I made pumpkin pie using 3 celebrity-chef recipes, and the worst was from a baking legend

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A slice of each celebrity-chef pumpkin pie. Paige Bennett for Insider

• I made pumpkin pies using recipes from Dominique Ansel, Alton Brown, and Bobby Flay.
• My favorite recipe was Flay’s because it was easy to follow and its special whipped cream was delicious.
• The pie I made using pastry-chef legend Ansel’s recipe was a disaster to make, and it tasted quite bland.
• Brown’s recipe was the simplest and had a stellar crust, but it didn’t blow me away.
• Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

When it comes to fall comfort foods, nothing takes the cake quite like a slice of homemade pumpkin pie. 

Celebrity chefs certainly feel the same way, which is why so many have their own unique pumpkin-pie recipes.

To find out which are worth trying, I tested pumpkin-pie recipes from Bobby Flay, Dominique Ansel, and Alton Brown.

Read on to see how the pies turned out.

Flay’s signature pumpkin pie calls for many steps

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The ingredients for Bobby Flay’s pumpkin pie. Paige Bennett for Insider

Although he’s known as a grill master, Flay can certainly throw down when it comes to pies.

His recipe on the Food Network’s website calls for several steps, but it seemed very easy to organize and measure all of the ingredients in advance.

The recipe also called for homemade bourbon-maple whipped cream, which sounded tasty. To make it, I needed Grade B syrup — but after searching for it, I learned it no longer exists so I stuck with Grade A.

The pie came together easily and smelled delicious

Since I measured everything in advance, the process was as simple as pouring and whisking the filling ingredients together, then letting it strain for a super-smooth center. 

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Mixing the ingredients was easy. Paige Bennett for Insider

The only hiccup I had was that I don’t own a food processor. Instead, I used a small blender/food-chopper that didn’t quite work as well.

This device made it tricky to integrate the melted butter with the crushed graham cracker.

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The graham-cracker crust had to bake. Paige Bennett for Insider

Overall, the hands-on part was quick and easy. After baking for 10 minutes, my crust was set and ready to be filled. 

The recipe produced far more filling than I needed, so I froze the leftovers for a future pie. 

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The crust wasn’t perfect but it held the filling just fine. Paige Bennett for Insider

I then cooked the pie for about 90 minutes and it came out golden with a flawless top —no cracks here!

The whipped cream and pie went together perfectly

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Bobby Flay’s pie looked perfect once it cooled. Paige Bennett for Insider

I was impressed with how well the pie held its shape as I cut into it. Although the crust along the bottom was probably thicker than it should’ve been, I was happy it didn’t crumble and fall apart. 

The whipped cream alone was incredibly delicious. I could taste every element: the cream, the vanilla, the bourbon, and the maple syrup.

As for the pie, the filling had a light pumpkin flavor with a nice balance of sweetness and spice. Paired with the whipped cream, the dessert had the perfect balance of vanilla, maple syrup, warm pumpkin, and spices.

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Bobby Flay’s pie looked smooth and delicious. Paige Bennett for Insider

The graham-cracker crust was fine but I wish it was crunchier — I was disappointed by its slightly soggy bottom.

The edges were crisp, but they weren’t as flavorful as I would’ve liked.

Ansel’s pumpkin-pie recipe is heavy on the ginger and it calls for a dough crust

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Mixing the ingredients was easy. Paige Bennett for Insider

I followed a recipe that the famous pastry chef and inventor of the Cronut had shared with InStyle and my first concern was how much ginger, fresh and ground, it asked for. I like ginger, but I don’t love it in high quantities.

I was also expecting the pie to have a pretty rich center since this recipe requires a lot of egg yolks in the filling. 

For the crust, I had to battle with the dough 

Since it involved making a dough-based crust, this recipe required a lot of steps. Because of this, I recommend making this the day before if you need it for a certain occasion.

First, it took me a long time to grate the fresh ginger for the crust, so I ended up cutting the amount needed a bit short to about 1 ½ tablespoons instead of 2 tablespoons.

After I mixed up the crust and let it chill, it was time to roll. I cut the dough and put one half aside, which I originally planned to freeze for later. 

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The dough was incredibly difficult to roll out. Paige Bennett for Insider

But rolling the dough was a complete disaster. My first half of dough kept sticking the rolling pin and the surface even though I had floured both of those and my hands prior to starting. 

I got frustrated and scrapped this half, thankful to have the second half still. I kept this dough loosely wrapped in plastic wrap, to help prevent sticking to the rolling pin. 

This worked somewhat well until I had to peel the dough from the plastic wrap and it fell apart. 

I wrangled the dough as best as I could and draped it over my pie dish. It didn’t quite fit, so I did my best to patch it together. 

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The dough didn’t fit nicely in the pan. Paige Bennett for Insider

Next was the blind bake — when you bake a pie crust before filling it — which made me nervous because of how delicate the dough was. I used parchment paper and dry rice to weigh down the crust as it baked. 

When I pulled the crust out and tried to remove the rice, most of my dough came up with it.

I scraped some of the paper off and mended the crust as best as I could, but this was turning out to be a complete disaster.

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Eventually, I patched the dough together enough to form a crust. Paige Bennett for Insider

I pressed onward and added the filling to the crust anyway. Then it was ready to bake. 

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Fortunately, the filling seemed pretty creamy. Paige Bennett for Insider

The pie took about 20 minutes longer to bake than the recipe’s maximum estimated time of 35 minutes. 

For all of the trouble, the pie ended up rather bland

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The pie I made with Dominique Ansel’s recipe was OK. Paige Bennett for Insider

All things considered, the pie looked OK coming out of the oven. The crust didn’t have a perfectly pinched edge, but at this point, I was glad it came together at all. 

The filling mushroomed over the crust level while it was in the oven, then dropped near the end of baking, which led to several cracks around the pie.

I thought that this pie would hold its shape the best of all three recipes because it had a dough crust, but unfortunately, it fell apart when I cut a slice. The bottom crust was thicker on one side and slightly soggy. 

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The crust wasn’t great. Paige Bennett for Insider

The pumpkin layer tasted strongly of pumpkin — I would’ve loved more sweetness and a bit more spice for a better flavor.

The texture was super-smooth thanks to the yolks. Fortunately, all of the ginger didn’t overpower the flavor of the pie. I wish the crust had more flavor, though. 

For the sake of convenience, I swapped fresh pumpkin for canned in Brown’s recipe

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The ingredients for Alton Brown’s pie. Paige Bennett for Insider

Found on the Food Network’s website, Brown’s recipe requires baking a fresh pumpkin to make homemade pumpkin purée. Short on time and not a fan of pumpkin guts, I decided to skip this and swap it for canned-pumpkin purée.

I was surprised to see this recipe didn’t call for cinnamon, unlike any pumpkin pie I’ve ever made (or eaten) before. I hoped the nutmeg would make up for it.

Of the three recipes, Brown’s was the easiest to follow 

The pie’s gingersnap crust was similar to Flay’s graham-cracker one. Without a food processor, it couldn’t come together as well as it should, but it still looked fine and smelled even better.

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For the crust, I used a small appliance to ground up my cookies. Paige Bennett for Insider

I pressed it into a pie dish and baked it for about 10 minutes.

Sans fresh pumpkin, the filling was easy. I warmed the pumpkin purée and half-and-half along with nutmeg and salt on the stove, then whisked this mixture into brown sugar and eggs.

I let the filling and the crust cool for 15 minutes, then combined them amd baked my pie for 45 minutes. 

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The filling for Alton Brown’s pie was a light-orange color. Paige Bennett for Insider

There were no mishaps here; the process was straightforward and quick. Obviously, if I made the pumpkin purée from scratch, it would’ve taken much longer.

I loved the flavor of the gingersnap crust

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Alton Brown’s pie was looking pretty good. Paige Bennett for Insider

After baking, I noticed this pie had a bit of liquid pooling on the surface. Otherwise, the surface was blemish-free. 

The sturdy crust held everything in place as I removed a slice from the pan.

I loved the clear definition between crust and pumpkin in each slice — it made for a really nice presentation.

The filling could’ve used a bit more spice — cinnamon perhaps — but it was still delicious. The pumpkin flavor came through and was sweet. 

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Alton Brown’s pie sliced quite evenly. Paige Bennett for Insider

The ginger flavor in the crust came through in every bite. It was slightly soggier than I had hoped, even along the edges, but I was worried that much longer in the oven would’ve resulted in a burnt crust.

Overall, I’d definitely make Flay’s recipe again, especially the whipped cream

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All of the pies together: Alton Brown’s (front), Bobby Flay’s (back), Dominique Ansel’s (right). Paige Bennett for Insider

I loved the filling and whipped cream from Flay’s recipe, and overall, the pie was pretty simple to put together. The only thing I would change is making the crust more flavorful, perhaps by adding spices.

Brown’s crust was pretty delicious, and the filling’s texture was perfect. With a food processor, I think I could get the crust to have a better texture as well. This recipe resulted in a picturesque pie that looked equally as good on Instagram as it did in real life.

Truthfully, I would love to try Flay’s filling and whipped cream with Brown’s gingersnap crust for the ultimate pumpkin pie.

Unfortunately, I can’t see myself attempting Ansel’s recipe again.

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