Vegan Pot Pie (+2 Crust Options)

It is a creamy veggie-packed Vegan Pot Pie topped with either a flaky gluten-free vegan pie crust or a crispy sliced potato crust. These little pots are perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas or any other holiday dinner. Did I say they make perfect leftovers as well?

Pot pies are one of the classic comfort foods of winter. When it is grey, wet and cold outside, all you need is a warm, filling and homemade meal such as a steaming bowl of hearty Vegan Beef Stew, or a rich and warm Vegan Bean Chili, or a plateful of veggie-loaded Vegan Shepherd’s Pie or this delicious Vegan Wellington with Butternut Squash. But for me, winter also means lots of baking. I love it when my house smells cinnamon while I am making Apple Crisp Pie or Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingerbread Pie Crust.

⇒ If you need an Easy 7-day VEGAN MEAL PLAN, click to download our free e-book with a shopping list. 

What kind of vegan pot pie is it?

In this recipe we wanted to re-create the classic Chicken Pot Pie without the chicken. To do that we made a thick and hearty veggie stew with the common ingredients of Pot Pies like carrots, celery, onion, peas, broth, and milk. It turned out so delicious, that our Christmas dinner party haven’t even missed the chicken! They certainly couldn’t tell that this vegan pot pie was dairy-free and gluten-free as well.

With a gluten-free pie crust

You can use homemade or store-bought pie crust to cover the veggie stew. If you need a Flaky Gluten-free Vegan Pie Crust recipe we have one that works great with both savory and sweet dishes. 

With a sliced potato crust

Or alternatively, make a LAZY POT PIE with a sliced potato crust. I mean show us anyone who can make pie crust quicker than my husband makes potato slices with a mandolin. He is ready, in like 2 minutes tops if we include the washing and the peeling. It is crispy, allergy-friendly, easy and simple. See for yourself in the below photo. 

Ingredients of our vegetable pot pie

You know us, we like our main dishes to be veggie-loaded. Especially when it is a comfort food, we like them filling and rich. So, we added 8 different vegetables:

• potatoes
• carrots
• celery
• mushroom
• green peas
• sweet corn
• onion
• garlic

What else can you add?

I would happily add any of the root vegetables (parsnip, rutabaga, celeriac). You can certainly add legumes like chickpeas, cannellini beans or kidney beans to make the stew loaded with extra protein. Throw in a handful of leafy greens like spinach and kale to make it even more nutritious and colourful. 

How to make vegan pot pie in 2 ways

My husband cooked this vegan pot pie in our cast-iron Dutch oven*. Don’t worry if you don’t have one, this recipe is absolutely perfect in a stockpot* too. We made it lots of times and will show you below step-by-step how to cook the best vegetable pot pie every time.

Prepare the ingredients

Peel and chop onion and garlic. Wash and chop celery. Wash, peel and dice potatoes and carrots. Rinse and cut mushrooms in slices or in quarters. Since we used frozen green peas and canned sweet corn we really didn’t need any prep for those.

Cook vegetable stew

Heat your a stockpot or a Dutch oven to medium heat and add olive oil (photo #1). Cook the chopped onion (photo #2) for 1-2 minutes, add the chopped garlic (photo #3) and cook for a few seconds. Now, add the diced carrots (photo #4). Stir and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Next is to add the chopped celery (photo #5) and the chopped mushrooms (photo #6). Stir for a couple of times and season it with salt, pepper and with fresh thyme sprigs (photo #7). Stir until the spices and the herbs are covering the veggies before adding the dairy-free milk and half of the veggie broth (photo #8). Bring to boil.

When it is boiling again, add the diced potatoes and the other half of the veggie broth (photo #9). Cook the veggie stew covered with a lid for 10 minutes. To avoid lumps, in a separate bowl mix the corn starch with some liquid from the stew and add it back after that (photo #10). Stir and bring it to boil. Now, add the green peas (photo #11) and the sweet corn (photo #12). Stir a couple of times.

Bake with sliced potato crust 

Take your mini pots and fill them up with the boiling veggie stew until the top (photo #13). Make sure to add from the liquid sauce not only the veggies. Cover them with thinly sliced potatoes (photo #14), brush them with olive oil, (photo #15) season them with salt, pepper and more thyme (photo #16). Bake the vegan mini pot pies in a pre-heated oven of 400 Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) for approx. 30 minutes.

Bake with flaky pie crust

Take your mini pots and fill them up with the boiling veggie stew until the top (photo #13). Make sure to add from the liquid sauce not only the veggies. Roll out your pie crust and cut circles a little larger than your pots (photo #14). Place your pie crust circles on top and cut of the excess crust (photo #15). Brush it with a bit of melted vegan butter, aquafaba or dairy-free milk in place of an egg wash. Bake the vegan mini pot pies in a pre-heated oven of 400 Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) for approx. 30 minutes.

Top tips to make perfect veggie stew

• Chop vegetables evenly – We added carrots first as they need the most time to be cooked, then celery, mushrooms, and potatoes, finally peas and corn.
• Don’t cook too long – Pot pies are both cooked and baked. If you cook them until the veggies are soft, they will surely get mush after they are baked further. The cooking time is short, only 15 minutes, so the veggies are only half down.
• Thickening the stew – Start with one Tablespoon of flour or starch and repeat if needed.

How to thicken the stew?

As we eat gluten-free, we chose to thicken the stew with corn starch. However, if you don’t need the stew to be gluten-free, you can thicken it with all-purpose flour.

In both cases, to avoid lumps, you need to use a separate bowl to mix the corn starch or flour and a bit of liquid from the stew. If it is thoroughly combined, you can add the mixture back. Stir vigorously for a couple of seconds. The corn starch or the flour is only activated (starts to thicken the stew) if it is heated, so bring it back to boil. You will see the result almost immediately. If you are not happy with the thickness, make another round.

Stockpot vs Dutch Oven

The Dutch oven is made of thick cast iron so it distributes and keeps the heat more evenly. And due to its enamel coating, it is more unlikely that anything is sticking to the bottom or burning down. While the stockpot is usually made of stainless steel or aluminium thus it is thinner. Therefore, you need to watch the heat more carefully.

Two things to pay attention to if you are making this recipe in a stockpot are

1. do not let the liquid evaporate and
2. stir more frequently.

What to serve with it?

We love a plateful of veggies for each meal and we happily eat roasted or fried veggies with this Vegan Pot Pie like

• Oven-roasted Asparagus, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, beets, sweet potatoes or other root veggies etc.
• Sautéed Carrots with Maple Thyme Glaze, green beans or other veggies etc.
• Mashed Potatoes with Celery Root, or other mashed veggies like cauliflower, carrot etc.
• Green beans casserole,
• Vegan Scalloped Potatoes,
• Vegan Onion Gravy, mushroom gravy,
• Fresh salads

Let us know in the comments what is your favorite combination.

FAQs and Substitutions

How to store vegetable pot pie?

This vegetable pot pie recipe is perfect for batch cooking. You can easily store it in the fridge for 3-4 days without any problem. In that case, we recommend making it a casserole. The only thing you need to pay attention to is that both the potato and the pie crust on the top will lose its crispiness as time goes by. If you choose the potato crust, we recommend – before serving – pop them back to the oven and broil for 10-15 minutes to get the crispy again. 

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This Vegan Pot Pie recipe is meat-free, dairy-free and egg-free. It is also suitable for vegan, vegetarian, nut-free and gluten-free diets. It can also be WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) if you cook the onion and the garlic in water or in veggie broth.

⇒ If you need an Easy 7-day VEGAN MEAL PLAN, click to download our free e-book with a shopping list. 

More vegan dinner recipes

You can browse through our Vegan and Gluten-free Dinner Recipes or our Quick Vegan Meals collection or check out

• Vegan Spaghetti Bolognese
• Vegan Eggplant Meatballs Spaghetti
• Vegan Lentil Loaf
• Vegan Cabbage Lasagna
• Vegan Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

UPDATED:This recipe was originally posted in Nov 2019, but it was re-developed, re-tested and republished with a second gluten-free crust option in Nov 2020.