Custard vs. Pie — What's the Difference?

Often used as a filling or topping in various desserts.

The crust can be flaky, crumbly, or pastry-like.

Served as part of many regional and traditional dishes.

A baked dish with a filling encased in dough.

Can be flavored with a variety of ingredients.

Can be sweet or savory, depending on the filling.

A dessert made from milk or cream thickened with eggs.

Varieties include open-top, double-crust, and filled.

Requires gentle cooking to achieve its texture.

Often associated with traditional meals and holidays.

Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency from a thin pouring sauce (crème anglaise) to the thick pastry cream (crème pâtissière) used to fill éclairs.

A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts (pecan pie), brown sugar (sugar pie), sweetened vegetables (rhubarb pie), or with thicker fillings based on eggs and dairy (as in custard pie and cream pie).

A dessert or sweet sauce made with milk and eggs, or milk and a proprietary powder.

A dish composed of fruit, meat, cheese, or other ingredients baked over, under, or surrounded by a crust of pastry or other dough.

A dish consisting of milk, eggs, flavoring, and sometimes sugar, boiled or baked until set.

A layer cake having cream, custard, or jelly filling.

A type of sauce made from milk and eggs (and usually sugar, and sometimes vanilla or other flavourings) and thickened by heat, served hot poured over desserts, as a filling for some pies and cakes, or cold and solidified; also used as a base for some savoury dishes, such as quiches, or eaten as a stand-alone dessert; egg custard.

(Informal) A pizza.

A mixture of milk and eggs, sweetened, and baked or boiled.

Something similar to or resembling pie

Sweetened mixture of milk and eggs baked or boiled or frozen

A whole that can be portioned out

See magpie.

A former unit of currency of India.

An almanac of services used in the English church before the Reformation.

Variant of pi2.

A type of pastry that consists of an outer crust and a filling.

Any of various other, non-pastry dishes that maintain the general concept of a shell with a filling.

(Northeastern US) A pizza.

A paper plate covered in cream, shaving foam or custard that is thrown or rubbed in someone’s face for comical purposes, to raise money for charity, or as a form of political protest; a custard pie; a cream pie.

(figuratively) The whole of a wealth or resource, to be divided in parts.

(letterpress) A disorderly mess of spilt type.

(cricket) An especially badly bowled ball.

A pie chart.

(slang) The vulva.

(obsolete) Magpie.

(historical) The smallest unit of currency in South Asia, equivalent to 192 of a rupee or 12 of an anna.

(zoology) pie-dog: an Indian breed, a stray dog in Indian contexts.

(historical) A traditional Spanish unit of length, equivalent to about 27.9 cm.

(transitive) To hit in the face with a pie, either for comic effect or as a means of protest (see also pieing).

(transitive) To go around (a corner) in a guarded manner.

(transitive) (of printing types) To reduce to confusion; to jumble.

An article of food consisting of paste baked with something in it or under it; as, chicken pie; venison pie; mince pie; apple pie; pumpkin pie.

A magpie.

The service book.

Type confusedly mixed. See Pi.

See Pi.

Dish baked in pastry-lined pan often with a pastry top

A prehistoric unrecorded language that was the ancestor of all Indo-European languages

Pre-baking the crust or adding a layer of egg wash can help prevent it from becoming soggy from the filling.

Custard can be used as a layer in cakes, fillings for pastries, or as a base for ice cream.

Custard is egg-based and cooked with heat, often resulting in a creamy texture, whereas pudding typically includes starch and is denser.

Custard is best served chilled or at room temperature to enhance its texture and flavor.

No, custard can also be savory, such as in quiches or other baked egg-based dishes.

Common pie fillings include fruits like apples and berries, meats like chicken or beef, and vegetables like pumpkin.

For those with dietary restrictions, custard can be made with non-dairy milks or egg alternatives.

Yes, many pies can be frozen either before or after baking, making them convenient for later use.

Apple pie is often cited as one of the most popular and iconic pies in the United States.

Pies are commonly served during holidays, family gatherings, and cultural events like Thanksgiving and Christmas.