A classic pie recipe, filled with coconut pudding and topped with cool whip and toasted coconut shreds. This pie is perfectly sweet and creamy, it’s hard to resist!
You don’t need a special occasion for pie, any time is a good time! Coconut cream is a classic flavor that most people enjoy, but if you’re craving chocolate, you’ll love this chocolate cream pie. If you need something fruity, triple berry pie should do the trick!
husband approved Pie Recipe
My husband LOVES Pie! And I mean LOVES! He craves it all the time and secretly hopes I make it for every special occasion and party. And I like pie, but I’m more of a cake and dessert bars girl, so my first thought is never to make pie.
My mom, though, has been making pies for as long as I can remember, because my dad actually loves them too. You can imagine how happy the hubby was when he came into the family knowing my mom loved to make pie, and especially one of his favs – Coconut Cream Pie!
She recently made a new version of Coconut Cream Pie, and it was a hit with all the men in the family. It’s great any time of year, but my family loves to make it for Thanksgiving (along with all the other classic pie recipes).
How to Make Coconut Cream Pie
The prep for this pie is actually really simple! The hardest part is waiting for it to chill in the fridge. 😉
Coconut Pudding. In a medium saucepan, whisk milk and egg until completely incorporated. Add your sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Cooking over medium heat, whisk frequently until thickened. Remove saucepan from heat and stir in vanilla then coconut.
Pour into your cooled crust (we used Marie Calendar’s store bought crust that you bake, but you can also make your own!).
Chill. Place in refrigerator until chilled, a few hours.
Whipped Topping. Whip together your cream, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Spread on top of chilled pie.
Toasted Coconut. Spread your coconut on a cookie sheet or pan. Toast at 350 for about 2-4 minutes, until lightly golden. Sprinkle on top of your pie and eat up!
Meringue Topping
Meringue makes a great topping for this pie. Follow recipe directions, but instead of adding the whipped topping to the pie spread on the meringue.
To make meringue you’ll need 3 egg whites, ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar, 6 Tablespoons of sugar. In a small bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar on medium speed until it gets foamy. Add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Beat on high speed after adding each tablespoon.
Once all the sugar has been added, continue beating until soft peaks form. Spread completely over coconut cream pie. Bake for 12-15 minutes in a 350 degree oven. The meringue will be a golden brown. Cool for 1 hour and then chill in the fridge for 2-3 more hours.
Storing & Freezing
How to store coconut cream pie? You can cool a coconut cream pie at room temperature for about an hour then place the pie in the refrigerator. Cover loosely with aluminum foil or plastic wrap. The pie will keep for 3-4 days. Be cautious or discard of the pie if left out of the refrigerator for longer than 2 hours.
Can coconut cream pie be frozen? Cream pies do not usually do well in the freezer so I don’t recommend freezing this dish. However, you can make it ahead of time and store it in the fridge for 2-3 days before serving.
For more classic pie recipes, check out:
Coconut Cream Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- Prepared pie crust of your choice
Coconut Pudding
- 2 2/3 cups whole milk
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/3 cup sweetened flake coconut
Whipped Topping
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup coconut
Instructions
Pudding
- In a medium saucepan, whisk milk and egg until completely incorporated. Add your sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Cooking over medium heat, whisk frequently until thickened. Remove saucepan from heat and stir in vanilla then coconut. Pour into your cooled crust (we used Marie Calendar’s store bought crust that you bake). Place in refrigerator until chilled, a few hours.
Whipped Topping
- Whip together your cream, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Spread on top of chilled pie.
- Spread your coconut on a cookie sheet or pan. Toast at 350 for about 2-4 minutes, until lightly golden. Sprinkle on top of your pie and eat up!
Video
Recipe adapted from HERE.
This pie looks delicious, Kellyn! I love coconut, but my husband hates it so I never get to make coconut desserts. I may just have to find an excuse when he’s not around to make this pie, though.
Let me know if you give it a try. My hubby LOVES coconut so he LOVES this pie, but I’m more of a chocolate person so he loves it when I cave and make his favorite. 🙂
Oh my gosh, I hate making pies, but I might just have to make this anyway! (It’s the darn crust that always gets me!) I love how big and fluffy this pie is. It looks amazing!
Thank you, Melissa!! If you love Coconut I can guarantee you’ll love this. Let me know if you give it a try. 🙂
I am going to make this now but don’t have cream but do have half and half. Will this still work
Half and half has a lower fat content, so if it is really cold, it may still whip but will probably deflate pretty quickly if it does whip up. I’d suggest sticking with the cream if you can!
I made this pie today. It is fantastic, and it’s not fussy to make. I could eat one of these pies every day. Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe.
Thanks for stopping by, Leslie. I’m glad it was a hit!! I think I’ll be making it soon for Father’s Day since it’s one of the hubby’s FAVS! 😉
May I ask if I can make a Meringue topping instead of Whipped Cream. I know I would have too put the pie in the oven too brown the tips of the egg whites but I just love it that way.
Yes you can use egg whites I always do
The cake looks so delicious, the layer cake is attractive. Thanks for sharing this dessert.
You are so welcome!! Thanks for stopping by!
I have made this in the past and my family LOVES it! It’s easy and so good. Can you substitute 1% milk for the whole milk? Or does it need to be whole milk?
Thank you!! I haven’t tried, but I think it would be fine. I know some recipes work only with the certain milk, but it’s hard to know when it would or wouldn’t. I wish I knew for sure!
Can you substitute coconut milk for some of the whole milk?
I personally haven’t tried, so I’m not sure. I’m sorry I wish I knew how it would turn out. I bet it would be ok.
Thanks.
Your recipe tastes wonderful, I really had a issue at Thanksgiving with one I got from a family member. I promised myself I would find a coconut pie recipe to make for Christmas. From know on this is my go to recipe.
Thank you so much! I’m glad it’s your go-to!
This pie looks so delicious, and easy to make. I can’t wait to try it ????
It really is 🙂 Thank you so much & hope you give it a try!
LOVED this recipe!! Making it for the 2nd time in 2 weeks!!
Hubby always compares my desserts to his grandmother’s…. and this one made the cut! THATS saying something! 🙂
Yay!! I am glad it made the cut 🙂 Tell him thank you 🙂
BEST PIE EVER! It’s now my husband’s favorite.
Woohoo!! Love to hear that! I am glad you both like it 🙂 Thank you!
Yummy!
This is soo Indian
We stay in south indIa where we use lots of coconuts in our diet
Vl try it .
Sure hope you like it!! Thank you!
Do you think this would be good if i made ahead of time and froze it?
I haven’t tried freezing it, but I would think it should be ok 🙂
This is my husband’s favorite pie. He could sit down and eat the whole thing in one sitting. This looks so much healthier and I would be very happy to make this easy pie for him. Thank you so much for the recipe.
I’d love to know what he thinks! It’s so good!
Can you double the recipe or will it be too much for 1 pie?
I would put it into two pie pans 🙂
My husband and I have been married 26 yrs and his favorite pie has always been lemon meringue, until I made this pie. now it’s all he wants me to make! I make a graham cracker pie crust as he thinks thats the best….(i love it this way too). never lasts more than 24 hrs around here, and it’s just the 2 of us! thank you soooo much for this recipe!
LOL!! Well, I am so glad you both like it! I love graham cracker crusts too!! Thank you so much!
Hi, i am going to make this for christmas dinner, & i was just wondering.. in the whipped topping ingredients where it says “1 cup coconut, is that just using the sweetened cocnut flakes again? Or Is it something different?
Yes, sweetened coconut 🙂 Enjoy!
I have been making this cream pie for years. This exact recipe was handed down from my grandmother. Look no further because it is the best ream pie base. It also works with PINEAPPLE (well drained) or bananas. My grandmothers topping was meringue which was fine when we were a family of five. Meringue does not last the 2nd day so now that tere are only 2 of us most of the time I just use Rediwhip. Thank You for the cream topping, it sounds deliciouS.
Glad to share 😉 Thank you for sharing that!
This is a very confusing recipe. It is out of order. Is there 2 different toppings or just one?
It’s the pudding layer, then the whipped topping layer with toasted coconut 🙂 It’s really good! Hope you try it!
We’re having a major snow storm here and wanted to bake something i know my huBby would love since he’s been outside mostnof the day snowblowing and shoveling!
It was so easy to make and looks amazing! We will have it tonight After dinner…can hardly wait to taste it! I know itll be delisHous …Thank You❤️
I sure hope it was a hit!! Thank you so much!
Looks good and a way to use up extra milk.
For sure! I hope you give it a try!! Thank you so much!
when the recipe calls for 1cup of coconut is is sHredded coconut or can of coconut fir the pudding part
Sweetened coconut, shredded in the bag 🙂
This looks fantastic! Im excited to try it! Id like to do a MERINGUE topping. Could i bake the pie with the meringue topping?
That’s a good question…I haven’t tried before. The middle goes in the fridge & isn’t baked, so not sure how’d that work.
Very easy to make even if you are not a pie maker. Less THAn 15 minutes for me to fix filling.
I agree!! I am glad you tried it!! Thank you!
This is the best coconut creme pie recipe. It’s so easy to make and it taste awesome! Use your own judgment on the amount of coconut for the top of pie. Yummy ?!!!
Thank you for saying that! I am so glad you like it!
Im Excited to make this pie altHough i cant seen to get the filling to thicken. Any tips? Ive been whisking it for about 10 min
Hmmm..it should have thickened. You added everything? I hope it worked out for you!
I make this frequently and it always turn out. I use a caN of coconUt milK and top it up with milk to the required amount and cook it in the microwave.
That sounds great!! I’ll have to try that!
This pie is sooooo good!!! My new favorite!! ❤️ I have to force myself to stop eating it!! 😂
I make a very similar dessert around Easter. I also add 1 tsp. almond extract to the custard and 1/2 tsp. almond extract to the whipped cream. It is so luscious. I hope you will give it a try! Enjoy, thank you and Happy Easter to your beautiful family. God bless you.
The almond extract addition sounds heavenly! Thanks for the suggestion. I will have to give it a try! I hope you have a wonderful Easter too!
I could not get this to thicken. I even added a little more corn starch to it, but it’s still watery.
Well now I feel dumb. I watched the video and thought, “wow, it sure looks like she’s using more than 1/4 tsp of corn starch.” So I went back to the recipe and saw it was 1/4 CUP.🤦🏼♀️ No wonder I couldn’t get it to thicken! So I added more and I can now rate this as 5 stars! Very good if you follow the right amounts in the recipe🤦🏼♀️🤷🏼♀️
Haha I’m so glad you can rate it 5 stars now! 😉 And glad the video helped out too. Thanks for sharing. I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the pie!
Amazing!
Thank you!
Made this for my hubby’s birthday. He loved it!!
I was never a huge pie fan – but after making this – it is one of my favorites!! So easy & SO good!!
In a pinch, can I use a box of jell-O Coconut Pudding mix as a substitute for making the actually pudding layer?
You probably could. We love that homemade pudding, but I’m sure a Jell-O pudding could work as well.