Creamy and deliciously lemony no-bake vegan lemon pie with ginger cookie crust. Made with homemade vegan condensed milk. Insanely good!
This vegan lemon pie started out as an idea for a lemon meringue pie.
But I must confess to not yet being brave enough to attempt the meringue part. Even though I have made vegan meringue, successfully, it’s not quite the same type of meringue as what you put on top of a lemon meringue pie, so I’m still daunted.
When thinking about it though I just knew I wanted to make a vegan lemon pie using vegan condensed milk. That recipe has been used in a ton of desserts on this blog now, it’s just awesomely versatile so I knew it would be good for this too.
So my hesitation in going the full monty with a lemon meringue pie instead became a fabulously delicious vegan lemon pie with a ginger cookie crust instead.
I had no idea when I set out to make this if it would work out or not, but the results were super impressive. It is pure creamy dreamy vegan lemon pie bliss!
You can either bake the vegan ginger cookies from scratch and then use those in this recipe, or you can use a store-bought vegan variety, either one will work great.
If you can’t get (and don’t want to make) vegan ginger cookies, then you could switch it for some golden oreo cookies (like in our vegan banana cream pie) or make a date and nut crust (like in our vegan cheesecake) or a pretzel crust (like in our vegan caramel pie). Those would work great here as well.
Crush them up, mix with a bit of melted vegan butter and press down into your pie dish for the base.
Then you need to whip up a batch of vegan condensed milk and then make some whipped coconut cream. Squeeze some fresh lemon juice and whisk it into the condensed milk. Add some lemon extract and lemon zest for extra lemon flavor, and then fold in the whipped coconut cream.
Pour this out over your ginger cookie crust and then allow to set for several hours (or overnight). Decorate with lemon zest and you have a lemon pie to remember!
The filling firms up very nicely in the fridge, but it’s still sort of a mousse-like texture. If it’s a bit too much on the soft side, then let it firm up in the freezer for a bit before serving.
Also, the stiffer you can get your whipped coconut cream, the better for this recipe. So if you open your cans of coconut cream to scoop off the cream from the top and it has hardened nicely in the fridge then you know you are going to get some really great whipped cream from those. If it hasn’t, you can still whip it, but it’s hard to get it very stiff. If this happens, then add in ¼ tsp of xantham gum as a fix. It will thicken it up very fast! So go slow.
Storing and Freezing
Keep the pie stored in the chilliest part of your fridge (covered) so that it remains nice and firm and consume within a week.
It’s also freezer friendly if you’d like to freeze it.
More Vegan Pie Recipes
- Vegan Chocolate Pie
- Vegan Banoffee Pie
- Vegan Pecan Pie
- Vegan Peanut Butter Pie
- Vegan Key Lime Pie
- Vegan Chocolate Tart
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Lemon Pie
Ingredients
For the Crushed Cookie Base:
- 9 ounces Vegan Ginger Cookies (255g)
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g) Melted
For the Lemon Pie Filling:
- 1 ½ cups Vegan Condensed Milk (360ml)
- ½ cup Lemon Juice (120ml) freshly squeezed
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon Zest
- ½ teaspoon Lemon Extract
- 2 ½ cups Canned Coconut Cream (600ml) hardened cream only from 2 14-ounce cans, chilled overnight in the fridge*
- ¼ teaspoon Xanthan Gum Optional
For Decorating:
- Lemon Zest
Instructions
- Prepare the crushed cookie base by crushing the ginger cookies in the food processor or by placing into a ziplock bag and rolling over it with a rolling pin until the cookies are crushed into small pieces.
- Melt the vegan butter and then pour it over the crushed cookie pieces and mix in.
- Pat down into a pie dish, working it up along the sides as best you can and then place into the freezer to set.
- Prepare your vegan condensed milk as per the linked recipe.
- Pour this out into a bowl and set aside.
- Add the coconut cream (separated hardened cream at the top of 2 chilled cans) to the bowl of a stand mixer, leaving the watery parts behind. Starting at slow speed gradually increase speed until the cream is whipped. For best results in this recipe, you need the cream to be very firm and well whipped with stiff peaks. If yours is a bit on the softer side, add in a ¼ tsp of xanthan gum and whip again. It will thicken fast.
- Squeeze the lemons and grate the lemon zest.
- Add the lemon juice, lemon extract and lemon zest to the bowl with the condensed milk and whisk with a hand whisk to combine. Then fold in the whipped coconut cream.
- Pour this over the crushed cookie base and place into the fridge for a few hours to set. If it’s still a little on the soft side, let it firm up in the freezer for a bit before serving.
- Decorate with lemon zest and serve.
Notes
- Vegan condensed milk: We used one full batch of our homemade vegan condensed milk. If you want to make it from scratch using our recipe then make it using soy milk or rice milk powder so that it’s nice and thick for using in this pie. You can also use store-bought vegan condensed milk.
- Vegan whipped cream: If you want to use a different vegan whipping cream then the amount to use would be 2 and ½ cups before whipping. Very light and airy vegan whipping creams may not work great as the pie may not set properly.
- Gluten free: The filling for this pie is gluten-free, so if you wanted to make the whole pie gluten-free, just use a gluten-free cookie for the crust.
- Prep time does not include time spent setting in the fridge and freezer.
- Storing: Keep the pie stored in the chilliest part of your fridge (covered) so that it remains nice and firm and consume within a week. It’s also freezer friendly if you’d like to freeze it.
Can I use agar agar and plant milk instead of coconut cream? My daughter is allergic. I looking for icebox cake that doesn’t call for coconut.
You could try it but I have no idea about that combo of ingredients. Another option would be to use a vegan cream that isn’t coconut based, like soy cream.
Okay, thank you very much they sell a soy based true whip in sprouts.
This looks delicious ! I need to make it for a birthday party tomorrow, however I’m not sure if I’ll be able to find lemon extract. Is it okay to omit this, should you add extra lemon zest if you do ?
Hi Jessica, totally fine to omit it, you can add extra zest if you like but you don’t have to. 🙂
Since there’s so much coconut cream in this, does it taste like coconut too, as well as lemon? We would want just a lemon taste without the coconut. Any suggestions if it does taste a lot like coconut?
Hi Ines, I think the lemon flavor overpowers the coconut, but if you’d prefer to use a different vegan whipped cream I think that would be fine too. The amount to use would be two cups (prior to whipping).
Can I used store bought 9oz vegan coco wip instead of coconut cream?
Hi Mireya, possibly, but I haven’t tried it that way. Let us know how it goes if you do try it! 🙂
absolutely delicious! i have a few notes from my attempt. i tried using 250g storebought cookies with 1/3 cup butter for the crust, but next time i would add some more cookies + higher ratio of butter. for the filling i used storebought sweetened condensed coconut milk, around 1 1/4 cup, and it worked perfect! not too sweet, thankfully. i did end up with quite a bit extra of both the coconut whipped cream & the combined lemon filling, but i will happily enjoy that throughout the week on top of oatmeal & such. i also put mine in the freezer, though we ended up moving to the fridge as it became too firm to cut. overall though, great simple recipe. thanks!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Grace!
Hi Alison,
Thank you for this recipe! Lemon pie is my husband’s favorite, and since becoming a gluten-free Vegan, he hasn’t been able to indulge . . . until now!
I am making this for his birthday today and wonder what is meant by “Double Batch” of Vegan Whipped Coconut Cream in the recipe. Is “Double Batch” 3 cups? Please clarify amount needed for this recipe.
Thank you!
Hi Christine, it refers to a double portion of the recipe that is linked. So basically two cans of coconut cream, using the cream portion from the top of the can only. It would usually work out to be around 2 cups (before whipping).
I was wondering If I can use Meyer Lemons in this recipe.
Sure! The flavor will be slightly different but there won’t be any other issue with that.
Would I need to add sugar and vanilla to the coconut whipped cream since I’m going for a lemon taste ?
Or would I just whip up the cream without powdered sugar?
Hi Tina, no just the plain whipped cream for this, no powdered sugar or vanilla added.
Have you tried a non dairy whipped topping like cool whip instead of the coconut whipped cream? Do you think it would work if you froze the pie?
I think it would work, whipped coconut cream tends to be a bit more dense, so I think the difference would be that it would be lighter and more ‘airy’ but I think it would still work fine.
Can this pie be made ahead and kept in the freezer until needed in a week?
Yes, it definitely can!
This is an excellent recipe! My friend and I both loved it. I used graham cracker for the base instead of the ginger cookies though because I had some on hand. I wasn’t able to find soy milk powder so I used coconut milk powder. It thickened up very nicely for me and didn’t have any problems with it. Très délicieux!
Wonderful to hear that! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Hi Alison.
I love your recipes and am looking forward to trying this. Re: soft setting of mixture. I am going to try to heat the lemon juice with agar agar to see if it helps with overall setting. Also, instead of using canned coconut cream, (which needs prior refrigeration) I am going to use Coyo brand plain coconut yoghurt which whips up beautifully.
Hi Jennifer, that sounds super interesting, let us know how it turns out! 🙂
I made this for my daughter’s birthday, and everyone (vegans and non-vegans) loved it! My son reckoned it was the best cake I had ever made!! I did struggle a bit to get neat slices when serving (it was a bit soft, even after being in the fridge overnight) but the taste and texture were amazing.
Thanks so much for sharing Heike, yes, it was the same with my slices, you can see in the pics, they are a little on the soft side, I have found that if the whipped coconut cream is very firm when you start then that problem is solved. A little ‘fix’ I have discovered is you can add a tiny bit of xantham gum (1/4 – 1/2 tsp at the most) to your whipped cream to firm it up if it is a bit floppy, but only ‘if’ it’s a little on the floppy side, it works extremely well (almost too well so you have to be careful with it!). So next time that might be helpful! Thanks so much for posting!
Thanks for the tip, I think I’ll keep some on hand for next time 🙂
I can’t find soy milk powder or rice without ordering it from USA at big expense. Any other substitutes?? Thank you. It looks so delicious!
Hmmm – if there is a powder that would result in a similar (thick) consistency then that would be fine – so you could experiment with any non dairy milk powder that you can find.
I’ve found a vegan condensed milk so will try that??
If it’s a nice thick consistency, that will work great!
Wow! This is amazing!