How to Make Vegan Pie Crust

You can master a homemade vegan pie crust recipe made without butter or lard. It’s perfect for classic apple pies, festive pumpkin pies, fresh fruit pies and even easy no-bakes.

Butter vs. Shortening

With its rich flavor, butter typically comes to mind when making a pie crust. However, it’s a little temperamental and not as forgiving as shortening. We’re using vegetable shortening in this vegan pie crust recipe because it’s a great dairy-free alternative that yields incredibly tender treats.

Learn the real difference between butter, margarine, shortening and lard.

How to Make a Vegan Pie Crust

We like this traditional pie crust recipe from reader Janet Briggs because it comes together with four simple ingredients.

Ingredients

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• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup vegetable shortening
• 4 to 5 tablespoons ice water

Directions

Step 1: Combine the ingredients

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Measure out all of your ingredients. Then, combine your all-purpose flour and salt together in a large bowl.

Use a pastry cutter to cut in vegetable shortening until crumbly; stop when the crumbs resemble the size of peas. (If you don’t have a pastry cutter on hand, consider a food processor.) Add ice water just one tablespoon at a time, mixing with a fork until a ball forms.

Editor’s Tip: You’ll want to make sure you’re measuring flour the right way. We recommend weighing your dry ingredients for best results.

Step 2: Form the dough

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Continue to toss the dough together with a fork. Break off a small section of dough and press it together with your fingers. If it holds together, the dough is ready to be shaped and chilled. If not, continue to mix the dough and add an additional tablespoon of ice water.

Gently form the dough into a ball and remove it from the bowl. Now, form the dough into a flat disk.

Step 3: Wrap the dough

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Cover your dough completely and place it in the refrigerator to chill for an hour to overnight. Remember, this vegan pie crust dough will look a little bit different than a traditional pie crust—it might have some cracks in it, and that’s OK.

Step 4: Roll it out

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Remove your dough from the fridge and unwrap it. To prevent crumbling, spread out a piece of parchment paper to roll your dough out on. Then, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to fit a 9-inch or 10-inch pie dish.

Step 5: Trim and flute

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Transfer the dough from the parchment paper to your pie dish. If possible, roll the dough loosely around your pin and gently unravel it over your baking dish. Trim the dough to fit the pan and flute the edges.

Editor’s Tip: Shortening crusts are super fragile—they tend to be crumbly and fall apart. If this happens, just press your crust back together. Then instead of traditional fluting, try a simple fork fluting. (For added flair, decorate the pie with cookie cutters.)

Step 6: Bake

Finally, assemble or parbake the pie crust according to your recipe directions. If you’re not set on a recipe, we highly suggest our vegan pumpkin pie or our vegan apple pie. Serve the finished pie with a scoop of vegan ice cream!

Tips for Making a Vegan Pie Crust

What can you use to make vegan pie crust if you don’t have shortening?

If you don’t have shortening on hand, substitute with vegan butter or coconut oil. If using vegan butter, make sure to go with a brand that has a tasty, buttery flavor, like Earth Balance. Keep it nice and cold, so that you can easily cut it into the flour mix.

If you substitute with coconut oil, make sure that the oil is hardened. Then, use a food processor rather than a pastry cutter to combine the oil into the dough. The dough will have a coconut flavor, so be sure that this will work well with the type of pie you’re making.

How can you keep the pie dough from sticking to the surface when rolling it out?

Before rolling the dough out on parchment paper, sprinkle a generous amount of flour across your surface. Then, dust the rolling pin with a bit of flour.

Can you make vegan pie crust ahead of time?

Absolutely! Once you’ve wrapped your pie dough in plastic wrap, it can remain stored in the fridge for 3-5 days and in the freezer for 2-3 weeks.

Use Your Crust in One of Our Best-Ever Pie Recipes

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