This Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Pie is fragrantly spiced, rich and creamy and has a flaky, crispy and buttery crust. The pastry crust can be pressed in with your fingers, so there's no need for a rolling pin or floured surface, there's no pre-baking required and there's no need to chill the pastry beforehand. It's also refined sugar free, and perfect for Thanksgiving and Christmas!
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of this post for the full recipe.
- Place all the ingredients in a saucepan – use a measuring jug to measure out the plant-based milk.
- Stir well.
Tip: Ensure the cornflour (cornstarch) has dissolved completely.
- Once the mixture is mixed well, cook on a medium heat, stirring continuously, until thickened and gently bubbling - you might want to use a balloon whisk to make this easier, though a spoon and some elbow grease should do the trick.
Tip: Depending on the consistency and texture of your pumpkin purée, it may not properly mix into your milk - if this is the case you can either transfer the mixture to a food processor or blender or use a hand-held stick blender to blend it until completely smooth.
- Leave the filling to cool slightly before pouring into the pastry.
- Combine all ingredients for the pastry dough in a glass mixing bowl.
Tip: Add the water a few tablespoons at a time so that you don’t add too much!
- 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.
Tip: You can use a fork or your fingers to create a pretty pattern around the edge if you like.
- Pour the filling into the pie crust just before putting in the oven - otherwise the dough might 'melt'.
- Bake in the oven for around 40 minutes, until the pastry crust is firm to the touch and golden brown.
- Leave to cool completely before cutting, ideally putting the pie in the fridge for a couple of hours, to allow the filling to set properly.
Substitutions you can make
- You can use any type of plant-based milk: I used cashew milk, but almond milk, oat milk, soy milk, rice milk etc all work well.
- You can use store-bought pumpkin purée or make your own.
- If you can’t get hold of pumpkin purée, you can substitute it with butternut squash purée.
- You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
- The cornflour (cornstarch) can be replaced with arrowroot.
- You can replace the gluten-free flour in the pastry crust with rice flour.
- You can replace the gluten-free flour with plain flour if you’re not gluten-free.
- If you’re not into pumpkin, you can make sweet potato pie instead!
How long does this Pumpkin Pie keep for?
This Pumpkin Pie does taste best when fresh, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
More vegan pumpkin recipes
- Pumpkin Hummus
- Creamy Pumpkin Chestnut Pasta
- Pumpkin Quinoa Salad
- Chickpea Pumpkin Biryani
- Creamy Pumpkin Gnocchi Soup
- Pumpkin Chestnut Risotto
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 Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
For the filling:
- 450 g (15 oz) tin of pumpkin purée * (shop-bought or make your own)
- 300 ml (1 ¼ cup) unsweetened cashew milk (or sub unsweetened almond milk or oat milk)
- 12 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice to taste (or sub a mixture of ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, or mixed spice)
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 3 teaspoons cornflour (cornstarch) (or sub arrowroot)
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
Instructions
For the filling:
- Place all ingredients in a saucepan and stir well, ensuring the cornflour (cornstarch) has dissolved completely.
- Once the mixture is mixed well, cook on a medium heat, stirring continuously, until thickened and gently bubbling.
- Depending on the consistency and texture of your pumpkin purée, it may not properly mix into your milk - if this is the case you can either transfer the mixture to a food processor or blender or use a hand-held stick blender to blend until completely smooth.
- Leave to cool slightly before pouring into the pastry.
For the pastry:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl along with about 7 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.
- 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 9inch/22.5cm pie dish).
- You can use a fork or your fingers to create a pretty pattern around the edge if you like.
- Pour the filling into the pie crust just before putting in the oven (as otherwise the dough might 'melt').
- Bake in the oven for around 40 minutes, until the pastry crust is firm to the touch and golden brown.
- Leave to cool completely before cutting, ideally putting the pie in the fridge for a couple of hours, to allow the filling to set properly.
- Tastes best when fresh, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Video
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.
Janae McKague
This looks delicious! Do you happen to know if the almond meal in the pastry can be substituted for something nut free? My poor kiddo is allergic to gluten and nuts 😢
Rhian Williams
Thank you! You can use ground sunflower seeds instead of the almond meal!
Molly
Tigernut flour, Janae!! You can get in on Amazon or Vitacost, if your local health food store doesn't have it. Or just make a gluten free pie crust without nuts- try the one on a little insanity.
xenja
Have you got a savoury pie crust recipe as well?
Rhian Williams
This recipe works as a savoury pie crust too - just add a bit more salt! You can also add things like herbs.
Dilek
Can I replace cornstarch with tapioca starch?
Rhian Williams
Yes, though the texture won't be as firm.
Linda Groome
Love your recipes x
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that!
Liv
We made this today with a couple of adjustments. Avocado oil instead of the coconut oil, 1 tablespoon of sugar and we prebaked the crust for 10 minutes. Then turned down the heat and followed your directions.
We were shocked by the texture change. We use your site a lot because I can’t tell the difference between your muffin recipes and a conventional one. This was the best gF pie crust we’ve had, but the slight change in ingredients along with the pre bake really changed the texture to close to the, “we can’t tell the difference” level of your muffins. The only reason I could tell the difference, was the flavour of the almond flour shows up stronger in pie crusts than muffins.
It was really outstanding! Looking forward to retrying your apple pie recipe!
Exc
Liv
We prebaked at 360f for 10 minutes.
Rhian Williams
Wow thank you so much for your lovely feedback, so happy to hear that!!