Low FODMAP pumpkin pie

This low FODMAP pumpkin pie is warm, creamy and full of autumn spices. You make the crust with rice flour and cornflour, and the filling with homemade Japanese pumpkin purée and lactose-free cream. The result is a pie that fits a low FODMAP diet and is gluten-free and lactose-free too. Lovely with a coffee on an autumn afternoon, or as dessert on your festive menu in December. You can bake it a day ahead: once cooled, the filling only gets firmer.

Category: Fully low FODMAP
Also: Gluten-free, lactose-free, vegetarian
Serves: 10 slices
Preparation time: 45 minutes, plus about 1.5 hours in the oven and 1 hour to cool

Ingredients

For the crust

• 150 g rice flour
• 50 g cornflour
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• pinch of salt
• 100 g cold lactose-free butter, diced
• 1 egg
• 1 to 2 tbsp cold water

For the filling

• 1 Japanese pumpkin (kabocha) or Hokkaido pumpkin of about 700 g, for 400 g purée
• 2 eggs
• 150 ml lactose-free whipping cream
• 75 g light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• pinch of ground cloves
• pinch of salt

To serve

• 150 ml lactose-free whipping cream

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Cut the pumpkin into wedges, remove the seeds and roast the wedges for 30 to 35 minutes until soft. Let them cool slightly, scoop the flesh from the skin and blend until smooth. Weigh out 400 g of purée.
2. For the crust, mix the rice flour, cornflour, sugar and salt. Rub in the cold butter with your fingertips until the mixture looks like crumbs.
3. Add the egg and 1 tablespoon of water and knead briefly into a smooth dough. If it is too dry, add the second tablespoon of water. Cover the dough and let it rest in the fridge for 15 minutes.
4. Set the oven to 180 °C. Grease a 24 cm tart tin. Press the dough evenly over the base and up the sides with your fingers. Prick the base with a fork.
5. Blind bake the crust for 15 minutes. Take it out of the oven and turn the oven down to 175 °C.
6. For the filling, whisk the pumpkin purée, eggs, 150 ml cream, brown sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt until smooth.
7. Pour the filling into the pre-baked crust and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the filling is almost set and still wobbles slightly in the centre.
8. Let the pie cool in the tin for at least 1 hour. Just before serving, whip the remaining 150 ml cream and add a small dollop to each slice. 🥧

Why is this recipe low FODMAP?

Instead of wheat flour, which contains fructans, you use rice flour and cornflour for the crust. The cream is lactose-free, and the filling uses Japanese pumpkin, which is low FODMAP in a normal serving. The spices, sugar and maple syrup also fit within the amounts in this recipe. Do keep an eye on portion size: stick to one slice at a time, because FODMAPs from different dishes add up. How much you tolerate differs from person to person.

Note on Hokkaido pumpkin: Hokkaido is only low FODMAP in a smaller serving than Japanese pumpkin. If you choose Hokkaido, cut the pie into 10 equal slices and have no more than one slice at a time.

Tips and variations

• 💡 Make the pumpkin purée a day ahead and keep it covered in the fridge. That saves you half an hour on the day itself.
• No tart tin? Divide the filling over a greased muffin tin without a crust and bake the little pumpkin puddings for 25 to 30 minutes at 175 °C.
• Prefer Hokkaido pumpkin? It works just as well: it is sweet and creamy, and you use the same amount. We don’t recommend butternut squash, as it is only low FODMAP in a smaller serving.
• Store leftovers covered in the fridge and eat them within 2 days.