Easy Vegan Pie Crust (with Coconut Oil)

Name: Easy Vegan Pie Crust (with Coconut Oil)
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 2 cup all-purpose flour (see notes); 1/2 cup refined coconut oil (solid and chilled); 1/2 cup cold iced water (see notes); pinch of salt

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Making your own vegan pie crust is easier than you might think! Perfect for sweet vs savory pies, done using a food processor and made with coconut oil. Makes a flaky and tender pie crust that's pretty much fail-proof. Plus, no one will be able to tell it's vegan!

Overhead view on a coconut oil vegan pie crust still empty and uncooked with a blue hand towel on the side.

Are you scared of making your own vegan pie crust from scratch? You should not be. It really takes a few minutes of hands-on prep time and comes together so easily. In fact, I find this homemade pie crust to be pretty forgiving! And nothing is weird at all about making a vegan version of a pie crust: the fat used simply is solid coconut oil instead of dairy butter.

What is so amazing is that you will only need 2 main ingredients to make it (if you exclude salt and water), which I'm sure you already have in your pantry. It really is easy and quicker to prepare than you might think, and super satisfying too. There is no reason to buy already-made crusts next time you want to bake a pie!

This recipe works great for a classic 9 inches pie dish, which will give you 2 crusts: one for the bottom and a second one to top the filling.

I also find the recipe to be easier to make using a food processor as it chops the oil in smaller pieces and thus, helps have a flakier crust. Use this crust for so many recipes, either sweet or savory: the usages are pretty much endless. It's the only crust recipe you will need!

Overhead view on a vegan pie crust that is rolled to flat.

What you'll need

All-purpose flour
Coconut oil (choose refined, to avoid coconut flavor)
Salt
Iced water

As far as for equipment, I recommend to use a food processor as it helps break the pieces of oil efficiently and quickly. You will also need a rolling pin or simply use a cleaned bottle if you don't have one.

Essential pie crust tip: keep everything cold!

This means chilling your coconut oil and using iced water. I recommend to first measure the coconut oil you will need and transfer to the fridge for at least 15-20 minutes before using. Soft coconut oil, similar to when you keep the oil in your pantry during the warm summer, is not what you want. You are looking for extra cold and solid kind of texture.

Using chilled fat means it will hold on its solid texture better and will prevent having the oil melting within the flour. This is crucial to create layers of fat as the chunks of oil that remain intact will be flattened out by using the rolling pin and once in the oven, will melt and create pockets of fat within the crust, which means a flakier crust.

Close up on a vegan pie crust that was rolled and placed on a rolling pin.

How to make it

Process

In a food processor, combine the flour, salt and chilled coconut oil by pulsing a few times. Then, add the cold water and keep pulsing until it comes together. The texture will look mostly crumbly and it might form a larger ball (or not). You do NOT want to over-process, stop processing when it looks like a mostly uniform crumble texture.

I usually have enough of ½ cup of water, but if you feel like your dough needs more hydration (depending on how you measured the flour and brands of flour can absorb the water differently), then add about ½ tablespoon at the time and pulse a few more times. Be aware though, if you add too much water, then the pie crust will steam while baking and can end up tougher.

Chill

Transfer the crumbly dough on a floured surface and use your hands to finish up combining the ingredients and shape a the dough into a ball.

You do not want to manipulate the dough too much or it will melt the coconut oil, which can harden the dough after baked. You want to work fast, finishing up combining and pressing all the crumbles together, but the dough won't be super perfectly smooth looking, that's what you want.

Wrap the dough with saran wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

Roll

This recipe will give you 2 pie crusts, one for the bottom, plus an extra for topping your pie (or to freeze). So, cut the ball of dough in half before rolling.

Then, roll the dough on a lightly floured surface starting by the center towards the edges, then repeating in different directions. Keep rolling until the disc becomes large enough for your pie dish without making it too thin. The dough might feel a little rough and it might crack as you roll it, this is fine! You can correct the larger cracks as you go to roughly shape a large circle, it does not need to look perfect. Then, transfer the crust on your baking dish, correct additional cracks by gently pressing using your fingers, cover and chill until ready to use.

In process picture: there is flour with coconut oil in a food processor.

In process picture: there is flour in a food processor with water pouring over.

Overhead view on a vegan pie crust that was just rolled with a pot of flour on the side.

Watch how to make it

More important tips

I did mention to keep your ingredients COLD until ready to bake the crust, but here are a few other tips:

Try to work as fast as you can so the coconut oil stays cold until you bake it.
I like using a food processor so it helps me not manipulating the dough with my warm hands too much. When processing the ingredients, try to pulse instead of doing a constant process and stop whenever it looks mostly uniform, but still crumbly. You want to keep some tiny chunks of oil intact!
Once you have processed the ingredients and transferred to the floured surface, also try to manipulate the dough to a minimum. Simply make sure it is nicely combined and shape it like a ball and that's it. No need to look perfect and don't try to repair all cracks as you will end up melting the oil with your hands.
Be sure to use refined coconut oil if you want to avoid a coconut oil flavor.
Chilling the dough is essential for best texture, which will firm up slightly the texture of your ball of dough and might make it harder to roll, but that's what you are looking for.
I did not do it here, but you might want to leave some extra dough hanging on the side until after you added your filling, especially if topping a second crust over the filling as well. This way, it gives you more crust to work with if you want to press both layers of crust together or looking to crimp your pie. Also keep in mind that the crust tends to shrink a little while baking, so some extra crust is great! I recommend you to watch this super quick video on how to crimp your pie crust for more ideas.

Close up on a coconut oil vegan pie crust placed on a pie plate while there is a knife cutting off the edges.

Do I have to blind-bake the crust?

Most of the time, you won't need to pre-bake the crust. Simply pour your filling over the unbaked crust and bake the whole pie as directed.

If you are making a pie with a filling that won't need to be baked, then yes, you will need to pre-bake the crust. In this case, I recommend you to add some weight over the crust as it tends to puff and shrink while baking. To do this, cover your crust with foil or parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake at 350º for 15-25 minutes, or until golden brown. You might want to add a few additional minutes of baking without the weight at the end so the bottom can also brown a little. Here is a "how to par-bake pie crusts tutorial" from Sally's Baking Addiction to help you.

How to make it ahead and storage tips

Once the dough is done in the food processor, then you can simply wrap it with cling wrap and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days until rolling it. Make sure it is well covered as it can dry easily.

You could also make the dough, shape it in your baking dish and keep it in the fridge until ready to fill, again, making sure to cover it very well.

The dough can also be frozen for up to 3 months: shape the dough, cover it and transfer in the fridge overnight before rolling.

Close up on the edges of a vegan pie crust.

FAQ's

Can I make it gluten-free?

I haven't tried it, but you might be able to make this crust with a 1:1 gluten-free flour, like this one from Bob's Red Mill. You might want to check out this gluten-free pie crust as well.

What if I want a sweet pie crust

This crust goes well for both sweet and savory pie recipes. If you are making a sweet pie, then you can also add about 1-2 tablespoons of granulated sugar to the food processor to incorporate into the dough. Adding sugar to your crust will turn it more golden brown while baking.

Can I use vegan butter instead of coconut oil?

Coconut oil is pure fat vs vegan butter being a combination of fat, water and flavoring with often some salt too. You can probably switch the coconut oil for vegan butter, although start with a little less water first and add some more as you go. Also, if using a salted vegan butter, then omit the salt in the recipe. Although more processed, vegan butter will give you a crust that's a little more flaky with added flavor too.

Overhead view on a vegan pie crust with the sides pressed in triangles.

Vegan pie recipes you might like

I hope you like this easy vegan pie crust as much as we do! If you try it, please leave a comment below and rate the recipe to let me know how it was.

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