If you thought you wouldn’t ever eat custard again after going on an egg-free diet, you’ll love my easy Pumpkin Custard recipe! This no bake custard is a quick and easy paleo vegan dessert. To make it you simply throw the ingredients in a high-powered blender, transfer to adorable mason jars, and then refrigerate.
Dairy-free Pumpkin Custard is the perfect paleo vegan dessert recipe for Thanksgiving. Because it’s so easy to make, it’s also fantastic last minute dessert recipe for Thanksgiving. I usually make my Thanksgiving desserts a day ahead of time, but this recipe is so easy that I whip it up right before we sit down to Thanksgiving dinner, and then pull it out of the refrigerator when it’s time for dessert.
We’re on a major pumpkin kick right now. Last weekend, my husband took the boys and their friend Josh to get pumpkins for Halloween. When they returned the three little ones spent hours in the back yard carving their jack-o-lanterns.
Pumpkin Custard
Ingredients
- ½ cup cashews, raw
- 1 tablespoon agar flakes
- 1 pinch celtic sea salt
- 1¼ cups water, boiling
- 1½ cups roasted pumpkin
- ¼ cup agave nectar or honey, plus a little more if you want it sweeter
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1-2 teaspoons ground ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 pinch ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon lemon zest
Instructions
- Place cashews, agar, and salt in a vitamix and process to a fine powder
- Pour boiling water into vitamix and process on high speed
- Add pumpkin, honey, and vanilla and process until smooth
- Blend in cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and lemon zest
- Pour custard into ramekins or ½ cup mason jars
- Refrigerate 30-60 minutes, until set
- Serve
I’ve been creating loads of paleo vegan dessert recipes lately. Have you seen my Paleo Vegan Desserts Recipes page? Along those lines, I was determined to make this a vegan custard since so many of my readers are either vegan, or on an egg-free diet. Making a custard without eggs is not all that easy since eggs are traditionally the main ingredient in custard.
For this recipe, I would not recommend substituting canned pumpkin for the roasted pumpkin. Canned pumpkin is very wet, so this Pumpkin Custard recipe will be substantially altered by using such a watery ingredient. If you do decide to use canned pumpkin you will need to make several adjustments to compensate. I hope you’ll leave a comment if you do experiment with this recipe and use canned pumpkin.
Here are some of my other easy paleo vegan dessert recipes for you!
Violet says
Thanks for this wonderful recipe! I had 3/4 cup of canned pumpkin leftover from another recipe and cruised my Pinterest boards to find another pumpkin recipe to use it up. I ended up making a half recipe of your custard. I followed your recipe exactly (except I probably zested in more lemon zest than 1/4 tsp.). What a brilliant concoction this is! After letting it set for several hours in the fridge, the texture was not as firm as I imagine it might have been with fresh pumpkin, but it was absolutely wonderful. So delicious, and so creamy that I kept reminding myself it did not have a coconut cream base as I ate it. I love that essentially this custard is made of water + pumpkin. It is light, healthy, easy to make, and scrumptious.
Elana says
Thanks Violet! So glad you enjoyed!
Leah says
Do you think arrowroot powder would work instead of agar?
Elana says
Leah, I haven’t tried that so not sure. If you do please let us know how it goes!
Nancy E says
I made this last night for Shabbat dinner and everyone raved. It was sooooo easy. I did use canned pumpin, organic from my co-op. It worked fine.
Elana says
Nancy, great to hear everyone raved about this :-)
fretwes says
We made this today and loved it! Substituted chia seeds for the agar and used maple syrup as the sweetener. Was creamy and delicious and very easy to make.
Monika says
I imagine it wasn’t very custard-like/smooth with the chia seeds?
Corrie Ann says
Blending in a Vitamix will pulverize the chia seeds. I make chocolate custard with them.
Aunte Wisconsin says
Hi,
I have nieces with extensive food allergies. Can you tell me if this recipe can be made without nuts as this is also on their list of “do not eat”. Their allergies include dairy, egg, wheat, and nuts.
Thank you
April says
I also can’t eat nuts. I usually would substitute a banana or avocado. Avocado is actually very mild tasting and hides very well in a number of raw blends like this. Both work very well for thickening as a base for a dish like this. With avocado, though, it will alter the color some. Make sure it’s made very close to serving.
Carolyn says
It works with canned pumpkin, just be sure to reduce the liquid to no more than 1/2 cup, 4 oz. Otherwise, it is far too soupy.
Elana says
Thanks Carolyn!
Geralyn says
Hi Elana,
Another delicious recipe. I actually just wanted to make a request. Have you ever developed a chocolate/peanut butter (or almond/sun butter) cake? I am craving one, but as I look around for a recipe, I am also longing for your simplicity. Just putting a bug in your ear. Thanks for all the great recipes!
Elana says
Geralyn, I think this might be just what you are looking for!
https://elanaspantry.com/peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-cupcakes/
Enjoy!
Elana
Aleta says
Hi Jeri-Lynn,
It is definitely normal for raw cashews to be very soft! This is what makes them very useful for making vegan dishes with creamy textures. You can roast them with salt if you want some for snacking.
Jerri-Lynn DeGayner says
I never used cashews before, only almond flour, I purchased some raw cashews from the store and the date is a year out yet. My husband popped one in his mouth and spit it out saying they were really soft. How do you know if you are getting good cashews or any nuts and would they still be ok to bake with? does anyone know? Thanks.
Gale Wright says
Keep in mind if you use honey from bees, then it is no longer a vegan dish.