The Best Pumpkin Varieties to Grow in Garden Beds for Homemade Pies

Fall is the season for baking, from homemade pumpkin pies to muffins, breads, and other autumn treats. And if you've been growing pumpkins in your garden beds, you might have more than enough to keep the oven busy. Rather than letting all that pumpkin go to waste, you can save the flesh for baking throughout the season. The trick is choosing varieties with the right flavor and texture. 

Here are some of the best pumpkin varieties to grow in garden beds for homemade pies and other fall favorites.

1. Sugar Pie / New England Pie

If you're growing pumpkins for homemade pies, Sugar Pie is a great place to start. These small, round pumpkins typically weigh around 3–4 pounds and have sweet, fine-textured flesh that cooks down into smooth puree. Their size is handy when you want enough pumpkin for a pie without having to process a giant squash.

2. Winter Luxury

Winter Luxury has been around since 1893, but its unusual appearance still makes it stand out in the garden. The orange skin is covered in a fine, netlike pattern, almost like delicate lace. Underneath, you'll find sweet flesh with a silky texture that makes excellent pumpkin puree. The vines do spread out, though, so leave plenty of room for them to grow in the garden beds.

3. Long Island Cheese

Named for its resemblance to a wheel of cheese, Long Island Cheese is an heirloom pumpkin with smooth, tan skin and deep orange flesh. The fruits typically weigh 6–10 pounds, giving you plenty of pumpkin to work with for pies, soups, and other fall recipes. Its dense, fine-grained flesh has a sweet, earthy flavor, and the pumpkins store well after harvest, so you don't have to use them all at once.

4. Cinderella (Rouge Vif d'Étampes)

Cinderella pumpkins look like they belong in a fairy tale, with their flattened shape and deep, pronounced ribs. This French heirloom can grow quite large, sometimes reaching 20 pounds, so you'll get plenty of pumpkin to cook with. Its orange flesh has a mild, sweet flavor and works well in soups and roasted dishes, too. 

5. Dickinson

Dickinson squash might not look like the bright orange pumpkins you'd expect to see in a fall garden bed. It has a tan, elongated shape, but there's a good reason to grow it for baking: Dickinson is the main type of squash used in Libby's canned pumpkin puree. Its sweet, smooth flesh makes it worth trying if you want to grow the same kind of squash commonly used in store-bought pumpkin pie filling.

6. Galeux d'Eysines

Galeux d'Eysines is hard to mistake for any other pumpkin. As it matures, its salmon-colored skin develops raised, peanut-like bumps caused by sugar accumulating beneath the rind. The more bumps it develops, the more unusual it looks! Inside, the orange flesh is sweet and smooth, perfect to grow for pies, soups, and roasted dishes.

7. Seminole

Seminole pumpkins have a history of growing in Florida's heat, where Indigenous communities cultivated them long before modern pumpkin varieties became common. They're well adapted to hot, humid conditions and can keep producing in garden beds, even when other squash struggle in the heat. The fruits are smaller than some giant pumpkins, with sweet orange flesh that's good for pies and other baked treats.

8. Georgia Candy Roaster

Georgia Candy Roaster is an heirloom winter squash with long, curved fruits that can grow up to 20 inches or more in the garden beds. Its sweet, salmon-orange flesh has a rich flavor that becomes even sweeter in storage, Although it's technically a squash rather than a pumpkin, it can be used in much the same way for homemade pies, breads, and other baked treats.

Final Thoughts

Try a few different varieties to see which ones you like best for homemade pies, breads, and other fall treats. Just remember to leave enough room for their vines to grow, and save any extra puree for baking later in the season. You might find a new favorite to grow year after year.