17 INCREDIBLE Thanksgiving Pie Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the most popular Thanksgiving pie? ›

While pumpkin pie reigns supreme in the majority of American households, sweet potato pie is still the quintessential Thanksgiving dessert in the South.

In 1947's Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking, 65 sweet pie varieties were listed.

You can prepare the pie entirely (save for baking it) and freeze the whole thing, then pop it into the oven once the turkey comes out. Or you can make the crust dough ahead, wrap, and chill or freeze. Or roll it out, stick it in its pie pan, and freeze or chill.

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.

Apple Pie. What it is: Somehow both quintessentially English and American, this may be the most famous pie of all. In Britain it goes back to the 1300s, and the earliest recipe includes figs and raisins. Modern recipes tend to consist of apples, sugar, butter and cinnamon encased in shortcrust pastry.

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

Kings' Pie (Galette des rois) is a lidded pie with almond-based soft filling, traditionally served in France before, during and after Epiphany (celebrated in France on the second Sunday following Christmas, in spite of the official date being 6th January).

Key lime pie was invented in Key West, where Key limes are anything but scarce. Key limes are different from regular limes. Key limes are more aromatic, smaller, seedier and are more tart than regular limes. Key lime pie is the Sunshine State's official state pie.

The Ancient Egyptians were the first to invent a dish close to what we know as a pie today. They had a honey filling covered in a crusty cake made from oats, wheat, rye or barley. A recipe for chicken pie was also discovered on a tablet carved prior to 2000 BC.

Why were pies called coffins? ›

A coffin, spelled coffyn in 12th-century English, referred to self-standing pastry made from flour, water, and sometimes fat. Like a sort of medieval Tupperware, coffins preserved the foods they contained and were rarely eaten.

Shaker lemon pie is a four-ingredient pie that originated in the Shaker communities of the Midwestern United States. To make this pie, lemon slices and sugar are placed in a bowl for several hours until the lemons are juicy, then eggs are beaten in and the mixture is poured into a pastry-lined pie dish.

If made ahead without baking, the pastry crust can become too wet and end up soggy after baking. The best way to make your apple pie in advance? Bake the pie completely, then chill it overnight, allowing the pie to sit at room temperature for at least an hour before serving.

Precooking the apples gets you one step ahead of that process; it releases the fruit's liquid, causing them to cook down and lose volume before baking. So it discourages the gap between the top of the apple filling and the top crust, leaving you with a pie that has a thick layer of apples from bottom to top.

Most pies will freeze well from a raw or cooked state. However, custard filled pies do not tend to freeze well. When freezing a fruit pie, you'll see the best results if you freeze a combination of cooked fruit filling in a raw pastry. Raw fruit filling can become watery on thawing and may require additional thickener.

It's no surprise that the vast majority of the country favors pumpkin and apple pie on Thanksgiving. However, when you look at the most unique searches by state, there were some interesting regional favorites that ranked high in certain locations.

Perhaps the most popular Thanksgiving dessert, pumpkin pie is an easy favorite. Traditionally, pumpkin, either freshly roasted and pureed or canned, is mixed with a spice blend of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves and mace.

Surprising to some, pumpkin is NOT America's favorite Thanksgiving pie—the crown goes to apple pie (Hey pumpkin, how's that for a dose of humble pie?)