BEST Easy Vegan Pie Crust Recipe | VIDEO!

This is the absolute BEST vegan pie crust recipe ever. This undetectably eggless pie crust is so easy to make in a food processor and yields a perfectly flaky and “buttery” crust that all eaters will love, vegan or not! Gluten free option as well, and perfect for both sweet and savory pies!

Why you’ll love this easy vegan pie crust recipe:

You’re going to truly be obsessed with this vegan pie crust recipe. It tastes just like a classic pie crust with a beautifully flaky “buttery” texture, and the look is so professional, you’d think the pie was purchased in store.

This might even be considered the best pie crust recipe out there for the simple fact that it will please all eaters, whether or not you’re vegan! Plus, we can even make this vegan pie crust entirely allergen friendly with options for Paleo, gluten free, and nut-free!

This is the pie crust recipe that I use for my vegan pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, and even apple pie when I want a lattice crust!

Not every pie has to have a lattice crust (or double crust). This specific recipe is just for one pie crust. You can double it to make a double crust or use the second half of the dough for a lattice design.

Pie Crust Ingredients

To start, you’ll need a few ingredients. If you have different dietary needs and preferences, we’ll go over those in the later sections. Let’s get to the basics first of how to make pie dough by hand:

• Flour: we have options for regular (all-purpose) and gluten free. But I highly recommend checking out either my full gluten free pie crust recipe post or my oat flour pie crust recipe for a gluten free vegan pie crust!
• Vegan butter: this pie crust can work with butter as well, but you have to make sure that your coconut oil is chilled.
• Maple Syrup: this option is for when making a vegan pie crust for a sweet pie. You can omit if you’re using this for a savory pie recipe.
• Arrowroot Powder: if you don’t have arrowroot, you can also use cornstarch.
• Chilled water

I know many people will make a vegan pie crust with a flaxseed “egg,” but I personally prefer make most of my pie crusts with arrowroot powder (which acts sort of like corn starch), and to be honest, that’s how I prefer it.

I also absolutely love using vegan butter in the pie dough, as it yields that perfect flaky pie crust texture. However, I’ve also made my vegan pie crusts with just coconut oil or a mix of the two. Whichever method you prefer, go with it!

How to make the best vegan pie crust in a food processor

Now, let’s get into how to make pie dough. I use a food processor, as it really creates the most consistent dough.

1. Add the flour and arrowroot powder to a food processor, and pulse the ingredients together.
2. Add in the cubed vegan butter or coconut oil to the food processor, and pulse the ingredients until the mixture resembles a sand texture.
3. Place the lid back onto the food processor, and begin to blend again. Remove the top insert from the lid and carefully pour in the maple syrup and water. Allow the dough to blend until it forms a large dough ball.
4. Stop the food processor and remove the dough. Place the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and form the dough into a flat disk. Wrap the dough in the plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

When you’re ready to roll out your pie crust, remove it from the fridge and dust a clean surface of parchment paper with flour. Sprinkle on a little extra onto the pie crust to make sure the rolling pin doesn’t stick to the dough.

If your dough is too cold, you need to allow the dough to soften for a few minutes at room temperature.

Roll your dough out (patience is key here) until it’s circular and about a 1/2 inch wider than the edges of your pie dish.

Gently flip the dough into the pie dish and press lightly so that the dough is lined up to the edges of the dish.

Snip away the extra, uneven edges, and viola! You have your perfect vegan pie crust!

Should I blind bake my pie crust?

Blind baking a pie crust is really dependent on the recipe. For instance, a no bake pie filling will require a fully baked pie crust first. A fruit pie, on the other hand, might require a partially baked, or par-baked, pie crust to ensure that a soggy bottom doesn’t happen.

If you’re blind baking your pie crust, I highly recommend letting your pie crust rest and chill in the fridge before sticking it into the oven. In fact, it’s a must.

How do you know when to blind bake a pie crust? If you’re making a pie from a recipe, hopefully the recipe developer has noted if you’re blind baking the crust or not.

Typically, you’ll blind bake (or par-bake or partially bake) a crust when you have a raw filling going into the crust that you’ll then later on bake. This prevents the crust from becoming soggy.

If you’re making a no-bake filling, then you’ll bake the crust all the way through.

Once you’ve let your crust rest for about 15 minutes, use a fork to poke a few holes into the bottom, and either use pie weights or rice or dried beans to place into the center of the crust. Make sure you put down some parchment paper, or else you’ll bake the weights into the crust!

Bake your pie crust for 7-8 minutes at 375F, then let it cool before filling and baking again!

Now, if you’re baking again, be sure to cover the edges of your crust with tin foil or a pie crust saver so that they don’t burn. Nobody likes burnt crust!

How to make a lattice

My favorite thing to do is make pretty designs to go on top of pies. Whether you’re gluten free, Paleo, vegan, dairy free, or what have you, you deserve to eat a pretty pie too.

The pie crust recipe in the recipe card below is designed for a single crust, so to make a lattice crust, you’ll need to double the recipe..

Many pies that require a lattice crust don’t have you blind bake the crust beforehand (at least none that I’ve ever made, and I like making pies!), so if you’ve just finished making the bottom of your pie, let that crust rest, add the filling, and then get to making your lattice crust:

1. Roll the second dough out like you did the first time, making sure to roll it wide enough for the dimensions you need. I used a 10″ pie dish, so I needed the strips to be 10″ long, and since I made each strip 1″ wide and used 10 strips, I measured 12″ in length at the minimum (for safe measure 😉 ).
2. Measure each strip to be 1″ and make little dashes to keep your place.
3. Use a ruler while slicing each strip. You should have 10 10″ by 1″ strips.

Now that your strips for your lattice crust are prepared, let’s get to making the lattice! For a basic lattice crust:

1. Place 5 strips going one way over the pie dish. Don’t press them down, as you want to be able to lift them up as you weave the other 5 strips.
2. Take your next strip (the 6th strip) and place it on the left most side of your pie dish.
3. Gently fold back two of the strips to go over the 6th strip, making sure to go every other strip.
4. Repeat by laying the 7th strip next to the 6th strip and using the opposite strips over the 7th (so this time, you’ll weave 3 strips over the 7th strip).
5. Repeat this process, alternating strips, until you’ve reached the end.
6. Then gently fold the edges of the pie in so that the lattice then becomes cemented. You can use your fingers to make ridges in the edges of the pie crust for a pretty design. If you have any leftover dough, like I did, you can also make festive cut outs to go over any not-so-pretty areas!
7. Place your pie back into the fridge to chill for 30 minutes before baking.

And there you have it! That is how you make a lattice crust! I highly recommend watching the video, as that is the easiest visual to describe how you fold back each strips.

If you notice, I’ve also made some braided strips here too. That’s not necessary but definitely fun! All you’ll do there is slice one 1″ strip into 3 strips and braid like you would hair. Then use that strip to weave into your lattice.

Simple right? Now, let’s go over how to customize a pie crust to your needs!

Can I make this a gluten free pie crust?

Absolutely! This vegan pie crust can easily be transformed into a gluten free vegan pie crust if needed. You’ll simply need to swap in your favorite gluten free 1:1 baking flour (I recommend Bob’s Red Mill in the blue bag. However, if you’d like to add in your own xanthan gum, then you can use the red bag).

Some people recommend adding in vegan sour cream or yogurt, which you could do, but I don’t think that you need it.

If you choose to do this, just add in 1/4 cup.

Or if you are also down to try a Paleo flour (which is naturally gluten free), cassava flour is the closest option to regular flour that I’ve found.

In fact, let’s go over that here!

How to make a Paleo pie crust

If you’re going for the Paleo pie crust (which really isn’t hard to make at all, I promise!), you’re going to want to be conscious of the gluten (since this crust is already vegan so we’ve taken care of any dairy issues).

The Paleo pie crust ingredients aren’t funky or weird, and it’s the same process as making a vegan pie crust, or just a gluten free pie crust.

You’ll need to swap out the flour to be Paleo, which I highly recommend cassava here. I’ve used coconut flour in the past, like in my Paleo pumpkin pie, but more recently, I’ve used cassava and I just prefer it.

Like I mentioned in the previous section, cassava is the closest gluten free flour in general that I’ve seen act like regular all-purpose flour. It’s amazing!

Other than that, it’s pretty straight forward! Making a pie crust to fit your needs really doesn’t need to be complicated.

Top Pie Crust Recipe Questions

All right. The moment you’ve all been waiting for. Answering all of your burning pie crust questions! I polled my Instagram community the other day to make sure that I was checking off all the boxes and here’s what I’ve come up with! I hope these help you!

• How to make pie crust cut-outs: if you have any extra dough after you’re rolled out your pie crust, I like to use the extra dough to make pie crust cut outs! I purchased some from Williams Sonoma a few years ago. They’re super fun to use and a great way to make sure your pie crust doesn’t go to waste!
• Why did my pie crust sides sink or fall? This happens if you haven’t allowed the crust to rest enough and/or you just stick it into the oven after you just rolled it out and placed it into the pie dish. Don’t ruin all of your hard work! Make sure you give your crust time to chill in the fridge again before placing into the oven. This will ensure that the crust cooks evenly and doesn’t spread. The next tip is making sure that the edge of your pie crust sits on the ledge of the pie dish, and that the edges are “heavy,” meaning thick with dough. This weighs the crust down and makes sure it doesn’t start sliding down the edges.
• How to know when your pie is set? This will depend on the pie, but really this will take practice. The more you practice making pies, the more you’ll get a feel for when your pie crust and pie is done. The crust should be lightly golden, and the filling should be set in the middle. Then, depending on the pie, you’ll need to let the filling set after baking!
• Why is my pie crust soggy at the bottom? This can happen if your pie crust isn’t pre-baked, but I find that using coconut oil always ensures a crisp rather than soggy crust. Make sure that you’re poking holes into the bottom of your crust, regardless of whether you’re pre-baking it or not.
• How to prevent my crust from burning before the filling is done? You might be cooking your pies at too high of temps, but I always like to cover my crust mid way through with either tin foil or pie crust shields. Always use gloves when putting either the tin foil or the savers on! But you definitely need to make sure you’re cooking at the right temperature. I always go for 350F. That way, you’ll be able to cook the filling while the crust doesn’t burn!
• My pie crust crumbles when rolling out! Help! This can happen if you don’t have enough liquid or you didn’t mix the dough well enough! If your crust is crumbling when you’re rolling out, first start by adding a few tablespoons extra of chilled water. Give it a little kneading if possible and try again. Your crust could also be too cold still and it’ll soften more as it warms up from being worked. If you haven’t mixed your ingredients well enough, throw that dough back into the bowl and give it a good knead! You might have to chill it again, but it’ll be worth it!
• My pie crust always tastes bland- what gives? This is why I always add a touch of sugar to my crusts! You can omit the sugar if you’re doing a savory pie, but I like to use a little maple syrup for sweetness.

You are just going to absolutely love this easy vegan pie crust recipe! It’s the perfect pie crust for all of your baking needs, especially around the holidays. This pie crust helps to make the best pumpkin pie, pecan pie, or even apple pie!

As always, I love to see your creations personally, so be sure to tag me on Pinterest and Instagram so that I can see and share your lovely bakes!

Happy pie baking!

The best vegan pie recipes:

Easy Strawberry Pie

Best Vegan Banana Cream Pie

Paleo Pecan Pie

Vegan Sweet Potato Pie

Healthy Apple Pie

Healthy Pumpkin Pie

Paleo Vegan Chocolate Cream Pie

Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!

If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!

Watch how to make the best vegan pie crust!

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