Made with pudding, pumpkin, whipped cream and cookies, Pumpkin Pie Parfaits are a special fall dessert recipe for Halloween, Thanksgiving or a dinner party.
Tired of traditional pumpkin pie? You’ll love these Pumpkin Pie Parfaits, a delicious dessert layered and served individually in small mason jars.
Pumpkins Are the Best Fall Desserts
One of my absolute favorite things about fall are pumpkins. I love the rustic orange color and the scent of cinnamon and nutmeg wafting through the house. Pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin bars, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin carving, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin home decor… I could go on and on. My kitchen walls are even a warm, pumpkin color!
How to Change Up Pumpkin Pie
The quintessential pumpkin dessert of the season of course, is pumpkin pie. You’ll find it at nearly every Thanksgiving table in North America this fall. I thought it would be really fun to take this traditional dessert and give it a special little twist.
These Pumpkin Pie Parfaits have all the flavor you love about pumpkin pie wrapped up in a cute little half-pint jar.
I originally shared this recipe for Pumpkin Pie Parfaits at Belle of the Kitchen a few weeks ago. When Ashlyn from Belle of the Kitchen and I were talking about a theme for our October “Ideas for the Kitchen” exchange, the choice was obvious: PUMPKIN! While I was there, Ashlyn was here with her delicious recipe for Pumpkin Sheet Cake.
Pumpkin Pie Parfaits – An Easy Fall Dessert
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Kitchen Tools:
- mixing bowls
- whisk
- food processor or rolling pin to crush cookies
- spoon
- half pint jars
Ingredients:
Here’s what you’ll need from the store. The exact amounts are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Instant vanilla pudding mix
- Cold milk
- Pureed pumpkin
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Ground cloves
- Crushed vanilla sandwich cookies (about 8 ozs.)
- Frozen whipped topping, thawed
How to make Pumpkin Pie Parfaits
Pumpkin Pie Parfaits are a really easy fall dessert idea to make ahead of time for your Halloween or Thanksgiving party. With layers of pumpkin-spiced pudding, whipped topping and cookie crumbs, the Pumpkin Pie Parfaits are a delicious treat your friends will love!
Here is an overview with some step-by-step pictures. For the detailed instructions, skip down to the recipe card.
1. Mix up the pumpkin layer.
You start by combining vanilla pudding with some pumpkin and some traditional pumpkin pie spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and ground cloves.
2. Prepare the whipped topping layer.
Next, you thaw a small tub of frozen whipped topping, crush some vanilla sandwich cookie crumbs and line up nine half-pint jars.
3. Start layering ingredients in the jars.
Now you just have to start making these pretty and yummy layers. Start with the crushed cookie crumbs, followed by pumpkin spiced pudding and whipped topping.
The layers don’t have to be precise amounts. I used a few teaspoons of cookie crumbs, a large tablespoon or two of pumpkin-spiced pudding and about one and a half tablespoons of whipped topping for each of the layers.
4. Repeat the pattern.
Repeat the layers of cookie crumbs, pumpkin-spiced pudding and whipped topping twice in the jars. Sprinkle the remaining cookie crumbs on the top as a little garnish.
Pumpkin Pie Parfaits
Ingredients
- 3.4 oz instant vanilla pudding mix
- 2 cups cold milk
- 15 oz can pureed pumpkin
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup of vanilla sandwich cookies 8 oz
- 8 oz frozen whipped topping thawed
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together pudding mix and milk. Let set for 5 minutes.
- Stir in pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Crush the vanilla sandwich cookies in a blender or food processor to make crumbs.
- In small 1/2 pint jar or glasses layer cookie crumbs, pumpkin pudding and whipped topping. Repeat the layers twice and end with cookie crumbs.
- Chill until you’re ready to serve. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Serving Suggestions
Pumpkin Pie Parfaits are easy fall desserts for a crowd. Here a few alternative ideas for how you could serve them:
- Instead of topping the Pumpkin Pie Parfaits with cookie crumbs, you could use fall colored sprinkles, candy corns or crushed nuts like pecans or walnuts to decorate the parfaits.
- Mix crushed peanuts with the cookie crumbs to enhance the nutty flavor of the Pumpkin Pie Parfaits.
- Tie a little raffia ribbon around the top of the jars to give them some rustic style for your dinner party.
- Instead of the half pint jars, you could also use 8 ounce glasses or dress up the Pumpkin Pie Parfaits by using wine glasses or champagne flutes.
- If you’re short on time or planning for more than nine guests, you could layer the pumpkin spiced pudding, cookie crumbs and whipped topping in a large trifle bowl. It would still look festive and your guests could scoop it into small dessert bowls themselves.
What’s your favorite pumpkin dessert for fall? Please comment below and share. We are always looking for new ideas!
More Pumpkin Recipes
While you’re here be sure to check out:
- Our tutorial on how to roast pumpkin seeds
- This collection of pumpkin pie alternatives for Thanksgiving
- And of course, Ashlyn’s recipe for Pumpkin Sheet Cake.
- We also have several easy dessert recipes that are delicious for fall too, like Caramel Apple Pudding Cups.
If you liked this recipe for Pumpkin Pie Parfaits, please share it with your friends or pin it for later:
Updated November 2019.
I love this pumpkin recipe and especially like the use of the jars for individual servings! Thanks for giving my family a new recipe to try!
Thanks, Pam! Don’t you just think everything is better in cute little jars? Hope you and your family enjoy the dessert.
How long are these good for if making ahead of time and refrigerated?
Great question, Jamie! These could be made several days in advance as long as you kept them refrigerated. I would just save the final cookie crumb layer and wait to add it just before serving to keep that fresh crunchy taste and texture.
Let us know how it turns out!
Thank you so much for coming by to get the recipe.
Best wishes,
Carrie
Ideas for the Home by Kenarry
Such a pretty dessert! I love the jar idea.
Thanks Debbie! It’s as delicious as it is pretty too. I hope you enjoy it.
Love pumpkin anything. I going to give this recipe a try!
Me too, Ann! Me, too. Pumpkin and fall just go hand in hand, don’t you think?
Theres look so yummy and fun! Perfect for Thanksgiving dessert! Thanks for sharing on the #MondayFundayParty!
I’m so glad you came over from your party to check out our recipe, Amy. Thank you!
These look amazing! Pinned it and can’t wait to try them. Blessings always. Misty.
Hope you enjoy them, Misty! Thank you so much for pinning the recipe.
This looks so delicious! I’ll be making this one. Thank you.
Great! Hope you love it, Carol.
The Grandkids are going to love these, Thanks for sharing on Think tank Thursday
I bet they will, Lynn! If the grandkids are anything like my boys, they’ll love them!
These will be perfect to take to Thanksgiving dinner. I just love that everyone gets their own in a darling little jar. Thanks for sharing!
I bet if you screwed the lids on the jars they’d travel fairly well for the holidays, Susan. I’d just wait to put the final layer on once you got to your Thanksgiving dinner.
love this unique idea for Thanksgiving! Yum! pumpkin pie is great and this makes them look super cute and personalized!
stop by and chat with me ♥ http://storybookapothecary.com
Tianna, I’m so glad you liked the idea. I bet you actually could personalize them. You could write guests’ names on the jar ahead of time with enamel paint like I did with handpainted wine glasses. Then Thanksgiving guests could take their little jars home like a souvenir from the meal.
Wow this sounds yummy and your pics look awesome. Thanks for sharing with us at Throwback Thursday. Please share and join us again next week.
Hi Quinn, thanks for coming over to see us and check out the Pumpkin Pie Parfaits. We hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Thank you so much for this recipe, I am drooling 🙂 Love that you serve them in the jars!
Congratulations, you are being featured in this week’s
Snickerdoodle Mini Round Up!
Have an awesome day!
Joanita
Thank you, Joanita! We’re so honored you chose to feature our recipe this week.
I think pumpkin pie may be one of my favorite things from fall and this sounds like an awesome way to make it even better! Who thought it was possible…? 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing it at Turn It Up Tuesday!
Hi Tiffany, if you love pumpkin pie then you’re seriously going to love these parfaits too. Thank you for much for coming by from Turn It Up Tuesday to check out the recipe. Enjoy!
Such a lovely recipe to put together for a dessert and perfect for this time of the year. Thank you for sharing with us at #HomeMatterParty. We would love to have you again next week.
Hi Sahana, I agree – pumpkin pie parfaits are perfect for fall! Thanks for coming over from your party to check out the recipe.
The pie in a jar looks great! Thank you for your participation at Tasty Tuesday Creative K Kids. I pinned it at the Pinterest board
Maria, I’m so grateful you liked our recipe and pinned it too! Thank you!
Thanks for sharing your amazing recipe on Weekend Bites! Find it in our Thanksgiving recipes roundup post. http://practicalparentingideas.blogspot.com/2015/11/weekend-bites-no-61-thanksgiving-sides.html
Thank you so much for including our recipe in your terrific collection, Debi! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Do you think you could just mix canned pumpkin pie with the pudding to omit the extra spices?
Hi Carissa,
I’ve never seen canned pumpkin pie at my store – only regular canned pumpkin. If canned pumpkin pie has all the spices, then I think it would probably work great. Give it a try and let me know!
Best wishes,
Carrie
Ideas for the Home by Kenarry
Hi,
So i have a few questions…..if i make this the night before will the cool whip be ok in the fridge and not go mushy?
Also, this may be stupid but I know that pumpkin in pies or tarts etc are usually cooked, so its fine for it not to be cooked?
Hi Kaitie,
Those are excellent questions! Cool whip will retain its shape/texture in the fridge overnight. I would NOT use the canned aerosol whipped Redi-whip style cream as that does melt and lose its shape shortly after it’s sprayed out of the can.
If you’re making this a day ahead of time, I would just wait to put the final layer of cookie crumbs (or sprinkles) on the top until just prior to serving so they stay crunchy.
As for whether it is safe to eat canned pumpkin without cooking it, you don’t need to worry. The pumpkin was already cooked and puréed during the canning process and is perfectly safe to eat straight out of the can. Pumpkin pies and tarts get baked because other ingredients are added like eggs to give the pie a thicker texture.
Let us know how you enjoy the recipe!
Best wishes,
Carrie
Ideas for the Home by Kenarry
I made this for a charity project and my mouth was watering the entire time. There was an October heat wave in California this weekend so this was the perfect delicious yet refreshing treat. Totally reccomend!!
Hooray! I’m so glad to hear the pumpkin pie parfaits were a hit at your charity event. Thanks for coming back to let me know.
Best wishes,
Carrie
Ideas for the Home by Kenarry