Move over pumpkins. Step aside sweet potatoes. There’s a not so new guy getting into the pie game this fall and it’s giving those other fruits and veggies a run for their money. I’d like to introduce to you the newest fall flavor – The Carrot Pie.
Carrots. They’re so underestimated. Sure, they make a great snack and add great flavor and crunch to salads and such. There’s just so much more you can do with this healthy root. Have you ever juiced a carrot before? That ordinary orange root turns into something so unexpected – a sweet, creamy delicious juice. This same transformation occurs when baking with carrots. I’m sure most of you have had carrot cake – but what about carrot bread, carrot pound cake or carrot pudding.
Today we’ll stick with Carrot Pie. It’s certainly not a new concept, it just isn’t a very common dessert outside most farm communities. Carrots are cheap, readily available, nutritious and effortless to prepare. Why aren’t we working them into more of our foods?
This pie is pretty fool proof to make. It’s just like making a pumpkin pie but with less fussing.
This pie will definitely not be what you expected. It’s so similar to a pumpkin pie yet creamier and has a nicer sweetness. Most people won’t be able to tell the difference. Do I dare say this Carrot Pie is better than the trusty old pumpkin pie? I might just be saying that. You’ll just have to make it yourself and be the judge 🙂
Quick, get to baking! If you like sweet potato and pumpkin pie than you’re going to love this pie! So much that you might just decide that this Carrot Pie is not just for fall anymore. Happy Baking!
-Amanda-
Carrot Pie
Ingredients
- pre-baked and cooled 9" pie crust
- 1 1/2 pound carrots
- 2 tablespoon butter softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3/4 cup half and half
- 1 tablespoon flour
Instructions
- Peel and chop carrots.
- Place carrots in large pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until carrots are tender, about 25 - 30 minutes.
- Drain water. Return carrots to pot. Cook carrots over low heat, stirring constantly, for a few minutes, to steam off all excess water.
- Puree carrots and butter until absolutely smooth. You can do this in a food processor, blender, food mill or with a ricer.
- I use my food processor. After the carrots are smooth, mix in sugars, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, ginger, vanilla, half & half and flour until well combined.
- Pour mixture into prebaked & cooled 9" pie crust.
- Bake at 350° for 50 - 60 minutes or pie is set and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool on wire rack. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving. Serve with whipped cream and enjoy 🙂
This carrot pie looks delicious! Will definitely give it a try! Pinning it to the Pies board.
Thanks so much Joy! I hope you try it – it’s a great way to kick off fall baking 🙂
What a unique and cool recipe!! This is definitely on my fall baking list, thanks amanda!
Yay! I hope you love it Angela 🙂
Amanda, I have never heard of carrot pie before and I have to try this recipe. I’ve never cared for pumpkin pie, but sweet potato pie is something that I’ve always gotten down with. I love the idea of of using carrots to make a pie because it’s so different from pies that most people are used to. I had to pin this so I can try it one day. Great pictures, too.
Thanks Neeli! It’s funny you say that – it seems most people have never heard of a carrot pie before. For awhile I thought it could be a regional dessert, but I’ve talked to some folks from the south who are familiar with it. I guess it’s a farm town kinda thing. I do hope you try it & can’t wait to hear what you think 🙂
Try yellow squash also makes a good pie ….roast and puree and do the same as pumpkin or sweet potatoes….carrot is by far my favorite…
Great idea! Sounds delicious – I look forward to trying it. Thanks for stopping by Regina : )
This could be kinda fun to serve at Easter…. 🙂
Yes! Treats for the Easter Bunny! He gets tired of plain old carrots 🙂
Hello !
I rarely bake pies , but I want to try this one , it sounds something I could make and enjoy .
But I have couple of questions .
First of all , where I can get pre-baked pie crust ? Can I make it myself ? If so , maybe you can recommend me a recipe ?
Second , what about vanilla ? Is is a teaspoon of vanilla extract you had in mind ?
And last , if I’d use unrefined cane sugar , do you think it would make much of a difference ? Cause you’ve mentioned sugar, which I guess is meant to be white sugar , and then brown . So I’m just wondering does it really matter what I’ll use ? Or maybe honey would also do the same job ?
Sorry for silly questions , just wanted to be on the safe side .
Thank you for sharing this recipe , I’ll be waiting for you answer . 🙂
Hi Laura – I’d love to help out!
The prebaked crust is just a regular pie crust that’s been “blind baked”. So you prick it with a fork a few times (or go the pie weight method) and bake it for 15 minutes or so & allow to cool before filling. This isn’t 100% necessary – but it really does prevent the crust from getting too mushy with these custard type pies.
Yes, the vanilla is vanilla extract. I’ll have to go back and fix that so it doesn’t cause anymore confusion.
The sugar is white sugar & brown sugar. The pie should be great using just all unrefined cane sugar, as long as the sugar isn’t too coarse. As much as I love honey, I feel the flavor of it might over power the carrots a little. Hey, try it both ways 🙂
No problem – none of your questions were silly at all! Thanks for stopping by and I’d love to hear how the pie turns out for you.
Hi Amanda –
How does the crust work with the ready frozen pie crusts ? Can i thaw for 5 minutes then poke with few fork holes & cook for how long at one temperature?
Thanks
Amanda,
I have frozen, fresh, organic carrot purée in quart size freezer bags that I did myself. The carrots were right out of my neighbors garden—I’ve got a lot of kids and he figured I could use them! So, I see you have 1 1/2 lbs. of carrots — what do you think that would be in already done purée (cups or weight would be great)? I can’t wait to try this on my 4yr. old picky eater; it looks awesome!
Hi Loretta! Sorry on my delay getting back to you – I was sick and didn’t get to open my computer for a week. I would estimate about 2 cups of already cooked & pureed carrots. I’d love to hear how it turns out for you! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
My name is ShaiAsia I’m going to be making a carrot pie to day with my grandmother I’m eight years old just so you no it’s for my daddy. My dad has been asking for a while. Now we have a chance . Text back when you have a chance. So ya . bye the why I love carrot pie.
Hi ShaiAsia 🙂 Hope the pie turned out wonderful for you! Thanks so much for stopping by & happy baking ♥
What a great idea! How have a not seen this before?! I’m definitely making this soon.
Thanks Amy! You’re gonna love it ♥
Why pre-bake the crust? Wouldn’t that over cook it once you pour the pie mix in and bake? I love the idea of this pie! What do you think about making a graham cracker crust instead? Any and all hints and tips are much appreciated.
Hi Donald. I pre-bake or “blind bake” pie crusts more often than not, but that’s really a matter of preference. With pumpkin/carrot/sweet potato or custard type pies the crust tends to either be soggy & mushy or undercooked without a prebaked crust. Blind baking will result in a much crisper and flakier texture.
I think a graham cracker or gingersnap crust would taste good – but I definitely prefer a traditional pie crust on this pie.
Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you love the pie 🙂
I was confused by this term as well, glad to see it cleared up in the comments. The correct term is par-baked, or blind baked. Pre-baked would mean you fully bake the crust before filling it. 🙂
Hi Amanda… Many years ago I baked a carrot pie and had everyone fooled. It was wonderful.
I had gotten the recipe in a little carrot cookbook from ” The Carrot Barn” in Schoharie, NY
I really haven’t made it in years but will soon make another as I was telling a friend how yummy it was.
Thanks for sharing this with others that as yet haven’t had the yum…pleasure of carrot pie!
Hi Judy! You’re right – I don’t think anyone can tell the difference! I find the carrot pie texture lighter & silkier – I prefer it over pumpkin pie.
I would love to bake with carrots more often – I’ll have to keep my eye out for “The Carrot Barn”.
Thanks so much for stopping by 🙂
I am so glad I came across this recipe just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. I’m one of those weirdos that does NOT like pumpkin pie or cheesecake and there’s only so much apple pie you can consume before it starts to turn bland *wink* , so this is a great alternative that looks scrumptious! I was wondering, however, for the ginger ingredient is that ground ginger or fresh ginger? Will it make a difference? I hope you get this in time! Thank you so much for posting this recipe!
Hi Mariana! I hear you, I’m almost apple pied out too 🙂
Perfect timing you have – I’m making this pie right now! The ginger is ground ginger. If you wanted to use fresh, I would use about a tablespoon of grated ginger and cook it with the carrots.
Hope you enjoy the recipe & Happy Thanksgiving ♥
Hi Amanda,
What an unusual idea. I am one of those strange people who always go for something ‘different’ but I have a problem with one of the ingredients. I live here in South Africa and have never come across ‘half & half’. What exactly is that? I have also made some carrot juice and have some of the dryish pulp left. Can I use this and what quantity would I use? Many thanks.
Hi Eppie! Half & half is just a blend of equal parts whole milk & light cream. It’s commonly used for coffee and sometimes baking in The USA.
I wouldn’t use the pulp left from juicing carrots. You’ll definitely want to use the whole carrot – that’s where all your sweetness & creaminess is going to come from. Perhaps you could incorporate just a little of that pulp in. I’ve never tried – my chickens love all my juice scraps ♥
Hope this helps! Enjoy the pie & thanks for stopping by 🙂
Thank you SO much for sharing this recipe; it is delicious! I couldn’t find the blender, but I do have a submersible blender, and aside from being time-consuming it worked almost as well. I had to add in the rest of the ingredients for it to properly mix, though. Also, as a rule we try not to use oil when applesauce works beautifully, as it did in this case. I couldn’t find the nutmeg and ended up using allspice as a replacement. The pie disappeared between the three of us that night. I really, really want to make more, and share with other people, because they need this in their lives.
Hello Abigail!
I’m so glad to hear you love this recipe! This pie is truly one of my favorite desserts and I enjoy it year round!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Happy baking and carrot pie sharing ♥
I saw this same recipe on “12 Tomatoes” but they call it “Easy Carrot Cake Bars” and said to make it in a 9×13 pan. They turned about 1/8″ high ! The picture of them looked great ! What a disaster! There was nowhere to comment on them but at the bottom it said “Recipe adapted from Crafty Cooking Mama” so that is how I found you. Since your Carrot Pie recipe is the same, minus the crust, I wanted to let you know what they are doing with your recipes! I will never trust their recipes again!! I think you should let them know, otherwise people will not trust your recipes and that is not fair to you. By the way, I’ve been baking for 60 yrs. & have won many contests.
Hi Arlene. I’m sorry the adaptation of the recipe didn’t work out for you – I’m not sure why they would have suggested such a large dish?
I’m not familiar with the website but I’ll check it out…thanks for the info 🙂
Thanks for stopping by.
Hi, I tried the pie last night and couldn’t really get the pie to set even after cooking for a long time. The toothpick never came out clean. I had substituted some carrots for yams instead but am not sure why it didn’t set. I also added soy milk instead of half and half. I don’t have much experience in this area. Is it possible to add baking powder or baking soda? what am I doing wrong?
Thanks
Hi Stefan.
You should be able to use carrots or yams in this recipe without a problem. The only red flag I see is using soy milk instead of half & half. You can usually sub soy milk for dairy milk in a recipe without too many problems – but it’s not as simple when subbing it for a light cream. Half & half is equal parts whole milk & light cream – the soy milk isn’t thick or creamy enough. Maybe try using a soy or coconut creamer or just soy milk mixed with (canned) coconut milk to thicken it up.
Adding baking powder or soda wouldn’t be of any help, but you could mix in an additional tablespoon of flour if you were worried your soy mixture wasn’t thick enough.
Hope this helps 🙂
Have you ever tried this recipe crustless?
Hi Jennifer!
I haven’t tried it crustless. I did get some negative feedback about a site who adapted this recipe to a crustless version though.
pie looks, umm, interesting…
might try that….
Hey Amanda, you are right..Carrot pie is not a new idea..My first introduction to carrot pie was from the Muslim American Community, back in the ’70s…along with the World Famous Bean Pie..another out standing treat
Hi Jamal!
Ohhhhh….I want more info on this bean pie! Please share!
I still get raised eyebrows from people when I mention carrot pie. People know sweet potato and pumpkin pies – but think carrot pie is crazy. I always like to mention to them how naturally sweet carrot juice is – I use it for a base when I make juice. Pumpkin & sweet potato juice – nope.
Thanks for stopping by! This bean pie – I’d LOVE to hear more about it!
Confirming the pie crust is pre-baked then cooked again for 50-60 minutes…. twice baked crust?
Yes, the pie crust is pre-baked. I pre-bake or “blind bake” pie crusts more often than not, but that’s really a matter of preference. With pumpkin/carrot/sweet potato or custard type pies the crust tends to either be soggy & mushy or undercooked without a prebaked crust. Blind baking will result in a much crisper and flakier texture. Hope this helps!
Amanda I just got huge sack of fresh carrots, so I tried your pie with a twist for the crust. I also had a ton of delicious apples. Can’t make a pie with them so I sliced them thin, tossed them in lime juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar/stevia. I put them in the dehydrator overnight. Next morning I took them out and laid them in the pie pan like a crust. Topped them with the carrot filling. Yummy. BTW my crust idea had become my go to crust fo most pies, cobblers etc.
So glad you enjoyed the Carrot Pie!
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the idea of using dehydrated apples as a pie crust – that is brilliant! I will most definitely try it out soon! My dehydrator died on me, so I’m shopping for a new one – or asking Santa for one 🙂
Thanks so much for stopping by Sharon ♥
Thank you for this recipe! I work with dialysis patients and most have to limit potassium in their diets. Pumpkin is very high potassium so many of my patients cannot safely eat pumpkin pie. However the carrots have about 2/3 less potassium per cup than does pumpkin, so this is a better alternative. The fact that you are boiling them first also helps leach out some potassium. I wll be passing out this recipe as an alternative to pumpkin pie this season! I also can’t wait to try it myself.
Hi Kendra!
I never knew pumpkin was a no-no for dialysis patients! I’m sooooo happy to hear this will help some of your patients enjoy a fall time favorite dessert! You’re AWESOME for the caring & sharing you do for your patients ♥
Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
So last night my daughter made sliced carrots with butter a brown sugar to go with green beans and venison. This morning as I was driving her some wher it popped into my head su I asked if shr had ever heard of a carrot pie. She said I was crazy and to leave her thanksgiving traditipnal when I said I was foing to try it. She told me she was getting her dna checked to make sure that I am her true parent cause I was too wierd to be related. Now. I have proof they exist and I don’even have to come up with my own recipe thanks
Hahahahaha – love it! No worries – we’re both weird! Really though, if you’re baking truly from scratch – fresh carrots are cheaper and so much easier to work with than fresh pumpkin.
Would love to hear how your pie turned out! Thanks for stopping by Johnny 🙂
I was given a lot of fresh carrots, need something to do with them. I’m going to try your recipe, I’ve made pumpkin and sweet potato pie, love them both. I hope to love this as well.
Can you use baby carrots instead of the large carrots?
Baby carrots work just as well
A.anda i substtutided siur cream for the half and half and sub half a pack cinnamon gram crackers for the flour nice extra tang.
Amanda,
I love sweet potato pie and pumpkin pie, too. Now I love carrot pie, too, which is my third favorite pie that’s not made from fruit.
I love carrot pie! It’s so delicious and I agree, it tastes very similar to pumpkin pie. Looks awesome Amanda!
I can’t wait to try this. It sounds wonderful and looks amazing.
Thanksgiving 2018 – Found your recipe after thinking if there was such a thing. Made it to tee except the filling wasn’t setting very solid at all during cooling. I realized I forgot the eggs. I put it in the fridge and left it there told my mom not to serve it. Came back later that night and over half of it was gone! It still tasted amazing Thank you
So, I absolutely love Thanksgiving and I tend to hew closely to traditions even though I am prone to riffing on recipes. I completely lost my head and did this recipe a few years ago, having all the faith in the world that this recipe would work. And it did. A houseful of guests well-fed and oohing and ahhing over how creamy my scratch pumpkin pie was and how it was far superior to my other attempts to make the pie from farm to table true scratch style. (True enough, REAL pumpkin has strings in the flesh, the stuff in cans is squash). I snickered into my glass of riesling and had another bite. Every fork in the house paused midway between plate and slack gaping mouth. A timid voice piped up, “John! What did you do to the pie? My gawd man, what have you done to the PIE!?!?!” There was clamor as I explained this was carrot pie. Some were nonplussed and returned to their dessert, others raised hue and cry. I asked, “But…is it good? Is? It? Good?” Even the worst offended traditionalist had to admit it was a good pie, they actually had to think hard about it to determine that it was carrot and not pumpkin. Before the night was over, a mass email went out to those that asked for the recipe. I was also instructed to never mess with traditional recipes for such a sacred communion as Thanksgiving. That being said, I lost the original note card where I had sketched out this recipe and had to mine deep back into sent emails to find this web address. Thanks Amanda, this is a classic. And as I am making this for myself and not for the general table, I am not risking being pilloried for hewing to this, my own traditional recipe.
Hi, I enjoyed the other comments. I would like to try this recipe with the mini pie crusts. I’ve never tried a carrot pie, but if all goes well, this could turn into a great bake sell item. Lol.
This is awesome!! You’d never know it was carrots! I needed some way to use my big bag of carrots that were going south faster than we could use them; this recipe was a delicious way to use a lot up!!! Thanks!!
Me as well! Our fridge was down this week and a huge bag of carrots would be going to waste. So glad I found this and hope I can try it soon☺
This was delicious. My husband is usually the baker, but I wanted to surprise him with it. We love the pumpkin pie, the sweet potato pie. So I challenged myself with baking the carrot pie. It’s not completely smooth like pumpkin pie but it’s taste just as good.
I made a double batch this recipe to start with and absolutely loved it! I passed the carrot purée through a sieve and it was smooth and almost creamy. It turned out so well I had to make a third pie so I’d have enough for company. Thanks so much for the recipe!