Meet Your New Stress-Free Holiday Hero: No-Bake Pumpkin Pie

We’ve all been there: the moment where your illustrious cooking plans during the holidays turn into an exasperating game of oven Tetris. Which is likely when you, hands full with all the largest, heaviest kitchenware you own, begin the negotiations. Maybe the stuffing can come out early? What if the potatoes and the roasted vegetables were squished into the same pan? Does the whole meal really need to be served warm, and at the same time, anyway? …Is it too late to just order pizza instead?

That’s why incorporating a recipe (or a few) that doesn’t need a space in the oven can really save the day when making a multi-course meal. And we like to think dessert is a particularly great dish become one of these heroes. Even if you’re accustomed to baking a day or two early before a celebratory dinner, it’s still incredibly helpful to have a couple favorite recipes at your disposal that look/taste great but don’t take all day to make! Case in point: our beautiful No-Bake Pumpkin Pie.

While you will need to make (or simply just buy) a blind-baked pie crust for this recipe—and we have an excellent video on how to make a super wholesome vegan pie crust in case you’re in need—the all-important filling for this beloved dessert couldn’t be simpler: It sets up in the refrigerator … not the oven! And while it tastes just like the exquisitely traditional pumpkin pie you’re craving, you’ll find that the superfood secrets behind the scenes work wonders to make this version better than ever.

To begin, we like to use … seaweed. Yes, you read that right! Our best-kept secret for a great pumpkin pie is agar agar—a totally taste-free seaweed—which helps firm up the filling while adding almost zero additional calories or fat. We also replace the white sugar with a mixture of natural maple syrup and coconut sugar or monkfruit, and lean on cholesterol-free coconut milk in place of heavy cream or sweetened condensed milk. And, in addition to using the classic warming spices like cinnamon and ginger, we like to add some highly nutritious maca root to our pumpkin pie, which adds a slightly earthy butterscotch note to the medley. (You can also omit maca from this recipe for a more traditionally flavored pumpkin pie, too.) Indeed: a homemade pumpkin pie with the perfect texture, beautifully spiced, smartly sweetened, superfood-improved and (secretly!) prepped in mere minutes … how’s that for a little culinary magic at your holiday table?

WATCH HOW WE MAKE OUR NO-BAKE PUMPKIN PIE:

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