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.
MOST ICONIC Key Lime Pie
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Peanut butter pie is a traditional 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.
MOST ICONIC Peanut Butter Pie
View moreMarionberry 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
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
MAIN INGREDIENTS
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
A deep-dish fruit dessert which combines fresh or frozen blueberries with a biscuit crust topping similar to golden cobblestones, the blueberry cobbler is an invention which belongs equally to Europeans, American pioneers, and Native Americans.
The recipe for the pie was brought from Europe to America, where, during the 19th century, it was simplified to a cobbler – a dish which was suitable for preparation on the road. The Native Americans introduced the blueberries to the pilgrims, and the blueberry cobbler soon became a popular main dish which later evolved into a dessert.
Today, it is most commonly prepared for the 4th of July celebrations, since blueberries are then at the peak of their season, and serving suggestions include a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
MOST ICONIC Blueberry 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
Fudge pie is a traditional pie hailing from Tennessee. It's made with a combination of butter, semi-sweet chocolate, salt, sugar, cocoa, eggs, vanilla extract, and evaporated milk. Once mixed, the combination is poured into a pie crust and it's then baked until the crust becomes golden.
Before slicing, the pie should be completely cooled. It's recommended to serve fudge pie with a cloud of whipped cream on top. The pie is popular throughout the South, and it was first prepared in the early 1900s. Not much later, it was a staple at family reunions and church suppers, and nowadays it's often enriched with walnuts or pecans.
MOST ICONIC Fudge Pie
Huckleberry pie is a traditional double crust pie with a sweet-tart huckleberry filling. This dessert is typically made by covering a pie crust with a mixture of huckleberries, sugar, lemon juice and zest, thickeners, and butter, and the concoction is then finished off with a top crust.
Flour, cornstarch, or tapioca are usually used as thickeners, while cinnamon and nutmeg are often added to the filling for extra flavor. The pie is baked in the oven until bubbly, golden brown, and crispy, and it is usually consumed warm or at room temperature.
MOST ICONIC Huckleberry Pie
MAIN INGREDIENTS
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.
MOST ICONIC Apple Pie
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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 April 15, 2025, 2,284 ratings were recorded, of which 2,107 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.