Pumpkin custard, like Maple Pecan Pie and Slow-Roasted Turkey, finds a place on my Thanksgiving table every November, and often throughout the winter too. Its luscious, velvety smooth texture and lovely pumpkin flavor that’s laced with aromatic spices makes a perfect dessert for cold winter nights.
Unlike many pumpkin custard recipes, this one skips all the cans and uses only wholesome, fresh ingredients like roasted pumpkin purée, real cream, egg yolks, spices and the lightest touch of maple for sweetness.
Jump to Recipe | Tips | Variations
What makes a good pumpkin custard?
Pumpkin custards, like homemade root beer, are a quintessentially American dessert. And, if you’ve an interest, you can find references and recipes for them in just about every early American cookbook.
Pumpkins are indigenous to North America, and colonists quickly adopted traditional European recipes to their use – among them custards. Early recipes often call for sweetening pumpkin purée with molasses, flavoring it with aromatic spices, and baking the custard in the shell of a pumpkin.
More often than not, modern recipes rely on canned pumpkin purée, ample brown sugar, sweetened condensed milk and premixed spices. But, you’ll find your results are better when you use fresh pumpkin purée rather than canned and enrich it with egg yolks, cream and just the lightest touch of maple sugar.
Tips for Making Pumpkin Custard
Pumpkin custard is a super flexible dessert, and fairly easy to make. The key is to use a very smooth purée and plenty of fat for a luscious, smooth custard.
- Use freshly roasted pumpkin purée rather than canned for better flavor. You can make pumpkin purée by splitting a pumpkin, removing the seeds, and roasting it at 400 F on a rimmed baking sheet until soft. Scoop out the flesh and whir it in a food processor or blender until smooth.
- Use any winter squash you like, kabocha, red kuri, butternut squash and pie pumpkins all work fine.
- Strain the custard base before baking. That way, you’ll remove any stringy bits of pumpkin or unblended egg for a smoother texture.
- Bake the custards in a water bath which keeps an even temperature. That means better, smoother texture.
- Let them cool to room temperature before serving.
Pumpkin Custard Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups pumpkin purée (from 1 pie pumpkin)
- 9 egg yolks (beaten)
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 cup maple sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- whipped cream (to serve)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Next, prepare a water bath by filling a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish half-way with water. Set the baking dish in the oven.
- Whisk pumpkin purée, egg yolks, cream, sugar and spices together in a large mixing bowl until uniformly blended.
- Strain the custard base through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any pulpy bits. And then, pour the custard base into 6 (6-oz) ramekins, and gently set them into the water bath. Bake until just set, about 40 to 50 minutes.
- Cool to room temperature, and serve with whipped cream.
Variations
While the basic recipe for pumpkin custard includes many of the same spices you’d find in pumpkin pie, you can easily adjust the recipe on the fly with whatever you happen to find in your kitchen.
Make it dairy-free by swapping full-fat coconut milk for the heavy cream.
Make it a little lighter by swapping half-and-half for the heavy cream.
If you don’t care for maple, try using whole, unrefined cane sugar or even honey, but if you use a liquid sweetener, you may need to adjust the amount of cream you add.
Try vanilla in place of stronger spices. Vanilla bean powder or extract can give this custard a delicious sweet, musky floral aroma that blends beautifully with pumpkin.
Try adding ginger or star anise, for lovely, subtle heat and nice anise-like flavor.
If you really want pie, try baking this custard in a crust and you can skip all the junk that usually goes into pumpkin pies – like sweetened condensed milk.
Make pumpkin custards in the sous vide by filling mason jars, sealing them finger-tight and then cooking them at 176 F for 1 hour.
Was looking for a pumpkin custard and this one stood out, because of the waterbath and because of the use of just egg yolks (no whites). I am here to say, the texture of this comes out creamy and light. I did taste the filling before cooking it, and ended up doubling the sugar (I used mostly brown and some white), and even quadrupling the spices. The freshly ground cardamom, I mixed with a little clove in the spice grinder added nice warmth! I also added about 1/4 tsp coriander and about 1/2 tsp salt (soo needed). So other than the spices, salt and sugar being quite short, as long as you taste the filling and adjust to what you like before baking, this ends up being super tasty. A trick I learned is to cook the filling till it reaches 175….this gives it a chance to form a bit of a skin on the top, but is still moist and creamy inside (DONT OVERCOOK)(. Also, I used half soy milk, half cream to cut back on calories, with no flavor loss. I suspect this could easily be made non-MILK by just using diary free creamer. THIS IS GOING IN MY HOLIDAY FAV’s :).
How are ahead do you think these can be made? Do they need to be served same day? So excited to try them!
I’ve had them keep about 5 days, MAX.
Would this work well in a thin pie crust? Would I have to adjust the liquids?
Thank you!
Yes, it works beautifully in. Pie crust with no adjustments
Thank you! Looking forward!
I’m making this for Thanksgiving today and I’m wondering what the purpose of prethickening/preheating it is?
So what’s the word on using canned pumpkin — yea or nay? Thanks, Jenny and Happy Thanksgiving to all!
I don’t, but you definitely could.
Can you use taw local honey in place of the unrefined cane sugar?
You can try, but it will shift your liquid ratio.
I made this custard with raw milk and my own pastured eggs. I thought the texture turned out beautifully, but it needed more sweetener, salt and spice! I’m hoping to try it again with better flavor next time.
How come I didn’t see this when I was hunting the web a few months ago for pumpkin custard! Been looking for a nice way to flavor and use up eggs when my hens are laying prolifically. Now I find this when I’m down to only one or two eggs a day. Boo!
Tasty custard! I subbed canned coconut milk (just the solid part) for the heavy cream to make it dairy free. I also skipped the thickening step and just put it in the oven with a pan of hot water beside it. Turned out very good!
Would I be able to put this in a crust if I wanted to? Have you ever tried it that way? Looks amazing!!
Does this puff up? I want to adpt it in muffin cups and wondering how full to fill them before baking.
How can I print the recipe only? (Trying to save paper.) Thanks! This looks spectacular.
Hi, this looks so good. Have you or has anyone else tried to bake this as a pie filling? Would that work?
Made this for the local WAPF meeting….it was FANTASTIC!
Hello Jenny,
I’m new to this change in healthier eating habits, so I can use all the help I can get! I will have to use coconut milk in place of the heavy cream or is there something besides coconut milk/cream that offers the same consistency? Also, can I substitute stevia for the unrefined sugar? If so, how much stevia?
Thanks so much! Looking forward to trying this for Thanksgiving. We have a very different menu this year!
That looks lovely! I think I might just cook it on the stove top, as I don’t really care for the texture of baked custards. I bet it would make a very nice pudding.
jenny, can i sub coconut nectar for the sugar? Or even honey or a few really ripe bananas?
What sort of pumpkin do you use (since the canned pumpkin is not the same type as the halloween pumpkins). Where I livein germany, I can easily source organic Hokaido pumpkins. Also, I just made a pumpkin custard last night using greek yoghurt instead of cream and raw honey instead of rapadura. It was absolutely delicious, and the yoghurt gave it a slightly different dimension!
I’m home today a little under the weather & awaiting the big storm — seems like a good day to try this. I love pumpkin pie & regular custard — sounds so yummy. I don’t have the option today for using fresh pumpkin — have you tried it with the not so great canned method?? What about butternut squash?
Jenny,
I am thinking about making this dish for a Sunday lunch. Can I make the custard on Saturday night and bake it on Sunday morning? Thank you 🙂
Maria
Hi there Jenny,
Thanks for this GORGEOUS recipe!! Yum!!
So I’m totally going to make this but the only problem is I live in New Zealand and we don’t really have “pie pumpkins” here but I’m going to do some research and find the closest thing I can. Can not wait to try this!!! Will use our raw cream from organic, grass-fed Jersey’s–my mouth is already watering.
Rachel or Nan, when you find out a similar pumpkin to a “pie pumpkin”, please let me know. I am over in Australia in sunny Queensland 🙂 My mother in law uses a “grammar”(?) to make her pie/slice…perhaps this would work? It looks like a butternut, only bigger and I think, green skin. They are quite difficult to find. Never see them in the shops. She sources them from rural New South Wales through her green grocer 😉
Hi! I used to have the same problem trying to figure out the difference betweent the Aussi pumpkin and ours.
The one you described, (which is delicious roasted isn’t it??!!) is a lot like butternut, so go for it!
Jealous of you in sunny Qld!! We used to live there too, but now in Montana
Pie pumpkins are usually about one pound in size! Most recipes call for about 15 oz (one ounce leds than a pound).
In the USA, most recipes call for a 15 ounce can of pumpkin. I use one pound of either fresh pumpkin or butternut squash. Both vegetables are squash and tastes similar but butternutis usually sweeter!
The reason for stating “pie” pumpkin may by the size of the pumpkin. Smaller one pound pumpkins are the perfect size for one pie, and are generally more flavorful!
Jenny – should you grease the dish before pouring in the custard to bake?
No. I don’t bother.
Can you sub coconut cream for the milk to make it GAPS legal? Just wondering. It looks like an amazing dish!
Yes, you sure can.
Hello again,
Just noticed that I spelled my last name incorrectly,……….. in too much of a hurry to get my “Thank You ” off. Joan
Hello,
Just found your Web site, lucky me……..I too am always looking for healthier ways to eat. I am already a Coconut Oil fan, and I am truly looking forward to you weekly E-mails. have a great day, and Thank You Joan Montreal . Canada