The perfect egg free pumpkin chiffon pie is an amazing vegan pie to wow guests at all your next holiday gathering. It is gluten free, egg free, dairy free, and top 8 allergen free yet light as air.
Jump to:
- Why Is This Pumpkin Chiffon Pie Recipe so Important to Us?
- Pumpkin Chiffon Pie Ingredients:
- Directions on How to Make Pumpkin Chiffon Pie Filling
- Going From a Pumpkin Pie to a Chiffon Pie
- Substitutions To make the pumpkin chiffon pie vegan:
- Adaptations
- Pie crust:
- Other recipes you may enjoy
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
This Egg Free Pumpkin Chiffon Pie is the quintessential fall pie in our house. The original recipe came with my partner and has been one he made for eons before I ever knew him. Until now it was a closely guarded secret to get his recipe. To him this recipe was to be kept secret at any cost! He would bring this to all the fall gatherings and anyone who hated pumpkin pie would fall in love with this recipe. It is light and fluffy. There are holidays where I feel stuffed but eating this pie is never too much!
Why Is This Pumpkin Chiffon Pie Recipe so Important to Us?
When we first got news that one of our kids was diagnosed with EoE and had a ton of food allergies and restrictions THIS is the one recipe that the kids cried over not having. Luckily they have an amazing man in their life who made the pie over and over until he perfected the ratios to make it free from the top 8 allergens (except coconut in the whipped coconut cream). It took him a lot of work to get the agar agar just right. Too much and it makes the pumpkin mix granular. Too little and it melts into a puddle and won’t set.
This Pie Was So Special For Our Kids!
It was the first thing that let them see that they could still live a normal food life and eat the dishes they had loved and their friends eat. When we make this every thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthday the kids get so excited to not miss out on anything it makes me well up with tears. Yes, I said birthday. A different child (we have 4) asks for this for their birthday every year in the spring. One year it was all they asked for for presents.
Back to the Egg Free Pumpkin Chiffon Pie. It is a light and fluffy, melt in your mouth dessert. The meringue makes it airy and soft unlike most heavy pumpkin pies. It is a crowd pleaser.
Pumpkin Chiffon Pie Ingredients:
Tinned pumpkin purée:
Where we are this comes super thick. Stand your spoon straight up in it thick. If you are not in Canada or aren’t using the same brand as we do (can see it here) you may need to cook the mix a bit longer to thicken it. We have noticed that some brands in other parts of the world are really runny and ours really isn’t. You can use homemade puree from roasted baking pumpkins. We have but again it may change the cooking time based on how thick the purée is.
Cream of tartar:
This doesn’t contain dairy. It isn’t actually cream. It is a byproduct of wine making and is a tartaric acid.
Aquafaba:
The liquid from a tin of chickpeas. When you are making falafels or our marinated chickpeas don’t throw the liquid gold chickpea water out. It can be whipped and used as an egg substitute in so many dishes. It keeps for around 72 hours in the fridge. If you buy dried chickpeas it is the cooking water you use, not the soaking water. You have to reduce the cooking water by at least ½ - ⅔ to make it that lovely thick consistency. It should be well chilled for this recipe.
Egg replacer:
We like Bob's Red Mill but it isn’t safe for everyone. Ground flax or psyllium husk fibre, even ground chia will work too. You may need to add a bit more water to the slurry.
Non- dairy milk:
We have used a few different types here. Coconut gives the pie a different taste. In other words, unless you don’t have a suitable alternative, steer clear of it. Rice and oat milk work well here. You can also use your favourite type of dairy replacement in it’s unsweetened original flavour.
Sugar:
Check that the granulated kind available is vegan, some countries process theirs with bone char. Organic sugars are often suitable but do contact the manufacturer to be certain.
Directions on How to Make Pumpkin Chiffon Pie Filling
This recipe is a no bake recipe!
The first task is to mix the gelatin (or agar) with water and let it sit to thicken. A medium sized heavy bottomed pot over low heat is used to combine Brown sugar, and the spices. Stirring is incredibly important at this step or the sugar will burn. Pumpkin is next to be added and mixed well to heat. The egg replacer slurry will be beaten with the vegan milk and added to the pot. Thickening the mix over low heat, stirring constantly.
Going From a Pumpkin Pie to a Chiffon Pie
Once thicker, remove the pot from heat and beat in the agar or gelatin mix to get the filling. Set the mix in a large bowl for 20-30 mins while cooling in the fridge. Beat the chilled aquafaba and cream of tartar with a mixer until stiff peaks form. By the tablespoon, add the granulated sugar until all mixed into the fluffy and shiny meringue. Beat until the cooled pumpkin mix has been set aside, until fluffy. The meringue is then folded into the pumpkin mix carefully before using the merangue and pumpkin mix to fill the cooled pie crusts. The filled shells will need to be in the fridge for over 8 hours to set. Serve with whipped coconut cream either homemade or from a squirty can like this coconut topping and dust with ground nutmeg.
Substitutions To make the pumpkin chiffon pie vegan:
Agar agar or gelatin:
Agar is a seaweed powder that thickens and gels. You can also get an agar gel but we haven’t worked with it. You will need to test it . Agar is used to make the dish vegan and also pork free. If you are using gelatin make sure your gelatin is free from shellfish as some can contain it, usually the kosher kinds.
Coconut:
It is really hard to whip cream without coconut. Aquafaba can be used but lots of icing sugar and cream of tartar is needed to get it both sweet and stiff enough to pipe on. The taste of aquafaba has less of a rich taste and whipped texture and more of a frothy feel and definite bean aftertaste.
Adaptations
Instead of pumpkin this chiffon pie could be made with chocolate pudding or coconut cream in place of the pumpkin. Other squash can also be used or mashed bananas. We haven’t tried a thick applesauce but would love to hear if you do.
Pie crust:
You can use the egg free pumpkin chiffon pie filling in any crust you’d like. Our Crushed Cookie Pie base is super easy if you made our ginger cookies. Double the batch and make two crusts as well. We also use pre-made ”safe for us” gluten free pie crusts we find at our local grocer in the natural foods aisle. This one we use often and can find it at our specialty natural foods grocers. Be sure to bake the crusts empty and let them cool (blind baking) before putting in the filling. Quick Tip—if you are using baking beans or weights make sure to have a set dedicated to allergen/vegan baking so there isn’t cross contamination. Check the label of the dried beans as they can sometimes carry a “May contain” warning or be cross contaminated, especially with wheat.
Pumpkin Chiffon Pie Storage
Fridge
This pie does best when stored in a refrigerator, when needing storage. If left out it will not hold its shape well. When the whipped coconut cream has been added refrigeration will be needed for any pie not eaten immediately as coconut whip falls quickly at room temperature. It will keep for 48 hours covered in the fridge.
Freezer
This pie does not freeze well and it is not recommended to store it in the freezer. It can be made the day before without the whipped coconut cream and stored in the fridge , adding the whipped coconut cream before serving.
Other recipes you may enjoy
Allergen Friendly Chocolate Cake
We hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do and that it becomes one of your favourite holiday desserts. Please leave a comment if you try the egg free pumpkin chiffon pie.
📖 Recipe
Equipment
- 2 Pie Dishes
- Hand mixer
- 2-3 Large bowls
- utensils for cooking
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 1 TBSPs gelatine or 1 ⅓ a TBSPs Agar Agar powder for a vegan recipe
- ¼ C cold water
- 1 C packed brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 ⅓ C tinned thick pure pumpkin purée
- 1 tablespoon egg replacer mixed with 3 TBSPs water to form a slurry bob’s red mill or ground psyllium husk or ground flax
- 6 TBSPs liquid aquafaba chilled
- ½ C oat milk or non dairy milk substitute
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 6 TBSPs Granulated organic vegan sugar
Instructions
- Prep your desired shell as per the dough recipe or pre-made shell instructions for blind baked pie crusts.
- Start by mixing gelatin or agar with the cold water and let it thicken. Set aside until step 7.
- In a heavy medium pot add Brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice. Heat over low heat stirring constantly or it will burn.
- Add pumpkin to pot and mix well while still slowly heating the mix.
- Beat egg replacer slurry with Oat milk. Mixing until smooth and all clumps of egg replacer are out of oat milk.
- Add Oat milk and egg replacer mix to the pumpkin mix in the pot. Blending well.
- Cook until thickened, stirring constantly while making sure the mix doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
- Remove the pot from heat. Beat in the agar or gelatin and water that was set aside earlier.
- Let it cool after transferring to a large bowl for 20-30 mins or until it starts to set. Set aside until step 11.
- Beat the chilled aquafaba and cream of tartar with a handheld mixer in a medium bowl until it forms stiff peaks like a meringue.
- Add the granulated sugar by the tablespoon until all six are well mixed into the aquafaba meringue. Set aside until step 12.
- Use the hand mixer to beat the cooked pumpkin mix that has cooled and partially set. Beat until fluffy.
- Fold aquafaba meringue into the fluffy pumpkin mix in the large bowl carefully to not knock air out if it.
- Fill 2 9-inch baked pie shells with the combined pumpkin meringue filling.
- Let the pie chill covered in the fridge for a minimum of 8 hours but best to chill overnight.
- Serve with whipped coconut cream either homemade or from a squirt bottle like this one if it is safe for you.
Tricia says
My family enjoyed this on Thanksgiving. I made two egg free pumpkin pies and this one was the winner- unanimously. Since my son can’t have the chickpea water, we used two cups of coconut cream as suggested. I made a mistake and did not add oat milk (it’s not listed in the steps), so it was enough filling for one delicious pie. I think I will make this way again because it was such a hit. Thanks again for your recipe and your adaptation for me.
Katherine says
Hi Tricia,
Thank you so much for letting me know the oat milk step wasn't clear. I have changed the instructions to make them more clear with when to add in the oat milk. I am so sorry it was not listed. I am so glad your family enjoyed this Pumpkin Chiffon Pie! If you ever need adaptations to remove pea protein or other allergens, please let us know. I am always happy to whip a recipe up to make sure it works before you try it with adaptations. Would you mind if I added the two cups of coconut cream as a option for others with pea protein allergies?
Katherine
Tricia says
Of course, please share the adaptation- I took the idea from you. 🙂
Katherine says
Thank you!