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 ā it doesnāt 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 donāt 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 ā itās much easier doing it this way than using a floured surface.
- Transfer the apple mixture into the pie crust.
Tip: Donāt 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 ā you can do this easily by picking up the baking paper from the counter and flipping it over so that itās 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, Iād 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 softenedĀ - doesnāt 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 donāt 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 dishĀ - 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 - donāt 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 itās 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 ā thank you.
I Love food š¤©
Hi Rhian ā¤ļø
I made your carrot bread recipe which smells great! It is one of the best gluten free cake bread whatever I've made!!! The consistency was almost like it was wheat based š„³I have to follow a mandatory diet and cannot eat nuts or seeds. Despite it being tasty the rice (gluten free flour) was still quite strong I think it gives it a strong rice pudding flavour 𤣠any suggestions on how to overpower this will be appreciated. Would like to share that recipe and try out the recipe and others with my lover ā¤ļø
Rhian Williams
Hi, thank you so much for your feedback! I'm sorry to hear that. What brand of gluten-free flour did you use? The taste can vary a lot between brands!
Jade
Hi Rhian thank you for getting back to me š¤. I'm not sure as I used up the dreggs of the flour it was one of the supermarket ones as I can use doves due to buckwheat šš¤Æ. But I have made it since using innocents coconut milk..... And also the lemon cupcakes which both come out great and didn't have that rice pudding Tonge to it š„³ I'm going to try the lemon muffins with Yoghurt next I'm looking forward to baking and sharing. And when I'm brave enough look at reintroducing apples and trying out this one to my lover looovvves savoury desserts. Thank you š» you are a godsend! I've tried adjusting other gluten free recipes so I don't poison myself but none of them have come out as pretty delicious and spongy x x x thanks for all the extra details and ideas of other things that would work with each recipe
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for sharing!
Beverly Matter
Hi. I made the apple pie. The crust was very hard to make and I had to add a lot of extra Paleo flour because it was too wet. My crust wasnāt flaky at all. Also, I cooked the apples for a long time, bit the apples were still really crunchy. Any tips for a better outcome?
Rhian Williams
Sorry to hear that - I think the paleo flour was the issue. You'll need to use a grain-based gluten-free flour. What type of apples did you use?
Anonymous
This is delicious! My husband ate 1/2 of the pie in one night!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that!
alfira Fisher
Hi Rhian, first of all thank you for your blog and all these wonderful recipes. I tried the apple pie, but it did not make a dough, it was way too wet. My gluten free flour mix is a combination of Rice Flour, Tapioca Flour and Almond Meal and ArrowRoot. I never have a problem with it any of the other recipes. I had to add twice the flour and almond meal to the recipe to get it dry enough to act like pastry.
Rhian Williams
Thank you! I'm sorry to hear that. Was your coconut oil solid or liquid? If it was liquid it would've been too wet - it needs to be solid for this recipe.
Anna
This pie crust is absolutely divine, I used it to make a savory pie by adding 1/2 tsp of salt and it was delicious. Thank you for all these recipes that allow us to treat ourselves healthy.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so so happy to hear that! Would love to hear what you put inside your savoury pie! Sounds delicious!