Ina Garten Says This Store-Bought Holiday Staple ‘Is Not Only Fine, It’s Actually Better’ Than Homemade

Just the other day, my Memories on Facebook reminded me that many years ago, I attempted to make pumpkin purée from scratch. I thought it would taste better and make the pumpkin pie on my Thanksgiving table more impressive. Unfortunately, it was a failure, and once a year, Facebook likes to remind me it was a failure.

The problem was that I couldn't get the filling smooth enough, resulting in a stringy pie that honestly didn't taste so great either. I’m not saying that I’ve been haunted by this failure ever since, but when it popped up the other day, I thought maybe I should give it another chance. I have more skills in the kitchen now and more kitchen tools, like a stand mixer, that might lead me to success.

Then, just a day or two later, my culinary hero, and maybe yours too, offered some advice that essentially equates to “Don’t even bother." And who am I to ignore Ina Garten’s advice? 

Ina Garten Prefers Store-Bought Pumpkin Purée

Garten has no problem with using store-bought ingredients when she thinks they’re just as good as homemade. She even admitted to buying store-bought mashed potatoes, jazzing them up, and passing them off as homemade. She’s also been known to pass off a Trader Joe’s tart for last minute hosting. What can I say? Garten is the hero to every harried home cook trying to get an entire holiday meal on the table.

When Williams Sonoma recently asked Garten which Thanksgiving desserts are okay store-bought—in true Ina fashion—she was honest about what she likes to buy from the store and what she likes to make from scratch.

“Pumpkin purée is not only fine, it’s actually better,” she said. “People think they should cook the pumpkin but it never comes out right because the pumpkin purée is a certain kind of pumpkin that’s different than what we buy, like for jack-o'-lanterns.”

Canned pumpkin purée, the kind we use to make pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread, most often comes from Dickinson pumpkins, also known as Dickinson squash. They taste very different from the orange field pumpkins we’re used to seeing at grocery stores. In fact, Dickinson squash is more closely related to butternut squash than orange field pumpkins. No wonder my pumpkin pie all those years ago resembled nothing like the pumpkin pies my family was used to.

If Garten likes store-bought pumpkin purée, then I don't see why I should make it from scratch either.

Ina Garten's Homemade Whipped Cream

Many of us top our pumpkin pies and other desserts with whipped cream. For this, Garten recommends making the whipped cream yourself.

“Whipped cream is so easy to make yourself. Don’t buy it store-bought in a can. I have no idea what’s in there,” she said. “It’s just heavy cream. You whip it until it has soft peaks. Add some sugar, vanilla. It’s so much better.”

We agree. If you want to make your own whipped cream but have never done so before, here are eight different ways you can make homemade whipped cream, including how to make it in a cocktail shaker. Now you can serve pumpkin pie just like Garten does—made with pumpkin from a can and real whipped cream.