Vegan Pie Crust Recipe: Tips for Making Vegan Pie Crust

Vegan pie crust is a baked outer pastry shell made without animal products like eggs and dairy. Pie crust ingredients traditionally include flour, water, salt, and fat, usually butter or shortening, and bakers often apply egg wash to the top crust before baking to achieve a glossy, golden-brown finish.

Vegan pie crust achieves similar effects with plant-based products like coconut oil, vegetable shortening, and nut milk. To make gluten-free crust, use gluten-free flour blends or nut flour.

This dairy-free pie dough makes for a crispy, buttery, flaky bottom crust for seasonal desserts like vegan pumpkin pie and apple pie or savory dishes like quiche and pot pie. Here’s how to make a perfect pie crust without animal products:

1. 1. Work quickly and keep everything cool. Like traditional pie dough, speed is key when bringing together the vegan dough since cold fat is the secret to flaky, tender layers of crust. Use a pastry cutter instead of mixing and kneading by hand (which allows you to feel exactly when the dough has come together but risks overheating it) or using a food processor, which comes with the risk of overmixing into a dense, tough crust. A pastry cutter allows for a manual touch without excess warmth.
2. 2. Blind bake pies for a crispy crust. Pie fillings, by nature, contain a ton of moisture—fruit-based ones, especially. When baked, they release all those delicious juices into the nearest vessel at hand: the dough. For your crust to withstand that moisture, it’s crucial that you blind bake. Blind baking—the process of prebaking the bottom crust in a pie pan using pie weights, dried beans, or sugar—gives you a headstart on creating a base that will stand up to a wet filling. Line the dough with a piece of parchment paper and fill it with pie weights or dried beans. Bake it until the crust is just beginning to brown, ten to fifteen minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the parchment and add the filling. There’s no need to blind bake dishes like mini pies or galettes.
3. 3. Choose the right cooking fat. Vegetable shortening, a shelf-stable hydrogenated fat made from vegetable oil, is one of the best options for a vegan pie crust. It has a higher melting point than butter or lard, making it easy to blend into your dough and roll out. (The only major difference you might notice is the flavor, which can be a little oily.) Vegan butter best mimics the rich flavor and flakiness of a butter-based crust. Coconut oil—in scoopable, solid form, not melted—is another easy substitute, creating a tender dough with no overwhelming coconut flavor. Which you choose is a matter of personal preference.

Vegan pie crust is a baked outer pastry shell made without animal products like eggs and dairy. Pie crust ingredients traditionally include flour, water, salt, and fat, usually butter or shortening, and bakers often apply egg wash to the top crust before baking to achieve a glossy, golden-brown finish.

Vegan pie crust achieves similar effects with plant-based products like coconut oil, vegetable shortening, and nut milk. To make gluten-free crust, use gluten-free flour blends or nut flour.

This dairy-free pie dough makes for a crispy, buttery, flaky bottom crust for seasonal desserts like vegan pumpkin pie and apple pie or savory dishes like quiche and pot pie. Here’s how to make a perfect pie crust without animal products:

1. 1. Work quickly and keep everything cool. Like traditional pie dough, speed is key when bringing together the vegan dough since cold fat is the secret to flaky, tender layers of crust. Use a pastry cutter instead of mixing and kneading by hand (which allows you to feel exactly when the dough has come together but risks overheating it) or using a food processor, which comes with the risk of overmixing into a dense, tough crust. A pastry cutter allows for a manual touch without excess warmth.
2. 2. Blind bake pies for a crispy crust. Pie fillings, by nature, contain a ton of moisture—fruit-based ones, especially. When baked, they release all those delicious juices into the nearest vessel at hand: the dough. For your crust to withstand that moisture, it’s crucial that you blind bake. Blind baking—the process of prebaking the bottom crust in a pie pan using pie weights, dried beans, or sugar—gives you a headstart on creating a base that will stand up to a wet filling. Line the dough with a piece of parchment paper and fill it with pie weights or dried beans. Bake it until the crust is just beginning to brown, ten to fifteen minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the parchment and add the filling. There’s no need to blind bake dishes like mini pies or galettes.
3. 3. Choose the right cooking fat. Vegetable shortening, a shelf-stable hydrogenated fat made from vegetable oil, is one of the best options for a vegan pie crust. It has a higher melting point than butter or lard, making it easy to blend into your dough and roll out. (The only major difference you might notice is the flavor, which can be a little oily.) Vegan butter best mimics the rich flavor and flakiness of a butter-based crust. Coconut oil—in scoopable, solid form, not melted—is another easy substitute, creating a tender dough with no overwhelming coconut flavor. Which you choose is a matter of personal preference.