This Gluten-Free Vegan Apple Pie has a crispy, flaky crust and is loaded with juicy, caramel-flavoured apples subtly spiced with toasty cinnamon. The pastry is not chewy, crumbly or dry, you don't need to pre-bake the crust, and the dough doesn't require chilling beforehand. It's also refined sugar free, and relatively healthy. It's the perfect dessert for Thanksgiving or Christmas!
You can use any type of apples you like. For best results, I recommend a crisp, slightly tart apple, or even a mixture of sweet and tart apples.
Cooking apples can be used too, but generally require a longer cooking time and require more sweetener.
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Place the coconut oil, coconut sugar, apples, vanilla, cinnamon and salt in a pan.
- Leave to cook on a low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes until slightly softened – it doesn’t matter if not completely cooked.
- Dissolve the cornflour (cornstarch) in a tiny splash of water in a small bowl.
- Add the cornflour and water mixture and mix well.
- Once the apples have thickened (takes about 30 seconds), turn off the heat.
- Combine all the ingredients for the pastry dough in a glass mixing bowl until it forms a firm dough.
Tip: Add the water a few tablespoons at a time so that you don’t add too much!
- 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.
- Lay out a sheet of baking paper on a counter and use a a rolling pin to roll out the remaining pastry dough into a circular shape large enough to cover the pie – it’s much easier doing it this way than using a floured surface.
- Transfer the apple mixture into the pie crust.
Tip: 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.
- Place the top layer of pastry on top of the pie crust – you can do this easily by picking up the 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 baking 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.
Tip: Use a knife to create a small slit in the middle of the top crust of the pie to create an 'air hole' so the pie doesn't break open in the oven!
- Bake in oven for around 30 minutes, until the pastry crust is firm to the touch and golden brown.
Substitutions you can make
- You can add some dried fruits to the filling such as raisins, chopped dates or dried cranberries.
- You can replace the cornflour (cornstarch) with tapioca flour.
- You can replace the gluten-free flour with rice flour.
- You can replace the gluten-free flour with plain flour if you're not gluten-free.
How long does this Apple Pie keep for?
This Apple Pie tastes best when fresh, but keeps well covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
More gluten-free vegan pie recipes
- Gluten-Free Vegan Pecan Pie
- Gluten-Free Vegan Cherry Pie
- Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Pie
- Gluten-Free Vegan Blueberry Pie
- Gluten-Free Vegan Sweet Potato Pie
- Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Pie Bars
- Gluten-Free Vegan Apple Pie Bars
- Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Tart
- Vegan Pecan Pie Bars (Gluten-Free)
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 #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Watch how to make this recipe
Gluten-Free Vegan Apple Pie
Ingredients
For the apples:
- 8 apples , cored, peeled finely sliced (around 1.9 kg/67 oz in total)
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil (or sub coconut butter)
- 16 tablespoons coconut sugar *
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch sea salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch) (or sub tapioca starch)
For the pastry:
- 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) **
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend plus more for rolling (or sub rice flour, or plain all-purpose flour if not gluten-free)
- 14 tablespoons water
Instructions
For the apples:
- Place the apples, coconut oil, coconut sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and salt in a pan with a lid.
- Leave to cook on a low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes*** until slightly softened - doesn’t matter if not completely cooked.
- Dissolve the cornflour in a tiny splash of water in a small bowl.
- Add the cornflour and water mixture and mix well.
- Once the apples have thickened (takes about 30 seconds), turn off the heat.
For the pastry:
- 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 9 inch/22.5 cm pie dish.
- Lay out a sheet of greaseproof baking paper on a counter and use a rolling pin to 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 - don’t do this before you have the top crust 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 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 baking 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 of the pie crust to create an 'air hole' so the pie doesn't break open in the oven!
- 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.
Video
Notes
- You can use any type of apples you like. For best results, I recommend a crisp, slightly tart apple, or even a mixture of sweet and tart apples.
- Cooking apples can be used too, but generally require a longer cooking time and require more coconut sugar (or other sweetener).
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.
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!
Kris Limmer
Hi. Our coconuts sugar stayed in granules and would not dissolve or melt, any idea why?
Rhian Williams
Hi - I'm so sorry about that. I think adding the plant-based milk and just leaving it on a low heat and stirring regularly should help melt the coconut sugar. If it's still not melting it's ok to just leave it as granules as it will dissolve in the oven. Hope that helps!
Peggy
I can't do almonds. Any ideas on another type of flour that might work?
Rhian Williams
I think ground walnuts would be ok!