Why you need to make this Gluten-Free Vegan Apple Pie – it’s:
- loaded with sweet, juicy apples
- subtly spiced with toasty cinnamon
- undetectably vegan, gluten-free + refined sugar free!
Welcome to Gluten-Free Vegan Pie Week! So, since I finally cracked the code for a seriously crispy, flaky, buttery gluten-free vegan pie crust, I thought it would be a good idea to celebrate by creating a little series of different pie recipes this week. I decided to start with this Gluten-Free Vegan Apple Pie, but we also have these to look forward to:
- Gluten-Free Vegan Pecan Pie
- Gluten-Free Vegan Cherry Pie
- Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Pie
- Gluten-Free Vegan Blueberry Pie
So excited!
Inspired by my Apple Upside Down Cake, I decided to cook the apples first in a coconut sugar-based salted caramel sauce. It’s seriously easy to make, wonderfully salty-sweet and tastes deceptively indulgent, not to mention that it really compliments the tartness of the apples. I also added some fragrant vanilla and cinnamon for a subtly-spiced flavour.
Using coconut sugar not only gives this pie the most delicious toffee-like flavour, but also means it’s refined sugar free too.
Now onto the pie crust! I was initially very sceptical about how a gluten-free vegan pie crust would taste. I was worried it would be too chewy, too crumbly, too dry, too tasteless, etc etc…
However, by using rich, buttery coconut oil and a mixture of gluten-free flour and ground almonds, I finally created one I was completely satisfied with! Adding ground almonds gets rid of any potential chewiness, makes the crust much lighter in texture and also eliminates any crumbliness as it helps to bind everything together. The ground almonds also add extra protein and fibre!
It’s seriously easy to make too, as there’s no need to chill the pastry dough beforehand, and you don’t need to pre-bake the crust either. Instead of bothering with all the clean-up required because of a floured surface, I went for a sheet of greaseproof baking paper, which is much easier to work with.
Hope you’ll love this Gluten-Free Vegan Apple Pie! For more fruity desserts, check out my:
- Matcha Strawberry Sponge Layer Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Cherry Bakewell Cake
- Black Forest Cake
- Strawberry Sponge Layer Cake
- Fig Upside Down Cake
- Lemon Drizzle Cake
- Pear Dark Chocolate Pudding
- Raspberry Dark Chocolate Blondies
- Apple Upside Down Cake
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Gluten-Free Vegan Apple Pie with a crispy, flaky, buttery pastry crust and refined sugar free, caramelised, cinnamon-flavoured apples.
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil (or sub coconut butter)
- 10 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 4 tablespoons milk, any kind
- 6 cooking apples, cored, peeled finely sliced (or sub any other type of apple if you prefer)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of sea salt, to taste
- 60 g (1/4 cup) coconut oil
- 150 g (1 1/4 cup) ground almonds (almond meal)
- 150 g (1 1/4 cup) gluten-free flour blend, plus more for rolling (or sub rice flour, or plain all-purpose flour if not gluten-free)
- Heat coconut oil in a pan
- Add coconut sugar and cook for about a minute until coconut sugar has melted - watch carefully so it doesn’t burn
- Add the milk, apples, vanilla, cinnamon and salt
- Leave to cook on a low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes until slightly softened - doesn’t matter if not completely cooked
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl along with about 14 tablespoons of water, until it forms a firm dough - add the water a few tablespoons at a time so that you don’t add too much!
You can keep this pastry dough in the fridge for up to a day if you like, but there is no need to chill it before using
Divide the pastry into two and add one half to a greased pie dish. Use your fingers to carefully press it across the bottom and up the sides of the dish (I used a 7inch/18cm pie dish)
- Lay out a sheet of greaseproof baking paper on a counter. Sprinkle the surface of the paper and a rolling pin with a generous amount of flour and roll out the remaining pastry dough into a circular shape large enough to cover the pie
- Once you have this ready, transfer the apple mixture into the pie crust - please don’t do this before you have the top ready, as the warm apple mixture will melt the coconut oil in the pie crust, making it harder to work with
Now place the top layer of pastry on top of the pie crust - you can do this easily by picking up the greaseproof baking paper from the counter and flipping it over so that it’s resting paper side-up on top of the pie
- Once the top layer of pie crust is comfortably sitting on top of the pie, carefully peel off the greaseproof paper
- Use your fingers to secure the top layer of crust on top of the crust, by pressing down on all the edges around the pie, making sure they are properly sealed
- You can use a fork or your fingers to create a pretty pattern around the edge if you like
Use a knife to create a small slit in the middle of the top layer
Bake in oven for around 30 minutes, until the pastry crust is firm to the touch and golden brown
- Leave to cool a little before cutting, but it tastes best served warm from the oven!
- Keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days
Marie
Hi Rhian, do you think this pastry would work for vegan sausage rolls? Thanks
Rhian Williams
Hi! Yes it should 🙂 What would you make the filling with? Sounds delicious!
Marie
I found this recipe which I thought sounded good. I will just keep out the nutritional yeast (aka MSG) 🙂 https://www.eatingvibrantly.com/vegan-sausage-rolls/
Rhian Williams
Looks delicious! 🙂
Maya
What GF flour did you use? Thanks!
Rhian Williams
Hi! I used Dove’s Farm gluten-free flour 🙂
Stephanie
Do you think you could use that butter flavored coconut oil in the crust? Or is straight coconut oil important for consistency? The fake butter stuff does harden when cold so it may be pretty similar molecularly.
Rhian Williams
Hi, yes I’m sure that would work! 🙂
Jen
I tried this recipe tonight and the crust was rather disappointing. I make apple pie every year, but this was my first attempt at a gluten free vegan version. I used bob’s red milk gluten free flour. The crust kept falling apart and was impossible to roll. The flavor was also not great. Is there a better substitute for butter other than coconut oil? Any suggestions on the crust? The pie filling was good. I added arrowroot starch so it wasn’t as watery.
Rhian Williams
Hi, thank you for your feedback and I’m so sorry that you weren’t satisfied with the recipe. Can I ask what ingredients were in your gluten-free flour blend? The ones used in mine were: rice, potato, tapioca, maize, buckwheat. So perhaps the results differed because of the ingredients in your gluten-free flour blend? I didn’t find my crust too difficult to handle when making it. Instead of coconut oil you could use coconut butter, which has a more neutral flavour, or vegan butter. I’m glad the filling was ok, and good idea to add arrowroot starch. Thanks again for your feedback!
Jess
HI, when you say Ground Almonds do you mean almond flour ?
Rhian Williams
Yes!
Lori Walkus
Best pie crust ever! I used Bobs Red Mill 1-1 GF baking flour and Bobs RedMill almond flour! It rolled soooooo easy! Thank you for posting this! My son has celiac disease as well as Dairy allergy so this will be a big hit at Easter dinner tonight!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for sharing, so glad it worked well! Happy Easter!
Sophie
This was the best vegan apple pie I’ve made – the crust was amazing and the filling delicious!
Rhian Williams
Thank you!