Making the perfect vegan and gluten free pie crust has never been easier or tastier! Honestly, you’d never know this flaky and delicious crust was free of anything.
I can’t wait for you to try this insanely delicious pie crust! It’s my FAVORITE pie crust recipe of all time and I’m confident I’ll be using it until the end of my days. After all, if you find a pie crust that’s easy, flaky, delicious in flavor AND extremely versatile, why would you ever choose another? Please try it and let me know what you think in the comments below.
Why this Recipe Works:
- The combination of almond flour and gluten free all purpose flour makes this crust flaky yet sturdy, while the vegetable shortening, salt and brown sugar gives it a buttery and subtly sweet and salty flavor – pie crust perfection!
What kind of pie can I make with this crust?
- ANY pie! That’s the best part about this crust – it’s flavor pairs well with any pie creation you can think of. It goes especially well with my Deep Dish Vegan Pumpkin Pie!
Does it work well as top crust as well as a bottom crust?
- Absolutely. Simply double the recipe below if you need both a top crust and a bottom one for your pie.
If you’re looking for pie recipes to try out, look no further! You’ll love my Deep Dish Vegan Pumpkin Pie, my Cherry Blueberry Pie (which was featured in People Magazine), and my Chocolate Cream Pie with Pretzel Crust. Want pie for breakfast? Then you also have to try my Peach Raspberry Breakfast Pies.
How to Make the BEST Vegan and Gluten Free Pie Crust:
1. Preheat your oven to 350º. Then, add the flours, brown sugar and salt to a food processor and blend until well combined. No food processor? No problem! Combine these ingredients in a mixing bowl, instead.
2. Next, add the 8 tablespoons of vegetable shortening (one at a time) and blend until the dough becomes crumbly and mostly forms into a ball. Be careful not to over mix! Scrape the bottom and sides to ensure all flour is incorporated. If using a mixing bowl, use a handheld pastry cutter/pastry blender or fork to mix the shortening in.
3. Empty the contents onto a sheet of parchment paper and form the dough into a five to six inch disc. Note: If the dough seems too crumbly, return it to the food processor and pulse in ice water, one tablespoon at a time, until it comes together.
From there, use the palms of your hands to flatten the dough and create a circle 10-12 inches in diameter and about 1/4 – 1/8 of an inch thick. Alternatively, you can do this with a rolling pin covered with flour, which is the route you’ll definitely want to take if you’re making a top crust as well as a bottom crust.
This one I created just by pressing with my palms and finger tips – no rolling pin!
4. Place your pie pan upside down on top of the dough circle.
Then, place one hand on top of pie pan and the other under the parchment paper, perfectly centered under the dough and pie pan – and – quickly flip the pie pan over! Set it down and carefully peal away the parchment paper so that you’re left with a pie pan lined with pie crust dough. You may need to do a little mending! NOTE: If the dough is too sticky to work with, simply place it in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up.
5. Press the dough onto the bottom and sides of the pan and shape the edges as desired. No fancy designs necessary!
6. Place your pie pan on a baking sheet for easier handling. Then, blind bake the crust in your preheated oven for 12 minutes. After removing from the oven, your pie crust is ready to be filled with whatever pie filling you like!
Top Tips for Making the BEST Vegan and Gluten Free Pie Crust:
- If at any point the crust gets too sticky to work with, place in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm it up.
- If the dough seems too crumbly, return it to the food processor and pulse in ice water, one tablespoon at a time, until it comes together.
- There’s no need for perfection when it comes to forming the edges of your pie crust, just make sure that it’s evenly spread out on the bottom and the sides of the pie pan.
- Bake your crust on a baking sheet for easier handling. After all, the last thing you want to do is knock the edge of your crust with a potholder!
- When it’s ready to eat, try serving your pie with my 2-Ingredient Vegan Whipped Cream.
Did you try this recipe? Give it a star rating and let me know what you think in the comments below. Your feedback is very helpful!
The BEST Vegan and Gluten Free Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 1 c. almond flour / meal (115 g)
- 1 1/3 c. Bob's Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose flour (213 g)
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. brown sugar (27 g) packed
- 8 Tbsp. non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening (85 g)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350º. Then, add the flours, brown sugar and salt to a food processor and blend until well combined. No food processor? Combine these ingredients in a mixing bowl, instead.
- Next, add the 8 tablespoons of vegetable shortening and blend until the dough becomes crumbly and mostly forms into a ball. Scrape the bottom and sides to ensure all flour is incorporated. If using a mixing bowl, use a handheld pastry cutter/pastry blender or fork to mix the shortening in.
- Empty the contents onto a sheet of parchment paper and form the dough into a 5-6 inch disc. If the dough seems too crumbly, return it to the food processor and pulse in ice water, one tablespoon at a time, until it comes together. From there, use the palms of your hands to flatten the dough and create a circle 10-12 inches in diameter and about 1/4 - 1/8 of an inch thick. Alternatively, you can do this with a rolling pin covered with flour, which is what you'll want to use if ever making a top crust for a pie.
- Place your pie pan upside down on top of the dough circle.Then, place one hand on top of pie pan and the other under the parchment paper and centered under the pan - and - quickly flip the pie pan over! Set it down and carefully peel away the parchment paper so that you're left with a pie pan lined with pie crust dough. You may need to do some mending!
- Press the dough onto the bottom and sides of the pan and shape the edges as desired.
- Place your pie pan on a baking sheet for easier handling. Then, blind bake the crust in your preheated oven for 12 minutes. After removing from the oven, your pie crust is ready to be filled with whatever pie filling you like!
Notes
- If at any point the crust gets too sticky to work with, place in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm it up.
- If the dough seems too crumbly, return it to the food processor and pulse in ice water, one tablespoon at a time, until it comes together.
- There's no need for perfection when it comes to forming the edges of your pie crust, just make sure that it's evenly spread out on the bottom and the sides of the pie pan.
- Bake your crust on a baking sheet for easier handling. After all, the last thing you want to do is knock the edge of your crust with a potholder!
- When it's ready to eat, try serving your pie with my 2-Ingredient Vegan Whipped Cream.
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I’d like to use this pie crust recipe for a pecan pie. The pie recipe I have says to use an unbaked crust – but that is for a regular flour/non vegan crust. Can I make the pie with this crust unbaked, or do you think I should bake it first? Thank you so much!
I always like to partially bake this crust for 12 minutes before adding the filling and baking again. Whats nice is that it doesn’t burn easily; even if in the oven for an additional 60 minutes! Partially baking this crust for those 12 minutes ensures that it’s the perfect texture all the way around and not under baked or gummy in some areas, which can happen with crusts including almond flour. Hope this helps!
Do I still blind bake this crust if making a pumpkin pie? Thanks!
Yes! Just bake those 12 minutes.
This pumpkin pie is AMAZING! Made it for thanksgiving and Xmas… it was a huge hit and no one knew it was vegan till my hubby let the cat out of the bag lol. Even my sister who HATES pumpkin pie ended up loving it and went back for seconds on this one! Thank you for such a fabulous recipe. It’s one I will be making for years to come 🥰
So glad you liked the pumpkin pie recipe, Jennifer! Thank you very much for the kind words; it means a lot. (For those reading, the full pumpkin pie recipe can be found HERE.
I can’t have almond flour. Could I add an additional cup of the Bob’s Red Mill GF All-Purpose Flour in lieu of the almond flour?
That would likely work. Start with just half the amount of almond flour that is called for when substituting with the GF flour and then add more as needed. Please let me know how it turns out!
Hi,
Usually some kind of liquid is added to the dough to hold it together and form a dough, do you really skip this step?
Thanks!
Hi Elfie, I agree, but actually due to the high fat content in the recipe, the liquid isn’t needed this time. The only exception would be if the dough, for some reason, is too crumbly to work with. In which case you would return the dough to the food processor and pulse in ice water one tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together. This is always my go-to crust recipe – I hope you try it! Please let me know what you think, if you do.
Can I use any all purpose gluten free flour? There are so many different ones with different mixtures of flours. Phew! I have the Pillsbury all purpose and the Walmart brand all purpose. I also have the Krusteaz all purpose, but am not sure if that messes with my husband or not, so I’m not going to use that again just yet.
I imagine any GF AP flour would work; my personal preference is to use one that has garbanzo flour as a top ingredient, but feel free to try what you already have. If the crust turns out too sticky, add a tablespoon or so more flour. If it turns out too dry, add an extra couple teaspoons of shortening. Please let me know how it goes!
Awesome recipe family loved it, thanks so much.
So happy to hear it! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Question: Do you blind bake it even if your filling needs to be baked too? Or do you fill it and bake everything together?
Oh yes, it needs to be blind baked no matter what. In fact, I blind bake it for 12 minutes, fill it with my deep dish pumpkin pie filling, and then bake it for about a full hour. It browns nicely and has never burned on me.