I tried pumpkin-pie recipes from 3 celebrity chefs. The best was easy to make — and beat the one from a baking legend.

When it comes to autumn comfort foods, nothing takes the pie fairly akin a piece of homemade pumpkin pie.

Celebrity chefs certainly awareness the identical way, which is why so many have their own pumpkin-pie recipes.

To discover out which are value trying this fall, I tested pumpkin-pie recipes from culinary legends Bobby Flay, Dominique Ansel, and Alton Brown.

Here's how the pies turned out — and which formula I'll totally be coming rear to.

Flay's signature pumpkin-pie formula has many steps, but uncomplicated ingredients

Though he's known as a grill master, Flay can throw downward whenever it comes to pies.

His recipe on the Food Network website has multiple steps, but it seemed uncomplicated to arrange and measure all the ingredients in advance.

The crust and filling ingredients seemed beautiful standard: graham-cracker crumbs, butter, sugar, dirt cinnamon, eggs, dark-brown sugar, granulated sugar, pumpkin purée, dense cream, dirt nutmeg, dirt ginger, dirt cloves, vanilla bean, and salt

The formula additionally called for homemade bourbon-maple whipped cream, made alongside chilly dense cream, grade-B maple syrup, and bourbon.

It echoed tasty. To create it, I needed grade-B maple syrup — but I learned that tag no longer exists. So I stuck alongside class A.

The pie came together effortlessly and smelled delicious

Since I measured everything in advance, making the filling was as uncomplicated as flowing and whisking the ingredients together, afterward straining it for a super-smooth center.

The lone hiccup I had was that I don't own a food processor. I used a small blender/food-chopper that didn't fairly activity as well.

That made it tricky to merge the melted margarine alongside the shattered graham cracker.

Overall, the hands-on part was quick and easy. After 10 minutes of baking, my crust was set and prepared to be filled.

The formula produced far additional filling than I needed, so I froze the leftovers for a forthcoming pie.

I baked the pie for concerning 90 minutes. It came out golden, alongside a flawless top — no cracks here.

The whipped lotion and the pie went together perfectly

I was impressed alongside how fine the pie held its form as I cut into it. Though the crust alongside the base was likely thicker than it should've been, I was blessed it didn't crumble and autumn apart.

The whipped cream solitary was incredibly delicious. I could sensation all element: the cream, the vanilla, the bourbon, and the maple syrup.

As for the pie, the filling had a ray pumpkin sensation alongside a nice balance of sweetness and spice. With the whipped cream, the dessert had the ideal balance of vanilla, maple syrup, heated pumpkin, and spices.

The graham-cracker crust was fine, but I desired it were crunchier — I was disappointed by its slightly soggy bottom.

The edges were crisp, but they weren't as flavorful as I would've liked.

Ansel's pumpkin-pie formula is dense on the ginger and calls for a batter crust

I followed a recipe for silky pumpkin pie alongside gingerbread crust from the celebrated pie chef and inventor of the Cronut, as published on British Vogue.

For the pie and crust, I needed light-brown sugar, all-purpose flour, butter, cinnamon, baking soda, citrus juice, milk, ginger (fresh and ground), vanilla bean, nutmeg, cornstarch, pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, cream, egg yolks, and sea salt.

My archetypal involvement was how much ginger — caller and dirt — it called for. I akin ginger, but I don't affection it in ample quantities.

I was additionally expecting the pie to have a beautiful affluent center, since this formula calls for a lot of egg yolks — concerning six or seven — in the filling.

For the crust, I had to battle alongside the dough

Since it engaged making a dough-based crust, this formula required a lot of steps. I'd propose making this the day before if you need it for a certain occasion.

It took me a lengthy period to grate the caller ginger for the crust, so I ended up cutting the amount to concerning 1 ½ tablespoons from 2 tablespoons.

After I blended the crust ingredients and let it chill, it was period to roll. I cut the batter and put apart one half, which I initially planned to freeze for later.

Unfortunately, rolling the chilled dough was a disaster. My archetypal fractional kept sticking to the rolling pin and my exterior equal although I had scattered flour on the two and my hands before I started.

I got disappointed and scrapped this half, thankful to motionless have the second half. I kept this batter loosely wrapped in synthetic cover to assistance forestall it from sticking to the rolling pin.

This worked slightly fine — until I had to peel the batter from the synthetic wrap, and it cut apart.

I wrangled the batter as finest as I could and draped it complete my pie dish. It didn't fairly fit, so I did my finest to place it together.

Next was the blind roast — whenever you bake a pie crust before filling it — which made me nervous since the batter was so delicate. I used parchment document and dry grain to measure downward the crust as it baked.

When I pulled the crust out and removed the rice, most of my batter came up alongside it. I scraped several of the document off and mended the crust as finest as I could, but this was turning out to be a disaster.

I pressed on and added the filling to the crust anyway. Then it was prepared to roast in a 325-degree Fahrenheit oven.

My pie took concerning 20 minutes longer to roast than the recipe's maximum estimated period of 35 minutes.

For all the trouble, my pie ended up tasting fairly bland

The pie looked OK coming out of the oven. The crust didn't have a absolutely pinched edge, but at this point, I was glad it had arrive together at all.

The filling mushroomed complete the crust during it was in the oven, afterward dropped near the end of baking, resulting in multiple cracks about the pie.

I idea that this pie would clasp its form the finest of all three recipes since it had a batter crust, but it cut distinct whenever I cut a slice. The base crust was thicker on one flank and slightly soggy.

The pumpkin tier tasted powerfully of pumpkin — I would've loved additional sweetness and a bit additional seasoning for a improved flavor.

The texture was excellent gentle and custard-like gratitude to the yolks. Fortunately, the ginger didn't overpower the pie's flavor. However, particularly stated all the work, I desired the crust had additional flavor.

For convenience, I exchanged caller pumpkin for canned in Brown's recipe

Brown's recipe on the Food Network website requires baking a caller pumpkin to create a homemade pumpkin purée.

Short on period and not a fan of pumpkin guts, I skipped this and used canned pumpkin purée.

Other ingredients for the pie and crust included things akin gingersnap cookies, dirt ginger, dark-brown sugar, butter, half-and-half, freshly grated nutmeg, and eggs.

I was amazed to see that this formula didn't call for cinnamon, dissimilar any pumpkin pie I've always made (or eaten). I hoped the nutmeg would create up for it.

Of the 3 recipes, Brown's was the easiest to follow

The pie's gingersnap crust was akin to Flay's graham-cracker one. Without a food processor, it couldn't arrive together as fine as it should, but it motionless looked fine and smelled equal better.

I pressed it into a pie dish and baked it for concerning 10 minutes.

Without caller pumpkin, the filling was uncomplicated to make. I warmed the pumpkin purée and half-and-half, alongside alongside nutmeg and salt, on the stove, afterward whisked the blend in a basin alongside brown sugar and eggs.

I let the filling and the crust chill for 15 minutes, afterward blended them and baked my pie for 45 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

There were no mishaps here; the procedure was straightforward and quick. Obviously, if I had made the pumpkin purée from scratch, it would've taken much longer.

I loved the sensation of the gingersnap crust

After baking the pie, I noticed it had a bit of liquid pooling on the surface. Otherwise, the exterior was blemish-free.

This sturdy crust held everything in location as I removed a piece from the pan. The apparent definition between the crust and the pumpkin filling in all piece made for a really nice presentation.

The filling could've used a bit additional seasoning — cinnamon, perchance — but it was motionless delicious. The pumpkin flavor came through and was sweet.

The ginger sensation in the crust came through in all bite.

It was motionless slightly soggier than I had hoped, equal alongside the edges, but I was concerned that much longer in the oven would've caused a burnt crust.

I'd certainly create Flay's formula again — particularly the maple whipped cream

I loved the filling and whipped lotion from Flay's recipe, and overall, the pie was uncomplicated to put together. The lone item I would alter is making the crust additional flavorful, perchance by adding spices.

Brown's crust was delicious, and the filling's texture was perfect. With a food processor, I think I could get the crust to have a improved texture. This formula caused a pie that looked as fine on Instagram as it did in genuine life.

Truthfully, I would affection to try Flay's filling and whipped lotion alongside Brown's gingersnap crust for the ultimate pumpkin pie.

Unfortunately, I can't see myself attempting Ansel's formula again.

Check out the another celebrity-chef recipes we've put head-to-head so far.

This narrative was initially published on November 21, 2022, and most lately updated on October 12, 2026.