This Grain free Pumpkin Pie has a light and flaky crust that you’ll never believe is AIP and paleo. The filling is rich and flavorful with all your favorite pumpkin spices and is dairy and coconut free.
Confession: I’m not a pumpkin pie lover! I didn’t grow up with it and just don’t really love the flavor of canned pumpkin puree but so many of you requested AIP Pumpkin Pie so here it is! My partner who absolutely loves pumpkin pie has given this recipe glowing reviews so I hope you enjoy it!
Unlike pumpkin pie with eggs, this recipe uses gelatin to bind the pumpkin mixture. While the crust is baked, the filling is simply chilled in the fridge to harden. The crust on this pie is truly delicious. The trick to nailing it is to ensure the palm shortening is completely frozen before you begin working with it, and to work quickly so as not to warm it up too much before it bakes in the oven.
Here are the key ingredients in this AIP Pumpkin Pie:
- pumpkin puree – I recommend canned pumpkin puree for this recipe. Make sure it’s nice and smooth before you begin to bake. I like to whip mine in the food processor or blender.
- maple syrup – the sweetener in this filling
- tapioca starch – this helps thicken the filling
- cinnamon and powdered ginger – the spices here to create that classic pumpkin pie flavor
- gelatin – this is key for the pie filling to set
For the crust you’ll need:
- palm shortening – not palm oil! You need palm shortening in this recipe that you freeze before baking with it.
- cassava flour – I recommend Bob’s Red Mill or Otto’s in this recipe
- coconut or maple sugar – use maple sugar if you want the crust to have a lighter colour
- apple cider vinegar and ice cold water – the vinegar is used to tenderize the dough and the ice cold water keeps the shortening cold and brings the dough together
AIP Pumpkin Pie FAQs
What size pie does this recipe make?
One standard 9-inch pie.
Is there a substitute for the palm shortening in this crust?
If you can’t get palm shortening where you live, you can try substituting a different pastry crust here. I have 4 different variations all of which can be found in this post on How to Make Grain Free Pie Crust.
What do you serve this with?
If you can tolerate coconut, this pie is great with some coconut whipped cream or coconut-based ice cream.
How do I store this pie?
Store in the fridge in a sealed container or in the pie dish, wrapped. Bring to room temperature before serving. I don’t recommend warming this pie as the gelatin will lose its hold.
Looking for more AIP pumpkin recipes?
- Pumpkin Spice Scones
- Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew
- Check out my new AIP Holiday Eats eBook for my delicious Pumpkin Panna Cotta and other holiday faves
- AIP Pumpkin Spice Cake Donuts
- Pumpkin Banana Muffins
If you try this AIP Pumpkin Pie, I would love it if you would give it a star rating and short review. Also, be sure to snap a picture of the finished product and share it with me on Instagram by tagging @healmedelicious and using the hashtag #healmedelicious.
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AIP Pumpkin Pie (grain free, paleo, coconut-free)
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 1 9-inch pie 1x
Description
This Grain free Pumpkin Pie has a light and flaky crust that you’ll never believe is AIP and paleo. The filling is rich and flavorful with all your favorite pumpkin spices and is dairy and coconut free.
Ingredients
Pie Crust
- ½ cup + 1 TBSP palm shortening, frozen
- 1 ¼ cup cassava flour
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 TBSP coconut sugar or maple sugar (for coconut free)
- 1/2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup + 1 TBSP ice cold water
Pie Filling
- 1/2 cup water + 1.5 TBSP gelatin*
- 2.5 cups pumpkin puree
- 1/3 cup + 2 TBSP maple syrup
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp powdered ginger
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- Pinch of sea salt
Instructions
Pie Crust
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a large mixing bowl add cassava flour, salt and sugar.
- Add frozen palm shortening to food processor and pulse until it is broken up into pea-sized pieces.*
- Add cassava flour, sea salt, coconut sugar, apple cider vinegar and ice cold water to the food processor and pulse until it is just combined into a dough. (You may need a few TBSP less or more water depending on the climate you’re in so use your discretion.)
- Using your hands, gently shape into a round ball and place between two pieces of parchment paper and use your hands to flatten it out into a disc.
- Using a rolling pin, roll dough out to 12 inches in diameter.
- Carefully place pie crust into pie dish. If dough is feeling too soft/tacky, place in fridge for 5-10 minutes. Otherwise, crimp edges of the crust. Here is a great resource on how to do so.
- Poke holes in crust along the base and the sides using a fork. This allows steam to escape and prevents it from bubbling as the crust bakes.
- Bake in middle rack of the oven for 40 – 45 minutes or until the crust is golden at the edges.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely in pie dish.
Pie Filling
- Add water to a small dish and sprinkle gelatin on top to allow it to bloom.**
- Meanwhile, in a medium-sized saucepan on medium heat add pumpkin puree, vanilla extract, maple syrup, cinnamon and ginger and whisk to combine.***
- Add tapioca starch, pinch of sea salt and whisk to combine.
- Finally, add in bloomed gelatin and whisk quickly and continuously to combine into a smooth mixture.
- Remove from heat and pour filling into cooled pie crust.
- Smooth the top using an offset spatula and refrigerate for 4-6 hours to set.
Notes
* Do not overmix or palm shortening will soften and clump together.
**Please note, hydrolyzed gelatin will not work in this recipe as it does not set.
*** Ensure that your pumpkin puree is smooth before adding it to the saucepan. If necessary, pulse in a food processor or blender to achieve this.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Category: Desserts
Keywords: aip, paleo, coconut-free, pumpkin, pumpkin pie, thanksgiving recipes, grain free pie, pumpkin recipes, holiday recipes, fall recipes, grain free baking
I am going to try this for Christmas! Have you tried this with stevia? If so, how much would you recommend? Thanks so much!
I haven’t and i’m not familiar with stevia in baking so unfortunately can’t advise on this.
This pie was delicious and a great dessert to spoil yourself when everyone else is having a piece of pie, too. I did substitute the palm shortening for the olive oil crust you recommended and then made a mistake when making the crust and put a tablespoon of maple syrup instead of maple sugar (misread it) – but went with it and it actually turned out great! It was flaky and delicious and the pie turned out amazing. Thanks!
★★★★★
It was ok. Missing in flavor could not tell it was pumpkin, very bland. Liked the crust. Don’t know if I’ll try again.
★★★
This is great! This crust is AMAZING! And I am so happy to have a no bake pie to add to my menu. I had this on my list for last year but didn’t end up celebrating thanksgiving so didn’t get around to making it, and made a test pie last night. Two questions… 1- I had previously scrawled 2 Tbsp tapioca and 1 Tbsp Cassava. Looks like you changed it to 1/4 c tapioca, or did I have that confused with another recipe? 2- have you tried arrowroot instead of tapioca with poor results? I find the tapioca to have a bit of bitterness to it and am thinking to sub arrowroot next time.
Thank you for all you do! You’re a straight up recipe genius and make AIP infinitely more scrumptious!
★★★★★
Isn’t palm shortening coconut?
By definition, no! The one I’ve linked to in the recipe is coconut-free.
Made this for Thanksgiving. It was pretty good despite my crust being tough to cut. Maybe I didn’t cook it long enough :/ Made only 1/2 recipe though. On the bright side I had plenty of leftover dough and used it to cut out mini Christmas cookie shapes that baked up crisp. The taste of those vaguely reminded me of animal crackers!
This was absolutely delicious!! And so easy to make too!! I am pretty picky when it comes to pumpkin pie. This was my 4th Thanksgiving following AIP, and my 4th attempt at trying to finding a pumpkin pie that met my standards. Often I found the fillings to be too flat without enough flavor. I am thrilled to say that this was spot on!! The crust was great and the filling was so flavorful!! Thank you for this recipe!!
★★★★★
I baked this recipe on the eve of Thanksgiving. We had some pie with a cup of coffee. Let’s just say there are no leftovers. It was all gone! Everyone loved the pie. I will be making this again! Thank you, Heal Me Delicious!
★★★★★
My crust needed a lot more water for moisture. It might be necessary like in other crust recipes to tell people to add water 1 TBS at a time to get the right consistency. Without it, mine was just powder.
I can never find palm shortening. Any subs? Real
Lard?
I haven’t tried myself but you can try frozen lard. It’s a quite different texture but you could try my Peach Thyme Galette recipe that use coconut oil instead.