Pumpkin or apple? America's fiercest Thanksgiving dessert debate heats up

'Tis the season for the hottest dinner table debate: apple or pumpkin pie?

While there might not be anything quite as American as apple pie, for a small sliver of the year, the classic dessert gets edged out by a seasonal star featuring the orange gourd.

At Hoosier Mama Pie Company in Chicago, apple pie is the top seller for most of the year. "It is the only pie we bake out of season because there would be a riot if we did not have apple pie," chef and owner Paula Haney told Fox News Digital.

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But at Thanksgiving, the tables briefly turn and pumpkin takes the cake, said Haney, who is the author of the upcoming cookbook, "The Hoosier Mama Book of Breakfast Bakes."

"Pumpkin pie outsells apple at Thanksgiving nearly two-to-one," she said. "For this one little space in time, people want pumpkin."

And recent national surveys find the same. 

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A YouGov poll of nearly 10,000 Americans last year found that 29% favored pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, followed by apple, which was the pick for 20% of respondents. Pecan pie came in third with 14% of the vote, followed by sweet potato and chocolate, which were tied at 10%.

Meanwhile, Instacart data confirm that pumpkin pie remains America's undisputed holiday favorite, with orders surging more than 2,600% the day before Thanksgiving, far outpacing any other flavor, according to a report released this month. 

The data, which was based on 2024 orders with the online grocery and delivery service, also found that, while apple pie holds strong year-round, pecan, sweet potato and cherry soar at Thanksgiving. It also revealed that the South leans toward sweet potato and pecan, and parts of the Midwest favor chocolaty French silk.

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About 90% of the nation's canned pumpkin is grown in Illinois, Haney noted. So for Chicagoans, "there's a little local pride in every slice," she said.

Jason Smith, a chef, cookbook author and Food Network personality from Kentucky who won the network's "Holiday Baking Championship" in 2016 and "Beat Bobby Flay" this year, said pumpkin pie is less about the actual flavor and more about nostalgia and tradition.

"Most people do not like the texture of pumpkin pie," Smith told Fox News Digital. "But it has to be on the buffet or something just doesn't seem right … it's just not Thanksgiving without it."

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But Haney finds that pumpkin has its loyal fans, too.

"People will request a pumpkin pie in July," she said. "Anything with pumpkin sells - we make pumpkin muffins, we make pumpkin bread, we make pumpkin scones, and people just go crazy."

And it's versatile, she said. Hoosier Mama Pie Company whips pumpkin for a chiffon pie, blends it with ginger for a cheesecake, swirls it together with chocolate for a twist on chess pie, and even fuses it with apple for a sour cream Dutch apple pie with walnuts. 

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Smith has also seen mashups like pecan-pumpkin pie and caramel apple variations becoming increasingly popular. 

If you're baking at home, Smith says the best pies have a crust that is baked through properly, and if it's apple, the fruit should be cooked soft but still have a little "bite," while pumpkin should be soft and creamy, almost "cheesecake-like."

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Haney recommends making pie dough a day or two ahead and parbaking the crust to keep it crisp. She advises cooling pumpkin pies slowly to prevent cracking - or disguising cracks with decorative dough cutouts, or repairing them with a knife dipped in hot water once the pie has cooled.

Even a store-bought pie can taste homemade with freshly whipped cream with a touch of vanilla extract and maybe some pumpkin pie spice, she added.

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Although she's secretly a sweet potato pie lover, Haney will bring pumpkin and apple to her family's celebration. "You always have to have both," she said.

And for Smith, nothing is left out. When asked if his dessert table would consist of pie this year, he said, "Lord, honey, yassss!"

"My dessert lineup always consists of several pies," he said. "Cinnamon bourbon sweet potato pie, bacon pecan pie, triple chocolate mousse pie, creamy cheesecake pumpkin pie … and apple stack cake - an old Southern tradition."