Is Homemade Pumpkin Pie Worth the Effort?

Photo by Jonathon KambourisBy Elizabeth Gunnison, Bon Appétit

I am a from-scratch pie baker. Always have been and always will be. I can throw together an all-butter crust in under ten minutes, and wouldn't dream of serving cherry, apple, or banana cream confections that began life in a can or a freezer case. Except, notably, when it comes to pumpkin pie, which in my family has always been made using a store-bought crust and Libby's pumpkin purée, whipped up according to a recipe on the back of the can. Maybe this annual values shift has to do with the wealth of other cooking priorities that swarm around Thanksgiving Day, or maybe it's just that there seems to be so little room for improvement on the utterly delicious semi-homemade version. But now I wonder: would freshly puréed pumpkin take this pie to a new level? And conversely, now that Libby's also sells a prefab Easy Pumpkin Pie Mix--could I make things even easier on myself come Thanksgiving without any loss of quality?

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The Contenders
Libby's Easy Pumpkin Pie vs. Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie vs. Bon Appetit's Perfect Pumpkin Pie*

*with an equal volume of fresh pie pumpkin, roasted, puréed, and drained, substituted in for canned pumpkin in this recipe.

Pumpkin has been a North American dietary staple since long before the pilgrims first set up shop. The history of baking this particular squash into a pie-like dessert dates back to the 17th century, although the Thanksgiving treat in its current form didn't come along until the beginning of the 19th century. Today, pumpkin pies are practically always made with the help of canned pumpkin purée sold under brands like Libby's and One-Pie, combined with evaporated milk or heavy cream, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Libby's Easy Pumpkin Pie Mix blends sugar and spices right into the canned pumpkin, meaning only eggs and milk need to be added on the spot.

Relative Costs
The store-bought options are slightly cheaper. I spent about $8 on the ingredients for Libby's Easy Pumpkin Pie and Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie, and around $10 to make a pie entirely from scratch.

Relative Healthfulness
It's a three-way toss-up. In all cases the pies contain pumpkin, milk, eggs, spices, and sugar, with crusts made from flour and fat. Libby's canned pumpkin products don't contain any nefarious additives.

Time Commitment
It took me an hour and fifteen minutes of active time to make pumpkin pie entirely from scratch, plus about two hours and ten minutes of additional cooking time (roasting the pumpkin, blind baking the crust, then baking the pie). In contrast, each of the Libby's pies took me less than ten minutes to assemble, plus around an hour of baking time.

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Leftovers Potential
Any of these pumpkin pies will keep for about a week, covered with cling film or foil and stored in the refrigerator.

What The Testers Said
First let me introduce our panel.

THE HEALTH NUT
A delicate eater, the health nut is calorie conscious but also likes to eat well

THE FOODIE
Calorie agnostic, our foodie judge has a sophisticated palate and a love of cooking

THE DUDE
Ambivalent toward food trends and health concerns, this guy just wants to be fed when he's hungry

THE KID
Between ages of 9 and 12 years old, not jaded, typically not into strong flavors

Testers sampled all three pies blind. Everyone remarked on the bright orange hue of the Libby's Easy Pumpkin Pie, in contrast to the muted spice color of the other two pies. Most testers were able to pick out which pies were not made from scratch, based on the telltale look of store-bought crusts.

The Health Nut: Homemade. "I like this one just a tiny bit better than the Libby's Famous version, because I like the slightly softer texture. But the bright orange one I really didn't like. It tasted thin and way too sweet."

The Foodie: Libby's Famous. "This pie has the most pungent pumpkin flavor. Normally I'm a homemade crust guy, but in this case the store-bought crust really doesn't bother me. And somehow, the pumpkin flavor in the homemade version just isn't as intense."

The Kid: Homemade and Libby's Famous (tie). "These two are pretty much the same I think."

The Dude: Libby's Famous. "This is the pumpkin pie of my childhood. I just don't know why you'd go messing with it."

The Verdict
Fake It with Libby's Famous.

It is positively not worth the effort to make your own pumpkin purée from scratch, when there's a 100 percent pure canned version readily available that might very well be more richly flavored than what you make yourself. Testers either preferred the version made with Libby's canned pumpkin to the entirely from-scratch version, or saw the two pies as too close to call. That said, testers all rejected the pie made from Easy Pumpkin Pie Mix as the big loser of the three. Given that the mix only saves you having to measure out spices and sugar, you should always buy 100 percent pure pumpkin and add ingredients from there.


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