How to Make Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Pie [Video]

Learn how to make a healthy gluten-free vegan pumpkin pie recipe without crust. This pie is light and lean, therefore suitable for weekday indulgence. However, it can also be the main dessert on your vegan Thanksgiving table.

What I love about this pie recipe:

• Quick and easy to make.
• Made of whole food ingredients.
• Perfect weeknight dessert.

This vegan pumpkin pie is gluten-free, oil-free, relatively low in fats, low glycemic, Candida diet friendly, soy-free, nut-free (use tahini or sunflower seed butter, and refined sugar free.

How to Make a Healthy Vegan Pumpkin Pie

The Ingredients

This pie is made of whole food plant-based ingredients leaving out even the healthier refined sweeteners like brown sugar, coconut sugar or maple syrup. Furthermore, since my goal was to make a pie that is lower in fats, especially saturated fats, I don’t use full-fat coconut milk or vegan whipped cream either.

First, unlike most pumpkin pie recipes, we are going to use steamed pumpkin instead of pumpkin puree. You may use either regular pumpkin, butternut squash, or Hokkaido pumpkin. I used butternut squash.

Then, as a liquid agent, I went for oat sour milk, that is oat milk mixed with apple cider vinegar.

Next, the sweetener in this vegan pumpkin pie is Medjool dates. Yes, dates! As it turns out, not all date varieties are high glycemic. In fact, some are even considered low glycemic. I’ll write more on the subject below. Alternatively, watch the video and listen to me speak about the matter of dates and glycemic load. Read more on low glycemic sweeteners and Candida diet sweeteners.

In my opinion, there needs to be something hearty in a pie recipe. So, I added peanut butter. However, any additive-free nut butter would do.

As my pumpkin pie is gluten-free, the flours that I used are whole oat flour and raw buckwheat flour.

As far as the spices are concerned, I added cinnamon, ginger, and turmeric. However, feel free to use pumpkin spice instead.

I don’t know why, but I simply love poppy seeds! So, in they go!

And finally, I like my pie to have a tiny bit of fluffiness, so let’s add baking powder as well.

Are Dates Low Glycemic or High Glycemic?

Since my vegan pumpkin pie contains dates, I feel that I owe you an explanation.

You know what, I used to be afraid of dates ever since I started my Candida healing journey in 2016. Even when I’d already been living Candida-free for years, I’d avoid them thinking they’d certainly cause a flare-up.

However, I was misinformed. So, I dug into research and as it turns out, dates can be either low, medium, or high glycemic.

In a study from 2016, 17 varieties of dates were tested and the glycemic load of a portion of 3 dates ranged from 8.5 to 24.

Remember, GL 10 and below is considered low, 11-19 is medium and 20 and above is considered high. The medjool dates that I’m using in this recipe are medium with GL of 17.2.

In case you’re wondering, the varieties with the lowest glycemic load are Ajwah and Shaqra. And the ones that fall into high GL category are Sellaj and Um-Kabar. The rest have medium glycemic load ranging from 11.7 to 17.2.

Now, you need to remember that it’s all about the quantities as well! Those numbers were given for a portion of 3 dates. So, if you eat an entire box or an entire pie, you CAN negatively affect your blood sugar.

Another 2020 review discusses how dates contain antioxidant compounds that support healthy insulin sensitivity and blood glucose control that can be beneficial for people with diabetes.

Other research suggests that, despite their sweetness, dates contain compounds that can be helpful in the nutritional management of diabetes and other insulin-resistant conditions.

The Process

Fortunately, it’s very easy to make this vegan pumpkin pie. You’ll require a large bowl, a regular or an immersion blender, a spatula, parchment paper, and a baking tin.

We start by cutting raw pumpkin into cubes and steaming them for 10 minutes.

Then, we blend the wet mixture by processing steamed pumpkin, oat milk and apple cider vinegar, Medjool dates, and peanut butter.

Next, in a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients – oat and buckwheat flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, and poppy seeds.

Now, pour the wet mixture onto the dry ingredients and combine well until you have a homogeneous batter. Don’t worry, it’s supposed to be quite moist.

For baking, line a 23x23x6cm dish baking dish with parchment paper. Alternatively, grease the pan using olive, coconut, or avocado oil.

Pour the pie batter into the dish and spread out evenly using a spoon or a spatula. Finally, bake at 175°C (350°F) for 35 minutes and let cool completely before attempting to slice it.

How to Serve

You can either eat the pie as is or spread something yummy on top of it. For example, homemade applesauce, strawberry sauce, plant-based vanilla yogurt, healthy lemon custard, healthy chocolate frosting, or my heathy caramel sauce.

Alternatively, make a refreshing raspberry jam by thawing frozen raspberries, mashing them with a fork, adding ground chia seeds for thickness, and a sweetener.

Call me crazy, but I also like to serve this vegan pumpkin pie in a bowl with a bit of plain soymilk.

How to Store

Transfer the slices of your pumpkin pie into a sealable container and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.

For longer keeping, freeze individual pieces. Warm them up in the microwave or regular oven.

Download my Guide to Low Glycemic Plant-Based Diet!

What are glycemic index and glycemic load and why those matter.

The list of low, medium and high glycemic foods.

Easy tips on staying on a low glycemic diet.

Learn the secrets of stable blood sugar, weight loss, more energy, and better health

Sign up to download your copy!

More healthy vegan pumpkin dessert recipes:

• Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake
• Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Vegan Pumpkin Bread
• Vegan Pumpkin Blondies
• Spiced Pumpkin Chia Pudding
• Chocolaty Pumpkin Muffins
• Butternut Squash Muffins for Halloween

Watch how I make this vegan pumpkin pie as well as my vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and vegan pumpkin cheesecake, in the below video:

Healthy Vegan Pumpkin Pie [Gluten-Free]

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• Author: Nele Liivlaid
• Total Time: 55 minutes
• Yield: 9 servings 1x
• Diet: Vegan

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Description

Learn how to make a healthy gluten-free vegan pumpkin pie recipe without crust. This pie is light and lean, therefore suitable for weekday indulgence. However, it can also be the main dessert on your vegan Thanksgiving table.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Wet:

• 425g (15oz) steamed pumpkin
• 290g (10.2oz) oat milk
• ½ tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 7 Medjool dates (135g, 4.8oz), pitted
• 50g (1.8oz) peanut butter

Dry:

• 75g (2.6oz) whole oat flour
• 75g (2.6oz) raw buckwheat flour
• 1 tsp. low-sodium baking powder
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. ginger
• 1 tsp. turmeric
• 2 tbsps. poppy seeds

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Instructions

1. Start by cutting raw pumpkin into cubes and steaming them for 10 minutes.
2. Next, in a small bowl, mix oat milk and apple cider vinegar. Let sit for a few minutes.
3. Then, using a regular or an immersion blender, process steamed pumpkin, oat sour milk, pitted Medjool dates, and peanut butter until smooth.
4. Now, in a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients – oat and buckwheat flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, and poppy seeds.
5. Pour the wet mixture onto the dry ingredients and combine well until you have a homogeneous batter. Don’t worry, it’s supposed to be quite moist.
6. As a next step, line a 23x23x6cm baking dish with parchment paper. Alternatively, grease the pan using olive, coconut, or avocado oil.
7. Ladle the pie batter into the dish and spread out evenly using a spoon or a spatula.
8. Finally, bake at 175°C (350°F) for 35 minutes and let cool completely before attempting to slice it.

Notes

One serving of this pumpkin pie has the glycemic load of about 13.

Store in a sealable container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

You may use any pumpkin variety e.g., regular pumpkin, butternut squash, or Hokkaido pumpkin (also known as pie pumpkin). I used butternut squash in this recipe.

Feel free to substitute any additive-free plant milk for oat milk.

In case you’re allergic to peanuts, use either almond butter, cashew butter, hazelnut butter, sunflower seed butter, or even tahini instead.

To decrease the glycemic load even further, you may substitute some of the dates with a lower glycemic sweetener like erythritol or xylitol. Read more on low glycemic sweeteners.

Instead of cinnamon and ginger you may use a teaspoon of pumpkin spice mix instead.

You can either eat the pie as is or spread something yummy on top of it. For example, homemade applesauce, strawberry sauce, plant-based vanilla yogurt, healthy lemon custard, healthy chocolate frosting, or my heathy caramel sauce.

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 35 minutes
• Category: Desserts
• Method: Oven

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1/9 of the recipe
• Calories: 176 kcal
• Sugar: 13g
• Sodium: 16.23mg
• Fat: 5.5g
• Saturated Fat: 0.9g
• Carbohydrates: 25.6g
• Fiber: 4.1g
• Protein: 4.9g

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