What Is the Right Way to Eat Pumpkin Pie? [Chefs Explain]
Pumpkin might be the world’s most coveted seasonal flavor, but it doesn’t measure up to the sheer ecstasy of the freshly baked pumpkin pie. Many people love finding out some tasty and unique ways of eating pumpkin pie.
The right way to serve and eat pumpkin pie is either cold or warm, as it’s tasty both ways. However, a too warm pie can be messy, whereas a very chilled one can be unappealing to people with sensitive tooth issues. No matter what way you choose, serve it with whipped cream on top.
If you love a little creativity in the kitchen, read on and learn the right ways of eating pumpkin pie, the foods and drinks that go well with it, and how to make it taste better.
What Is the Best Way to Serve and Eat Pumpkin Pie?
You can serve and eat your pumpkin pie warm, at room temperature, or cold and eat it with a dessert spoon. If you’d like to serve warm pie, do it shortly after baking. But for the best-set texture, you should refrigerate it for a few hours (6 hours) and reheat it at 300 °F for 15 minutes.
The pumpkin pie has a more incredible, firmer texture and filling when served cold or at room temperature. However, the filling will still have the smooth, creamy texture you’d expect.
The taste of pumpkin pie goes very well with light and sweet whipped cream. When you serve the piece, make sure you add a spoon or two of the whipped cream on the top.
One of the easiest ways of making your pumpkin pie tastier is to add a drizzle of sweet buttery caramel sauce. A buttery, crumbled streusel or a billowy, burnished meringue topping can also make a lovely contrast with the smooth, creamy pie filling. In addition, adding a swirl of cream cheese in the filling can create a striking marbled look and taste.
Pumpkin and chocolate are match-made heavenly desserts. So, you can top the pie with piles of dark or milk chocolate or drizzle with fudge sauce.
Candied nuts also make an excellent pie topper. You could also try almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, oats, or sugared pecans.
Be creative and experiment with the pumpkin spices. You can add nutmeg, Cajun spice, pepper, chilies, cardamom, or even vanilla flavor in the pie filling. Moreover, you could swap out vanilla for coconut extract since it pairs wonderfully with warm spices in the pie.
You can also add cream, cream cheese, butter, or browned butter to make your pumpkin pie filling creamier.
Should Pumpkin Pie Be Chilled?
Whether you’ve baked your pumpkin pie from fresh pumpkin or filling from a can, you should refrigerate it after baking to keep it safe to eat.
Pumpkin pie is made of custard that includes eggs and milk, and hence the pie is less forgiving than fruit-filled ones, so it cannot be left on the counter for too long (at most two hours). That’s because bacteria grow rapidly when homemade pumpkin pie is kept at room temperatures.
In fact, FDA recommends that pies made with the two ingredients be chilled and refrigerated to below 40 °F to prevent the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria. In the fridge, a pumpkin pie can last up to four days. [1]
What Foods Go with Pumpkin Pie?
Pumpkin pie is virtually synonymous with thanksgiving pie. So, most thanksgiving foods will go well with pumpkin pie.
For instance, if you like it more with salty food, you can serve your pumpkin pie with the traditional roast turkey, turkey stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, and dinner rolls. You can also pile your plate with sweet potato casserole or candied yams.
You can also serve the pumpkin pie as a dessert and put whipped cream on it.
What Drink Goes Well with Pumpkin Pie?
Typically, what works with pumpkin pies are the late harvest wines made from white grapes, including Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Vidal, Muscat, Chenin Blanc, or even red grape zinfandel.
These wines picked late in fall have accumulated sugars and have the right sweetness for the pumpkin pie. They don’t overwhelm it like the very sweet wine such as Sauternes would.
