Crustless Pumpkin Pie with Streusel Topping
Updated 2022 to add a printable recipe card!
Pumpkin pie without a crust? Why would someone want such a thing??
Well, if you're like me, and traditional pie crust really, really doesn't blow your hair back, crustless pie is a gift from heaven.
I know pie crust is almost universally liked, but I am just not a fan, even when it's a perfectly executed crust. To me, it never seems like it should go with a sweet filling and I usually end up leaving the crust on my plate (there's no point in forcing down something with lots of calories and little nutritional value!).
Now, graham cracker and cookie crusts are an entirely different story...they're sweet and I think they go very nicely with a sweet pie filling. To me, those are some calories worth eating.
A crustless pie might also be appealing to those of you who like crust but who hate to make it. Pie crust is a somewhat time-consuming part of pumpkin pie because it has to be made, baked, and cooled ahead of time, and this pie skips all of that.
Also, a crustless pie is definitely lower in calories. In fact, I originally found this recipe in a low-fat cookbook when I was in my teens, so calorie/fat savings were definitely the original reasons this recipe was devised.
The actual pie filling in this recipe has less sugar than a traditional pie filling (½ cup instead of ¾ to 1 cup), but the ¼ cup of sugar in the streusel kind of nullifies any sugar savings. Still, if you like a very sweet pie filling, you may want to add more than ½ cup of sugar when you make your filling.
Since a pie crust kind of holds a pie together, a crustless pie needs to be firmer. Otherwise, it would be impossible to slice and serve. Normal pumpkin pie recipes don't include flour, but this one does for the sole purpose of firming up the pie.
Anyways, this is really, really easy to make. In fact, there are only two steps for the filling.
Dump everything together in a bowl:
and mix it all up until it's smooth.
Pour the filling into a greased 9-inch pie plate.
That was easy.
Now for the streusel. To make this, simply combine quick-cooking oats and brown sugar and cut in two tablespoons of butter.
Sprinkle the streusel over top of the pie.
Bake in a preheated 350° F oven for 50-55 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
I recommend placing a hefty dollop of whipped cream on each piece of pie, especially since you're saving yourself so many calories by not eating pie crust. 😉
Because the streusel topping tends to absorb moisture from the pie, this pie is best the day you make it.
So, if you live by yourself and will be eating the pie for a week straight, I'd probably just skip the streusel and add a little more sugar to the filling.
A gluten-free note: Some readers have subbed gluten-free flour for the flour in the filling. And if you use certified gluten-free oats in the topping, that could be gluten-free as well.
Crustless Pumpkin Pie with Streusel Topping
(Scroll all the way down for the printable.)
1 can (16 oz.) pumpkin
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I use 1 t. cinnamon, and ⅛ t. each of allspice, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger)
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
Topping
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup quick-cooking oats
2 tablespoons butter
Heat oven to 350 ° F. In a bowl, combine pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, flour, spices, baking powder, and salt. Mix until smooth. Pour into greased 9-inch pie plate.
Combine brown sugar and oats, and cut in butter if desired. Sprinkle over pie filling.
Bake 50-55 minutes or until knife inserted into center of pie comes out clean.
Crustless Streusel-Topped Pumpkin Pie
For crust-haters like me (or just for people who want a super easy pie recipe!)
Ingredients
- 1 can (16 oz.) pumpkin
- 1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I use 1 t. cinnamon, and ⅛ t. each of allspice, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger)
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Topping
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup quick-cooking oats
- 2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
Heat oven to 350° F.
In a bowl, combine pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, flour, spices, baking powder, and salt. Mix until smooth. Pour into greased 9-inch pie plate.
Combine brown sugar and oats, and cut in butter. Sprinkle over pie filling.
Bake 50-55 minutes or until knife inserted into center of pie comes out clean.
Notes
The streusel topping is at its best on days 1-2.
This looks great! I would like to try it, but I have a dairy intolerance. Do you think I could substitute soy milk for the evaporated milk?
I bet you could. Evaporated milk is thicker than regular milk...is there anything similar in a soy variety? Like soy "cream"?
I think you and I could just share a piece of pie as the only part I usually like is the crust! However pumpkin pie is the one kind I like so this looks pretty good to me as a non-crust maker.
This looks fantastic and easy to make. I don't eat gluten, and I hate making gluten free crusts (or any crusts for that matter). I'll just exchange the wheat flour with rice flour + xantham gum and try this out. Thanks!
Other common thickeners for custardy pie fillings are cornstarch and tapioca flour, no xantham gum needed - are either gluten-free?
Both are gluten-free.
I'm SO happy to see this posted, as I've been anxiously waiting for it since your 365 post! I love how simple the instructions are to follow! I bet some chopped pecans would be good in the topping - do you think that would work?
That sounds really tasty...definitely give it a try!
Looks delicious!! I can't wait to try this. I am so with you....I hate pie crust!
@ Melissa, try coconut milk! It's fantastic.
I make something like this quite often, it's a recipe from the Moosewood restaurant (low-fat cookbook) that's called Pumpkin custard. I've made it at Thanksgiving for the non-crusters in the family, and they all love it. It doesn't have any flour, and holds up just fine, but I do always cook it in 8 oz ramekins (which I have lids for, so I can send these beauties to school with the kids for lunch). I've also made the same thing when I wanted pie, but wasn't down on the soggy mess of a crust that usually happens with Pumpkin pie, but my favorite trick (and I do this with any sort of pie, it's pretty quick) is to make the filling separately (custard in a pie plate or ramekins, other fruit fillings in a pot on the stovetop) and bake the crust as cookies that can top the servings of filling with. If you brush the dough with a little melted butter, then sprinkle on some cinnamon and sugar, they're really great! I cut them on the diagonal, into diamonds, so there's no re-rolling. My kids adore this, and you don't have to worry that your pie filling (apple, or especially rhubarb) hasn't set up. And it cooks up much quicker than a whole pie.
I love crust on fruit pies, but I grew up with crustless pumpkin pie since that is the way my dad prefers it. This recipe sounds similar to the one he makes except his uses honey instead of sugar and doesn't have the topping.
I love the pastry, but I did make Pumpkin Pie ice cream the other day, which was scrumptious and suitable for those who don't appreciate pie crust!
It was pretty similar to your pie filling (including the evap) but without flour and with more egg yolks, but you could probably just freeze your favourite filling and it would taste good. Just make sure it's sweet and spicy enough, as flavour tends to be muted when cold.
Thanks for another delicious recipe!
I love crustless pumpkin pie, it is so fast and easy to make. My family are HUGE fans of pumpkin pie (my third child requests it for his birthday every year...in April). I love the fact that I can substitute any winter squash (except spaghetti, to runny) for pumpkin in the recipe. Your recipe will be a great way to use up the all the butternut and hubbard squash from my garden. Thank you for sharing another delicious recipe!
Ok, THAT is awesome. Since pie crust is my hardest thing to make, I will definitely be trying this. Thanks!
This is fabulous! Made my day - I am the same as you - don't really care for the crust on pies. Like you said, graham cracker crust is a different story but traditional pie crust ... no thanks. Def. gonna make this for Thanksgiving this year instead of the usual pie. Yay!
I've never seen the point of most crusts, either(obviouly barring pretzel, graham cracker, and cookie!). I made quiche-like dinner last week and realized that, for all the work of the crust, it added nothing to the meal, so next time it's just going to be crustless. As for this pie - long live dump and stir recipes! 🙂
Yup, I love crustless quiche too. So much better.
Have you tried a timable? It's in the same family as quiche filling, baked in a bowl in a water bath.
Pumpkin pie is actually fairly healthy--the pumpkin is very nutritious, plus you've got milk and eggs, so lots of protein as well. This would make a great breakfast!
*looks around sheepishly* I've actually eaten it for breakfast multiple times.
I do leave off the whipped cream at breakfast. =P
@Kristen, Pumpkin pie is the traditional day after Thanksgiving breakfast at our house!
This pie looks oh so scrumptious. I do believe I will have to bake this for Thanksgiving.
I'm with you; unless it's a really good homemade crust, most times the filling gets eaten & the crust is left. I printed this out to try. Thanks!
Deliziosa! I'd love to make it, but I don't know what could substitute Graham crackers... erm, what are they exactly? And can I use fresh milk?
It can even be made MORE diet friendly by using evaporated skim milk and egg whites. Did the figuring and if it serves 8 with the changes it's only around 200 cals. per slice, well worth it!
Oh yum! I am totally going to make this. I am one of those people who hates to make the crust, so this will be perfect. Thanks for the great recipe!
what a great recipe for a lighter holiday treat! i love the topping too, i need to try this out.
You can substitute coconut cream for the evaporated milk for those who are dairy intolerant. I like homemade pie crust but I make mine sweet with a little sugar added to it thus making it more like a sweet pastry. Everyone always loves my pie crust and pie crust cookies, I baked professionally for a while and even pie crust haters ate mine just add 1/4 cup sugar per 2 cups of flour. That being said crustless pie is good especially for gluten free! And it does cut down on calories and time! Your pictures are always so lovely Kristen
Kristen, outstanding! I will just substitute rice flour for the wheat flour, and have a really nice gluten free pumpkin pie for Rachel this year 🙂
oh my. this looks delish. and i love me some pumpkin about this time of year.
Kristen, I have one word for you, girl ... YUM!!!
Kristen, this sounds great!
Not a fan of crust either, always a filling girl from way back!
Then gluten-free crusts just taste bad.
But for those who love crust but not the soggy kind, here is my Aunt-in-laws trick.
Place crust in pan.poke holes with a fork, all over. Brush with a bit of eggwash and bake 8- 12 minutes. Helps seal the crust from those custardy and cream pie fillings! Make sure to cover the edges of the crust when finishing in the oven, as the prebaking adds time for the crust.
For Halloween my three pumpkins were stacked largest to smallest (using wooden kabob sticks to hold them together) and decorated similiar to a snowman using celery for mouth, pickles for eyes, etc. So I guess you could say my jack-o-lanterns were disguised. Anyway, once Halloween was over, I snatched back the sugar pumpkin that I had used for the head and made your crustless pumpkin pie. Am I frugal or what?!
that looks so fantastic. Pumpkin pie is my absolue favorite. You should pop by my blog and look at my apple pie recipe. I has a oatmeal crust that is to die for.
My daughter loves pumpkin pie but not the crust . She will love this recipe. Thanks!
What modifications are necessary to make this recipe with a pumpkin and milk instead of:
1 can (16 oz.) pumpkin
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
You can use 12 ounces of half and half if you'd prefer to not buy evaporated milk.
For the pumpkin, a commenter below had a suggestion for you.
This didn't really work for me. Perhaps someone can help me troubleshoot. I had no eggs, so I used ener-g egg substitute, but I followed the recipe otherwise. My pie ended up with a skin, and didn't really set up until this morning - so it's more like a custard than a pie. Did I not cook it long enough? Does my oven need to be hotter? Does it need to sit for a while before eating? Or do I really need to use real eggs? Thanks.
I've never used the egg substitute, so I'm not totally sure what to suggest. Maybe try it with real eggs and see if that works better?
Diana,
You can use 1 1/2 cups of regular milk plus an additional 1/2-2/3 cup dry milk (more for a creamier pie.
Use about 2 cups pumpkin for the can of pumpkin.
I tried this recipe; however, I reduced the brown sugar in the topping to 1/8 cup of brown sugar and oatmeal and added 1/4 cup of ground flax and 1/4 cup of walnuts. I really like pumpkin and I REALLY like this recipe. Thank you.
I so love this concept! I HATE pie crust - as did my dear Mother before me - we used to just make pumpkin custard with no crust- but this streusel concept would be lovely.
Since I'm vegan, I'll throw an idea out there for Molly - often subbing 1/4 cup blended silken tofu for each egg in a recipe like this will work pretty well. (I'd love to hear if it does!)
any substitute for eggs? don't want to use ener g egg substitute either' .
Thanks
I am totally inexperienced with egg substitutions, but if I were you, I'd google to see what other people substitute for eggs in pumpkin pie. I think the appropriate sub all depends on what the egg is being used for. In this case, it provides some richness, but the main purpose is probably to offer stabilization to the pie (the job of the egg white).
So, you'd want an egg substitute that performs that purpose.
I hope that helps!
I am making this for Thanksgiving. Less calories than with a pie crust and that means I can have whipped cream on top!!! I think hubby will love it as he is not a big fan of pie crust.
Whipped cream is WAY better than pie crust, in my opinion. 😉
Yankees and their crustless pies!
Being a bad southerner, I dislike how sweet the fillings of pies are though, so I've been contemplating rolling a pie crust on a cookie sheet and spreading a thin layer of pie filling on top. Cookie pies? Apple crusties? Do such things exist?
@Tiana,
Your description makes me think of pastries: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pastries
@Tiana, I am not sure I qualify as a Southerner (grew up in WV and live in MD, so kind of borderline--literally the Mason-Dixon is only a few hundred yards away), but I like pie crust, too. I used to be scared of it, but I found that practice (and real lard) makes perfect. And I don't pre-bake my pumpkin pie crusts; I just roll out the crust, pour in the filling, and bake.
So if you actually like pie crust, the key to conquering making pie crust is practice. I used to be quite scared of it, too.
OOOOOHHHHH, I'm going to make that this weekend. That looks divine!
I make your recipe every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and again in February when we have a second Thanksgiving to use up the loss leaders I picked up during the holidays. I skip the streusel topping since my crew likes it plain. I went to make it once and realized I only had sweetened condensed milk, so I used it and skipped the sugar and it turned out same as always.
Hmmm, I just went back and pulled my recipe card where I wrote down the recipe, and I don't have the 1/2 cup of flour written down. I also have 3/4 cup sugar instead of 1/2 cup.
I've been making it without the flour all this time, and it's been delicious, so maybe some of your gluten free readers might experiment without the flour and just keep checking it every 5 minutes after the first hour until the middle is set.
I know mine usually takes longer than the 50-55 minutes, more like an hour and 15 minutes, so maybe the missing flour is why?
And now I am craving pumpkin pie and whipped cream!