This vegan pecan pie is literally the best pecan pie we’ve ever tasted. It’s rich and insanely delicious with a caramelized center and loads of pecans!
I’ve been thinking about making a vegan pecan pie for years, but always backed out of it thinking it would be soo hard to do. I mean, a regular non-vegan pecan pie uses 3-4 large eggs!
So I was daunted by the thought of how it could possibly work and what would hold it all together. The short answer? Cornstarch. And not even that much of it. Along with vegan butter, sugar and maple syrup.
This pecan pie holds together beautifully and no one would ever guess there are no eggs involved at all.
Love vegan pies? Check out our vegan apple pie and our vegan pumpkin pie.
How To Make Vegan Pecan Pie
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
The Crust:
- Add flour, sugar and salt to your mixing bowl and mix together.
- Now add vegan butter and mix it in with your hands until crumbly.
- Add ice water and mix into a ball of dough.
- Place the dough into the fridge for an hour for the gluten in the dough to relax (this helps to prevent the crust from shrinking during baking)
- After an hour, bring out the dough and roll it carefully into a circle wider than the size of your 9-inch pie dish.
- Spray your pie dish with non-stick spray, and place the dough over your pie dish.
- Press the crust down into the edges of the dish. Trim off the excess dough with a scissors.
- Crimp the edges of the crust to create a pattern, or skip this step entirely and just leave the crust straight along the top.
- Place the crust back into the fridge while you work on the filling.
Top Tip For The Crust: If you want to save time on this recipe you can absolutely use a store-bought unbaked 9-inch pie crust.
The Filling:
- Melt vegan butter and light brown sugar in a saucepan and add maple syrup, vanilla extract and sea salt. Whisk together until the sugar has melted.
- Mix cornstarch with coconut milk until smooth and then add it into the saucepan and whisk in quickly. Add the chopped pecans and mix everything together.
- Pour this out over the crust and smooth down.
- Add pecan halves to the top of the pie to decorate.
- Bake at 350°F for 35-40 minutes until the center is bubbling and the crust is lightly browned.
- Allow to cool for an hour on the countertop and then move to the fridge until set (1-2 hours) before serving.
Top Tip For The Filling: The cornstarch/coconut milk mix just gets whisked in very quickly, then the chopped pecans are added, mixed in well (but quickly) and then it’s off the heat and the filling gets poured out over the crust. We don’t want this step to take too long because we don’t actually want the cornstarch/coconut milk mix to start thickening things up already, we just want it mixed in. The bulk of the thickening effect should take place during the baking process.
Ingredient Notes & Tips
Pecans: We used raw unsalted pecans. Chopped pecans for the filling and pecan halves to place on top before baking.
Maple Syrup: Pure maple syrup created the best taste and texture results in this pie. We did try a version with a maple flavored table syrup and it works and it is delicious so if you wanted to use a table syrup or a dark corn syrup it will work, but my top vote is for pure maple syrup in this recipe.
Cornstarch: A little cornstarch goes a long way in this recipe and we only needed 1 and ½ tablespoons. It’s possible that you could use tapioca starch or arrowroot but we have not tested this.
Coconut Milk: We used ¼ cup unsweetened full fat canned coconut milk to mix with the cornstarch and this helps the filling to thicken and bind together. You can switch this with another non-dairy milk if you prefer.
Make It Gluten-Free
The filling for this pie is already gluten-free, so if you want the pie to be gluten-free then either use a store-bought gluten-free pie crust or make a gluten-free pie crust from scratch.
Jessica In The Kitchen has a great recipe for a gluten-free vegan pie crust made with simple ingredients.
How To Serve Vegan Pecan Pie
Pecan pie can be served either warm or cold. It’s ideal to let it cool completely so that it sets.
But after that, if you want to serve it warm, then just heat each slice in the microwave for 20 seconds or so before topping with vegan whipped cream or vegan ice cream.
Make Ahead, Storing and Freezing
Make Ahead: You can make this pie a day or two in advance and store it (covered) in the fridge. Let it come to room temperature before serving.
Storing: This pie stores really well in the fridge (covered) for 5 days.
Freezing: This pie freezes well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and let it come to room temperature before serving.
More Vegan Pie Recipes
- Vegan Sweet Potato Pie
- Vegan Caramel Pie
- Vegan Key Lime Pie
- Vegan Chocolate Tart
- Vegan Banoffee Pie
- Vegan Chocolate Pie
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Pecan Pie
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 ¼ cups All Purpose Flour (156g)
- 1 Tbsp White Granulated Sugar
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (113g)
- 1 Tbsp Ice Water may need up to 1 and ½ Tbsp
Filling:
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (113g)
- ¾ cup Light Brown Sugar (150g)
- ½ cup Maple Syrup (120ml)
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- ¼ tsp Sea Salt
- 1 ½ Tbsp Cornstarch
- ¼ cup Coconut Milk (60ml)
- 2 cups Chopped Pecans (300g)
For Decorating:
- 1 cup Pecan Halves (110g)
For Serving:
Instructions
- Prepare the crust. Add the flour, sugar and salt to your mixing bowl and mix together.
- Now add the vegan butter and mix it in with your hands until crumbly.
- Add ice water, only as much as needed to form it into a ball of dough (we used 1 Tbsp but you may need up to 1 and ½).
- Place the dough into the fridge for an hour for the gluten in the dough to relax (this helps to prevent the crust from shrinking during baking)
- After an hour, bring out the dough and roll it carefully into a circle wider than the size of your 9-inch pie dish.
- Spray your pie dish with non-stick spray, and place the dough over your pie dish pressing the crust down into the edges of the dish. Trim off the excess dough with a scissors.
- Crimp the edges of the crust to create a pattern, or skip this step entirely and just leave the crust straight along the top.
- Place the crust back into the fridge while you work on the filling.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Prepare the filling. Melt the vegan butter and light brown sugar in a saucepan and add the maple syrup, vanilla extract and sea salt. Whisk together until the sugar has melted.
- Mix the cornstarch with the coconut milk until smooth and then add it into the saucepan and whisk in quickly. Add chopped pecans and mix everything together (see notes*).
- Pour the filling out over the crust and smooth down.
- Add pecan halves to the top of the pie for decoration.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until the center is bubbling and the crust is lightly browned.
- Allow to cool for an hour on the countertop and then move to the fridge until set (1-2 hours).
Notes
- The cornstarch/coconut milk mix just gets whisked in very quickly, then the chopped pecans are added, mixed in well (but quickly) and then it’s off the heat and the filling gets poured out over the crust. Don’t let this step take too long because we don’t want the cornstarch/coconut milk mix to start thickening the filling up at this stage, we just want it mixed in. The bulk of the thickening effect should take place during the baking process.
- Pie Crust: If you want to save time on this recipe you can absolutely use a store-bought unbaked 9-inch pie crust.
- Measure the flour correctly for the pie crust. Either use the spoon and level method (spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife – don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup) or weigh it on a food scale.
- Pecans: We used raw unsalted pecans. Chopped pecans for the filling and pecan halves to place on top before baking.
- Maple Syrup: Pure maple syrup created the best taste and texture results in this pie. We did try a version with a maple flavored table syrup and it works and it is delicious so if you wanted to use a table syrup or a dark corn syrup it will work, but my top vote is for pure maple syrup in this recipe.
- Cornstarch: A little cornstarch goes a long way in this recipe and works great for thickening up the filling. It’s possible that you could use tapioca starch or arrowroot but we have not tested this.
- Coconut Milk: This is mixed with the cornstarch. You can switch this with another non-dairy milk if you prefer.
- Serving: This pie can be served either warm or cold. It’s ideal to let it cool completely so that it sets. But after that, if you want to serve it warm, then just heat each slice in the microwave for 20 seconds or so before topping with vegan whipped cream or vegan ice cream.
- Make Ahead: You can make this pie a day or two in advance and store it (covered) in the fridge. Let it come to room temperature before serving.
- Storing and Freezing: This pie stores really well in the fridge (covered) for 5 days. It also freezes well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and let it come to room temperature before serving.
- Prep time does not include the time spent chilling (pie crust 1 hour before rolling out and 2-3 hours for the baked pie to cool and set).
- Nutritional information excludes vegan whipped cream or ice cream.
Hi, what is the best type/base of vegan butter to use? Salted unsalted? I usually use Miyokos which is unsalted and cashew coconut base thinking of trying the oat milk base with sea salt.
Hi Liv, I don’t think it makes a big difference so sometimes I use salted and sometimes unsalted. So I think it would be fine to do that and Miyokos is a great brand!
This is the first vegan recipe I tried for pecan pie, but I won’t be looking for others because it’s a hands-down winner. As for preparing it, I followed the “New Orleans” variation suggested in these comments that replaces the 1/4 c non-diary milk with bourbon. I added a splash of rice milk to make the cornstarch into a slurry. And I had a store-bought pie crust on hand already, so I just used that instead of doing the crust from scratch. The crust wasn’t all that deep, but it held the filling just fine. After the initial 35 minutes, the pie was fully cooked. The filling did boil over, but just in one small area, so it wasn’t a big deal. As for the eating, it got high marks from several different family members—including me of course!—both young and old. This recipe is a real keeper and I look forward to deploying it on a regular basis. Thank you!
So happy to hear it was a winner! Thanks so much for the great comment and review. I definitely need to try it with bourbon myself! 🙂
This pie was sooo good. I used a pre-made GF pie crust. However my pie boiled over around 20 minutes in. I still baked it for 35 minutes, cooled it and put it in the refrigerator overnight. Pie was stuck to the pan the next day. Not sure why it boiled over so early though. I should’ve pulled it out when I noticed it boiled over.
So glad it still turned out great! I’m not sure why that would’ve happened! My first thought was maybe the pie dish was too small, but ours wasn’t particularly deep either, though you can see our crust goes up quite high on the sides. It might be an idea to use a deeper pie dish next time if you make it again.
This is delicious, I made it for a pie party with some friends and they were all raving! (Even without pure maple syrup!)
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Kendall!
Hi, this looks fab. Can’t wait to make it. Just a quick question. To transform this into a chocolate pecan pie (a popular dish with my non-vegan family) do you think I could put vegan chocolate chips in the mixture pre bake and then drizzle some melted vegan chocolate on top after bake but before setting in the fridge? Love your advice! Thanks
Hi Emily, yes I think that would work great! And it sounds amazing. I’ll have to try that myself!
Do you blind bake first and is it canned coconut milk
We do not blind bake the crust. We did use canned coconut milk but it doesn’t have to be canned, and can also be replaced with a different non-dairy milk.
Absolute perfection! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Awesome! Thanks so much Meg!
I’m a connoisseur of pecan pies, and this is the best one I’ve ever had 😜 I can’t believe how easy it was to make. I used a gluten free pie crust from The Unconventional Baker made from GF flour, maple syrup, and almond butter. Instead of brown sugar – I used pure maple sugar to add extra maple flavour (for Canada Day 🇨🇦) Seriously amazing dessert!!! Next time I might add a bit of rum or bourbon for a New Orleans variation.
Thank you so much Judi! I’m so happy to hear that!
Im so excited I found your blog. When you use 1/4c milk, can it be regular almond milk or does it have to be canned milk? Can’t wait to make this. And your bourbon response, does that mean the liquid combined with bourbon and milk still equals 1/4 C?
Thanks for your responding in advance.
Hi Deb, you can use any non-dairy milk. I haven’t made this with bourbon, my comment was just saying that if someone wanted to try it, they would likely need to use it instead of the non-dairy milk, though a splash of milk to mix with the cornstarch would still be fine to use.
Made this one today and it looks great! Easy to make and my husband’s favorite!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Diana!
Okay, now just wait a minute!!! How on earth did you pull this off?? You, ma’am, have a GIFT! Let me just tell you as a Texan – home of the Texas Pecan Pie – this is incredible! Pecan pie happens to be my favorite pie and I’ve only made it once in my life prior to being a vegan. And now, my hope has been restored lol Thank you for sharing your gift with the world.
Favorite comment of the day! Hahaha, thanks so much! 🙂
Yummy! Thank you for the easy to follow directions, cheers!
You’re so welcome Nancy!
I had a bourbon pecan pie several years ago, before cutting out dairy and eggs, that was amazing. do you think I could replace the coconut milk with bourbon?
I’d probably still use a little non-dairy milk (just a splash) to mix that cornstarch so it’s a smooth paste before you add it in, but then if you want to add in a 1/4 cup of bourbon I think it would work!
Do you think gluten free flour would still work in this recipe?
Hi Bianca, we have info about gluten-free in the post, along with a link to a gluten-free crust.
This is perfect as a Festive season sweet! Mouthwateringly decadent.
Thanks Anna!