Winter Squash Pie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the best squash for pies? ›

We scoured the internet for pie recipes and found two clear winners: butternut and kabocha. Butternut offers a delicate sweetness and smooth texture, while kabocha offers a uniquely silky texture, chestnut flavor, and bright-orange color.

Cooking Whole

Cut the squash in half, clean out the seeds with a spoon and place cut-side down on an oiled sheet pan or lasagna dish. Add about 1/4 inch of water to the pan and bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes, or until you can easily poke through the squash with a fork.

Refrigeration is the secret to a more flavorsome pie

As your bowl of pumpkin pie filling sits in the fridge overnight, it allows time for the spices to undergo blooming.

Mix sugar, salt, and spices. Blend in milk, squash, eggs, and butter or margarine. Pour filling into unbaked pie shell. Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 40 minutes, or until a knife blade inserted in the center comes out clean.

Honeynut Squash: The sweetness and flavor made this a clear winner. Delicata Squash: This is actually tied with acorn squash and both are similar in texture and flavor which is why they are ranked at the top.

Butternut squash, cut into 1-inch cubes, should be perfectly roasted after about 25 to 35 minutes in an oven heated to 400 degrees F. When it's done, the squash should be lightly browned and easily pierced with a fork.

For the best-quality squash, wait to harvest all types until they are mature — at least 50–55 days after the fruit has set — and cure before storing and eating.

Some squash skin is edible, while other types of squash have tough skin that can be removed before cooking. Remove the skin of butternut, hubbard, buttercup, and turban squash. If you enjoy the taste, leave the skin on acorn, spaghetti, kabocha, and zucchini squash.

For a guaranteed browned bottom, prebake the pie crust

You may want to cover the edges with a pie shield or strips of aluminum foil, but the bottom will remain perfectly brown and crisp — not burned.

If made ahead without baking, the pastry crust can become too wet and end up soggy after baking. The best way to make your apple pie in advance? Bake the pie completely, then chill it overnight, allowing the pie to sit at room temperature for at least an hour before serving.

Should you make pie the day of or the day before? ›

If you can, make pie the day before or early in the day you plan to serve. “Most pies are better off if they set up, even if you want it warm,” Bishop said. “Cool it down, and if you want, pop it back into the oven for a few minutes before serving. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is cutting into it too early.”

The Amish Pie Squash is an heirloom winter squash that originated in 1999 from an Amish gardener in the mountain region of Maryland. This large squash can weigh 60 to 80 pounds and is the perfect squash for canning. Just like its name, this variety's thick, sweet flesh is perfect for making pies.

Vintage Funeral Pie Recipe is an old-fashioned dessert that is made from raisins, spices, and walnuts. It was traditionally made by the Amish, but this sugary pie fits right into a Southern cook's recipe box.

Libby's, the quintessential canned pumpkin brand, uses a proprietary strain of the Dickinson pumpkin variety in their product, which is also often called a Dickinson squash. On Libby's website, it states that their product is 100 percent pumpkin.

Hubbard Squash

Its dry flesh is fine-grained, orange, and sweet, and it's best baked or boiled. The thick skin on a hubbard squash can be extremely hard and difficult to peel; on the plus side, that means it can keep for a very long time (up to eight months), and makes it well suited to stuffing and baking.

Acorn squash is milder in taste and slightly more fibrous in texture than butternut squash: Its sweet, nutty flavor is additionally muted by the watery character of its flesh. Still, most recipes that call for acorn squash can be made with another members of the squash family, such as Hubbard or butternut.

The principal difference is that a butternut is starchier than an acorn. This makes it smoother in texture, which gives it more versatility in how it is cooked or served. Acorn squash is generally eaten just the way it comes out of the oven or steamer, while butternut can be mashed, puréed, made into soup, etc.