Key lime pie is a glass-green sweet and sour dessert originating from the Florida Keys. It consists of intensely aromatic Key lime juice, condensed milk, and eggs that are mixed together into a custard. The custard is poured into a buttery crust made from graham crackers and topped with sweet whipped cream.
The spicy and acidic flavors of the limes provide a great contrast to sugar and sweet cream. Key lime, also known as citrus aurantifolia, Mexican lime, and West Indian lime is a fruit indigenous to Malaysia, and it has been connected to Florida since the 1830s when a botanist named Henry Perrine started planting them on Florida's Indian Key.
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Marionberry pie is a traditional comfort food staple from Oregon. Marionberries are a cross of Chehalem and Olallie blackberries, characterized by a tart and complex flavor with a hint of earthiness and sweetness. The crust for this pie is made with flour, salt, shortening, and cold water, while the basic filling is prepared with a combination of marionberries, sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon for extra flavor.
Once assembled, the pie is baked until it develops a golden-brown color.
MOST ICONIC Marionberry Pie
This baked dessert is made with a base layer of shortcrust pastry that is topped with lemon custard and fluffy meringue. The custard is usually made with a combination of lemon zest and juice, sugar, egg yolks, and (sometimes) starch. The origins of this sweet treat are murky and mysterious – some credit Elizabeth Coane Goodfellow of Philadelphia as the inventor, but her 18th-century recipe mentions lemon pudding, while the meringue is used in minimal amounts, as an accent.
Other sources say that the first recorded recipe was written by Alexander Frehse, a Swiss baker, and some suggest that the botanist Emile Campbell-Browne had a similar recipe in Wigbeth, Dorset, in 1875. Regardless of the origins, lemon meringue pie has been the favorite of presidents, and it even has its own day – August 15, known as National Lemon Meringue Pie Day.
MOST ICONIC Lemon Meringue Pie
Peanut butter pie is a traditional American pie hailing from Georgia. This sweet and salty pie consists of a crumbly pie crust that's filled with gooey peanut butter and chunks of roasted and salted peanuts. The filling is enriched with brown sugar, flour, butter, eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and corn syrup, while the crust is made from flour, sugar, salt, butter, and water.
If desired, the peanuts can also be added to the crust. Once done, this nutritious pie is typically served with a dollop of whipped cream on top.
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Although England has a long history of making meat and fruit pies, and it was the inspiration for the American versions, there is nothing that is more synonymous with American desserts than the apple pie. In the United States, apple pies are found everywhere from big grocery shops and restaurants to coffee shops and home bakers, baked until the double crust is golden brown, filled with cinnamon-sugar coated apples.
Homemade American apple pie is a source of great pride, causing arguments about which apple variety is the most suitable for the best pies. Some swear by Granny Smiths, but they are sour and require too much sugar, resulting in a soggy crust.
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A modest member of the large family of apple-based desserts, apple cobbler is a simplified version of a pie invented by American pioneers during the 19th century. The name cobbler was derived from the word cobbled, meaning roughly put together – apples on bottom, crust on top, or the other way around, depending on the recipe.
As a dessert which marks the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, apple cobbler is usually seasoned with cinnamon and served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
MOST ICONIC Apple Cobbler
Hailing from Vermont, the largest producer of maple syrup in the US, maple cream pie is a sweet pie filled with a combination of maple syrup, egg yolks, brown sugar, vanilla extract, salt, milk, and heavy cream. The crust is usually made from butter, flour, sugar, salt, and often cream cheese.
The filling is poured into the pie crust, and the pie is then chilled. When served, it is recommended to serve each slice of pie with a generous dollop of whipped cream.
MOST ICONIC Maple Cream Pie
Lemon ice box pie is an old-fashioned North American dessert. It's made with a combination of eggs, lemon juice, condensed milk, and a pie crust that usually consists of vanilla cookies or graham crackers and butter. The pie is baked for a short while, and it's then placed in the fridge or the freezer to set.
The acidity of the lemon juice sets the egg yolks, which is the reason why the pie needs minimal baking. In the past, the pie used to be placed in ice boxes housing huge blocks of ice which kept the pie cold during the hot summer months. This refreshing pie is nowadays a signature dish of Clancy's in New Orleans, but it's prepared throughout the country.
MOST ICONIC Lemon Ice Box Pie
One of the hallmarks of traditional American cuisine is the classic pecan pie. It consists of a thin pastry crust that is topped with a mixture of eggs, butter, flour, a sweetener such as brown sugar, syrup, or molasses, and a handful of halved or chopped pecans.
When baked, pecan pie should have the consistency of a thick, silky custard with a pronounced caramel taste. When it initially appeared in written form at the end of the 19th century, it was mostly associated with the American South, but today it represents an authentic American dessert, traditionally prepared on Thanksgiving Day.
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Comforting and hearty, chicken pot pie is an American and Canadian savory pie that has a top crust made with flaky pastry and a filling of chicken and vegetables such as peas, potatoes, onions, and carrots. There is no set recipe, and other ingredients can be included.
As far as method goes, the pie can be prepared in the oven, on the stovetop, or in an iron pie over an open fire. Also, although it's traditionally considered that chicken pot pie only has a top crust, it's common to find double-crusted ones. Still, chicken pot pie is just one kind of pot pie, albeit the most famous one, and there are pot pies with beef, lamb, and turkey.
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TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “Top 41 American Pies” list until May 15, 2024, 1,938 ratings were recorded, of which 1,782 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.
