This Vegan Chocolate Pie is really easy to make, super indulgent and secretly healthy! A chewy, crunchy chocolate crust with rich, creamy chocolate filling topped with fluffy clouds of coconut whipped cream. It's super easy to make as there's no baking required and it takes just 35 minutes to make! It's gluten-free, grain-free, refined sugar free, paleo-friendly and oil-free.
How to make this recipe
It all starts off with a crust made using fudgy dates, crunchy walnuts (you can alternatively use pecans or brazil nuts), salt and cocoa powder. The crust comes together easily in a food processor, and has a buttery, crunchy texture and a wonderfully salty-sweet, chocolate flavour.
Then all you need to do is press the crust into a pie dish using your fingers and it's done!
The filling can be made in the same food processor (no need to wash it out) and it's just as easy to make. The filling was inspired by my Peanut Butter Pie (this recipe has been very popular by the way, so you definitely need to try it!), and it's made using quite a surprising mixture of ingredients.
It may sound strange to use sweet potatoes in a pie filling, but trust me, it works! I've used sweet potatoes in lots of desserts like this Chocolate Buttercream and this Chocolate Ice Cream, and it works so well. The natural sweetness and creamy texture of the sweet potatoes makes the best base for a luxuriously rich pie filling.
The sweet potatoes get blended up with coconut yogurt, which adds even more rich creaminess, as well as a slightly tangy, fermented flavour reminiscent of real cream cheese!
I used almond butter instead of the peanut butter that I used in my Peanut Butter Pie recipe, as it has a milder flavour, but still creates a seriously thick filling with a buttery, melt-in-your-mouth texture. But peanut butter still works super well!
You can add maple syrup (or any other sweetener) to taste, because how much you need will depend on how naturally sweet your sweet potatoes are. You'll be surprised how sweet the mixture will already taste even without adding any extra sweetener!
Then you just need to top the pie with some light, fluffy clouds of coconut whipped cream, which is surprisingly easy to make - just make sure to follow the recipe instructions carefully. You can then decorate it with cacao nibs or dark chocolate shavings, and you're good to go!
How long does this keep for?
This Chocolate Pie should be stored covered in the fridge. It keeps well for a good few days and its taste and texture will remain unchanged, which means it's a great dessert for entertaining as it's perfect for preparing in advance.
More gluten-free vegan no-bake desserts
- Blueberry Cheesecake
- Chocolate Truffles
- Peanut Butter Pie
- Healthy Snickers Ice Cream Bites
- Key Lime Pie
- Chocolate Pudding Pots
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.
Vegan Chocolate Pie (Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 65 g (½ cup) walnuts, pecan nuts or brazil nuts
- 90 g (½ cup) pitted dates
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
For the filling:
- 200 g (7 oz) sweet potato (roughly one medium-sized sweet potato)
- 150 g (¾ cup) coconut yogurt (or sub any other plant-based yogurt)
- 65 g (¼ cup) smooth almond butter (or sub peanut butter)
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 4 tablespoons maple syrup to taste (or sub any other sweetener)
For the coconut whipped cream:
- 400 g (14 oz) tin of full-fat coconut milk *
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
To decorate (optional):
- 1 tablespoon cacao nibs (or dark chocolate shavings)
Instructions
For the crust:
- Add all the ingredients for the crust to a food processor and blitz until you get a crust that easily sticks together but that still has some texture.
- Use your fingers to carefully press the mixture across the bottom and up the sides of a pie dish (I used a 22.5 cm/9 inch pie dish) - press down with your fingers, the back of a spoon or the bottom of a small cup or glass to make it as compact as possible.
- Place in the fridge while you make the rest.
For the filling:
- Cook the sweet potato by boiling, steaming or roasting.
- Discard any skins and add to the same food processor (no need to wash it) and whizz until completely smooth.
- Add the almond butter, coconut yogurt, cocoa powder and maple syrup, and blend again until smooth.
- Taste and adjust amount of maple syrup and/or cocoa powder if necessary.
- Place the filling in the crust and place back in fridge while you make the rest.
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 smoothies).
- Place the thick, creamy part into a bowl with around 3 tablespoons of the water.
- Add the maple syrup and vanilla extract.
- Use an electric whisk (or a manual one and a bit of elbow grease) to whip up the coconut cream until light and fluffy.
- Carefully top the pie with the coconut whipped cream.
- Sprinkle with cacao nibs or dark chocolate shavings to decorate, if desired.
- Can be eaten immediately, but leaving it in the fridge for a few hours to firm up before cutting is advisable.
- Keeps well 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.
improvements
Extremely flawless blog post.Much thanks once more. Magnificent.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much!
Elle
I am a new vegetarian/ vegan with a story similar to yours, just with different medical problems that it took until recently to realize were related to food and after 3 surgeries in the last 4 months and a whole host of pills and symptoms to begin to take seriously. My husband has always eaten whatever he wanted and is very suspicious of anything vegan. I am open to it because I have to be, but am a pretty picky eater too and am trying to find things that taste good on their own or taste like their non-vegan counterpart.. I just made this and was very pleasantly surprised. He was a big fan too. I only gave it 4 stars because I could not get it to a consistency where I could cut it into slices and serve it from the fridge. I froze it and it tasted gross frozen or partially thawed. Since I have taken it out of the freezer and put it back in the fridge, the pieces hold together, but the bottom of the pan and the crust are really wet and it has that frozen aftertaste. You might want to add a picture of a medium sweet potato. It might sound like an insignificant thing, but since I am just starting on this journey, I had no idea what that meant.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for sharing your feedback, so sorry to hear that! I think the issue was your coconut yogurt - was it quite thick or very liquidy? If making again, I'd recommend using a thicker coconut yogurt or if you can't, adding a little coconut oil or cacao butter to the filling to help it firm up! Sorry again!
Elle
Thanks for your kind response. You might be right about the coconut yogurt. Frankly, I didn't even know that it existed until I decided to try to make this recipe. Lol. You mentioned the isolation in your homepage. I am wondering how you learned to cope with that. I am struggling with the same thing and my diet is so restrictive (vegan, GF, soy free). I found myself pulling a bag of vegan cheese and salad dressing out of my purse the last time that I went to a restaurant with friends. I was so embarrassed. My friends were really cool about it, but still. I also travel to small places with very few choices and internationally and I am not sure what to do then. I am sick of plain lettuce with vinaigrette or a plain baked potato especially paying so much for them.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for sharing your story, so sorry to hear that. I hope you're doing ok and really wishing you all the best. It is very hard at first, but I do think you get used to it after a while. A lot of restaurants seem to be more accommodating to different dietary requirements recently so I hope things will continue to change in that direction. Sending you all the best!!
Darlene
Awesome idea. Can not wait to try.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that!