Super easy vegan pot pie with a gorgeous golden brown crust. This cheesy, veggie-packed savory pie is perfect for a special occasion.
Oh my! We are so impressed with this vegan pot pie.
Jaye was saying he had no idea it could be so easy to make a pie that looks (and tastes) as good as this.
A pot pie is usually a mix of vegetables and gravy topped with a pie crust. When I went looking around the web, I most often saw a version containing peas and carrots in a gravy. And honestly I just wanted to go with something a little different. And more exciting!
So we decided on a simple vegetable mix sautéed on the stove top and then mixed up with a cashew cheese sauce. This turned out to be the perfect pie filling. And that’s topped with a flaky golden brown pie crust.
It looks really fancy, yet the recipe is super simple. Always a good thing. This pie makes an excellent main for any special occasion and we love this for Christmas. Of course a vegan nut roast, or vegan meatloaf, vegan wellington or vegan lasagna are also wonderful options.
What You Need To Make This Pie
Ingredient Notes
Mushrooms – we used button mushrooms but cremini (portobellini/baby bellas) would also be great!
Zucchinis – we used 8 small zucchinis, which is equivalent to around 3 medium zucchinis or 2 large.
Nutritional yeast – this just adds a cheesiness to the cashew cheese sauce. If you can’t get hold of it then just leave it out.
Puff pastry – we took the easy option in using puff pastry for this pie and it worked so well! It must be puff pastry though and not phyllo pastry.
Vegan butter – this is melted and then brushed onto the crust before baking. Who needs an egg wash? Not us that’s for sure. Melted vegan butter creates the perfect crispy golden top for this pie. We tried it with just brushing on soy milk and it didn’t work nearly so well, so I highly recommend vegan butter. Any brand will do or a dairy-free margarine. Alternatively you can make your own homemade vegan butter.
How To Make Vegan Pot 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.
- Blend the cashew cheese sauce. Add all ingredients for the cashew cheese sauce to the blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.
- Sauté the veggies. Add onion and crushed garlic to the pot along with olive oil and sauté until softened. Add dried basil and soy sauce and stir in. Now add sliced mushrooms, zucchini and peas and sauté together. Cover the pot and let the veggies simmer together for a few minutes. They will become saucy due to the mushrooms releasing their water. Remove the lid and let the water cook off until only a little remains.
- Mix the sautéed veggies and cashew cheese sauce. Stir the cashew cheese sauce in with your veggies. Let it cool a bit and then transfer to a 9-inch round pie dish.
- Roll out the crust. Roll out your puff pastry so that it’s wider than your pie dish, with a little room to spare. Place the puff pastry over the top of your veggie filling and push the pastry into the sides of the dish, folding the pastry along the edges.
- Brush with melted vegan butter. Brush the top of the crust with melted vegan butter and cut a vertical line a couple of inches long, in the center of the pastry.
- Bake. Place the pie into the oven and bake for 25 minutes at 390°F.
Recipe Tips
Let as much water as possible cook off your veggies. It’s ideal for your filling to be nice and thick, so let as much water as possible cook off before you add the cashew cheese. Nobody likes a watery pie filling!
Let your sauce cool off for a few minutes before you put it into the pie dish and top with the pastry. It will be best if it’s not heating the heck out of the pastry from below before that pastry even starts cooking.
Let the pie cool for 10 minutes before serving. When your pie is all nice and cooked, let it cool for 10 minutes before dishing up. You want it nice and hot and flaky but at the same time, the sauce inside is HOT, better to not get third degree burns (it smells so good you’ll want to tuck in right away, but try to hold back).
Pie dish. Your pie dish should be 9-inches round and at least 2-inches deep as this is a fairly thick pie.
Make ahead option: You can definitely make the filling in advance and store it in the fridge for up to 48 hours. When you’re ready you can then assemble the pie. Add the filling to the pie dish, add the pastry on top as usual, brush with the melted butter and bake for 25 minutes. Easy.
Recipe FAQ
Puff pastry is usually vegan (check the labels of course) and comes in sheets.
It’s at its best when fresh and hot from the oven. However, leftovers are still good the next day eaten cold from the fridge, though the pastry doesn’t retain its crispiness overnight. So it’s best to eat as much of it on the day it’s made as you can. Which is usually not an issue at all!
It’s not ideal for freezing.
More Delicious Vegan Dinner Recipes
- Vegan Shepherd’s Pie
- The Best Vegan Lasagna Recipe
- Baked Vegan Mac and Cheese
- Vegan Pasta Bake
- Vegan Wellington
- Vegan Meatloaf
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Pot Pie
Ingredients
Cashew Cheese Sauce:
- 1 cup Raw Cashews (150g)
- ¼ cup Nutritional Yeast (15g)
- ½ tsp Crushed Garlic
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- ¼ tsp Sea Salt
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper
- 7 Tbsp Water
Sautéed Veggies:
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Medium Onion White, Yellow or Brown, Chopped
- 1 tsp Crushed Garlic
- 1 tsp Dried Basil
- 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 5 cups Button Mushrooms (480g) Sliced
- 8 Small Zucchinis (600g, 4 cups) Sliced
- 1 ½ cups Frozen Peas (240g)
Pie Crust:
- 1 Sheet Vegan Puff Pastry
- Melted Vegan Butter for brushing
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 390°F (200°C).
- Blend the cashew cheese sauce. Add all ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.
- Sauté the veggies. Add chopped onion and crushed garlic to the pot along with the olive oil and sauté until softened. Add the dried basil and soy sauce and stir in. Now add the sliced mushrooms, zucchini and peas and sauté together for a minute. Cover the pot and let the veggies simmer together for a few minutes. They will become saucy due to the mushrooms releasing their water. Remove the lid and let the water cook off until only a little remains (see notes*).
- Mix the sautéed veggies and cashew cheese sauce. Stir the cashew cheese sauce in with your veggies. Let it cool a bit and then transfer to a 9-inch round pie dish.
- Roll out the crust. Roll out your puff pastry so that it's wider than your pie dish, with a little room to spare. Place the puff pastry over the top of your veggie filling and push the pastry into the sides of the dish, folding the pastry along the edges.
- Brush with melted vegan butter. Brush the top of the crust with melted vegan butter and cut a vertical line a couple of inches long, in the center of the pastry.
- Bake. Place the pie into the oven and bake for 25 minutes until golden on top.
Video
Notes
- Cashews: We don’t usually soak the cashews first and if you have a high powered blender then there is no need to. If you don’t have a high powered blender, then add the cashews to a bowl, pour over boiling water from the kettle and let them soak for 15 minutes to soften before blending.
- Mushrooms: We used white button mushrooms but cremini (portobellini/baby bellas) would also be great!
- Zucchinis: We used 8 small zucchinis (see our ingredients photo for an idea of the size). An equivalent would be around 3 medium or 2 large.
- Nutritional yeast: This just adds a cheesiness to the cashew cheese sauce. If you can’t get hold of it then just leave it out.
- Puff pastry: We took the easy option in using puff pastry for this pie and it worked so well! It must be puff pastry though and not phyllo pastry.
- Vegan butter: This is melted and then brushed onto the crust before baking. We tried it with just brushing on soy milk and it didn’t work nearly so well so I highly recommend vegan butter. Any brand will do or a dairy-free margarine. Alternatively you can make your own homemade vegan butter.
- Pie dish. Your pie dish should be 9-inches round and at least 2-inches deep.
- Let as much water as possible cook off your veggies. It’s ideal for your filling to be nice and thick, so let as much water as possible cook off before you add the cashew cheese.
- Make ahead option: You can make the filling in advance and store it in the fridge for up to 48 hours. When you’re ready you can then assemble and bake the pie as usual.
- Storing: It’s at its best when fresh and hot from the oven. Leftovers are still good the next day though the pastry doesn’t retain its crispiness overnight. So it’s best to eat as much of it on the day it’s made as you can. It’s not ideal for freezing.
- This recipe was first published in December 2017. It has been updated with extra tips but the recipe itself is unchanged.
Love the taste of the pie. Another great recipe I will make again and again. Thanks Alison.
Awesome! Thanks Julie! 🙂
Nov 2019, I just made this dish and while cooking I wasn’t sure. My family & I have just demolished everything on our plates, we did it with vegan coleslaw & swapped the peas with sweet potatoes. Thank you it was delicious, looking forward to my vegan journey.
So glad it was a success! Thanks so much for sharing Deborah. 🙂
My family is looking forward to our “vegan journey” as well. Love how you wrote that!
I love this. Easy to make and tastes lovely.
Thanks.
Awesome! Thanks Janet! xo
So delicious, meat eater approved aswell
Awesome! Thanks Liam! 🙂
Wow this recipe taste delicious. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you
Awesome! Thanks Rebecca! xo
What if I don’t have a pie dish ? Will a Pyrex dish be ok ?
I think it would be fine.
An absolute delicious pie I swap mushroom and zucchini (not a fan) for whatever veg I have around the house, and it always comes out tasting amazing! Easy to get your five, or seven, a day in when it tastes so good!
Wonderful to hear that Sara! So glad you’ve tweaked it to your liking. Thanks so much for sharing and the awesome review.
Absolutely amazing. This was delicious
I can’t wait to make it again. Thank you?
Wonderful Susan! So happy to hear that. Thanks so much for posting! 🙂
Really tasty!
I used the pastry all around (that’s how I thought it should be – silly me!) but it actually worked ok, it was just a bit hard to cut and place on the plates nicely.
I didn’t find nutritional yeast so sadly I think we missed out on the cheesy flavour… but I still loved it and it was indeed very simple.
I follow the recipe and it was enough only for 2, so depending how much you usually have you might want to double or even triple the ingredients…
(I honestly don’t think it would serve 8, unless they’re having it as a snack…)
But anyway, amazing recipe, highly recommend it!
So glad you enjoyed it Nat! Thanks for sharing. About the serving size, yes we served it at Christmas and it did serve 8 but there were also lots of sides, so that is a factor! 🙂
Do I use both Puff Pastry Sheets for this recipe. One for the top and one for the bottom? Or do I just put the crust on top.
Hi Cheri, only on the top. 🙂
Lovely recipe. Rally tasty pie
The cheesy sauce really makes it. I made my own pastry which worked fine
Hi Alison,
This looks delicious!!!
Can this be made ahead of time? Can I freeze it?
Thank you!
Dana
Hi Dana, I’m really not sure! If you did freeze it you would do it before baking it because once baked the pie crust would not freeze well. But if you froze it before baking it could be fine! There might be some separation of the filling once it defrosted, that would be my main worry, but that’s not necessarily a reason not to do it! So if you do freeze it, make it up to the point of baking it, and then instead of baking it, cover it and freeze it. Let it defrost before baking as normal. All the best! 🙂
Made this yesterday. The taste was terrific, but it didn’t look anything like in the picture. Yours looks more like a pie crust. The pastry sheets I bought were awful thin. I even had difficulty brushing it with melted vegan butter because it was apt to tear. Instead of browning nicely like yours did it just about disintegrated. In fact, it was so thin you could see through it. Are there different types of pastry? Other than that it was delicious!
Hi Bob, it sounds very much like you used phyllo (also can be called filo) pastry. Phyllo pastry is also often vegan but it’s made up of very thin sheets of pastry. I used puff pastry in this recipe, which is like a thick sheet of dough that you just cut to fit and place over your pie. If it’s too small, you roll it out so that it’s big enough to fit. Phyllo pastry is definitely also delicious and if you do use it, you need to use a good few layers of it, to compensate for the thinness of it. But puff pasty, as used in this recipe, is definitely the preferred option for this pie and what gives it that ‘proper pie crust’ look. So glad it was still delicious though! All the best!
Thanks Allison. I double checked the package and you are right. So how many sheets do you think I should use? 3, 4 or more?
Hi Bob, probably more like 10. 🙂 To get an equivalent nice pie crust, it would be around 10 sheets, you can brush each layer lightly with a little melted vegan butter or even a bit of non-dairy milk if you don’t want it to be too rich and then just the top with vegan butter.
This pot pie looks delicious! Was on the Xmas menu but my son can’t wait, so I’m making it for Sunday lunch! Unfortunately no one has nutritional yeast! Can I soak the cashew nuts instead and blend as per recipe and add vegan cheese? Thank you for all the amazing recipes. It doesn’t last long enough for a photo though haha!
Hi Shireen! You can leave out the nutritional yeast in the cashew cheese and probably just add a bit less water to compensate, so that it doesn’t end up too thin, and then yes, you could add some regular vegan cheese in if you want, or you could just have it as is, but it would have a less cheesy flavor. But I’m thinking some grated vegan cheese mixed in with the veggies and cashew cheese would be very nice too! So glad you like the recipes! Thank you! 🙂
Looks and is scrumptious! A feast for the festive season.
Most definitely! 🙂
Love it!! thank you, I’ve been looking for something for my family for Christmas and you’ve nailed it. Love all of your creations, you think like I do.. ? simple ingredients made into something special. have a great festive season and keep on keeping on. Cheers, K ?
Awesome Karen! We are definitely thinking the same way, I have got this firmly on the Christmas day menu because it’s just easy and low stress, which is perfect! Thanks very much and best wishes for a great festive season to you too! 🙂