Battle of the Pies: How to Choose the Healthiest Pie and Why - Who's On The Move (2024)

FAQs

Battle of the Pies: How to Choose the Healthiest Pie and Why - Who's On The Move? ›

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.

But the apple pie takes the cake when it comes to fiber and potassium, and it has less added sugar. So what's a pie aficionado to do? Well, if you want to consume fewer calories, go for the pumpkin—it almost always has fewer because of the single crust. You could also take a sliver of both pies.

At around 300 calories per slice, pumpkin pie is a good bet for an indulgent dessert. It's a calorie bargain compared with other fall pies —apple pie weighs in at around 400 calories, and pecan pie at about 500 calories per slice. The type of crust used can make a big calorie difference.

Instead of being a sweet dessert they were mostly filled with meat like beef, lamb, wild duck, magpie pigeon and with spices of pepper, currants or dates. Historians like to trace the meat pie's origins to the Greeks. The Romans, on the other hand like their pies sweet.

Apple pie is America's favorite Thanksgiving dessert, but not Alabama's - al.com.

At 31 grams of sugar, a single slice of pecan pie packs quite the sugar punch. The WHO also recommends healthy adult consume no more than 65 grams of fat per day. If you need a sweet treat after dinner, opt for pumpkin pie instead.

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.

Cons: Fatty ingredients like traditional pastry crust, butter, cream cheese, half-and-half, or shortening can sabotage the nutritional value. Mountains of sugar from canned pumpkin pie filling and spoonfuls of sugary toppings can also send calories through the roof.

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.

Despite its disease-fighting potential, traditional cherry pie can clock in at almost 600 calories and more than 15 grams of fat per serving. Crusts made with butter are high in saturated fat, while crusts made with shortening deliver a hefty dose of trans-fatty acids.

Why were pies called coffins? ›

A coffin or coffyn referred to a container made of pastry, a precursor of the modern pie crust, and food was served in the coffin it had been cooked in. The first printed use of the word coffin as a box for a corpse appeared later, in the 16th century. Historians trace pies back to ancient times.

Apple pie is arguably one of the most popular pie flavors. A symbol of America, the apple pie was actually invented by the British. Apple pie is simply made with sliced apples on double-crusted pastry dough.

The Ancient Egyptians were the first to invent a dish close to what we know as a pie today. They had a honey filling covered in a crusty cake made from oats, wheat, rye or barley. A recipe for chicken pie was also discovered on a tablet carved prior to 2000 BC.

While pumpkin pie reigns supreme in the majority of American households, sweet potato pie is still the quintessential Thanksgiving dessert in the South.

Pumpkin Pie

A sweet dessert pie with a spiced pumpkin-based custard filling.

Northeast. In New England and the Mid-Atlantic, every state was in apple-pie order—with the exception of Maine, which searched for chicken pot pie above all.

Even better, switch your pastry from shortcrust or puff to filo. This is the lowest-fat pastry by far, with 2.9g fat per 100g. This compares with 26.2g for puff or 31.4g for shortcrust. Filo is the lowest-calorie option too, and it's easy to use.

If you want to consume essential nutrients to overcome your nutritional deficiency, then go for pecans. In case you are planning to lose weight while consuming a low-calorie dessert, then a pumpkin pie should be your choice.

However, when pumpkin is out of its natural pie habitat, it's definitely lower in sugar than sweet potatoes (a win for pumpkin!). But while sweet potatoes have more calories, that's because they are packed with greater amounts of carbohydrates, protein, and fats (all necessary parts of your diet).