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This Coconut Cream Pie has luscious coconut flavor in every bite! Flaky crust filled with homemade coconut cream filling and coconut whipped cream, it’s a coconut lover’s dream!
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This Coconut Cream Pie recipe is by far the best I have ever had. The coconut custard filling is made from scratch (no pudding mixes here!) and it makes all the difference. The rich and creamy texture is full of coconut flavor. This pie is so much better than anything you can get at a store!
Homemade pie always tastes best, and that couldn’t be more true with this recipe. But that doesn’t mean it’s hard to make. Even a pie making novice can put this pie together and everyone will think you put more time into it than you actually did. This pie is perfect for a family gathering or Easter dinner.
Ingredients in Coconut Cream Pie
Perfect pie recipes start with perfect crusts. For this recipe you can either bake a regular pie dough crust or a graham crackers crust. Try our homemade Perfect Pie Crust or our Perfect Graham Cracker Crust recipes. Use a food processor to get the cracker crumbs to the perfect consistency. Or, give yourself a break and buy either a frozen or ready made crust at the store. Here’s what you need for the rest of the pies:
- Half and half – You can find this in the milk section of the grocery store. This is one recipe where you should not substitute whole milk or any other milk. Half and half will give you the creamy pie you want.
- Coconut milk – A little less than one can is needed for this recipe. Find canned coconut milk in the Asian foods aisle at the store.
- Eggs – Using large egg yolks will bind the pie filling together and create a creamy coconut custard filling.
- Sugar – Added for sweetness
- Cornstarch – This is known to be a thickener. At first it creates a crumbly texture but them makes a smooth and thick pudding like substance.
- Salt – Just a pinch!
- Toasted shredded coconut – You can use unsweetened coconut flakes for the pie filling and maybe sweetened coconut for the topping.
- Coconut extract – If you can’t find coconut extract, you can always substitute vanilla extract. Coconut extract is found in the baking aisle next to the other extracts and is what gives coconut cream pies that unforgettable flavor.
Topping it Off
The topping is what makes this cream pie so delicious! It is light and tasty in every bite. This coconut pie is not complete without this creamy topping!
- Whipping cream – The kind you have to whip yourself, not the pre-made frozen Cool Whip, although you can totally use this in a pinch. Find the heavy whipping cream where you get the half and half, in the milk aisle. Whip it using a stand mixer or hand mixer until soft peaks form.
- Powdered sugar – Between a quarter to a half cup, to taste. This will help sweeten and thicken the topping.
- Coconut extract – Add in a hint of flavor that will take this pie to the next level! You’ll get flavoring from the creamy coconut filling as well as the topping.
Recipe Tips
You will love how quickly this creamy coconut pie comes together. It does have some time in the refrigerator to setup, become thicker, and have a little jiggle to it. These tips will make your coconut pie sing!
- This Coconut Cream Pie takes a little time to put together, as well as at least two hours of refrigeration time for the pie to set. So make sure to plan accordingly. It’s worth every single minute of prep time, I promise!
- When making the whipped topping, place heavy cream in a medium bowl and use an electric mixer with the whisk attachment or hand mixer to whisk the cream, powdered sugar, and coconut extract until stiff peaks form.
Coconut Meringue Topping
A delicious variation on this recipe is to top the coconut cream layer with meringue instead of whipped topping. For a quick and easy meringue recipe, see our Lemon Meringue Pie. If you prefer meringue to whipped topping, this works beautifully on the Coconut Cream Pie.
How to Toast Coconut
To get that perfect golden toasted coconut, just follow these simple steps:
- First, preheat your oven to about 325 degrees.
- Next, spread an even layer of sweetened coconut on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for about 5-10 minutes, or until the color is golden brown. It can burn quickly, so keep a close eye on it. Give the pan a shake every couple of minutes to ensure even baking.
- Let the coconut cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes. It’ll continue to crisp up as it sits.
- Store leftovers in the fridge or at room temperature for up to a week.
Coconut Cream Pie with Less Sugar Option
One of our dear readers, Karen, adapted this Coconut Cream Pie recipe to make it more diabetic-friendly. These are her substitute suggestions:
“This is a great recipe but I wanted to make it with less fat and sugar; I am Diabetic. I substituted milk with 1 – 12 oz. can of Fat Free Evaporated Milk; used 1 – 13.5 oz can of Lite Coconut Milk; exchanged sugar for ½ cup Splenda, and poured it all into a homemade graham cracker crust made with Splenda. It came out fabulous. My husband loved it, said it was the best pie ever.”
-Karen
Frequently Asked Questions about Coconut Cream Pie
If the milk mixture doesn’t thicken after bringing it to a low boil on medium heat, the custard may be undercooked. Mix together a little more cornstarch and water and add to the custard mixture. Bring back up to a boil until it thickens.
If you want to freeze this pie, it’s best to keep the crust and filling separate until you’re ready to thaw and serve it. Leftover pie CAN be frozen, as long as it’s tightly wrapped in foil and placed in a freezer bag.
Store leftovers in the fridge for up to four days, covered in plastic wrap. Any longer than a few days and the crust can get too soggy.
Read More: The BEST Traditional Easter Dinner Ideas
More Recipes for Coconut Lovers
If you’re a fan of our Coconut Cream Pie recipe, try some of our other favorite coconut recipes:
How to Make Coconut Cream Pie
Coconut Cream Pie
Video
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups half-and-half
- 1 1/2 cups coconut milk a little less than 1 can
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup corn starch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup flaked coconut toasted
- 2 teaspoons coconut extract or vanilla extract
- 9 inch pie shell baked (see above for our pie crust recipes)
TOPPING:
- 1 pint whipping cream the kind you have to whip yourself, not the pre-made, frozen stuff!
- 1/4-1/2 cup powdered sugar to taste
- 2 teaspoons coconut extract
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine half-and-half, coconut milk, eggs, sugar, cornstarch and salt. Bring to a boil over LOW medium heat (using a double-boiler works best), whisking constantly.
- When it starts to boil a little bit and thickens up to about the consistency of a thick pudding (this takes about 15-20 minutes so BE PATIENT), remove from heat.
- Stir in ¾ cup of the toasted coconut and the coconut (or vanilla) extract.
- Pour into pie shell and chill for 2 to 4 hours, or until firm.
- While pie is cooling, whip together topping ingredients with electric beaters.
- When pie is completely cooled, top with whipped topping.
- Sprinkle on remaining toasted coconut.
Notes
- Nutrition information is for the whole pie filling, but not the crust.
- For a quick and easy meringue recipe, see our Lemon Meringue Pie. If you prefer meringue to whipped topping, this works beautifully on the Coconut Cream Pie.
The coconut milk was a great ingredient in this recipe. My dad loves coconut and raved about this pie. Thank you!
Excellent recipe. Will make again. I prepared in a shallow oval dish – perfect for office potluck.
Thanks so much for the kind review!
Please include nutrional information along with your receipts
can you use rum extract with this pie ?
I’m sure you could if you really wanted to! I don’t see why not, other than it will alter the flavor.
Not sure what happened but I ended up with scrambled egg whites
Hmm I’m not sure either. That has never happened to us before. At what point did you end up with the scrambled egg whites? Trying to pinpoint where it could have happened.
Hi! The last instruction says to top with “remaining toasted coconut.” Where does the first part of the toasted coconut go in the recipe. I don’t see it mentioned other than at the end. If you could let me know asap, that would be wonderful. Thank you so much!
The toasted coconut is added in step 4 of the recipe – it is mixed into the filling just before adding it to the pie shell. Thank you for asking!
Best Coconut Cream Pie ever. Will make again and again.
Thanks for sharing!
You are very welcome! So glad you liked it 😀
I was attracted to your site because of the ‘Magic Weight Loss Soup’. I love that the soup can be made with all healthy ingredients!! I paid for & downloaded the accompanying book.
As someone who is interested in optimizing my health & being a healthy weight, I am not interested in recipes like your coconut pie— no matter how yummy it might be!! I also don’t want recipes with sugar, mayo, prepared refrigerated biscuits, unhealthy fats & chemicals!! Of course, there are a gazillion people out there who don’t care about putting that stuff in their bodies!! Have you got a section with healthier recipes for those of us who don’t care to insult our bodies??
Again… I was attracted to your site cuz of the incredibly healthy Magic Soup!! Thank you for that recipe!! I’d love to see more healthful recipes from you!! Temptations are all over the place!! Maybe you could help more people by having a section of healthy recipes to choose from!! If you have a section like that, I apologize… but I haven’t been able to find it!!
Hi Carol Ann — YES we have a section in our categories called “Light and Tasty” it has all of our lighter recipes! So glad you liked the WLMS and hore you are able to find more light and healthy recipes as you browse our site! Here is a direct link to the light and tasty category: https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/category/light-and-tasty/ Enjoy!
Am just making this for the first time I love to bake so my biggest critic will tell me later how it is
Be sure to come back and let us know what you think!
Did you put toasted coconut in the pudding mixture?
Yes, 3/4 cup of the toasted coconut goes in the pie filling and the remaining is sprinkled on top. Thanks for asking!
Delish!
Hands- down the best coconut cream pie I have ever made and tasted! I did top it with a double- meringue instead of the whipped topping and added an additional 1/2 cup toasted coconut to filling and sprinkled a bit on merinque before I baked it- sooooo good! Thank you!
Yayy!!!! So glad that you liked it! Thank YOU for coming to our site!
This is a great recipe but I wanted to make it with less fat and sugar; I am Diabetic. I substituted milk with 1 – 12 oz. can of Fat Free Evaporated Milk; used 1 – 13.5 oz can of Lite Coconut Milk; exchanged sugar for 1/2 cup Splenda, and poured it all into a homemade graham cracker crust made with Splenda. It came out fabulous. My husband loved it, said it was the best pie ever, I topped his with whipped cream. I love all of your recipes and I can easily adapt them to fit my Diabetic diet.
Thank you so much! I am glad all the substitutions worked for you– and thank you for sharing! So glad that you liked it! 😀
What size of pie pan did you use for this recipe?
Just your typical 9″ pie plate, hope this helps!
Have you ever topped this pie with actual meringue that you have to bake afterwards?
I haven’t – but, I bet it would work well.
I topped it with a double merinque and sprinkled it with toasted coconut, baked it 15-20 min until golden- delicious!
I made this last night and it was amazing! Absolutely delicious! This will be a staple in my dessert arsenal for sure! (And now that I’m talking about it, I want some…looks like this girl is having pie for breakfast! )
Haha! The dangers of leftover dessert!
where can I find coconut milk in a can? And is there a difference of the coconut milk in can and coconut milk that you can buy in milk section at walmart in cardboard container?
The coconut milk in a can is usually next to the ethnic foods in the grocery store. I find it in the same section as the soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, etc. I’ve never used the coconut milk that is refrigerated, so I’m not sure. I always use the can. Thank you for asking!
How many ounces are in a “small” carton of whipping cream? Looks like a wonderful recipe, am anxious to give it a try. Thank you.
You will want to use the pint size of whipping cream.
This pie is perfect! Thank goodness my family loved it as well, because I could’ve eaten the whole thing. Thank you for the recipe!
So glad you (and your family) liked it! It is definitely one of our favorites around here, too!
This pie is by far the most delicious thing I have ever made!! The recipe is perfect!. Thanks for sharing, it’s now going to be my most requested dessert!
Yay! We love to hear your successes. Thank you!