This gluten-free, vegan pumpkin pie forms its own crust as it bakes. Delicious and addictive–and low-fat and only 153 calories per serving!
I asked my readers yesterday to identify a close-up photo of a food. The mystery food wasn’t a mystery to most of you: it was indeed a Pumpkin or Squash Pie. But, if I were the kind of teacher who demands exact answers (and I used to be), you would have had to have written “Impossible Fat-Free Gluten-Free Vegan Cushaw Pie” in order to get full credit.
Cushaw? What the heck is that? Well, do you remember these cute squashes?
I did a little research into cushaw squash and found that much of the pumpkin that we buy in cans is actually cushaw and its close relatives; it’s less stringy than pumpkin and makes better pies. So I feel like it’s okay to call this a pumpkin pie even though it originated from a crazy little crookneck squash called a cushaw.
So that’s the “cushaw” part of the name. What about the “impossible” part?
If you grew up with a mother who relied on Bisquick baking mix, as I did, you may remember their Impossible pies. What you did was mix Bisquick in with the pie ingredients, and as the pie baked, a sort of crust formed on the bottom and sides. I’m not too embarrassed to say that the first cheesecake I ever made was the Bisquick Impossible Cheesecake–and it was really good. Flash forward to the present when I’m looking to get rid of the most fattening part of the pie–the crust–and the idea of a vegan Impossible pumpkin pie hit me.
So I went straight to my favorite cookbook–Google–and started looking for info on Impossible pies. I no longer use Bisquick, so I wanted to see if people had made this work with flour, and I was happy to find that they had. In fact, Something in Season (website no longer available) and Bob’s Red Mill both had gluten-free versions of the pie, so I knew it could be done without Bisquick.
What remained to be seen was whether or not it could be done without oil or dairy products. I did a whole lot of substituting, but I’m happy to report that the pie was a success: Though the inside is more like a custard than a regular pumpkin pie, a slight crust formed along the bottom and sides of the pan, so you can actually pick up a slice of this pie and eat it like a piece of pizza. But it’s dangerously addictive, as shown by the fact that my husband ate about 6 pieces of it yesterday!
Update 7/30/18: My husband asked for pumpkin pie for his birthday–in the middle of summer! With no winter squash available, I made this pie with canned pumpkin, and it was a complete success. I didn’t need to make any changes to the recipe.
The only difference I could detect is that the pie made with canned pumpkin is a much darker color. It looks like any other pumpkin pie, instead of having a “squashy glow.” I’m not sure why it cracked, but I’ve heard from a lot of people who had that happen, whether they used fresh or canned. It doesn’t bother me; I think the cracks are interesting. (The pie in the photos with the white plate was made with canned; the green plated pie was made with fresh.)
So if you don’t have any winter squash available, do not hesitate to make this recipe with canned pumpkin. It’s great!
When you serve this pie, don’t feel obligated to tell your family or guests that it’s crust-free, fat-free, gluten-free, or vegan, but if they do wonder what’s left after so much is left out, tell them “Flavor, pure, delicious flavor!”
Check out all my delicious, low-fat vegan Thanksgiving recipes.
Impossible Vegan Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups soy milk or other non-dairy milk
- 1 tablespoon Ener-G egg replacer see Notes
- 1/4 cup water see Notes
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups pureed or mashed cooked pumpkin, cushaw, or winter squash (or canned pumpkin), see Notes
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour see Notes
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9-inch deep dish pie pan with cooking spray. (I used a Pyrex pan, and it came out with no sticking.) A deep dish is recommended because this pie will rise a lot during cooking but will fall back down as it cools.
- Put the first five ingredients in the blender, and blend well. Add the pumpkin, and puree. Add the remaining ingredients and blend on high for 2 minutes, stopping to scrape the sides a couple of times to make sure everything is thoroughly blended. Pour into a pie pan and bake for about 60 minutes. The top and edges should be brown, but the edges should not be over-done. (Since this is a custardy pie, using the standard toothpick or knife test does not work; it will remain somewhat moist in the center, but it shouldn’t be uncooked.)
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the counter. For best results, refrigerate until chilled before eating.
Notes
Nutritional info is approximate.
Please pin and share:
Yelley
November 22, 2011 at 1:41 pmCan this impossible pie be made in advance? How many days? Should I store it in the fridge or countertop? Thanks!
Susan Voisin
November 22, 2011 at 2:35 pmI think it would be fine made two or three days in advance. Store in the fridge.
Emily A
November 24, 2011 at 4:54 pmI just made this!! It is SO AMAZING!! I did it a little different:
1) Used pumpkin in a can. Just 1 can = 2 cups.
2) Used Pamela’s Baking Mix instead of rice flour.
3) Put in a 9×9 inch pan instead of deep pie dish due to lacking a deep pie dish.
4) Put a graham cracker crust on the bottom of the pan. Even though it does make its own sort of crust, it’s NOT like crust and I don’t really like pie crust. 🙂
5) Instead of enerG, I used 1/4c. applesauce.
SERIOUSLY AMAZING! My friends loved the filling even before I cooked it in the oven. 1 day of being in the fridge and holy cow, I wanna eat it ALL! 🙂
Trish
November 24, 2011 at 8:45 pmI made this today and I am so delighted with it! I am gluten, dairy, egg & soy free and didn’t think I would be able to have pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. I had 1 cup of whole fat coconut milk open that I needed to use, so I used that and 1/2 cup So Delicious reg. flavor creamer and used canned pumpkin and superfine white rice flour. I know it is far from fat free but it all worked out to produce a beautiful and very tasty pie. Thank you so much for this recipe….I am brand new to your site and can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
Karen
November 24, 2011 at 8:52 pmI made your Impossible Vegan Pumpkin Pie (2nd year for this recipe at our house, that officially makes the pie a “tradition”). Again, wonderful. This was a known sucess. Thanksgiving morning, on seeing ONE pie in the refrigerator, the request was to make another. Glad I did, we may be enjoying it at breakfast tomorrow, too!
Kimbie
November 25, 2011 at 8:06 pmHi Susan! Thanks for the consistently fantastic recipes! I’ve made this 3 or 4 times in the last couple of months and wanted to report on my flours experimentation. Tried it the first few times with chickpea flour – the texture was fantastic but I could taste the “beany” taste. DH said he didn’t notice it. Made it most recently with coconut flour – the taste was fantastic – a bit sweeter and the faintest coconut flavor, but I needed to add a bit of water to thin it enough to blend and then it was too custardy after baking to remove intact slices from the pie plate. Maybe mixing in the food processor will fix that…. Thanks again!
A J
November 26, 2011 at 1:28 pmHi Susan — Just a quick note to let you know how amazing this PIE tastes! It was so ridiculously easy. All of my “omni” relatives were utterly amazed it was vegan. A few of the die-hard bakers in the family learned a lot about egg substitutes on Thanksgiving. And they were sincerely interested since they were given first-hand experience of tasting such a great vegan dessert. So you have, yet again, touched lives in a positive and meaningful way with your recipes! Thanks!
Emma Miles
December 1, 2011 at 11:06 amI made this pie 4 times during the week of Thanksgiving. First pie I didn’t bake long enough. Custard like and yummy it wouldn’t hold up to slicing. Second pie I forgot the baking soda. DH suggested that we eat this one as well and MIL seconded it. Third pie went to omnivore Thanksgiving and folks were surprised that it was vegan and low fat. The last was most successful. I made it in muffin tins to take to a pot luck dinner. They were so cute and popped right out of the muffin tin when turned over on a clean kitchen towel. They were completely firm but still had that lovely smooth texture in the middle. Adding this to our holiday menu for sure. Thanks Susan.
Jenni
December 30, 2011 at 6:47 pmYum! I recently went dairy free because my nursing infant has a milk protein sensetivity. I LOVE pumpkin everything and couldn’t bear the thought of Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie, so I searched the Internet and came upon this recipe. It is delicious! I was also avoiding soy so made it with coconut milk. Tastes just like the pumpkin pie I love with a custardy texture. It was a hit with other family members too. I think I’ll make another one for New Years Day.
Esther J
April 8, 2012 at 4:39 pmBIG thanks for this!
Made it for an Easter dessert, as my stepfather, an omnivore Southern man, who loves sweet potato and pumpkin pies, was partaking. I used canned pumpkin puree and 1/4 whole wheat and 1/4 white wheat all purpose flour (I had no rice flour.) and cut the sugar by an eighth (he loves his sugar, but I decided to deny him a little of it.). He enjoyed it to the full, even with the loss of the sugar. He probably could’ve eaten the whole pie if we’d let him.
Christine Bondesio
June 14, 2012 at 9:03 amwow, wow, wow made this 2 nights ago, and had the leftovers for lunch today and still wow!
newvegan55
July 24, 2012 at 12:21 pmSusan, normally I’m not one to write comments, I don’t blog or twitter and I’m not even on Facebook. That said, I had to write to you today to say “thanks”. I am new to GF living and was having a terrible day yesterday, trying to make something even remotely edible. I tried 3 different recipes from 2 sites and 1 from a cookbook, all dismal failures. I was almost to the point of giving up, not to mention tears. Then I checked your site to see what GF Vegan recipes you had listed and low and behold…PUNKIN PIE! I followed your recipe exactly, (except it was SO liquididy, I admit I added another 1/4 c rice flour, maybe because I used canned pumpkin?)(and no, I did NOT mess up the other recipes by trying to change them:-) I also don’t have a deep dish pie plate, so I poured it into a 7 x 11 glass pan. It didn’t look like your picture when it came out of the oven, not much crust and much darker, but after sitting for a bit and firming up some, it didn’t matter what it looked like…IT TASTED GREAT!!! My husband who is not GF or Vegan, loved it and was just happy to have pie. I wanted you to know, we ate it all in 2 days! (I ate it for breakfast) and I definately plan on making it again and again. Thanks again, Susan and please keep sharing!
Esther J
October 9, 2012 at 9:55 amThis past weekend, I made this again and this time with, in equal part as the rice flour, old-fashioned oatmeal, pulverized in the blender.
I cut the sugar by a quarter and it worked very well for me.
My stepfather, who loves traditional sweet potato and pumpkin pies and is by no means is vegan or fat-free, can’t get enough of this pie!
Thanks very much, Susan!
Sher
October 12, 2012 at 11:52 amI’ve noticed a lot of recipes using soy milk and wondered if I can always substitute almond milk in place of that (I prefer it over the soy and try to limit my soy intake). Thanks for all the recipes — it’s been great reviewing so many wonderful options to try!
Susan Voisin
October 12, 2012 at 12:08 pmI wouldn’t say always, because some recipes depend on the creaminess of soy milk (especially those where you curdle the soy milk with lemon juice or vinegar). But for most recipes, like this one, any kind of non-dairy milk will work.
Kathy
October 11, 2013 at 2:12 pmI used Almond Milk and it was just fine.
Abra
October 12, 2012 at 10:59 pmI made this today and it is perfect! Not runny at all. I used brown sugar because that’s all I had in the house. Also, not sure if I used a little pumpkin or squash but after steaming it and measuring the amount needed, me and the pooches shared the rest. So yummy :). The firmness was perfect. I will be making this for Thanksgiving this year. Now onto the next experiment.
Oh, I also roasted the seeds and had a great no oil snack!
pumpkineater
October 23, 2012 at 9:27 amMade this pie – OMG! What a brilliant recipe. Unbelievably, it competes with my ex sugar-cream-egg pumpkin pie recipe. It looks and smells wonderful but the taste and texture make it company worthy. I used whole wheat flour since I had no rice flour on hand and it came out perfectly.Thank you for a beautiful website and inspiring, healthy and nutritious recipes.
Joel
October 23, 2012 at 8:14 pmI am 77 my wife is 75 . We have been vegan for almost 2 years. I do the cooking and I loved this recipe. I cut the pumpkin in small cubes put them on a sheet pan and baked them . This is an easy way to get the moisture out. I used brown rice flour. This was the easiest pie I ever made and it was really great
Kristen
October 26, 2012 at 12:57 pmAh there’s the comment I needed about it’s “crust forming ability!” Couldn’t figure out where the crust was coming from as I didn’t see it in the directions!
shirley
October 29, 2012 at 12:38 pmHi, Susan!
I love your recipes, particularly this pumpkin pie one. My p.pies taste great but I’ve been having a problem with cracks in the surface. I’ve tried cooling them slowly with the oven door slightly open after I turned off the heat but still, cracks.
Any suggestions for a smooth crust?
Thanks!
Susan Voisin
October 29, 2012 at 12:57 pmSometimes mine crack too, and I haven’t been able to figure out why they crack sometimes and other times they don’t. If I ever do, I’ll let you know!
Christine Weston
November 23, 2012 at 5:34 pmYummy! We all enjoyed this pie. Delicious!
Susan Voisin
November 23, 2012 at 7:41 pmSo glad you liked it!
Michelle
November 25, 2012 at 11:01 pmThis recipe sounds delicious and I want to try it with date sugar. Do you think that would be OK? If so, would use the same amount of date sugar as white sugar?
Thanks for all your great recipes!
Susan Voisin
November 26, 2012 at 6:39 amI think date sugar should substitute fine. Please let me know how it comes out if you try it!
susan
November 28, 2012 at 11:51 amyay gluten-free!!! i’m so excited to make this!
christina
December 1, 2012 at 7:32 pmThis is super good! And super easy! After I made the batter, I realized my glass pie pan had been broken months ago, so I baked it in a single layer cake pan. It came out just great! Even my 14 yo son loves it. Thanks!!
Roni
December 6, 2012 at 9:23 amSusan, thank you for sharing your Impossible Vegan Pumpkin Pie recipe. I have many food restrictions that recently became even tighter. I cannot tell you my excitement when I found this recipe, that I could have, almost as it was written, and it would be a real treat. I made your pie last night, reducing the sugar by a third, exchanging only rice milk for soy and tapioca flour for cornstarch, and it was delicious! My hubby and I both thoroughly enjoyed it. I will certainly be a go to recipe in our home now. Many, many thanks!
Melissa
January 5, 2013 at 6:42 pmHello : )
I love the website and I have used many of your recipies sucessfully (and that says a lot, as I am a very…novice… cook), so thank you so much for a wonderful blog!
Today, I tried to make this, and it did not work at all. I used pumpkin pie filling then omitted the sugar (it’s all I had on hand). I cooked it for 75min and it was still bubbling and liquidy. It looked alive! I took it out thinking it would set, but it didnt. Crunchy edges and raw middle, and not custard like at all. Aside from the entertainment, my version was a flop! lol
Where did I go wrong? Is canned pumpkin not acceptable? It tasted great before I cooked it 😀
Thanks!
Susan Voisin
January 5, 2013 at 8:36 pmSorry it didn’t work for you! When you change ingredients, such as using pie filling instead of pumpkin and leaving out the sugar, baked goods often don’t work the same. I’m not really sure how to make it come out right (other than to try it as originally written). 🙂
kensington cooker
January 6, 2013 at 6:41 amMelissa,
Pumpkin pie filling may be different, but I always use canned pumpkin in this recipe and it comes out fine. It’s a favorite of the whole extended family, so I think it may be worth another try. Good luck, Kensington Cooker
Melissa
January 6, 2013 at 7:46 pmThank you! I will follow the instructions, and try again. It looks so delicious! 😀
And thank you Kensington cooker, canned pumpkin was going to be my next question 🙂
~melissa
Nancy
October 8, 2018 at 1:18 pmPumpkin pie filling is very different than canned pumpkin….they do not interchange in recipes.
Jacquelyn Rook
November 23, 2018 at 2:12 pmPumpkin pie filling is not the same as canned pumpkin. It has all the other ingredients already added.
Sofie
January 16, 2013 at 11:48 amHi Susan, I am a long time lurker and a first time poster. I have been wanting to try this recipe for a while, but I am just wondering, have you ever tried it with glutinous rice flour (mochiko flour) instead of rice flour. On other kind of traditional recipes, the glutinous rice flour gives a more silkier consistency. Thanks in advance!
Susan Voisin
January 16, 2013 at 12:09 pmNo, I haven’t, but I would love to hear how it comes out if you try it!
Sofie
January 31, 2013 at 1:54 pmWell, we finally tried to halve the batter and use rice flour on one half and the glutinous rice flour on the other half. My SO and I both prefer the glutinous rice flour one. The rice flour version is chewier, while the glutinous rice flour version is silkier. The other adjustments that I did are not drain the pumpkin but reducing the milk to be 1.25 cup to compensate the liquid. Also, I use 2 eggs since we are not vegan. It is probably a good idea to try sometimes.
Marg
April 9, 2013 at 8:46 pmHow many eggs can I use instead of egg replacer in the pumpkin pie recipe thanks
Kathy McLean
October 8, 2013 at 11:45 amTHIS was so good – I really needed to make 2 for my family!!!
Avra
October 8, 2013 at 9:16 pmwell you had me at pumpkin pie…but…i finally made this and it was FABULOUS! was not missing the crust and instead i got to enjoy my favorite part of pumpkin pie – the pumpkin!! a beautiful custard-y goodness that i feel like i could never get sick of! meaning yes i could eat the whole pie but ill save some for everyone else – the reviews have been A+
Kathy McLean
October 10, 2013 at 12:34 pmSo so right!!!! Making one tomorrow!!! or maybe tonight
Pam Greenberg
October 10, 2013 at 9:49 amI loved Impossible pie, I remember when my sister brought home the first impossible pie recipe from school that was made with flour, sugar eggs, melted butter and coconut. We made this all the time. I am so happy to see your recipe all cruelty free and delicious, I can’t wait to make this over the weekend. Something I learned from watching Cooks country for reducing the water in pumpkin is to cook out the extra water and you then keep the flavor.
Debra
October 10, 2013 at 12:00 pmCould you use ground almonds in place of the rice flour?
Debra
Susan Voisin
October 10, 2013 at 12:16 pmNo, almonds aren’t starchy, so I’m afraid that wouldn’t work.
marilyn shuster
October 10, 2013 at 2:42 pmhttp://fatfreevegan.com/slowmiracle/2013/10/10/the-simplest-way-to-cook-winter-squash-or-pumpkin/