving Pies

Looking for some seasonal inspiration to highlight your dessert table at Thanksgiving? This list has over 45 Thanksgiving Pie Recipes ranging from classics to recipes that are a bit more unique.

Before I started this website, I ran a micro pie business. One Thanksgiving, while delivering pies to one of my favorite regulars, she shared a family tradition with me: they judged the success of Thanksgiving by their “pie-to-people” ratio. The closer they got to having one pie per person, the better the holiday. And, of course, the best Thanksgivings always seemed to have more pies than people—a philosophy I completely agree with!

Thanksgiving is about many things, but here, it’s all about the pie. Below, you’ll find over 45 Thanksgiving pie recipes, with options for everyone—from timeless classics to more adventurous choices.

Hosting your first Thanksgiving? Scroll down past the recipes for make-ahead tips to make your pie-baking the easiest part of your holiday prep.

New to pie-making altogether? Check out my Beginner Pie Crust Making Guide or read up on my 10 Tips for Perfect Pies.

Classic Thanksgiving Pie Recipes

Here are some classic Thanksgiving pie recipes, including traditional favorites like pumpkin and apple pies, along with some creative twists, like Pumpkin Pasties (handheld pumpkin pies) and Brownie Pecan Pie.

Make Ahead Thanksgiving Pies

Pies can and should be made ahead of time for Thanksgiving. While a lot of the recipes on the other lists can be made ahead of time too (such as Apple Pie), the recipes below are perfect to be made ahead. The no-bake pies are especially useful for serving at Thanksgiving because they can be made and frozen up to a month ahead of time. The less you have to do on the day of the actual feast, the better!

Thanksgiving Pies for Beginners

These pies are the real easy peasy pies to put together for your Thanksgiving if you are new to making pies in general. They all have an option for a crumb crust, and many don't even need to be baked, which makes them even easier! While I will say that many of the recipes on this site offer as much guidance as possible so that anybody can make any pie, this list here are the ones that anybody should be able to knock out of the park.

Unique Thanksgiving Pie Recipes

We all love the classic pies, but sometimes it's nice to have a few special options on the table. Any of these unique pie recipes would be big-time hits after all that Thanksgiving turkey has been eaten.

How Many Pies Do You Need for Thanksgiving?

Tips for Making Pies for Thanksgiving

There is so much to do when preparing for a Thanksgiving meal, between planning, shopping, executing the savory menu, setting the table, and all that comes in between. Making the pies can and should be a make-ahead part of the big day.

Baking a Pie From Frozen

You can actually bake a fruit pie directly from the freezer. In my opinion, doing this is even better than a fruit pie baked fresh. This is because the crust has a chance to cook first before the filling does, so you can ensure you have a beautifully crisp crust and perfectly cooked filling.

To bake a fruit pie from frozen:

1. Unwrap the frozen pie and let sit at room temperature until the oven is preheated. Pre-heat the oven to 425ºF.
2. When the oven has reached 425º put an egg-wash on the crust and sprinkle with sugar, if desired.
3. Bake on the middle lower rack for 20 minutes.
4. Lower the oven temperature to 400º and put a piece of aluminum foil around the outer edges of the pie to prevent it from burning. Cook for another 50-60 minutes, or until the middle of the pie is bubbling and the crust is golden brown. The fruit filling should reach a temperature in the middle of above 200ºF.

Bake Pies Ahead of Time, Always

Did you know that most pies actually do well when baked ahead of time, at least in some capacity? For instance, most fruit pies and most custard pies are best made at least 6 hours before consuming, or up to two days ahead of time in their entirety. This is because the hot fruit filling must cool to thicken up, and the warm custard must chill to fully set up.

That means you should never leave the task of baking pies for Thanksgiving for the day of. Plan to bake the pies one or two days before the holiday, unless the specific recipe you are planning to make instructs it to be the day ahead. With that said, this brings me to my next point below about pie choices!

Be Picky with Pie Choices

There is so much to prep, plan, and cook for Thanksgiving that you should strategically choose pies that can be made the day before at a minimum. Don't choose complicated pies that must be made the day of, because your oven will be all tied up.

Make Stabilized Whipped Cream

If you’ve been lucky enough to try homemade whipped cream, you’ll know its worlds away from anything that comes in a can. I absolutely recommend serving homemade whipped cream with your pies. But, instead of plain whipped cream, make a stabilized whipped cream so you can add this task to your "make ahead of time" list, which leaves you one less thing to do when preparing to serve dessert.

Whipped cream that is stabilized is simply whipped cream with an added ingredient to preserve it from deflating. Typically, if you make whipped cream it needs to be used within an hour or so, because after that it starts to "weep", which means that the air that was whipped into the cream has begun to deflate.

My favorite stabilizer to add to whipped cream is cream cheese. Cream cheese not only adds some soft structure to the whipped cream, but it also adds a layer of tang that works well when paired with many sweet dishes.

Skip the Decorative Crust

I love an Instagram-worthy unbaked pretty pie crust as much as the next person, but let's face it, only Instagram will enjoy it. They're not only time-consuming but also don't look nearly as pretty once they're baked. More likely than not, your guests won't even see the details of the crust, they'll just see the cut version of the pie.

At the end of the day, when it comes to most butter pie crusts, it's all about the flakiness! Sadly, decorative pie crusts do not produce flaky results, because you'll spend so much time working on the decoration as the butter melts, which makes it less flaky.

Skip the decorative crust and just do a plain double crust (or a lattice if you insist), or even a streusel.

Looking for some pie tips to get you started? Check out this Beginner Pie Making Guide or 10 Tips for Making Perfect Pies.

I am so honored when you make a recipe from my site! If you make any of my pie recipes for Thanksgiving, please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating with your experience! If you have any questions about this recipe, feel free to comment here, and tag me on instagram!