Don’t stress about the desserts on your Thanksgiving table. We dug through our archives to amass dozens of our favorite pie recipes to sweeten your day. Many are, well, as easy as pie. You’ll also find a few vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free options on this list.
For many people, a pumpkin pie is a must-have Thanksgiving dessert. Photo by Timothy Wolff/Unsplash
PUMPKIN PIES
Evan Kleiman’s Pumpkin Pie
“I love The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book but I’m an inveterate recipe tinkerer,” Evan explains. “I kept the idea of making a butterscotch mixture with the butter and sugar but simplified the way the pie is put together. I am one of those folks who doesn’t love pumpkin pie spice so I always use chai spice in my pumpkin pies. I don’t mean a strange mixture of ground tea and sugar. Chai masala is a simple mixture of ground spices that you can find in any Indian food shop. You can also make your own. Here’s one version.” Get the recipe
Akasha Richmond’s Vegan Pumpkin Pie
For those of you looking for a vegan dessert that embodies the holiday spirit, try this vegan pumpkin pie recipe from Akasha Richmond, chef and owner of Akasha in Culver City. She adapted it from a Whole Foods recipe. Get the recipe
Hugo’s Vegan, Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie
This recipe comes to us from Tom Kaplan, the owner of Hugo’s Restaurant in West Hollywood. He worked with chef Nabor Diaz to create this vegan, gluten-free dessert that’s a cross between a pie and a cheesecake. It was a hit. Those who aren’t vegan and don’t have dairy allergies can mound whipped cream on top but it’s just as tasty without. People who love a traditional cheesecake texture and flavor will find it comparable in taste. Get the recipe
Dorie Greenspan’s Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours, Dorie’s take on pumpkin pie is rich and creamy without being too heavy. Get the recipe
This sweet potato pie features a toasted marshmallow topping. Photo by Shutterstock
SWEET POTATO PIES
Evan Kleiman’s Gingersnap Maple Brown Butter Sweet Potato Pie Recipe
Sweet potato rather than pumpkin is often the pie of choice in African American homes. The reasons are historical, geographic and surprising. Adrian Miller wrote a great story in the Washington Post, “How Sweet Potato Pie Became African Americans’ Thanksgiving Dessert,” explaining why. In this recipe, the sweet potato pie gets bite from the gingersnap crust. Take note: What we call a sweet potato is often labeled a yam in super markets, a tuber that’s orange inside and purple-brown outside. Get the recipe
Jeff Henderson’s Sweet Potato Pie with a Walnut Graham Cracker Crust
Chef Jeff Henderson says his stint in a prison kitchen transformed his life. He shared his journey in his 2007 memoir, Cooked: My Journey from the Streets to the Stove. Henderson is also the author of Chef Jeff Cooks: In the Kitchen with America’s Inspirational New Culinary Star. He was kind enough to share his recipe for Marbled Sweet Potato Cheesecake. It’s not a pie but it feels too Thanksgiving-y to not share. Get the recipe
Lannie’s Lord Have Mercy Sweet Potato Pie
The recipe for this outstanding sweet potato pie dates back to the 1920s and comes from Yvette Gooding. It is the pie her maternal grandmother, Lannie Waters Edmondson, made for family gatherings. Mrs. Edmondson, a native of Kinston, North Carolina, taught Yvette how to bake when she was seven years old. The late Mrs. Edmondson is remembered for having a saying for every occasion and a wonderful sense of humor. We learned of the recipe from food historians Marilynn and Sheila Brass, who cook up the past by using recipes from long ago in their book Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters. Get the recipe
Nicole Rucker’s Rustic Sweet Potato Pie
Several years ago, during a trip to Charleston, South Carolina, Good Food PieFest champion and Fat & Flour owner Nicole Rucker fell in love with the sweet potato pies baked by 85-year-old Martha Lou Gadsden of Martha Lou’s Kitchen. Inspired to create her own version, Nicole began experimenting as soon as garnet yams came into season. She prefers to use Rocky Canyon Farms’ smaller, baby garnet yams, which she says are less fibrous and have a luscious, creamy texture. Sweet potato pie filling typically takes the form of a smooth purée but Nicole fork-mashes only one cup’s portion of her yams, leaving the rest as chunks for a rustic effect. Get the recipe
Savory Sweet Potato Pie with Bacon & Candied Pecans
Jen Wang and Jake Mumm’s Savory Sweet Potato Pie won second place in our PieFest several years ago. If you prefer your sweet potato pie on the savory side, this recipe is for you. Get the recipe
A baker rolls out pie crust, the most important step in the pie-making process. Photo by Nathan Dumlao/Unsplash
JUST CRUST
All Butter Crust
Stacey Mei Yan Fong shares her journey across America in 50 Pies, 50 States: An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the United States Through Pie. Crust is the foundation of a great pie. While some bakers prefer lard and others prefer vegetable shortening, Stacey is all about the butter. Get the recipe
Hold the Fruit Pie Crust Recipe
This pie crust from Alina Bezdikian, JP Bolles and Patrick O’Brien won Best Crust at the 2014 Good Food Pie contest. Try it and you’ll see why. Get the recipe
Flaky Pie Crust
Former Los Angeles Times Food Editor Russ Parsons shares his crust recipe, which involves both shortening and butter. According to Russ, pie-making is a craft that needs to be practiced over and over. Once you master the crust, the rest is personal preference. Get the recipe
An apple pie is another classic autumnal dessert. Photo by Deborah Rainford/Unsplash
FRUIT PIES
Evan Kleiman’s Classic Apple Pie
This is the pie that Good Food host Evan Kleiman wants every year on her birthday, despite the fact that her birthday is in July, a month when stone fruits and berries abound. She recommends using a mix of tart, firm, sweet and yielding apples like Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Pink Lady and Fuji. Get the recipe
Jessica Kubel’s Apple Cranberry Pie
This pie earned Jessica Kubel a third place ribbon in the fruit category at the Third Annual Good Food Pie Contest. Jessica loves anything with cranberries and started by making an apple-cranberry crisp. She decided to try it as a double-crust pie and fell in love. The key is to balance the apples with the cranberries, otherwise it becomes too tart. For the crust, she uses a mix of vodka and water, which keeps the dough from forming too much gluten and creates a delicious, flaky crust. “The aroma of this pie baking is the essence of autumn,” she says. Get the recipe
Cube Café’s Grape Pie
Never heard of grape pie? Skeptical of the concept? You’re about to be convinced. Rachael Sheridan brings us a recipe that relies on champagne or concord grapes and a squeeze of lemon juice. Get the recipe
Ivana Prince’s Avocado Pie
This pie first appeared on the Good Food Blog in 2009. It was shared with Evan Kleiman by one of her Angeli sisters in crime, Ivana Prince. It’s a family recipe for a traditional icebox pie, which means no baking except for the crust. It’s a take on key lime pie but the avocado makes it smooth as silk and so much greener. Get the recipe
Evan Kleiman’s Rhubarb Raspberry Pie
Evan Kleiman shares her recipe for this all-American pie. Yes, it’s a summer pie but if you can get a hold of the two crucial ingredients — rhubarb and raspberries — this is a great Thanksgiving option. Get the recipe
Dorothy Reinhold’s Fresh Blueberry Pie
This recipe comes from Dorothy Reinhold of Shockingly Delicious. Again, it’s ideal for summer but if you can somehow find fresh blueberries in November, this is a fantastic recipe. Cook a few berries with sugar and flavoring to make a sort of delicious glue that binds the rest of the berries, which are left fresh and uncooked. It all goes into a blind-baked crust. Get the recipe
This peanut and cola pie served at chef Vishwest Bhatt’s Mississippi restaurant, Snackbar, is reminiscent of Famers’ Coke, in which a farmer would add a snack to his beverage to free up a hand to steer the tractor. Photo by Angie Mosier
NUT PIES
Austin’s Neshoba County Fair Peanut Pie
Vishwesh Bhatt was born in Gujarat, India but has lived and cooked for a long time in Mississippi. He points to the overlaps between Indian and Southern fare, like peanuts. “When we went to the movies in India, here you would buy popcorn, there you would buy roasted peanuts,” Vishwesh says. “I have a deep, almost dangerous love of peanuts.” This recipe was developed by Austin Agent, the former pastry chef at Snackbar, Bhatt’s Oxford, Mississippi restaurant. Get the recipe
Pecan Pie Without Corn Syrup
Heavier on nuts, lighter on filling and less sweet than most pecan pies, this recipe from Delightful Repast avoids shortening, lard and corn syrup. Get the recipe
Claudia Guevera’s Pecan Pie
Claudia Guevera’s Pecan Pie earned her a third place ribbon in the Nut category at the Third Annual Good Food Pie Contest. The crust is the Cook’s Illustrated Foolproof Pie Dough recipe. Get the recipe
Wild Honey Pie with Pine Nuts and Sage
Courtney Dudman Donley was inspired by the Beatles’ White Album to concoct this pie. It also relies on the Cook’s Illustrated Foolproof Pie Dough recipe. Get the recipe
Chocolate Pecan Slab Pie
This recipe comes to us via Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen. She loves pecan pies but says that they often turn out bland. How do you prevent that? Toast your nuts, use dark brown rather than light brown sugar and add a dash of cider vinegar to balance out the sweetness of the gooey caramel. One more tip: Make a lot! Get the recipe
Sirinda Sincharoen’s Mississippi Mud Pie won the Cream category at the 2023 KCRW & Good Food PieFest. Photo by Ian Kose
CHOCOLATE PIES
Mississippi Mud Pie
Sirinda Sincharoen’s Mississippi Mud Pie, which comes from Cook’s Illustrated All-Time Best Chocolate Desserts, won the Cream category at KCRW and Good Food’s 2023 PieFest. It’s not an easy pie to make. As Sirinda explains, “This pie has several steps and requires a bit of cooling time, so make sure to set aside at least 5 hours from start to completion. You’ll also need to use a food processor and a stand mixer. But the pie is so delicious, it’s worth the work and the wait!” Get the recipe
Chef Chloe’s Vegan Mahalo Mud Pie
This recipe comes to us from award-winning vegan chef Chloe Coscarelli. “The only thing better than pie and ice cream is pie with ice cream in it,” she says. “I’ve had an affinity for coffee ice cream since before I was even old enough to drink coffee. Hence, mud pie is my all-time favorite pie. When I went vegan and cut out all dairy from my diet, I knew I had to make a vegan version of this classic frozen dessert.” The recipe uses almond and coconut milks to give the coffee ice cream a creamy texture and delicious flavor. Get the recipe
Gluten-Free Chocolate Coconut Pie with Almond Crust
Rose LeBoeuf runs LA Food Works, which holds culinary team-building and private cooking events. When it comes to dessert, she’s the “go big or go home” type. One of her favorite sweets is an Almond Joy candy bar, in part because of how the coconut contrasts with the dark chocolate. In pie form, the trick is including enough chocolate ganache filling without overpowering the coconut cream topping. The pie also needs a crunchy, salty, roasted almond crust. After many trials, she came up with this recipe. As a bonus, this dessert is gluten free! Get the recipe
Banana cream pies are delicious and popular. Photo by Shutterstock
CREAM & CUSTARD PIES
Jar’s Banana Cream Pie by Sandra Bustamante
Sandra Bustamante’s secret to making the best banana cream pie is to make it at the moment someone orders it. Her other secret is the combo of a pâte sucré tart, vanilla bean pastry cream and salted caramel. Get the recipe
Bertha’s Sour Cream and Raisin Pie Recipe
“Raisins get a bad rap,” says our favorite baking drag queen, Bertha Mason, “but I think everyone should engage in a sour cream and raisin pie. It’s such an old timey recipe. It’s so Midwestern. I want to create that feeling of nostalgia in a recipe, that taste of home, because nothing tastes as good as memory.” Get the recipe
Michele Stuart’s Tiramisù Pie
Michele Stuart, the owner of Michele’s Pies in Connecticut, has won a whopping 26 National Pie Championship Awards, mostly first place ribbons. She is also the author of Perfect Pies: The Best Sweet and Savory Recipes from America’s Pie-Baking Champion. This recipe, she explains, has all the elegance and sophistication of the beloved Italian treat, plus a flaky pastry pie crust. Get the recipe
Marlborough Pie
Want to put a spin on the traditional apple pie? This might just be the ticket. This custard pie filled with shredded apples and flavored with lemon and sherry dates back centuries. It first appeared in a 1660 British book, The Accomplisht Cook, written by a Paris-trained chef named Robert May. It traveled to the New World with the colonists and became hugely popular in Massachusetts, where it was also called Deerfield Pie. This version comes from The Apple Lover’s Cookbook by Amy Traverso. Get the recipe
Coconut Cream Pie
Mrs. Rowe is known as the Pie Lady in Virginia. Mollie Cox Bryan is the author of Mrs. Rowe’s Little Book of Southern Pies. The most popular pie served at Mrs. Rowe’s Restaurant in Staunton, Virginia is this Coconut Cream Pie. Get the recipe
Sauce LA’s Banoffee Pie
The first Banoffee Pie was whipped up at Hungry Monk Café in East Sussex, England in 1972. Shortcrust and coffee cut the sweetness of the thick, chewy toffee filling. The beauty of this no-bake pie is the liberty you can take with it. This version from Shawna Dawson, co-founder of the LA Street Food Fest and creator of Artisanal LA, keeps the coffee and includes a biscuit crust as well as some of that coveted chokkie. Once you get the toffee-making down, the variations are endless and it’s a cinch to throw them together. If you’re a banana pudding fan, this may be a new fave. Get the recipe
Candied Cardamom Coconut Cream Pie
Ann Kirk used to serve a deep-dish version of this pie at Tom Bergin’s. To save time at Thanksgiving, you can make most of the pie’s components ahead of time. Get the recipe
Cafe Gratitude’s Vegan, Gluten-Free Coconut Cream Pie
This pie comes to us from vegan restaurant chain Cafe Gratitude. Their desserts are dairy-free, gluten-free and refined sugar-free. Raw dessert renegades Matthew Rogers and Tiziana Alipo Tamborra developed this recipe, and it has been a best-seller. Get the recipe
Coconut Cream Pie with Peanut Butter Cookie Crumb Crust.
You can thank Roxana Jullapat of Friends & Family for this recipe, which relies on dehydrated coconut powder, which you can find in Thai markets. (Read the labels to find one without too many additives.) The filling is a basic pastry cream flavored with coconut. You can turn this into a banana cream pie by adding a layer of thinly sliced bananas at the bottom. Get the recipe
A classic chess pie pairs a traditional butter pie crust with a sweet, custardy filling. Photo by Shutterstock
CHESS PIES
Lisa Donovan’s Buttermilk Chess Pie
Lisa Donovan is the pastry chef at Husk in Nashville. We spotted her Buttermilk Chess Pie while watching the second season of The Mind of a Chef on PBS. “The really great thing about chess pie,” she says, “is that it speaks to what a Southern baker is at heart — someone who uses what they have on hand… In my opinion, that’s why Southern bakers make some of the best baked goods.” Get the recipe
Kosher Dairy-Free Chocolate Chess Pie
Kosher dietary laws say that observant Jews can’t consume meat and milk in the same meal. This recipe for Chocolate Chess Pie, which comes from Dena Wruble and Tracy Rapp, authors of Simply Southern: With a Dash of Kosher Soul, includes non-dairy substitutes for butter, milk, and whipped cream so anyone who keeps kosher can enjoy this delectable dessert after eating turkey. Get the recipe
Edward Lee’s Chess Pie with Blackened Pineapple Salsa
Edward Lee, chef at 610 Magnolia and (now closed) Milkwood in Louisville, Kentucky, shared this chess pie recipe with us in 2013. You’ll also find it in his book Smoke & Pickles. Get the recipe
Tim Burton-Inspired Chocolate Chess Pie
This pie earned Gretchen Getz a third place ribbon at the Third Annual Good Food Pie Contest. Her baking started with 4-H projects for the county fair in Ohio, where she grew up. Eventually, she was inspired to enter KCRW’s Pie Contest. Get the recipe
Ann Kirk’s Citrus Chess Pie
Ann Kirk, the pastry chef at Little Dom’s, shared with us her inventive take on chess pie. The filling calls for lemons and oranges or tangerines, which can be substituted for any combination of citrus. It’s a lovely dessert that makes the most of Southern California’s citrus bounty. Get the recipe
Virginie Strub’s Lemon Cream Meringue pie was voted Prettiest Pie at the 2023 KCRW & Good Food PieFest. Photo by Ian Kose
MERINGUE PIES
Lemon Cream Meringue Pie
This Lemon Cream Pie by Virginie Strub won the Prettiest Pie Award at the 2023 PieFest. Thanksgiving is the perfect time of year to make this citrusy delight. Get the recipe
Christine Moore’s Lemon Meringue Pie
What does Christine Moore of Little Flower Candy Co. look for in a pie? She has just a few criteria, “a properly baked shell,” being the main one. When it comes to meringue, Moore says the trick is to dissolve the sugar in the oven for several minutes before mixing it into the egg whites. This will keep the meringue pie top fluffy with beautiful, glossy peaks. Get the recipe
Gluten-Free Lemon Meringue Pie with Almond Crust
Making lemon meringue pie isn’t hard. The trick is timing the filling and the meringue. The filling must be hot (or at least very warm) before you add the meringue. If you don’t, you risk the dreaded weeping of the egg whites. This recipe makes a tart, puckery lemon filling. If you prefer your pies on the sweeter side, add an additional 1/4 cup of sugar to the filling. Here’s another tip: Have eggs at room temperature before you separate the eggs from the whites. It will be easier and the whites will be at the proper temperature for making the meringue. Also, you must have cream of tartar. The act of whipping the egg whites denatures or unfolds the proteins in the eggs, allowing the billowy cloud like texture you want. The cream of tartar ensures denaturing. Get the recipe
Mom’s Coffee Mallow Meringue Pie
Kir Jensen, author of The Sugar Cube: 50 Deliciously Twisted Treats from the Sweetest Little Food Cart on the Planet, says this was her absolute favorite of her mom’s desserts. The crisp meringue shell melts in your mouth while toasted pecans and coffee cream balances the sweetness of the meringue. A drizzle of some salted caramel and a sprinkling of some grated milk chocolate deepen the flavors. Get the recipe
Vincent Price’s Pineapple Meringue Pie
“They say you’ve never really tasted pineapple until you’ve eaten it in Hawaii,” writes actor Vincent Price in A Treasury of Great Recipes, a cookbook he co-wrote with his wife, Mary. “It has a fragrance, a sweetness, and a juiciness that the fruit shipped abroad never quite attains. This beautiful pie which we had at the Hana-Maui was made, naturally, from fresh pineapple, but we find we get better results at home using the canned crushed pineapple.” Get the recipe
