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. You'll be certain to find a little something for everyone, and pick up some pie-baking tips to save your sanity on the big day.
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Before I started this website, I ran a small pie baking company. As I was delivering some Thanksgiving pies to one of my favorite and frequent buyers, she let me in on a family secret for a successful holiday: Her family would deem a Thanksgiving holiday successful if their "pie to people" ratio was close. She went on to explain, the closer they could get to an equal number of people to a pie, the better the holiday. The best holidays always seemed to have more pie than people, and I have to say, I couldn't agree more.
Thanksgiving is a time for many things, but on this website, it's all about the pie. Below is a list of over 45 Thanksgiving Pie Recipes with a little something for everybody, ranging from classic to more unique.
Hosting your first Thanksgiving? Keep scrolling past the list of recipes for some make-ahead tips to help ensure your pie baking is the easiest part of your to-do list.
New to pie in general? Start at the Beginner Pie Making Guide or check out 10 Tips for Perfect Pies.
Classic Thanksgiving Pie Recipes
Here are some mainstream Thanksgiving pie recipes that fall into the realm of traditional, including pumpkin pies, apple pies, and other fruit pies. There are also some spins on classic flavors, such as Pumpkin Pasties (or handheld pumpkin pies) or Brownie Pecan Pie.
Perfect Pumpkin Pie
With a cinnamon-laced buttery crust, and the richest, smoothest filling, this Perfect Pumpkin Pie is the one to make year after year.
The Apple Pie Recipe
This classic Apple Pie recipe features layers of juicy apples laced with spices baked inside of the flakiest pie crust. It is the ultimate apple pie thanks to a few extra special techniques and ingredients.
Lemon Meringue Pie
This Lemon Meringue Pie has a lemon-scented shortbread pastry, a balanced and bright lemon filling and the fluffiest swiss meringue top. Make this once, and you'll find your forever Lemon Meringue Pie recipe.
Maple Sweet Potato Pie
A creamy, decadent, maple sweet potato filling is baked in a gingersnap crumb crust to make for a twist on the classic Southern Pie. This Maple Sweet Potato Pie is perfect served at a holiday gathering. Look for standard sweet potatoes for this pie, either Garnet, Jewel, or Beauregard. They can be roasted up to 3 days ahead of time.
Honey Walnut Pie
This Honey Walnut Pie starts with perfectly toasted walnuts, combined with a creamed butter and honey mixture, then baked inside a buttery flaky crust. It's perfect served as is, or with a big pile of whipped cream.
Bourbon Pecan Pie
This Bourbon Pecan Pie starts with perfectly toasted pecans, combined with a creamed butter, maple syrup and bourbon filling, then baked inside a buttery flaky crust. This pecan pie made without corn syrup is a unique twist on the classic.
Sweet Cherry Pie
This Sweet Cherry Pie, made using frozen cherries, is the best dessert to make regardless of what season it is! Sweet cherries are paired with lemon and tart cherry juice to balance it out, accented with almond extract, and tucked inside a flaky lattice crust. The best type of thickener for this pie is quick-cooking tapioca. Quick-cooking tapioca is great because it works by absorbing the juicy cherries within the granules to create a thick filling. You could replace the tapioca with 3 tablespoons of cornstarch.
Cranberry and Blueberry Pie
This Cranberry Blueberry Pie brings a little summer into the chill of fall. Sweet wild blueberries are accented with tart cranberries in just the right proportion, accented with orange and cinnamon and tucked inside a flaky crust. This pie can be made with a lattice crust or just a double crust left plain or with decorative cut-outs. For a nice neat pie slice, use quick cooking tapioca for the thickener. For a more runny filling, use flour or cornstarch. See the body of the post for more details.
Key Lime Pie
This unique Key Lime Pie recipe has a bright and unencumbered flavor that is all about that floraly bright citrus juice. It’s a no-bake recipe that is perfectly balanced between sweet and sour with a thick graham cracker crumb crust.
Classic Fruit Tart
There is nothing more classic than a fresh Fruit Tart. While impressive looking, this tart is actually quite easy to put together.
Brownie Pecan Pie
When brownies meet pecan pie, this rich, dark chocolate pie is born. Eat it slightly warm and topped with vanilla ice cream for the ultimate comfort food.
Harry Potter Pumpkin Pasties
Inspired by the beloved Harry Potter book series, these Pumpkin Pasties are made with a buttery cinnamon pastry dough, lovingly stuffed with a sweet pumpkin filling, and then topped with the most perfect glaze.
French Silk Pie
Smooth, rich and elegant, this French Silk Pie is a must-make for any chocolate lover. This pie, made without raw eggs, features a homemade shortbread cookie crust with a mousse chocolate filling and an indulgent tangy whipped cream top.
Cranberry Pear Pie Minis
A tart and sweet cranberry pear filling is tucked inside of flaky pastry, topped with a lattice and baked in a muffin tin to create the cutest mini pies. These Cranberry Pear Pie Minis are both festive and functional to serve during the holiday season!
Spiced Blackberry Pie
This warmly Spiced Blackberry Pie is simple yet so flavorful. Delicious blackberries are tucked inside a flaky crust and spiced just right with cinnamon, allspice, ginger and a touch of cloves. You can use frozen or fresh blackberries. And like all fruit pie, if you wanted you could assemble this pie completely and store in the freezer before baking it off. Check out the directions on how to do this: How to Bake a Frozen Pie.
Cinnamon Roll Apple Pie
Step aside plain old apple pie, this Cinnamon Roll Apple Pie will win out every time. A flaky crust is filled with the best apple pie filling and then topped with mini cinnamon rolls made from pie crust and baked up. Drizzle it with a cream cheese glaze and prepare to be blown away by how amazing this pie is. It tastes as good as it looks!
Maple Buttermilk Pie
This Maple Buttermilk Pie has a creamy, smooth filling that is the perfect combination of tangy and sweet. Bake it up in a hearty Spelt Pie Crust with decorative maple leaves for a festive look.
Mile-High Apple Pie
This Mile High Apple Pie is made with almost 5-½ pounds of apples, just the right amount of cinnamon and surrounded by the most perfect, buttery pie crust.
Classic Blueberry Pie
This one is for the blueberry lovers! This Classic Blueberry Pie features fresh or frozen berries, accented by orange and cinnamon and tucked inside a flaky buttery pie crust.
Gluten-Free Apple Pie
Filled to the brim with juicy apples laced with cinnamon and vanilla, this buttery and delicious Gluten-Free Apple Pie will be loved by everyone.
Classic Custard Pie
An absolute classic, this Custard Pie has a silky smooth egg custard filling made from eggs, milk, and cream that is baked up in a buttery sweet crumbly pie crust.
Apple Crumb Pie
This Apple Crumb Pie starts with a flaky pie crust that's filled with juicy, cinnamon-laced apples and topped with an oat crumble.
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!
No Bake Pumpkin Pie
This No Bake Pumpkin Pie comes together quick and is flavored with all the classic taste of pumpkin pie, without all of the work! It's made in a Pecan Gingersnap Crust and topped with a cinnamon whipped cream for pumpkin pie perfection.
Caramel Macchiato Pie
Love your morning coffee fix? This No-Bake Caramel Macchiato Pie has all the sweet taste of that iconic espresso drink with a creamy coffee no-bake cheesecake filling and tons of homemade caramel swirled throughout.
Creamy No-Bake Lemon Pie
When those hot and humid days of summer make it impossible to turn on the oven, this no-bake Lemon Icebox Pie is what you need to make. It is packed with a bright creamy lemon flavor and comes together quickly to satisfy that need for a sweet, cool treat without heating up the kitchen.
Orange Creamsicle Pie
This Orange Creamsicle Pie features a creamy, vibrant vanilla orange filling with a sweet, crunchy shortbread crust. It's a no-bake cheesecake-style pie that captures the essence of the classic Creamsicle. This recipe instructs to make a shortbread cookie crust but also works in a graham crack crust.
No-Bake Cannoli Pie
This No-Bake Cannoli Pie comes together super quick and is flavored with all the notes of the classic Italian dessert, minus all of the hard work of actually making it! The filling has mascarpone and ricotta and it is made in a simple vanilla cookie and pistachio crust. Top it with a few mini chocolate chips for cannoli pie perfection!
Triple Coconut Cream Pie
This no bake Triple Coconut Cream Pie recipe has elements of coconut in every piece of the pie from the crust, to the coconut pudding and ending with the cream! This pie is for coconut lovers!
Chocolate Cream Pie
Rich and decadent, a Classic Chocolate Cream Pie is what dreams are made of. Homemade dark chocolate pudding is topped with silky whipped cream and chocolate shavings and tucked inside of a sweet pie pastry. See the body of the post for more details about making this pie and the different pie crust options, as well as tips and tricks.
Butterscotch Cream Pie
This Butterscotch Cream Pie is over-the-top but in all the best ways. Homemade butterscotch pudding is topped with silky whipped cream, drizzled with more butterscotch and tucked inside of saltine chocolate toffee crumb crust.
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.
No-Bake Peanut Butter Pie
When you put together chocolate and peanut butter, you know only good things can come of it! This No-Bake Peanut Butter has a creamy peanut butter filling and an oreo cookie crumb crust all topped with chopped peanut butter cups and drizzled with peanut butter and chocolate sauce.
Banana Cream Pie
A perfect Banana Cream Pie has homemade vanilla pudding studded with fresh bananas, topped with silky whipped cream and tucked inside a crunchy and sweet graham cracker crust. This classic pie is a must-make.
Nutella Pie with Potato Chip Crust
With a creamy chocolate base and a rich ganache topping, poured inside a salty potato chip crust, this Nutella Pie is the ultimate clash of savory and sweet. If you're stuck at home, with a hankering for pie and without many fresh ingredients, baking a Quarantine Pie is exactly what you should be doing right now!
No Bake Oreo Pie
If an Oreo wasn't already good enough--this No Bake Oreo Pie takes it to the next next level. With an easy Oreo crust, a no bake cheesecake filling stuffed with more Oreos, a garnished with whipped cream, this pie is almost sinful. This pie can be made entirely up until the point of garnishing with whipped cream and frozen about 2 weeks ahead of time.
Mint Chocolate Chip Pie
This Mint Chocolate Chip Pie is a refreshing no-bake dessert that uses real mint to flavor it! To make this pie using fresh mint you'll infuse heavy cream with fresh mint. This step needs to be done at least 8 hours before you make the pie, so make sure to plan ahead. If you wish to skip this step and just use peppermint extract, that is an option too. The pie takes on a natural light green hue if you infuse the cream with mint, but it is very subtle.
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.
Hot Cocoa Pie
Hot Cocoa Pie is exactly what it sounds like: a warm pie that tastes remarkably like the iconic winter drink. This pie features a chocolate shortbread crust with a silk smooth milk chocolate filling and a melty marshmallow topping.
Almond Apple Rose Pie
As pretty as it is delicious, this Almond Apple Rose Pie features thinly sliced apples arranged to look like a rose, on top of a layer of almond frangipane, which bakes beautifully in a flaky buttery crust. This post is made in partnership with RubyFrost Apples. Rose Apple Pie It's hard to decide what to
Honey Carrot Pie
This Honey Carrot Pie is a unique dessert with a nuanced special flavor. The carrot filling is like a thick custard that pairs perfectly with the crunchy biscoff cookie crust.
Eggnog Pie (with Gingerbread Crust)
A must-make holiday dessert, this Eggnog Pie has a creamy, smooth festive filling, baked in a sweet gingerbread crust and garnished with the cutest gingerbread cookies. 'Tis the season!
Pistachio Cream Pie
Made without any packaged mix, this from-scratch Pistachio Cream Pie starts with a smooth nutty pudding, topped with silky whipped cream and chopped pistachios tucked inside of a sweet pie pastry.
Apple Butter Pie
This Apple Butter Pie is a unique twist on a classic flavor for fall pies. It's simple to make, thanks to the use of store-bought apple butter and has a silky smooth filling. Bake it up in a whole-grain Spelt Pie Crust and serve it with Maple Whipped Cream for a fun, apple-flavored pie.
Raspberry Coconut Macaroon Pie
A pie that combines the magic of raspberry and coconut together! This Raspberry Coconut Macaroon Pie starts with a flaky pie crust that encases fresh or frozen raspberries with coconut and then baked off with a streusel that is reminiscent of a coconut macaroon. You can use frozen or fresh raspberries here! Don't skip the almond extract though, it's essential for the flavor!
Lemon Custard Pie
Decadent and bright, this Lemon Custard Pie has a creamy, smooth lemon filling, encased within a sweet pastry crust and garnished with a simple but delightful citrus whipped cream.
Mississippi Mud Pie
With five different layers of chocolate, this towering pie is sure to impress. Featuring a chocolate cookie crust, then a pecan flourless chocolate cake, salted mocha ganache, milk chocolate pudding and finally finishing off with chocolate whipped cream, this pie is a masterpiece.
Malted Milk Chocolate Pie
This Malted Milk Chocolate pie is for all the chocolate lovers out there. A soft and rich malted chocolate filling is topped with a dark chocolate ganache and surrounded by a decadent chocolate pastry crust.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie
Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie is the pie you never knew you needed to make! A classic chocolate chip cookie batter is baked right in a pie crust. Eat it warm, topped with vanilla ice cream for the ultimate comfort food.
Pistachio and Mascarpone Pie
This Pistachio Pie with Mascarpone features a tangy baked custard with pistachio crumbs inside of a crunch salty pretzel crumb crust. It's a wonderful blend of flavors and textures and is a show-stopping pie to serve for dessert.
Eclair Pie
Reminiscent of the classic French pastry, this Eclair Pie is a beautiful yet deliciously uncomplicated dessert. It starts off with a crisp pâte sablée pastry shell, filled with a stunning vanilla pastry cream, and it's finished off with a dark chocolate ganache top. The decorative design is totally optional but pretty simple to achieve.
Butterscotch Pear Pie
A flaky double-crust pie filled with vanilla pears and silky homemade butterscotch sauce.
Cranberry Custard Pie
As beautiful as it is delicious, this Cranberry Custard Pie has a creamy, smooth filling tucked in a delicate, ginger-laced pastry crust. Each bite is the perfect combination of both sweet and tart.
Candy Cane Pie
Certainly one of the most festive holiday desserts, this Candy Cane Pie starts with a crunchy chocolate cookie crust, filled with a creamy no-bake peppermint filling and finished with a salted white chocolate ganache. It's easy to make and a refreshing, sweet finish to any holiday feast.
How Many Pies Do You Need for Thanksgiving?
Well now here is a controversial question: what will the pie to people ratio be at Thanksgiving?
One 9" pie typically serves about 8-10 slices. So, if you are serving other desserts and you are planning on people having only 1 slice without leftovers, then you'd need 1 pie for every 8 people you have.
If planning 1 slice per person (and you are serving other dessert options):
- 8 people or less = 1 pie
- 9-16 people = 2 pies
- 17-24 people = 3 pies
But really, who wants to have only one slice? In my home, we always make way more pie than we actually need, because everybody has their favorite and we all love variety. We have a high pie-to-people ratio, usually about 1 pie for every 4 people. This also will ensure leftovers, which means pie for days!
If planning for multiple slices per person (and you are not serving other desserts):
- 8 people or less = 2 pies
- 9-12 people = 3 pies
- 13-16 people = 4 pies
- 17-20 people = 5 pies
- 21-24 people = 6 pies
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.
Utilizing Your Freezer
Pies are one the easiest desserts to prepare ahead of time! And, you should definitely utilize your freezer for this task.
As with most pies, there are a few steps you need to complete to get to the finished product. A lot of these components can be broken down into steps and done days (or weeks) in advance.
You can and should make the pie dough ahead of time. You can prepare the dough up to 2 days ahead in the refrigerator, or up to 3 months in the freezer. Also, making a big batch (or two) at one time is a good habit to get into.
Many fruit pies (such as apple or blueberry) are great to prepare ahead of time in totality, up until the point of baking.
To freeze a fruit pie: place the whole pie on a sheet pan first, and place it in a freezer on a flat surface. Once frozen (at least 12 hours), wrap the whole pie in plastic wrap very tightly twice, and then cover with aluminum foil. Don’t forget to label it!
It is best to cook any frozen pie within 3 months, because the longer it is stored in the freezer, the less pronounced the flavor is. However, you can wait as long as about 1 year if frozen properly.
Many of the no-bake pies on this site can be made entirely ahead of time, and simply placed at room temperature about an hour or less before serving and they'll be good to go.
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:
- Unwrap the frozen pie and let sit at room temperature until the oven is preheated. Pre-heat the oven to 425ºF.
- When the oven has reached 425º put an egg-wash on the crust and sprinkle with sugar, if desired.
- Bake on the middle lower rack for 20 minutes.
- 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.
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