I love pumpkin pie. It’s always been one of my favorites. As a kid, I once asked for pumpkin pie instead of a birthday cake. I love it that much.
I’m going to save everyone the trouble and tell you straight off: it’s impossible to recreate the classic baked custard style pumpkin pie without any eggs or dairy. Impossible. The vegan blogs will try and tell you that concoctions of tofu, agar agar, agave, and pumpkin will bake up to taste “just like the real thing”.
It’s just not true. I’ve tried.
So this is not baked pumpkin pie. It’s not your classic pumpkin pie.
No, this pumpkin pie is the other pumpkin pie that shows up on Midwest Thanksgiving tables…because it turns out, most kids don’t like pumpkin pie. I was the weird one.
This is the creamy no-bake pumpkin pie, usually brought by an older aunt or lady from church who knows. She knows this pie only takes minutes to make, but will disappear faster than the other pumpkin pies that took hours of prep. She knows the kids will love this one.
And it’s all true. This pie takes minutes to make. It’s easy enough that the kids make it now. It doesn’t take up precious space in the oven on Thanksgiving Day when all heck is breaking loose.
And it’s always the first pie to disappear.
Happy Thanksgiving from the Midwest!
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No Bake Pumpkin Cream Pie
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 pie 1x
Description
This dairy-free and egg-free pumpkin cream pie is the easiest pie you’ll ever make. You’ve got enough going on with Thanksgiving Dinner, you can take a break on this one.
Ingredients
- 1 graham cracker pie crust (make your own, or buy one, I used a Keebler Ready Crust)
- 1 cup dairy-free milk
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 2 packages (3.4oz) Vanilla Instant Pudding
- 1 t. cinnamon
- 1/2 t. nutmeg
- I cup Rich’s Whip liquid, whipped up thick (or 8 ounces of another dairy-free whipped topping)
Instructions
- Beat milk, pudding mixes, pumpkin and spices together with a whisk until well blended.
- Fold in 1 1/2 cups of whipped topping.
- Pour into crust, decorate with remaining whipped topping and refrigerate for an hour.
Notes
I used Silk Coconut Milk in this recipe. Read my full post on dairy-free milk options.
Yes, Jell-O Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix is dairy free, vegan too.
For dairy-free whipped cream, I use Rich’s Whip Liquid, found at Gordon Food Service (a local restaurant food supply store). If you can’t find it, there are other vegan options at your local health food/whole foods-type stores.
If you don’t have a dairy allergy, just use regular milk and Cool-Whip!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
is rich's whip sold frozen? my parents live in mi and are close to a gfs store. if it's not frozen they could probably ship some to me. i'm hoping to find a way to get it out here in california!
thanks!
It is frozen solid, then you thaw it out, open the can and whip it up. It stores forever in the freezer if you could find a way to get some. This must be go on the short list of food items found readily in Michigan, but not in CA! Sad that I find a little Midwestern pride in the can o' chemicals!
Thanks for this. I think I can adapt the crust to be gluten free w/ Josef's graham crackers and I can take it Thanksgiving for our allergic kids!
my mother is going to send me some Rich's Whip! i'm so excited.
we have the soyatoo canned cream and it leaves a bit to be desired.
I agree that certain tastebuds become immune to the beaniness of tofu after awhile. My husband started eating the Tofutti sour cream and tried to convince me that it tasted just like the real stuff. Um, no it does not!
This is probably admitting some major food snobbery but I had NO idea that instant pudding was dairy-free. I gotta give this a try though. Alex loves pumpkin pie and this is the first year with Rich Whip to top it with (thanks to you.)
I looked at the ingredients on the Rich Whip and it has sodium caseinate in it…that’s a milk derivative and alot of dairy free folks are allergic to th̀at (like me).
Hi Amy, it’s always good to double check ingredients. Make sure you are looking at the Rich’s Whip Topping that comes in a blue carton and is a LIQUID that must be whipped up PRIOR to use. They have other pre-whipped toppings in tubs or in large triangle pastry bags that DO have sodium caseinate (milk).
The ingredients on the Rich’s Whip container in my refrigerator right now are the same as in the photo in the post: Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Partially Hydrogenated Coconut Oil, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Contains Less than 2% of the Following: Carbohydrate Gum, Sugar, Polysorbate 60, Polyglycerol Esters of Fatty Acids, Salt, Sodium Alginate, Soy Lecithin, Artificial Flavor, Sodium Citrate, Natural Flavor, Colored with (Turmeric and Annatto Extracts), Natural and Artificial Flavor. Not pretty, but no dairy.
Here’s a link to a Rich’s Whip page that has 3 of their types of Whipped Toppings. The “Ready-to-Whip” is the only one that is dairy-free and is the one I use. http://www.richwhip.com/rich-whip.php
Good Luck!
Rich Whip is AWESOME! I’m able to find it in CT, but it’s usually not available at health food stores or Whole Foods because it’s really a bunch of chemicals not a “whole food”. I have the best luck finding it in the grocery stores in towns with a big Jewish population. It’s usually in the Kosher frozen section.
Oh and if you find it, be sure to buy a spray can thingamajig for it. So fun!