Air Fryer Pumpkin Pie is a delicious fall dessert. Quick to make and packed full of pumpkin spice flavor, your friends and family will love this easy to make dessert. When Thanksgiving comes around, let your oven handle the turkey, your air fryer can take care of the pumpkin pie!
Reasons To Make Pumpkin Pie In An Air Fryer:
- This classic and delicious recipe is incredibly simple to make.
- It’s packed full of that amazing pumpkin spice flavor that everyone loves.
- Save room in the oven for your turkey or stuffing, your air fryer can handle dessert.
- While fantastic for Thanksgiving, this is a recipe you can easily enjoy year round.
How To Make Pumpkin Pie In An Air Fryer
Making pumpkin pie in an air fryer is really no different than making it your oven. The process is almost identical, it simply bakes in a different appliance. While I love the Libbys Pumpkin Pie recipe and my Easy Pumpkin Pie recipe, I love having an option that doesn’t need that precious oven space during the holidays. The ease of using the air fryer has made this one of my favorite pumpkin recipes!
Ingredients
- Pumpkin – My go to is Libby’s Canned Pumpkin Puree. It has a very consistent texture which is helpful for baking. You can use fresh pumpkin puree, which will be delicious, but the results may be slightly different.
- Evaporated milk – Make sure you grab evaporated milk, and not sweetened condensed milk. Double check your expiration dates. Evaporated milk is one of those items we sometimes keep on hand but don’t use often, thus it can expire.
- Brown sugar – Light or dark brown sugar will work.
- White sugar – Your standard granulated sugar.
- All-Purpose Flour – This recipe has been tested using all purpose flour, I can’t speak to how other flours work for this.
- Spices – Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves and Ginger OR Pumpkin Pie Spice.
- Salt – Diamond Kosher salt is my favorite.
- Eggs – Make sure you are using large eggs, and room temperature is preferable.
- Pre-Made Pie Crust Dough – I am a huge fan of the Pillsbury Pie Crust that you can find in your grocer’s refrigerated area, often by the cookie dough. This isn’t a sponsored post, I’ve just used this product for years and it’s my favorite. I’ve tried others, but always return to Pillsbury.
- An Air Fryer + Pie Pans – Make sure your pie pans fit into your air fryer, prior to starting this recipe. Air fryers come in many sizes, so take a moment to check before opening up your ingredients.
- Pie Weights – Pie weights allow you to blind bake the pie (baking the pie crust without the filling) and prevent the pie crust from puffing up while doing so.
This recipe makes two pies. Some air fryers have a removable rack that will give you the space needed to make both at the same time. If you do not have this type of air fryer, no worries, just make one pie at a time.
Directions
Start With The Pie Crust
To make an air fryer pumpkin pie, start by preparing the crust. Roll out the crust, and gently place it into a 7″ or 8″ round pie plate. There will be excess pie crust, simply trim it off, then fold the edges of the crust under to help create a thicker edge around the pie crust.
Press the edges of the pie crust into a scalloped pattern. Here is a great post that shows how to give your pie crust different looks. After the crust is formed, press a sheet of aluminum foil into the pie, taking care to cover the entire crust. Make sure the foil is taller than the crust, as it will have to be removed from the pie while still hot and filled with pie weights. Leave yourself enough area to hold onto.
Once the foil is placed into the pie crust, fill it with pie weights dried beans or rice. This helps keep the foil in place during baking, which makes sure the pie crust retains it’s shape. The crust is then placed into an air fryer that has been preheated to 300 degrees. The crust will bake for ten minutes, then the foil will removed and the crust will go back in.
Make The Filling
While the crust is baking, prepare the pumpkin pie filling. All ingredients except for the eggs are combined and mixed together, then the eggs are added in. Super simple!
After baking for ten minutes, the foil and pie weights are removed from the crust. The bottom of the crust gets pricked with a fork, then the crust bakes for another five minutes. One the crust is fully baked, the pumpkin pie filling is carefully poured into the crust. Make sure not to overfill the crust, the filling be about 1/4″ below the top of the pie crust.
The pie is then baked at 350 degrees for for approximately 20 minutes. The middle should be set and not move when you gently shake the crust. If the center is not set after 20 minutes, bake for an additional five minutes, check, and repeat if needed.
Once finished baking, pies should cool for at least an hour, and up to two hours. It may be easiest to simply take the air fryer basket out of the oven, and leave the pie inside it while it cools. It can be a bit tricky to take the very hot pie out of the hot air fryer basket.
After that, transfer to the refrigerator to chill for at least two hours. The chilling time will also allow the pie to full set up.
Expert Tips
- Blind Baking: While many recipes say you can skip the blind baking, you will truly get the best results by blind baking the crust. This will give you a light and flakey crust, instead of a possibly chewy crust.
- Make sure you use canned pumpkin puree and NOT pumpkin pie filling. The two products look very similar on store shelves, so double check that you have pure pumpkin puree, with no other ingredients added.
Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.)
- Can I just use pumpkin pie spice in this recipe? Yes! I recommend using 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice to replace the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves in this recipe.
- I don’t like nutmeg/ginger/cloves, can I leave them out? Yes! If there is a spice you don’t like, or one you don’t have on hand, it’s fine to leave it out. I recommend increasing cinnamon to replace it.
- I don’t have any evaporated milk – is there something else I could use? Yes. You can substitute milk or cream by adding 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to the recipe. Do not use sweetened condensed milk, the other common canned milk item, it is thicker and sweetened.
- Do I need to use both white sugar and brown sugar? You do not, you use all white sugar or all brown sugar. It will change the flavor and texture slightly, but will still be delicious.
- Could I use fresh pumpkin instead of canned? Yes, it will be a slightly different texture and flavor, but still delicious.
Check out all of my Air Fryer Recipes!
More Delicious and Easy Recipes To Try
Air Fryer Pumpkin Pie
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 1 package refrigerated pie crust I recommend Pillsbury
- 1 15oz can pure pumpkin puree
- 1 12oz can evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 large eggs room temperature
Instructions
Pie Crust
- Preheat the air fryer to 300 degrees for about 5 minutes. Place pie crust into two 7" or 8" pie pans. Cut off any excess crust, leaving approximately 1" of crust around the edges. Fold the remaining pie crust edges in toward the pie, and pinch or crimp the edges to create a decorative look.
- Press a sheet of aluminum foil over the pastry – the aluminum foil should be pressed into every nook of the crust and make sure it is larger than the crust so it can easily be removed later. Fill the foil with beans, pie weights, or rice. Blind bake the crust for 10 minutes at 300 degrees.
- Remove the the foil containing the beans, weights, or rice. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork about 10 times to help keep the crust from puffing up. Bake at 300 for another 5 minutes.
Pie
- While the crust is baking, use an electric mixer to combine the pumpkin, evaporated milk, brown sugar, white sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, cloves. Once the batter is combined, mix in eggs until combined, but do not over mix.
- Transfer the batter into a container that allows you to easily pour from it, such as a liquid measuring cup. Leave the crust in the air fryer while you carefully pour the pumpkin batter into the pie plate. Use no more than half of the mixture in each pie. Do not overfill the crust, it should come about ¼ of an inch from the top of the crust. If you have an air fryer with a rack that allows you to cook both pies at the same time, you may get both of the pies ready to bake, otherwise bake them one at a time.
- Set the temperature to 350 degrees and bake the pie for 20 minutes. The middle should be just set, and not move when slightly shaken. If the center still has a liquid or moveable texture, bake at additional 5 minute intervals until done.
- Cool the pies at room temperature for an hour, maximum 2 hours. Simply remove the basket from the air fryer, the pie can sit in the air fryer basket while it cools, this may be easier than removing the hot pie from the air fryer basket. Cool the pies in the fridge for at least 2 hours to firm up. Store loosely covered in refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Notes
- This recipe makes two pies. Some air fryers have a removable rack that will give you the space needed to make both at the same time. If you do not have this type of air fryer, no worries, just make one pie at a time
- Blind Baking: While many recipes say you can skip the blind baking, you will truly get the best results by blind baking the crust. This will give you a light and flakey crust, instead of a possibly chewy crust.
- Make sure you use canned pumpkin puree and NOT pumpkin pie filling. The two products look very similar on store shelves, so double check that you have pure pumpkin puree, with no other ingredients added.
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Marie says
I think the recipe itself is good, but I had trouble with getting my pie done which I believe is because my air fryer may have been too small. I had to cook it twice the recommended time to get the center to be 180 degrees F (the recommended internal temp). The surface of the pie also turned spotty and black/brown because it cooked way too fast on the surface. Next time I would try to protect the surface with foil for at least part of the baking time. I always use foil to protect the edges from getting overdone. In my opinion, a small air fryer isn’t ideal for this pie but it’ll get the job done! The pie tasted great but didn’t look pretty.
Christi Johnstone says
The challenge with air fryers is that there is a HUGE variation in size and power and even type. My daughter has a tiny little air fryer in her college apartment. My brother has a large air fryer that doubles as a toaster oven. I have something in the middle. Unlike a traditional oven, it’s really hard to give a cooking time/temp that will apply evenly to all.
Jennifer Fair says
Made my first pumpkin pies in air fryer! Went smoothly and the pies look great half the time for baking and I can’t wait to taste them. Bet I won’t be disappointed!:)
Michelle says
Great! Love my air fryer and love pumpkin pie.