I’ve baked more than 100 recipes from celebrity chefs, often putting them head-to-head to find the best dishes out there.
When testing out star-studded takes on pumpkin pie, Bobby Flay’s version of the seasonal dessert blew me away.
The chef’s “Throwdown Pumpkin Pie” recipe, found on the Food Network website, features a sturdy graham-cracker crust, creamy spiced filling, and decadent bourbon-maple whipped cream.
Even better, it’s pretty easy to make. Here’s how I put it together and why I plan to keep this pie recipe in my rotation year after year.
Most of the ingredients are pretty basic
Flay’s recipe is a no-fuss option for people who love a homemade dessert but don’t want to spend a full day making a flaky pie crust, as it uses a graham-cracker base instead.
The recipe also doesn’t require carving and roasting fresh pumpkin. Instead, canned pumpkin purée gets mixed with butter, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, granulated sugar, dark-brown sugar, heavy cream, salt, and fresh vanilla-bean seeds.
Of course, this dish wouldn’t be complete without the flavorful whipped cream made with heavy whipping cream, maple syrup, vanilla-bean seeds, and bourbon.
The steps are easy to follow, too
Before baking this pie, I measured out all of the ingredients and organized them in groups for the crust, filling, and whipped cream. This made following this recipe a quicker, simpler process.
Although the recipe calls for a food processor, I didn’t have one when I first made this dish. Instead, I used a mallet to crush the graham crackers, which I’d sealed in a plastic bag to avoid making a mess.
I then combined the crumbs with butter, sugar, and cinnamon in a small blender.
From there, I firmly pressed the graham-cracker mixture into a pie tin and baked the crust for 10 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit to set it.
Once the pie crust had been prebaked, I set the oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit as instructed and got to work on the filling.
I started by whisking the eggs and sugar together before adding in the pumpkin, heavy cream, salt, vanilla, spices, and sugars.
Once I had the creamy filling ready to go, I strained it and poured it into my cooled pie crust.
I ended up with far more filling than I needed for one pie. According to the recipe, this is intentional, and extras can be used toward more pies or frozen for later use.
Luckily, Flay’s whipped cream can be thrown together while the pie finishes baking.
To do so, I combined heavy whipping cream, bourbon, vanilla-bean seeds, and maple syrup in a stand mixer.
The recipe calls for Grade B maple syrup, but that’s no longer a classification, so I use a dark Grade A syrup instead. It added a nice rich flavor to the whipped cream.
My pie ended up baking for about an hour and a half.
The pie and whipped cream paired together perfectly
Flay’s whipped cream beautifully balanced the pumpkin pie’s pumpkin flavor and spices and was tasty on its own, thanks to the maple syrup, bourbon, and vanilla.
The pumpkin pie itself had a great texture. Although the bottom of the crust was slightly too soggy, it still held together well. Plus, the dish maintained a good height and sported crispy edges.
I wish the crust was just as tasty as the filling and whipped cream, though. In the future, I plan to add more sugar and cinnamon to the graham-cracker mix to boost its flavor.
Even so, this pie was surprisingly easy to put together and utterly delicious. I’ll definitely be making it again.
This story was originally published on November 21, 2022, and most recently updated on November 13, 2026.
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