This Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Pie is:
- crispy and flaky
- fresh and tangy
- rich and creamy!
I posted this Vegan Lemon Curd recipe the other day, and promised that I would be using it to make a Vegan Lemon Pie...so here it is!
This Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Pie starts with my go-to easy pastry recipe, which is made using gluten-free flour, coconut oil for buttery flavour, and ground almonds for a crispy, flaky texture.
This pie crust recipe is really easy as you can just press it into the pie dish using your fingertips, without any need for a floured surface or a rolling pin.
Make sure you remember to use a fork to poke holes in the crust before baking, or use baking beans.
Once you've baked your pastry pie crust, you can get to work on the refined sugar free lemon curd filling - it's a simple 4-ingredient recipe made using shop-bought custard powder.
I use this custard powder. It's vegan and gluten-free, and doesn't contain any added sugar, plus it's made of just 4 simple ingredients!
If you can't get hold of a shop-bought custard powder, see the recipe notes for how you can substitute it with cornflour (cornstarch).
The lemon curd filling is easily customisable as you can use any type of plant-based milk you like - see recipe notes for how the texture can vary depending on which type of dairy-free milk you use.
I then decided to top this Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Pie with fluffy clouds of coconut whipped cream. It's easy to make and adds just the right amount of creamy richness to offset the sweet and tangy lemon curd filling.
I then decided to decorate it with some cheery lemon slices and fragrant toasted desiccated coconut, but you can use anything you want!
For more vegan and gluten-free lemon desserts, check out my:
- White Chocolate Lemon Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Mug Cake
- Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
- Lemon Curd
- Lemon Drizzle Cake
- Lemon Blueberry 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.
Helpful tools to make this Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Pie:
For the crust:
glass mixing bowl
pie dish
For the lemon curd:
measuring jug
For the coconut whipped cream:
electric whisk
Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Pie
Ingredients
For the pastry:
- 30 g (⅛ cup) coconut oil
- 75 g (⅔ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub rice flour, or plain all-purpose flour if not gluten-free)
- 75 g (⅔ cup) ground almonds* (almond meal)
- 7 tablespoons water
For the lemon curd:
- 530 ml (2 ¼ cups) plant-based milk** (see notes)
- 3 tablespoons custard powder*** (or sub cornflour/cornstarch or arrowroot)
- 8 tablespoons lemon juice to taste (approximately equals the juice of 1 lemon)
- 6 tablespoons maple syrup to taste (or sub any other sweetener)
For the coconut whipped cream:
- 400 g (14oz) tin of full-fat coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
To decorate (optional):
- Lemon slices
- Toasted desiccated coconut
Instructions
For the pastry:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl 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
- Place the pastry dough into a greased pie dish and use your fingers to carefully press it across the bottom and up the sides of the dish - I used a 20.5 cm/8 inch pie dish
- Use a fork to pierce the surface (remember the sides too!) of the pastry, so that it doesn’t puff up in the oven. Alternatively, you can use baking beans
- Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes, until the pastry crust is firm to the touch and golden brown
- Leave to cool slightly before pouring in the filling
For the lemon curd:
- Measure out the milk in a jug or measuring container
- Pour the milk into a pan, leaving behind a few tablespoons of milk in the jug
- Heat up the milk in the pan
- Add the custard powder to the remaining milk in the jug and mix well, ensuring it has dissolved completely
- Once the milk in the pan is steaming, add approximately half of the hot milk to the bowl with the dissolved custard powder, mix well and transfer the custard powder mixture to the saucepan
- Mix well and keep stirring on a low heat for around 5 minutes, until thickened
- Add the lemon juice and maple syrup
- Taste and add extra lemon juice or maple syrup if desired
- Once the pastry crust and the lemon curd have both cooled a little, carefully pour the curd into the crust
- Leave the pie in the fridge for up to a few hours to set completely before topping with the cream
For the coconut whipped cream:
- You’ll need to keep your tin of coconut milk in the fridge overnight for the rich creamy bit to separate from the watery bit at the bottom. Make sure it is full fat coconut milk, otherwise this separation won’t happen and you won’t be able to make this cream!
- Open the tin upside down – the coconut cream will be at the bottom and you can just pour off the watery liquid (save this for adding to soups or smoothies)
- Place the thick, creamy part into a bowl
- Add the maple syrup and vanilla extract
- Use an electric whisk (or a manual one and a lot of elbow grease) to whip up the coconut cream until light and fluffy
- Take the pie out of the fridge, and ensuring that the lemon curd has completely set, carefully cover it with the coconut whipped cream
- Decorate with lemon slices and desiccated coconut, if desired
- Tastes best when fresh, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days
Notes
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.
SHIRLEY J BECKER
I mistakenly purchased Bird's Instant Custard. Can I use the instant custard making it per the package instructions and if yes will it be the same as using Custard Powder per your instruction?
Rhian Williams
Hi - yes that should be ok!! The package instructions might be a bit more liquidy than this recipe, so I would recommend following the package instructions but adding a little less milk than it says on the package instructions. Hope that helps!
vicki
Everyone in my family loved your recipe, even my 6yr old grandson who doesn't normally like deserts.
Thank-you
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that!!
Pedro
i made the custard using cornstarch, but it doesn't seem to be setting it as it should... still quite liquid for it to be sliced through. Any tips on how to thicken it without having to start over?
Rhian Williams
So sorry to hear that - did you keep it in the fridge long enough? Keeping it in the fridge longer/overnight can help it firm up more.
tasch
Hi Rhian,
Thank you for these recipes, they ALL look SO AMAZING!! Can't wait to try them out. When you say we can sub rice flour for the GF flour, is there a particular rice flour - brown/ white/ sticky rice flour etc? Or is any kind okay?
Also, I have a GF flour mix made from brown rice flour / white rice flour / tapioca flour and potato starch. Does this sound like a GF flour I could use in your recipes instead of the Bob's red mill GF flour?
Thank you for your help 🙂
tasch
Ooh, I was reading through some comments on another recipe. I saw you wrote "Or you could use 140g white rice flour and 10g tapioca flour....[to replace the GF flour]" Could we use this to replace the GF flour in ALL your recipes?
Thanks again Rhian 🙂
Rhian Williams
Hello - yes you can!! Hope that helps and please let me know if you have any more questions! Thank you so much, so glad to hear you like the look of my recipes!
Stacey
As I’m reading the ingredients list I noticed that you say to use 8 tablespoons of lemon juice which is approximately equal to one lemon. Is this measurement correct? I’ve never gotten 8 tablespoons out of a lemon and I don’t buy small lemons.
Rhian Williams
Hello, yes this measurement of 8 tablespoons is correct! The amount of lemon juice can really vary depending on the lemons, so I'd say it's best to measure in tablespoons rather than numbers of lemons. Hope this helps!