How to Fix Undercooked Pumpkin Pie? The Easiest Way
Whether as a holiday treat or a way out of the dullness of every day, pumpkin pie will sure brighten up your mood and cheer you up. As simple as it to make, requiring just a little more than the basic cooking skills, you need some skill to get it right. It isn’t a problem if your pumpkin pie is a bit overbaked, you can fix that with a scoop of whipped cream, but if it is undercooked, you are in trouble. So, how to fix undercooked pumpkin pie?
The only solution to fix an undercooked pumpkin pie is pop it in the oven to finish baking. Covering the pie with a foil and baking it is a solution if it doesn’t need much more baking. If the pie is very undercooked, it needs to bake uncovered.
As simple as it sounds, just popping your pie in the oven to finish baking isn’t all there is to it. The baking method is highly dependent on the current state of the pie because if you misevaluate it, your pie can seriously burn. Therefore, in the following paragraphs, I will explain how to fix undercooked pumpkin pie and share some tips on preventing it altogether.
How Do You Know If Pumpkin Pie Is Undercooked?
An undercooked pumpkin pie has several indicators. The appearance itself will tell you everything you need to know. The most obvious sign of an undercooked pumpkin pie is a soggy crust.
The crust should be hard and stable because it holds the pie. Therefore you don’t want it to be soft and spongy. A soggy crust means that your pumpkin time isn’t done yet.
An undercooked pumpkin pie doesn’t set. A properly cooked pie should easily be set, but it won’t because the ingredients are still runny if it is undercooked. It is very important for the pie to be set, as that way, it is ready to be refrigerated, and everything falls into place.
The filling is too wobbly, especially in the middle. A little wobble is what you’re going for, but many wobbles are what you want to avoid. When your pie is too wobbly, there is still excess moisture inside that needs to be dehydrated.
The color is also a very accurate indicator. If your pie is light-colored with an even lighter crust, you need to pop it back inside the oven. Golden orange filling with a bit lighter crust is what you want.
How to Fix Undercooked Pumpkin Pie?
Baking your pumpkin pie some extra time is the only way to fix undercooked pumpkin pie. However, you need to be well aware of the pie’s current condition to properly adjust the baking time and temperature.
First of all, your pie isn’t undercooked if it is slightly soft, jiggly, and creamy in the center only, so don’t bake it any further if it looks like this. The center will set nicely after some fridge time.
If your pie is visibly runny, or you’ve taken out the knife with a lot of substance on it, it needs some serious oven time. However, to prevent it from burning, carry out this process gradually and patiently.
If your oven is still hot when you realize your pie needs more baking, pop it right in but lower the temperature. The standard pumpkin pie baking temperature is 350 °F, therefore, lower this temperature by 20-30 degrees, to 320 °F. Continue baking for another ten minutes by closely observing the pie, and paying attention to the color.
Since you have made holes into the pie’s surface, either with a knife or toothpick, the hot air will penetrate the pie more quickly, making the process more efficient. The same effect will happen if you apply some of the other testing methods, as they all create space in the pie for the hot air to enter.
On the other hand, if your pie is slightly undercooked, you take out the knife or toothpicks with not much filling. If the swirl is slightly glossy or the middle jiggles a bit more than it’s supposed to, your solution is to put aluminum foil over your pie and bake it some more.
Since your pie doesn’t need much more baking, it is likely to bake quickly and start burning; that’s why the aluminum foil is there. The foil will protect the pie’s surface from the excess heat and prevent it from burning. You can pop your pie directly at a lowered temperature of 320 °F, and leave it for five to 10 more minutes.
How To Fix Undercooked Pumpkin Pie Crust?
If the rest of the pie is well-baked, but the crust is undercooked, it could be a real problem, as you cannot separate them. Luckily, a method has proven to be very effective in fixing this.
Cover the filling with aluminum foil or parchment paper and leave the crust uncovered. This way, you will protect the filling and give the crust space to finish baking.
Another solution is to cover the filling with a pot lid, but the lid needs to be the same size as the diameter of the filling. If it is slightly too small, the exposed filling will burn, and if it is slightly too large, the crust won’t bake.
And here’s an extra tip, the same method is applicable if the case is reversed, i.e., your crust is baked, but your filling isn’t. Cover your crust with foil and finish baking the filling.
Is It Safe To Eat Undercooked Pumpkin Pie?
It is not safe to eat undercooked pumpkin pie. The problem with undercooked pumpkin pie isn’t that it will be runny, hard to cut, or aesthetically unappealing, but that it will cause you some health problems like Salmonella. [1]
You can easily fix the appearance and consistency with refrigeration, so if your pumpkin pie is undercooked, it will stabilize after a few hours in the fridge. However, refrigeration won’t coo the undercooked ingredients inside the pie. Also, the taste of a pumpkin pie isn’t the same when undercooked.
Pumpkin pie contains eggs, heavy cream, or another dairy-based product, and butter. Those are ingredients you can’t leave undercooked as they need thermal processing. The eggs are the primary reason you mustn’t eat an undercooked pumpkin pie.
Having undercooked, let alone raw eggs, can cause serious food poisoning, especially when the eggs are mixed with ingredients such as heavy cream or butter. Add canned or fresh pumpkin to this equation, and you have a recipe for disaster.
How Long to Bake Pumpkin Pie?
You need to bake a pumpkin pie for about 50 minutes before checking it for the first time. Preheat the oven to 350 F, for about five to 10 minutes before popping the pie inside. After putting the pie in the oven, leave it alone for 50 minutes.
Check the color through the oven door glass, but do not open it. The outside air will disrupt the baking process. In addition, you could let moisture get inside the oven from outside, which is not what you want to do to your pie.
After the initial 50 minutes are over, do the first check and check if the pie is ready every five minutes until cooked.
How Long Does Pumpkin Pie Need To Set?
Pumpkin pie needs about half an hour to set. The setting is a standard procedure in pie-baking. However, it is much more critical for pumpkin pie as it needs to be refrigerated afterward.
Therefore, not leaving it to set and placing it in the fridge right out of the oven will cause the steam from the pie to circulate in the fridge and eventually get reabsorbed in the pie, making it soggy and too moist. Of course, the steam circulating in your fridge may also damage the food already inside.
Failure to let your pumpkin pie set will also make it crumbly and shatter its consistency, which will eventually leave you with an orange blob instead of a delicious pie.
Leave your pumpkin pie to set on a rack, allowing the air to circulate equally around the pie enabling it to set properly.
Can You Rebake Pumpkin Pie that Is Undercooked?
Rebaking pumpkin pie is possible, but if it hasn’t been out of the oven for too long. If you notice that your pie needs further baking after it has already been set, it may be too late.
Rebaking pumpkin pie after it’s set will be drier than it should with a harder crust. Still, it will be perfectly fine to eat, but it won’t be the pie you wanted.
It is best to act quickly before the pie sets when rebaking. In this case, no one will even notice that you have rebaked the pie, as it will turn out as it should.
How to Prevent Burnt Pumpkin Pie?
To prevent burnt pumpkin pie, first and foremost, you need to check it every five minutes after the initial 50 minutes of baking have passed.
Another thing you should do is know your oven well. The same temperature doesn’t have the same effect in every oven, so adjust the temperature accordingly if your oven is stronger.
Follow the pumpkin pie’s color; take it out immediately if it goes a bit darker. Also, be aware of the smell, as it can indicate even the slightest pie burning.
Make sure your oven bakes the same from every side. If you know that the top heaters are stronger than the bottom, place the pie lower in the oven, and vice versa.
Cover your pie with tin foil if you think it may burn during the last few minutes.
How to Know When the Pumpkin Pie Is Done?
A well-baked pumpkin pie has a golden-orange color with a slightly lighter crust. It should be stable and not runny. Also, it should be a little wobbly but not unstable.
The crust should be hard, and the filling should be soft and spongy, with a jiggly center. The color should be matte and not glossy, and the surface should be smooth and not cracked.
Of course, some cracks may appear on the surface of your pumpkin pie, but most of them should be even.
You can do a few things to check if your pie is ready to be taken out of the oven. The best-known test to check this is the knife test.
When you take your pumpkin pie out of the oven, slowly and gently put a knife in a few pie spots. You should test the middle and the edges, not the crust, though. Slowly draw the knife out and check the surface.
If the knife is clean after you take it out of the edges, the pie is ready. If there is pie filling on the knife’s surface, the pie needs more cooking. Depending on how much filling has stuck on the knife, you will adjust the time needed to finish baking your pie.
When you take the knife out of the middle of the pie, there should be some filling left, not too much, though. The middle of the pie is supposed to be creamy, so if the knife is clean when you take it out, your pie is overbaked.
See what the knife looks like from the center and the edges, and adjust the baking accordingly.
Another method to check is making a swirl in the middle of the pie before baking it. If the pie is ready, the swirl will be stable but creamy. If it is undercooked, the swirl will be glossy and soft, and if the swirl is cracked, your pie is overcooked.
Putting a few toothpicks in the pie before baking is also an excellent method to check if your pie is ready. Remove the toothpicks from the pie when you take them out and see what’s on them. If there is pie filling on the toothpick, your pie needs more baking.
Check if your pie jiggles; it’s not ready yet. If your pie is jiggly, it isn’t ready yet. If it doesn’t move, you have overdone it.
How to Know If the Pumpkin Pie Is Overbaked?
Overbaked pie is even easier to notice than undercooked pie. The first sign is a cracked surface. As I mentioned, some cracks here and there shouldn’t concern you, but an overall cracked surface is a sign that you overbaked a pie.
Your pie may weep if it is overbaked. You overbaked it if you see the liquid coming out of the pie when you take it out of the oven or while it is still hot. The protein in the custard has hardened and squeezed the liquid from the filling.
The darker color is a very clear indicator that your pie is overbaked. If you get browner than orange shade going even darker, take your pie out of the oven immediately.
How to Serve Pumpkin Pie?
You can either serve your pumpkin pie cold and straight out of the fridge or leave it at room temperature for an hour and serve it then.
Pumpkin pie is rich enough, so you don’t need to garnish it too much. However, you can serve it with a scoop of whipped cream or some syrup if you want to. Nuts and honey are always welcome with pumpkin pie and dried fruit or chocolate topping.
