Easy Vegan Pie Crust Recipe
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This will become your go-to pie crust recipe. It’s flakey, yet tender, easy to make, and no one would ever know it’s vegan! The secret to the flakiness lies in using both chilled vegan butter and vegetable shortening. Your pies are going to be a hit every time with this amazing pie crust recipe.
If you are planning on making my easy vegan pie crust recipe for the holidays, I bet you will enjoy these Thanksgiving and holiday recipes, too. I know you’ll love this Vegan Stuffing, these Pumpkin Pie Bars, this incredible Healthy Twice Baked Sweet Potato, my fan-favorite Spicy Cranberry Salsa, or my Best Ever Sweet Potato Casserole. These recipes will make your holidays tastier!
Well, it’s nearly holiday time! Thanksgiving and Christmas aren’t far off and I’m looking forward to incredible desserts and I know many of you are too, which is why I created this healthy vegan pie crust recipe.
I’ve managed to develop and perfect a simple and really easy vegan pie crust recipe. I’m not kidding! This pie crust is so flakey, tender, and buttery, you will never use those store-bought pie crusts again.
Grab your FREE Plant-Based Breakfast mini-cookbook and make sure you’re starting your day right!
Speaking of a flakey, tender crust, I know some of you are wondering …
What is a vegan pie crust made of?
You can make this healthier pie crust with dairy-free butter, all-purpose flour, salt, sugar, and non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening. You can find the vegan butter and vegetable shortening in most grocery stores in the health food section or click on the links above.
What causes flakey pie crust?
The flakiness of a crust is a result of fat and how much you work the fat into the flour before adding water. Vegetable shortening is one of the key ingredients in this vegan crust and it makes it incredibly flakey.
NOTE: I have been asked if Pillsbury makes a vegan pie crust – no, most contain lard/ beef tallow.
This crust is so simple, just make a homemade crust. You’ll be so proud and happy with your pie!
Vegan Pie Crust Ingredients
- All Purpose Flour – I always recommend using organic when it’s possible and affordable. Chilling the flour for thirty minutes before starting will help ensure that your pie dough will achieve maximum flakiness.
- Vegan Butter – I recommend unsalted so you can control the amount of sodium. It’s CRUCIAL that your butter is cold (immediately out of the fridge) and do not use a soft spread butter. You need the firm stick or block-style vegan butter.
- Non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening – Again, I recommend organic.
- Salt – just a pinch for flavor.
- Sugar – the small amount of sugar ensures a nice golden crust.
- Water – make sure to use cold water, ideally straight from the refrigerator. I typically add a couple of ice cubes to the 3-4 tablespoons of water just to keep it chilled but don’t use the ice cubes in your recipe.
Tips for Making This Pie Crust
This crust is simple and easy, but you need to keep everything chilled.
This recipe makes one single-crust 9-inch pie, but you can easily double it to make a double-crust pie.
Be sure to use a firm vegan butter and not a soft spreadable one. Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks, Miyokos Creamery Unsalted Vegan Butter, or Violife Vegan Butter work well.
How to Make This Easy Vegan Pie Crust
- Gather your ingredients – make sure everything is chilled
- Add the flour, salt, and sugar to a food processor or bowl
- Pulse or mix with a whisk
- Cut in the chilled vegan butter and vegetable shortening. You can pulse in a food processor, use a pastry blender, or a fork
- Add one tablespoon of chilled water at a time, pulsing after every time, until a crumbly ball is formed
- Roll out into a 9-inch circle and place on a pie plate
- Following your specific pie recipe instructions
Easy Vegan Pie Crust Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 4 Tbsp vegan butter, chilled
- 4 Tbsp vegetable shortening, chilled
- 3-4 Tbsp ice water
Instructions
- Chill flour, shortening, and vegan butter for 30 minutes or more.
- Add chilled flour, sugar and salt to food processor. Pulse to combine.
- Add cold vegan butter and shortening. Process for a few seconds until coarse and crumbly.
- Add Ice water, 1 Tablespoon at a time until it begins to form a crumbly ball.
- Chill the dough for 30 minutes or more.
- After chilling, place the dough onto a floured surface. Roll it into a 12 inch circle and transfer to a pie plate. Follow your favorite pie recipe and enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you keep a pie crust from getting soggy?
Make sure to add water one tablespoon at a time and don’t use too much. If you don’t use enough water the dough will be very crumbly. You can add a small amount of water until it forms a ball. If you use too much water the dough will be very sticky. You can try adding a little flour, however, it will probably be a tougher crust that is slightly rubbery because of the gluten development of overworking the dough. So, go slow when adding the water.
Depending on your pie recipe you can blind-bake your crust in order to prevent a soggy bottom.
Another great way to prevent a soggy pie crust is to place your pie on a preheated baking sheet. This will help the bottom to begin to brown right away.
Can vegan pie crust be made in advance?
After you make the pie dough, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for up to one week or freeze it for up to one month. Before using, thaw it at room temperature until it’s just soft enough to roll out, but still chilled.
If you made this recipe and enjoyed it, please leave a 5-star review by clicking on the 5 stars and tell us if you made any variations.
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About Cindy Newland
Hey, I’m Cindy! I used to be morbidly obese! I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and a family history of heart disease and cancer.
Slowly, I began to steadily change my habits and nourish my body with a plant-based diet. Now, I weigh 125 lbs less, my blood pressure is 110/70, no more high cholesterol, and best of all – no medications!
If you’re interested in how I did it and if it will work for you, check out How to Start a Plant-Based Diet.
Or if you just want to dip your toe into plant-based eating… start your mornings right with one of these fantastic recipes for FREE!
With celiac disease we need to be gluten free. Have you tried this pie crust with a gluten free flour?
I haven’t tried it with gluten-free flour. Let me know if you do!
yummy and easy to make vegan pie crust. I’m using this for my apple pie and it turned out delicious
Thank you for this vegan pie crust recipe. You make it look very easy and the video is especially helpful, so I’m looking forward to trying it.
The crust was super easy to make, and I used it for an apple pie. It came out fantastically! Thanks for the recipe!
Making a crust always intimidated me but this recipe worked amazingly! I can baked my favourite pies from scratch at home now! Thank you for the great recipe.
perfect! I’ve been looking for a vegan pie crust recipe!