A decade ago, a reader named June emailed me asking for a good dairy-free soy-free pumpkin pie recipe. Unfortunately, all of the tried-and-true recipes she found were vegan versions made with tofu.
I had received this request so many times during the holidays that I knew I had to come up with a reliable milk-free and soy-free recipe before the next Thanksgiving. And after several rounds of pumpkin pie trials, I created a recipe that my family thinks is one of the most delicious pumpkin pies they have ever tasted, dairy-free or not. And many of you agree! Since I first posted the recipe, way back in 2009, this dairy-free soy-free pumpkin pie has become a beloved recipe in so many households.
Today I’m giving this post a big update with some new photos that I recently took and several reader tips. But the time-tested recipe remains untouched.
This is The Best Dairy-Free Soy-Free Pumpkin Pie
This delicious recipe for dairy-free soy-free pumpkin pie uses everyday ingredients and is a great make-ahead option. We now consider it a staple on our Classic Dairy-Free Thanksgiving Menu.
As a kid, I remember how the famous Libby’s Pumpkin Pie recipe would leave a soggy crust when stored overnight. But this recipe keeps a nice firm crust, allowing the filling to firm up and the flavor to develop as it chills in the refrigerator. In fact, Tony and I actually prefer this pie after a night of refrigeration.
For additional dairy-free holiday dessert options, you can enjoy more of my recipes in Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook. Need it now? Go Dairy Free is also available in all major eBook formats.
Reader Feedback: Dairy-Free Soy-Free Pumpkin Pie
You can read tons of comments on this post, but many of you left feedback on our social media or on my other blog (where I originally posted this recipe). Here are some of those comments, which include answers to many of your questions!
How Does It Taste?
I have been making this recipe since I went dairy free over 5 years ago. I have had people who don’t like pumpkin pie love this recipe. ~ Anna
This is by far my family’s favorite! been using thus recipe for several years now. its amazing! ~ Summer
My daughter is severely allergic. We have this every Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Everyone can’t believe it is not dairy. ~ Michael-ann
THANK YOU!! Made this last night and it turned out absolutely amazing, it was my practice run before thanksgiving which this year will be entirely dairy/soy free so i can eat everything!!! Thanks again .. I’m headed for another slice right now! ~ Trinidy
Finally, a dairy free pumpkin pie that tastes great!! I tried three different dairy free recipes last year and they were all disasters. I used coconut cream instead of milk and it was perfect. ~ Susan
This is the best pumpkin pie I have ever had! ~ Katy
I have made your pumpkin pie recipe for the last two years and it’s a big hit! In fact, we prefer it to the traditional recipe! ~ Becky
I wanted to make a pumpkin pie that would also satisfy my guests who are not dairy-free, and this recipe was absolutely PERFECT. I will make this time and time again! For gluten-free, I did use the pecan crust recipe from the Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook though, which I thought was a great compliment. ~ Sharon
We made this pie, two of them actually, for a group of people. We are gluten and dairy free, and one of our friends sons is soy free as well. Every single person said it was the best pumpkin pie they ever tasted! I am back to make it for Thanksgiving today! ~ Lisa
But Can You Taste the Coconut?
Didn’t taste like coconut – all pumpkin pie. Making another one tomorrow to use my 2nd “Wholly Wholesome” pie crust (from Whole Foods). Thanks again for the recipe! ~ Amy
Can I Make It Sugar-Free?
I just want to say, “Thank you” AGAIN! This recipe is just AMAZING!!! I have made it 5 times in the last year! It’s past New Year’s, but, I don’t care. This pie is SOOO good and soo guiltless (I use xylitol sweetener). I also tried stevia. The taste was great, but it did cause the pie to pull away from the crust. ~ Adelaide
Did You Try Any Other Modifications?
For the first time ever my dairy allergic daughter was able to eat pumpkin pie! And she loved it, as did everyone else who ate it. I tweaked it just a bit by adding an extra egg white and about a 1/2 TBS of cornstarch. The texture was absolutely identical to traditional pumpkin pie. Can not wait to make this again (and again, and again, and again…)!!! ~ Kim
I have made these twice and rave reviews. And shared it with Kim who commented above! I too tweaked it some and subbed 3/4 cup coconut crystals for the white and brown sugar. And I used 3 large eggs in mine. ~ Deb
I tried this recipe with EnerG egg replacer, and it worked fine. I also used soymilk instead of coconut milk, since I am allergic to dairy and eggs, but not soy. Usually my pumpkin pies are a little watery, so I used just a little less milk than it called for (between 3/4 and 1 cup). I thought it was very flavorful pie, and although it didn’t stand up quite the way a pie with eggs does, it was close enough that the filling didn’t leave the crust when I served it. THANK YOU for this lovely recipe, I’ll probably use it for years to come. ~ Victoria
My daughter is 21 and never been able to enjoy pumpkin pie and that was her wish this Thanksgiving. Thanks to your recipe it made 2 pies. I used 3 eggs and 1/2 tsp of cornstarch. My husband said it was even better than “regular” pumpkin pie. ~ Carol
Special Diet Notes: Dairy-Free, Soy-Free Pumpkin Pie
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, optionally gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, and vegetarian.
For an egg-free and vegan soy-free pumpkin pie, several readers have had good luck substituting a powdered egg replacer like Ener-G for the eggs. I also recommend aquafaba as a substitute. The egg-free version rises up a little less.
- 1½ cups all-purpose or whole wheat pastry flour
- 1½ teaspoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons oil (your baking oil of choice)
- 3 tablespoons cold water
- ½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg or allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs (see egg-free note above for vegan option)
- 1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup regular, full-fat, canned coconut milk (see Notes below)
- Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine. Make a well in the flour, add the oil and water, and stir until it forms dough.
- Press the dough into a 9-inch pie pan.
- Preheat your oven to 425ºF.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugars, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg or allspice, cloves and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Beat in the sugar mixture, pumpkin, and vanilla until smooth. Fold in the coconut milk.
- Pour the filling into your unbaked pie crust and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350ºF and continue to bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean. It may be a bit wobbly still, but it will firm-up as it cools.
- Allow the pie to cool on a wire rack for 2 hours (Be patient! This is important). For the firmest pie, refrigerate it for 4 hours or more before serving.
Spice Cheat: In a pinch, you can substitute the spices with 1½ to 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice.
For More of My Recipes, Get Go Dairy Free!
257 Comments
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Best pumpkin pie ever. Made for 2 years.. I have eaten 3 this year. I like your ez crust too! Thanks so much
Lovely! So glad it is one of your favorites too 🙂
I am confused as to why this is listed as nut free when it contains coconut milk??
Hi Laurie, a valid question considering the confusion of the FDA labeling law – this was actually a big topic of discussion at a recent food allergy conference in which all doctors who spoke still stood by the fact that coconut is not a tree nut and the studies haven’t shown any cross-reactivity issues with tree nut allergies. See this post for more details – http://www.godairyfree.org/ask-alisa/ask-alisa-can-the-nut-allergic-use-coconut-based-dairy-alternatives. That said, coconut allergy does exist on its own. Those with concern of food allergies should be tested for it specifically!
Hi Alisa! I’m really excited to try your recipe in a few days. I am wondering if I can use pumpkin pie spice in place of the spices listed and if so, how much do you think? I have it on hand already. Thank you!!
2 teaspoons, or to taste!
Thanks so much for your help and replying so quickly! Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi,
Do you have to bake the crust before hand if you make it from scratch? Or do I just put the filling in right after I press the dough into the pan…
Hi Trudy, it’s in the instructions: “pour into the unbaked pie crust”. Enjoy!
Now that we can do eggs, I tried this recipe and this house gave it rave reviews. Dianne, I used Silk almond milk (reduced to 2/3 from 1). Also used cane sugar and subbed coconut sugar for the brown sugar. Mmmmmm!!! Thanks Alisa!
Yay for adding a food back! Thanks for sharing your subs Lexie – great to know the coconut sugar worked well!
I just found pumpkin pie recipe and wonder if I can use almond milk instead . thank you
Hi Alisa,
I wanted to find a replacement “base” for my pecan pie, which had the traditional tons of brown sugar, white sugar, and corn syrup. My pecan pie had evolved into a pecan/cranberry pie and it was very well received, but I wondered if I could use pumpkin pie instead of the sugar and corn syrup base. The following dessert was the result. I thought you might be interested — people are raving about it.
I found your webpage called “Ask Alisa” that gave a recipe for a soy-free and dairy-free pumpkin pie. Then, with my wife’s counsel, I replaced the brown sugar with coconut sugar and the white sugar with organic evaporated cane juice sugar, and doubled the amounts of all the spices that she recommended. (My wife suggested 3 to 4 times the amounts of the spices plus molasses, but I ended up by splitting the difference between Alisa and my wife and left out the molasses. — it made for a black pie!) I would still like to experiment with finding a true alternative to the white sugar (maybe stevia?) but I haven’t done that experiment yet.
Here’s the recipe for Gene’s Pumpkin/Pecan/Cranberry Pie, based on your original recipe:
• 1/2 Cup Coconut Sugar, firmly packed
• 1/4 Cup Organic Evaporated Cane Juice Sugar
• 2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Allspice (or Nutmeg, but I didn’t use that)
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
• 3/4 Teaspoon Salt
• 2 Jumbo Eggs
• 1 15-ounce Can Pumpkin Puree
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 Cup Regular Canned Coconut Milk (I use the full-fat version)
• 1 Cup Dried Cranberries, packed
• 1 Cup or so of Toasted Pecan Halves (enough to cover the surface of the pie)
• 1 Unbaked Pie Shell (I tried both gluten-free shells and Trader Joe’s shells; I did not make my own crust — I am a neophyte at this cooking thing!)
Preheat the oven to 425° Use a pie pan which allows for a fairly deep pie. I used a 9-inch glazed ceramic pan which was deeper.
Combine the sugars, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg or allspice, cloves and salt in a small bowl. In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Beat in the sugar mixture, pumpkin, and vanilla until smooth. Fold in the coconut milk.
Spread the dried cranberries all over the bottom of the pie shell to make a bottom layer.
Pour the filling into the unbaked pie crust, and then place the pecans as close to each other as possible over the entire surface of the filling. Then bake for 15 minutes.
Reduce the temperature to 350ºF and continue to bake for 50 to 60 minutes ( I used 60 minutes because my pie was thicker), or until a knife inserted comes out clean. It may be a bit wobbly still, but it will firm-up as it cools.
Allow the pie to cool on a wire rack for 2 hours (Be patient! This is important). Serve or refrigerate until ready to serve.
I wanted to thank you for the recipe!!! I am the only lactose intolerant person in my family so my younger sisters always makes faces of the things I make to exclude dairy. This recipe has proved to my sisters who LOVE milk that these recipes can taste good. First time I made this pumpkin pie, it was gone within an hour. Now my sisters beg me to make it. Thank you!!! It is a very delicious and others cannot believe it doesn’t include milk products.
Yes, it has fooled many dairy lovers! Glad you all like it Kelly!
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Thank you for posting this tasty recipe. I was slightly afraid it would have a coconut flavor but you were right! It tasted like a traditional pumpkin pie with a lovely light and fluffy texture. I saved this one with my favorites.
So glad you liked it Fran!
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Does the recipe call for confectioners sugar or came sugar?
Just plain cane sugar! You can sub an alternate sweetener (evaporated cane juice or coconut sugar – finely ground) if desired for a different sweetness.
So excited to try this 🙂 do you know if I can use coconut creamer instead of a can of coconut milk? It is thicker than the cartons of milk and I already have it here at home which would be convenient 🙂
Hi Tonya, I think creamer will work fine, but I haven’t tested it. It isn’t as rich as canned coconut milk or cream, so it may not set up as well.
Can Ener-g (moistened) be used as a substitute for eggs for us vegans? Thanks!
See the comments Olga – I believe a few people have trialed it and reported back.
Have you ever used coconut oil in the pie crust instead of vegetable oil? Do you think it would be an acceptable substitute?
Yes, should work well.
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I made this using an egg replacement by Bob Mill’s and it turned out GREAT! I also used Soytoo whip from the box, not can (the can version is not very good at all) and it was delicious on this pie. This one is a keeper and so glad it’s vegan and has no tofu. Thank you for sharing.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing your adaption Paula!