Easy Vegan Pie Crust 🌱 Making your own buttery vegan crust is as easy as pie! You'll love this simple recipe for preparing the flakiest & tastiest vegan pie crust you've ever had! It's sooo good!
Who doesn't like playing with dough? When I was a kid, I loved being in the kitchen when my mom baked pies. After she rolled out the dough she needed, she would give me the excess scraps of dough that were trimmed from around the pie plates. I had so much fun playing with those pieces, using a rolling pin and cookie cutters to create little shapes. Mom would let me sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on them and bake them in the hot oven along side her pies. Years later, when my kids were little, I loved baking with them, just like I did with my mom.
Making your own vegan pie crust is so easy & the results are so tasty! This one basic recipe is perfect for sweets and savories, like our fabulous vegan lemon meringue pie and spinach mushroom quiche.
In fact, it's so simple to make, you'll think twice before buying a pre-made pie shell again! You'll love this simple recipe for preparing the tastiest, flakiest, and best vegan pie crust ever!
Why this recipe works
- All you need is this one simple recipe for baking savory and sweet dishes.
- Only takes a few minutes to prepare.
- Make dough ahead of time, and use it when you need it.
- Requires a few basic ingredients.
- Fun to make!
Our delicious vegan spinach mushroom quiche in a flaky easy vegan pie crust.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
🥕See the printable recipe card below for quantities & details
- Flour - all purpose (or gluten free if needed. See FAQ's below)
- Vegetable shortening (See FAQ's below for more information)
- Vegan butter - your favorite brand
- Salt
- Water
Our vegan broccoli cheese pot pie baked with a rich & creamy vegan cheddar cheese sauce nestled in a buttery flaky crust. It tastes even better than it looks!
🥕Note
This recipe is for a single crust. If you are baking a pie that requires a top and bottom crust, like an apple or berry pie, you will need to double the amount of ingredients in the recipe. For a single crust pie, you will likely need to pre-bake or 'blind bake' the crust before adding the filling.
🥕Tip
A couple rules I learned about making a flaky pie crust was to not over-handle the dough, and to keep the vegan butter and/or shortening cold. The trick is to combine all your ingredients just enough until the dough can be formed into a ball, then refrigerate the dough until you're ready to use it.
Instructions
🥕Be sure to watch my video where I show you how to make this easy vegan pie crust.
- In a large bowl, combine flour & salt.
- Using either a pastry cutter or fork, begin working the shortening and butter into the flour. Keep cutting in the shortening and butter until the dough becomes crumbly, turning into pea-shaped pieces. If you need to, use just the tips of your fingers to work the flour and fat together, avoiding over-heating or melting the butter & shortening. The trick to creating a nice flaky crust is keeping your fats cold, so don't overwork the dough with your hands.
- Once the dough has reached the crumbly consistency, begin adding cold water, one tablespoon at a time, just until you can roll the dough into a ball.
- Wrap the dough ball into a piece of plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 1- 2 hours to completely chill.
- When you're ready to roll out your dough, you'll want to prepare a clean, flat surface. A large cutting board or a silicone mat works best.
- Sprinkle and spread a small amount of flour onto your board and rolling pin and begin rolling out the dough in each direction until you have about an 11-12 inch circle.
- Lay the circle of dough over the rolling pin and lift it off the board and gently set the dough across a glass or ceramic 9" pie plate.
- Very carefully, use your fingers to lightly press the dough into the plate, making sure not to tear the dough. Once the dough is completely pressed into the plate, take a sharp knife and cut around the rim of the plate, removing the excess dough.
- You can finish the edges of the crust either by pinching or fluting the edge, or easier still, gently press the back of a fork all along the edge creating a ridged pattern. Or, you can use a classic style fluted pie dish and shape your dough to fit the rim.
- If you are preparing a pie crust for a sweet or fruit pie, you can also add a small amount of sugar to your crust. If your pie requires a top and bottom crust, simply double this recipe.
🥕How to make a blind baked pie crust
Using a fork, prick the bottom of the un-baked shell several times on the bottom or weight the bottom of the shell using dried beans or pie weights. This helps to keep your crust from bubbling up from the bottom or shrinking around the sides when baking.
If you use beans or weights, just make sure to first line the unbaked crust with a layer of parchment paper before adding the weights. We used dried chick peas.
Bake the shell at 450º for approx. 12-15 minutes.
Equipment
These are the items I use to make pie crust:
- Silicone pastry mat or clean flat surface (for rolling pie dough)
- Measuring cup
- Measuring spoons
- Rolling Pin
- Pastry cutter or fork
- Pie weights or dried beans
- Pie plate or dish
- Pie shield (optional)
🥕FAQ's
While some pie crust recipes use only shortening, we prefer the combination of the two. Butter adds flavor and flakiness to the crust. Shortening has a high melting point, so it is easy to work into the flour and keeps the dough soft. Shortening also makes the dough pliable, which is perfect for creating decorative crusts. But if you prefer not to use shortening, just use all vegan butter instead.
A few notes about shortening: Vegetable shortening often includes palm oil as an ingredient. The palm oil industry has been responsible for deforestation and habitat destruction in many parts of the world, most notably the rainforests of South and Central America and East Asia. If you choose to use vegetable shortening, please check the labels of the product you use. There are manufacturers of vegetable shortening who use only soybean and/or cottonseed oil instead. While there are efforts being made within the palm oil industry to limit the negative impact on animals and the environment through sustainable farming practices, you still might want to avoid palm oil when there are other/better options.
For blind baked crusts (which get baked twice) or pies that require a longer baking time, remove the pie from the oven before it is completely baked. Use a pie shield or create a collar with a strip of foil and wrap it around the edge of the pie, just covering the crust. Place the pie back in the oven and finish baking.
Store pie dough in an airtight food-safe zip-lock bag or plastic wrap refrigerated up to 3 days or frozen up to 3 months.
Simply replace the all-purpose flour with a 1-1 gluten-free flour of your choice. I prefer Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur gluten-free flour. Most vegan butters and vegetable shortening are gluten-free, but I recommend always reading the packages labels to make sure the products are labeled gluten-free.
🥕Here's a few more easy vegan pie crust recipe ideas:
- Homemade Vegan Pot Pie with Tofu
- Mom's Easy Vegan Apple Pie
- Vegan Broccoli Cheese Pot Pie
- Homemade Vegan Pumpkin Pie
- Vegan Cranberry Cheese Bites
It's so easy to make your own pie crust. Watch my video & I'll show you how!
If you love this recipe ★★★★★ please be sure to rate it below! Sharing your experience lets me know that you enjoyed it and will help other readers decide if they should give the recipe a try too. Thanks a bunch!🥕
Recipe
Easy Vegan Pie Crust
Equipment
- Silicone pastry mat or clean flat surface (for rolling pie dough)
- Rolling Pin
- Pastry cutter or fork
- Pie plate or dish
Ingredients
- 1 C all-purpose flour
- ¼ C vegetable shortening (chilled)
- ¼ C non-dairy butter (chilled)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 - 3 tablespoon cold water
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine flour & salt.
- Using either a pastry cutter or fork, begin working the shortening and butter into the flour. Keep cutting in the shortening and butter until the dough becomes crumbly, turning into pea-shaped pieces. If you need to, use just the tips of your fingers to work the flour and fat together, avoiding over-heating or melting the butter & shortening. The trick to creating a nice flaky crust is keeping your fats cold, so don't overwork the dough with your hands.
- Once the dough has reached the crumbly consistency, begin adding cold water, one tablespoon at a time, just until you can roll the dough into a ball.
- Wrap the dough ball into a piece of plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 1- 2 hours to completely chill.
- When you're ready to roll out your dough, you'll want to prepare a clean, flat surface. A large cutting board or a silicone mat works best.
- Sprinkle and spread a small amount of flour onto your board and rolling pin and begin rolling out the dough in each direction until you have about an 11-12 inch circle.
- Lay the circle of dough over the rolling pin and lift it off the board and gently set the dough across a glass or ceramic 9" pie plate.
- Very carefully, use your fingers to lightly press the dough into the plate, making sure not to tear the dough. Once the dough is completely pressed into the plate, take a sharp knife and cut around the rim of the plate, removing the excess dough.
- You can finish the edges of the crust either by pinching or fluting the edge, or easier still, gently press the back of a fork all along the edge creating a ridged pattern. Or, you can use a classic style fluted pie dish and shape your dough to fit the rim.
- If you are preparing a pie crust for a sweet or fruit pie, you can also add a small amount of sugar to your crust. If your pie requires a top and bottom crust, simply double this recipe.
Blind Baked Pie Crust
- If your pie recipe calls for a pre-baked or 'blind baked' pie crust, either prick the bottom of the un-baked shell several times on the bottom with a fork, or weight the bottom of the shell using dried beans or pie weights.
- The reason for this is to keep your crust from bubbling up from the bottom or shrinking around the sides when baking. If you do use beans or weights, just make sure to first line the unbaked crust with a layer of parchment paper before adding the weights.
- Bake the shell at 450º for approx. 12-15 minutes.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
These are estimated values generated from a nutritional database using unbranded products. Please do your own research with the products you're using if you have a serious health issue or are following a specific diet.
Food Safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
Connie Edwards McGaughy says
Every home cook should know how to make a great pie crust. Here is everything you need to create the best vegan pie crust ever! This recipe is perfect for sweet & savory dishes.
Sarah says
What brand of vegan butter do you use here?
Connie Edwards McGaughy says
I often use Miyoko’s.