Do you need a perfect flaky vegan AND gluten-free pie crust without pricey GF flour mix, without xanthan gum and other unusual ingredients? This recipe is exactly what you need. It is easy to mix, easy to roll and delicious. You can use it to make sweet or savory pies of all kinds.
Pie crusts can be tricky especially if you need to substitute any of the regular ingredients. Apart from this Flaky Pie Crust that is vegan and gluten-free, we also have a recipe for a fat-free (no oil, no butter) alternative called Gingerbread Pie Crust as well as a Chocolate Pie Crust.
⇒ If you need an Easy 7-day VEGAN MEAL PLAN, click to download our free e-book with a shopping list.
Subscribe to our newsletters and download it right now.
Ingredients you need
They say that the secret to make a flaky pie crust is the fat, may it be butter, vegetable shortening or lard. You can certainly make a delicious pie crust without it, but it will not be flaky I guarantee you. I also have an oil-free, fat-free (aka no butter!) recipe called Gingerbread Pie Crust. It is delicious especially with apple or pumpkin pie filling, but it is nowhere near as flaky as the original.
This recipe does have vegan butter in it, hence it will be flakier. It is also easy-to-make, easy-to-roll, easy-to-handle with only 5 ingredients, not weird ingredients like xanthan gum or psyllium husk or pricey store-bought GF flour mix. So what do you need then?
- buckwheat flour
- rice flour / oat flour
- tapioca starch
- cane sugar
- vegan butter
Check out this Apple Crisp Pie on the below photo which I baked using this pie crust.
How to make a Vegan Gluten-free Pie Crust?
Do you want the quick method or the super-quick method?
The super-quick method is to drop all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until combined. However, this pie crust dough is so easy to handle, you can use your hands or a pastry blender* to mix it.
First, add all dry ingredients to the food processor (buckwheat flour, rice flour, cane sugar and tapioca starch). Pulse once to combine. Then, add the cold dairy-free butter in cubes and pulse/mix until you have a crumble-like texture. The last step, is to add cold water 1 Tbsp at a time. It depends on whether you have whole grain buckwheat or not, white or brown rice flour or which starch you are using, the liquid amount may vary.
How do you know that the dough is perfect?
You know you have a good texture of the dough if:
- you can easily form a ball without any crumbles.
- it is soft to the touch, but does not stick to your fingers.
- you can easily scrape the dough out of the container without any trace.
If the dough is too dry and crumbles if you want to form a ball, add 1 more Tbsp of cold water. If the dough is too sticky and it sticks to your finger or the side of the container too much, add 1 more Tbsp of buckwheat flour.
5 tips to roll it out perfectly
While this pie crust is quite easy to handle, there are always a couple of “safety” measures you can take to guarantee a 100% success.
- Chill the dough in the fridge for 15-20 minutes. Even if I feel that the dough is easy to handle, I almost always chill the dough in the fridge. It helps the flour to really bind with the moisture in the butter and the water as well as the butter to harden again.
- If I am working with any kind of pie crust, I always use two sheets of cling foil gently sprinkled with rice flour. For a more eco-friendly approach, you can use a re-useable pie crust bag*. I have 3 reasons for it
- 1) to make sure that the pie crust dough doesn’t stick to the rolling pin or to the board;
- 2) it is easier to transfer it to the pie dish without tearing it.
- 3) if you have a numbered rolling mat, you can see through it as opposed to parchment paper.
- I never go thinner than ¼-inch (0,5 cm) I use a rolling pin and slowly roll the dough to a shape of a rough circle. You don’t need to end up with a perfect circle, you will eventually cut off the access after you move it to the pie dish.
- I use a rolling mat with measurements (similar to this one*) so I can see how far I should roll the dough to fit in a a 9-inch (23 cm) pie dish.
- Don’t be afraid to patch it up! If you tear it somewhere or you get a hole, just patch it with a little bit of dough. Smooth it with your fingers and it will still be perfect at the end.
How to blind bake a GF pie crust
- If you ready with the rolling, peel off the top cling foil. Slip your hands below the bottom cling foil and gently lift the rolled out pie crust off the board. Flip it over and place it gently in the pie dish. Settle the bottom and the sides and pill the cling foil off. Use a knife to cut off the excess dough around the dish.
- Pre-heat oven to 350 Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
- Use a round-shaped* parchment paper or cut one for yourself and place it inside the pie dish. Use rice, beans or pie weights* to ensure that the sides and the bottom keeps its place.
- Bake it like that for 15 minutes. If you would like to use it as a pre-baked pie crust shell for a no-bake pie or cheesecake, remove the parchment paper and weight. Then bake for another 10-15 minutes until it is crispy. If you need to bake the filling, remove the parchment paper and the weight and add the filling in its place. Then bake for another 15-30 minutes depending on your filling.
Where can you use this Pie Crust?
You can use this recipe to make any sweet or savory pie or baked cheesecake. Check out some of our recipes:
- Apple Crisp Pie
- Baked Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake with from scratch roasted butternut squash puree
- Vegan Custard Tart
- Veggie Pot Pie
Let us know in the comments what is your favorite combination! Below is a drool-worthy photo of our baked pumpkin cheesecake where you can use this pie crust as well.
FAQs and Substitutions
What can other flour or starch can I use?
Buckwheat can be substituted with oat flour, but you need to check the texture as you may or may not need to add extra Tbsp of cold water. I have not tested this recipe with any other flour combination though. You can substitute tapioca starch to corn or arrowroot.
Can I make this pie crust ahead of time?
Yes, this pie crust keeps in the fridge overnight as a ball wrapped up in cling foil or in an airtight container. I recommend you roll it out only right before adding the filling.
Can I freeze this pie crust?
Yes, it freezes well. Again I recommend to freeze it as a ball wrapped up tightly. Thaw it in the fridge before rolling out.
This Pie Crust recipe is vegan, so dairy-free and egg-free. It is also suitable for vegetarians, nut-free, soy-free and gluten-free diets.
⇒ If you need an Easy 7-day VEGAN MEAL PLAN, click to download our free e-book with a shopping list.
More vegan dessert recipes
You can browse through our Vegan and Gluten-free Dessert Recipes or check out
- Vegan Gluten-free Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Chocolate Pudding
- Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
- Vegan Sweet Potato Brownies
- Vegan Gluten-free Fudge Brownies
Flaky Vegan Gluten-free Pie Crust
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Buckwheat flour
- ½ cup Rice flour
- ½ cup Tapioca starch
- 2 Tbsp Cane sugar or coconut sugar
- ½ tsp Salt
- 4 oz Dairy-free butter
- 1-3 Tbsp Cold water depending on texture
Instructions
Mix the dough
- Add all dry ingredients to the food processor (buckwheat flour, rice flour, cane sugar and tapioca starch). Pulse once to combine.
- Add the cold dairy-free butter in cubes and pulse/mix until you have a crumble-like texture.
- Add cold water 1 Tbsp at a time. The dough is perfect if 1) you can easily form a ball without any crumbles; 2) it is soft to the touch, but does not stick to your fingers and 3) you can easily scrape the dough out of the container without any trace.
- Chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.
Roll the dough
- Take 2x lightly floured parchment papers or cling foils and roll the dough out not thinner than 0.5 inch in between them. It doesn't matter if the edges are rough or it is not a perfect circle.
- If you ready with the rolling, peel off the top cling foil. Slip your hands below the bottom cling foil and gently lift the rolled out pie crust off the board. Flip it over and place it gently in the pie dish. Settle the bottom and the sides and pill the cling foil off. Use a knife to cut off the excess dough around the dish.
- If you tear it somewhere or you get a hole, just patch it with a little bit of dough. Smooth it with your fingers and it will still be perfect at the end.
Bake the pie
- Pre-heat oven to 350 Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
- Use a round-shaped parchment paper or cut one for yourself and place it inside the pie dish. Use rice, beans or pie weights to ensure that the sides and the bottom keeps its place.
- Blind bake it like that for 15 minutes.
- If you would like to use it as a pre-baked pie crust shell for a no-bake pie or cheesecake, remove the parchment paper and weight. Then bake for another 10-15 minutes until it is crispy. If you need to bake the filling, remove the parchment paper and the weight and add the filling in its place. Then bake for another 15-30 minutes depending on your filling.
- Even more tips in the post above the recipe card!
Notes
- Make sure you use cold butter and not room temperature.
- Add the butter to the food processor at last in 1x1 inch cubes so that it doesn't stick to the sides.
- Use a silicone / non-stick parchment paper. If you don't have one, sprinkle it with a little bit of rice flour before rolling.
- If the dough sticks to your rolling pin, use a cling foil or another silicone / non-stick parchment paper on top.
- You can leave the dough in the fridge overnight and roll out the next day. No problem.
- Cane sugar can be substituted for any dry sugar like coconut sugar. Liquid sugar like maple syrup will make the dough too wet to roll out, so might need to add more flour to get to the same consistency.
Peggy
Followed the recipe exactly except for where it says “roll the dough out not thinner than 0.5 inch”. Later I saw in the notes that you meant 0.5 cm.
This was an extremely short crust. It held together very well but it wasn’t flaky at all. Also I chilled it in the refrigerator overnight and when I took it out, it was as hard as a curling stone. Took ages before I could roll it out. I also noticed in your photo of the apple pie – my crust is quite a bit darker – were you using light buckwheat flour? I used regular buckwheat flour – maybe that made a difference? Let me know what you think and thanks! P.S. – huge hit with my husband as far as flavour and texture but I am curious about the flakiness aspect – I used 3T. of water as well.
Suzette
Can Sorghum flour be used in place of Buckwheat?
My Pure Plants
Hi Suzette, I never worked with sorghum flour so I don’t know how it will behave compared to buckwheat flour.
Jill
In the recipe it says “4 oz Dairy-free butter (approx. 17 Tbsp)”. I think 4 oz butter is about 8 Tbsp.
My Pure Plants
Yes, you are right. 110 gram ~ 4 oz is the correct amount. I will delete the Tbsp.