These Are the Thanksgiving Pie Recipes Everyone Actually Wants (2024)

FAQs

What is the most popular pie for Thanksgiving? ›

While pumpkin pie reigns supreme in the majority of American households, sweet potato pie is still the quintessential Thanksgiving dessert in the South. According to one theory, it was Henry VIII's love of sweet potato desserts that kicked off the popularity of yams in a pie.

In general, pie reigns supreme as a Thanksgiving dessert. While some families have their nice selections of pie servings, tradition says apple, pumpkin pie, and a southern pecan pie are the go-tos, typically made with a buttery pastry pie crust.

The pies don't take up precious oven space on Thanksgiving Day. The space in the oven is coveted on Thanksgiving. If you prepare the pies early so you can eat them on Thanksgiving Eve, then they'll be out of the way.

In the pumpkin pie, calories, carbs and sodium are lower, while protein is higher. But the apple pie takes the cake when it comes to fiber and potassium, and it has less added sugar.

The clear winner for the United States as a whole was (not surprisingly) apple pie with more than 27% of sales going to the traditional flavor.

The least popular types of pies were salted caramel, gooseberry, blueberry and peach, all being the most popular in only one state each.

Pumpkin Pie: This one is our winner! When in doubt, choose pumpkin pie. In competition with those mentioned above, it offers the fewest calories, and least fat and added sugar. It's also loaded with vitamins and minerals such as vitamin B12, thiamin, riboflavin, folate, niacin, phosphorous, calcium, and iron.

(It's even said that Native Americans fed pumpkin to their horses.) Did you know that the FIRST pumpkin pies were actually WHOLE BAKED PUMPKINS stuffed with assorted spices and apples? Did you know 50 million pumpkin pies are baked every year? The LARGEST PUMPKIN PIE on record was five feet around.

Cranberries may make a traditional appearance on many tables this Thanksgiving, but strawberries are still America's favorite berry.

How early should I bake pies for Thanksgiving? ›

Pumpkin pie is a great make-ahead dessert to cross off your Thanksgiving to-do list. You can prepare and bake the pie up to two days in advance, and it will still taste great on the big day. Just make sure you store the pie in the refrigerator—not on the kitchen counter—until you are ready to serve it.

There are many reasons, but primarily: Historically, dinner became before supper; it makes for a more relaxed day; it's simply tradition; it's more convenient for traveling guests; and, of course, to watch football.

It is also worth noting what was not present at the first Thanksgiving feast. There were no cloudlike heaps of mashed potatoes, since white potatoes had not yet crossed over from South America. There was no gravy either, since the colonists didn't yet have mills to produce flour.

Traditionally it would be a pie topped with whipped cream (like banana cream) but a good substitute for a prank like that would be a fake pie ( or the cheapest one you can get in a supermarket) then put shaving cream on top. A fake pie consisting of a light aluminum pie plate filled with a lot of whipped cream.

Pumpkin Pie

Both the Pilgrims and members of the Wampanoag tribe ate pumpkins and other squashes indigenous to New England—possibly even during the harvest festival—but the fledgling colony lacked the butter and wheat flour necessary for making pie crust.

Northeastern Native American tribes grew squash and pumpkins. The Native Americans brought pumpkins as gifts to the first settlers, and taught them the many uses for pumpkin. This led to serving pumpkin pie at the first Thanksgiving in America about 50 years later.