Which Pie Is Healthier: Apple or Pumpkin? (2024)

FAQs

Which Pie Is Healthier: Apple or Pumpkin? ›

Winner: Pumpkin Pie

According to the USDA's Dietary Guidelines for Americans, we should all be eating 2 cups of orange veggies each week. Pumpkin pie can help meet these recommendations plus that brilliant orange color provides the antioxidants vitamin A and lutein.

Pumpkin Pie: This one is our winner! When in doubt, choose pumpkin pie. In competition with those mentioned above, it offers the fewest calories, and least fat and added sugar. It's also loaded with vitamins and minerals such as vitamin B12, thiamin, riboflavin, folate, niacin, phosphorous, calcium, and iron.

Its subtle but definite flavor can carry all of the spice mix that borrowed its name, and the gourd lends itself to sweetness. The contrast between a creamy pumpkin filling and a perfect flaky crust nears pie perfection.

Pecan pie contains more calories but offers you plenty of nutrients that you can't find in any other pie. On the other hand, pumpkin pies have a lower calorie content. But pumpkins contain fewer nutrients compared to pecans. Hence, both of these pies are healthy in their own way.

Winner: Pumpkin Pie

The single crust keeps calories light, while the star of the show, pumpkin, pushes the nutrition of this pie way beyond apple.

While apples are healthy—they're loaded with fiber (about 4 grams in one medium apple, per the USDA), vitamin C and antioxidants—coating them with sugar and dumping them in a buttery crust does change things a bit. Plus, apple pies normally come with double crusts, which means more calories.

However, if you place the two in a side-by-side comparison, sweet potato generally outpaces pumpkin in its nutritional makeup from vitamin A to fiber to protein. While pumpkin is a light, low sugar option, sweet potatoes do more heavy lifting and will ultimately feed your body more essential nutrients.

Pumpkin, unlike pecan, only has 15 grams of added sugar, only half of pecan's added 30! The pie with the next least amount of sugar is apple pie.

Like all fruits, pumpkin is a good source of fiber. Canned pumpkin contains 7 grams of fiber per one-cup serving. Fiber is beneficial for removing cholesterol from the body, keeping blood sugars from spiking and helping regulate bowel habits. In addition, fiber also helps us to feel fuller longer.

Why do Americans eat pumpkin pie? ›

It was a way to celebrate the successful harvest. It's said that pumpkin was served at this celebratory dinner, but no one knows if it was a pie-like dessert or a pumpkin dish, but pumpkins were definitely involved! So, pumpkin has been the staple ever since – and we're not complaining!

Fresh pumpkin puree will be a very different color, texture, and flavor, compared to canned pumpkin. See our comparison and experiment results further below!

Speaking of sugar content, it's also interesting to note that apple pie generally contains more sugar than pumpkin pie. "Apple pie often contains added sugars, both in the filling and the crust, which can contribute to higher calorie and sugar content.

Pork pie is quite unhealthy. A traditional British meat pie, eaten cold made of chopped pork, pork fat, and jellied pork stock.

The least popular types of pies were salted caramel, gooseberry, blueberry and peach, all being the most popular in only one state each.

Pumpkin pie tends to be more heavy on spice, while sweet potato pie is typically sweeter and lighter. But the reasons why people choose one over the other often trace back to where they were raised and their race.

One of the most popular holiday treats — pumpkin pie — is often loaded with saturated fat and cholesterol. With adjustments, everyone can enjoy this traditional dessert.

One cup of canned pumpkin, for example, contains 137 calories but provides more than 200 percent of the daily value for vitamin A, 36 percent of vitamin K, 25 percent of fiber and 22 percent of vitamin E. It's also a good source of vitamin B6, vitamin C, magnesium, riboflavin, iron and potassium.