The best vegan apple pie recipe. Apple Pie for the soul, vegan too! Who doesn't love pie? What's your favourite? Mine is a traditional apple pie! Okay, so I was never a fan of pastry growing up, but who doesn't love pie filling? I I remember eating apple pie filling straight from the pan when I craved something sweet.
In my late teens, pie became a common midnight treat; something to eat with coffee while discussing pretentious literature and ideology with pretentious friends. We didn't really ever manage to change anything but that’s half the fun. I remember sitting on cafes, we would try all the pies: banana cream, coconut cream, cherry, but apple pie always held a special place in my heart. Was it the buttery pie crust, or the sweet apple filling of the classic apple pie?
These days pie has a completely different meaning to me. It heralds in the autumn months when this kind of food is appreciated and, more importantly, a lot of the ingredients become available free of charge.
Around October time, my adult pretentious friends and I would go looking for apples or blackberries to steal (scrump, ahem, not steal), dotted throughout the countryside. We would generally walk, pick, and eat while discussing pretentious business theory, politics and bourgeois television programmes. The times haven't actually changed. We're just as ineffectual as any 17 year old kid with lots of ideas.
Sadly, due to lockdown, this year's apple pie making craze was accomplished completely legally with donated apples from a friend with an orchard. However, not to worry, the pie itself still tastes completely illicit! I also love to visit my local farm shop to see what apples are in season. There is nothing better than trying a nice juicy apple, fresh from the tree!
Kristen over at Moon and Spoon and Yum blog has a great little tutorial about storing apples during the colder months, and if you do find yourself with a windfall, this is a really helpful post!
I love apple pie warm and I love it cold. I love it with cream or with custard. I do not like apple pie with vanilla ice cream. This may be heresy, but to make it Apple Pie for the soul, it must be warm, and it must be custard. Of course, if you must, add a scoop of vegan vanilla ice cream!
TIP: make the filling two hours in advance to allow mixture to form a light syrup.
Ingredients
- Apples: of course! To make the apple pie filling, you need to use the best apples. I like to use an apple that's not too sweet but a tart apple, full of flavour, like Pink Lady or Granny Smith apples. I like to put apple slices into the pie crust, some people prefer to cook them first, but I prefer the texture.
- Lemon Juice and Lemon Zest. This serves two purposes: the zest adds flavour, the juice stops the apples discolouring.
- Plain Flour or all purpose flour. You can also use gluten free flour. This helps thicken the syrup in the pie.
- Brown Sugar. You can use white sugar if you prefer, but brown adds a delicious caramel flavour.
- Ground Cinnamon, for that classic fall flavour.
- Vegan Butter or vegan margarine
- 8" Pie Crust. Tip: If you made your pastry in advance, make sure you have wrapped it plastic wrap and chilled it before rolling it out onto your pie dish using a rolling pin.
Method
- In a large mixing bowl, place the sliced apples and lemon juice
- Sprinkle over the sugars, flour and spices and toss through with your hands. Leave for a good hour or so for the sugars to make a light syrup for the apple filling,
- If you are making your own pie crust, divide your pie dough into two halves. On a clean work surface, roll out one half to fit the bottom of your 8" pie pan, pie dish or pie plate. This is your bottom crust.
- Add apple pie filling to desired depth, pressing down gently to remove air gaps and provide a level surface.
- Add a few dots of vegan butter on top of the apples.
- Now roll out your second half of dough and gently drape over the top of the apples, crimping the top and bottom edges.
- Brush the top of the crust with a little soy milk and sprinkle top with sugar and add a few vent holes.
- If you have any remaining dough, you can cut out some shapes to place artfully on top of your crust before baking.
- Initially cover the pie and bake at 200c for 30 minutes.
- Remove foil and bake for another 30 minutes until the top of the pie is golden brown.
- Remove from oven and leave to cool for about half an hour before cutting and serving!
Try my other seasonal vegan treats:
- A delicious vegan Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake that is so easy to make!
- Festive Mince Pies with a homemade filling
- My scrumptious Plum Shortbread Squares
The Best Vegan Apple Pie recipe
Equipment
- 8" Pie Dish
- Mixing Bowls
- Rolling Pin
- Clingfilm
Ingredients
Crust
- 260 g Plain Flour you can replace with Gluten Free
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Sugar
- 150 g Shortening Vegetable, like Trex or Crisco
- 5-7 tablespoon Ice Water
Pie Filling
- 8 Cooking Apples, Peeled, cored, sliced, or use a mixture of apples for texture and flavour
- 2 tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 40 g Plain Flour
- 110 g Brown Sugar soft
- 110g g White Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Butter vegan
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon Sugar for sprinkling on the crust (optional)
Instructions
To make the filling
- In a large bowl, place the sliced apples and lemon juice
- Sprinkle over the sugars, flour and spices and toss through with your hands. Leave for a good hour or so for the sugars to make a light syrup
To make the crust
- A flaky crust depends entirely on two things: keep it cold and don't overwork it. My dough almost resembles crumbs when it goes into the fridge.
- Mix flour, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add cubes of very cold shortening to dry ingredients. Cut in with a pastry cutter or knife until a uniform crumbly mixture forms. Don't let it get warm!
- Add about 3 tablespoon water and quickly mix in with a knife or pastry cutter. Add 2-3 more tablespoon as required. Dough should be crumbly and loose. Wrap tightly in clingfilm and place in freezer for 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 200c.
To prepare the Pie
- Divide dough roughly in half, it will still be a bit crumbly. Place dough ball between two sheets of clingfilm. Roll out thinly to suit your pie dish. If your dish is smaller than 8", you may have a few scraps left for decoration.
- Remove top layer of clingfilm and line pie dish with dough, removing remaining clingfilm after lining. Repeat procedure for the pie cover.
- Add filling to desired depth, pressing down gently to remove air gaps and provide a level surface.
- Add the teaspoon of butter dotted over the filling.
- Cover with remaining pastry, crimping the top and bottom edges. Sprinkle top with sugar and add a few vent holes.
- Cover with foil and bake for 30mins. Remove foil and bake for an additional 30mins until crust is golden brown.
- Remove foil and bake for an additional 30mins until crust is golden brown.
- Enjoy with custard, cream or vanilla ice cream!
Natalia says
All the stars. Everything you like in a recipe: handful of ingredients, simple quick prep, and really delicious. Well done - now bookmarked as my go to!
Chrissaysnature says
Apple pie is a classic. But his one was something else! Thank you for this recipe! Everyone loved it!
Natalie says
I love this vegan version of my favorite pie. I will definitely give this a try. Lovey crust. Perfectly baked.
Kayla DiMaggio says
This apple pie was so delicious! I loved all the flavors and I served it to some family who couldn't even tell it was vegan!
Marinela says
This apple pie is really the best recipe for dessert or breakfast. It's super filling, full of flavor, and incredibly tasty! Love apple-inspired vegan recipes.
Tavo says
I loved this apple pie! Delicious, my mom is a fan of apple pie, so I 'm always on the look to make her another great version. She loved everything about it.
Emily says
This classic apple pie is so delicious, and I love that it's vegan, not that anyone could tell! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Anaiah says
Yum! I always eat my apple pie warm with a big scoop of ice cream. This apple pie was delicious and I'm so happy it's made using plant based ingredients. It's a sweet treat the whole family can enjoy.
Joshua says
Love homemade apple pie! Your vegan recipe was a huge a hit and I doubt anyone could tell the difference. Thank you.