This delicious vegan apple pie has tender, juicy apples cuddled within a crispy, flaky, golden vegan pie crust. It's the coziest, most delicious, all-American dessert!
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The best apple pie, and it's vegan
This apple pie is as close to perfection as it gets. It has a golden, flaky crust and the apples within cook up perfectly tender and sweet with the heady flavors of cinnamon, cardamom and ginger woven through.
Although this recipe is vegan, it captures all of the flavor and nostalgia of a classic apple pie. That's because apart from the vegan butter in the crust we stay true to a traditional apple pie recipe.
Here are some key tips for success when you bake the pie:
- Choose the right variety of apples. The easiest way to avoid a mushy or runny apple pie filling is to choose the correct type of apple. Golden delicious apples, Granny Smith apples, honey crisp apples and gala apples will all hold their shape and become deliciously tender upon baking. Stay away from apples like Fuji and red delicious.
- Flavor the filling with spices: Apple pie filling should be perfectly spiced to enhance the flavor of the apples. This recipe uses a mix of cinnamon, ginger and cardamom for the most deliciously flavored filling.
- Create a flaky, multilayered crust. Follow my easy vegan pie crust recipe made with just three ingredients. You will never need another recipe for pie crust again. If making a pie crust sounds like too much work, use a store-bought pie crust.
- Don't cut into the pie too soon. A pie needs time to cool down to room temperature before you can dig in. It's during that cooling time that the filling thickens and acquires the perfect tendency. If you cut into the pie before it has cooled down, you could end up with a runny filling.
I'm so excited to share with you this vegan apple pie recipe, which I've perfected over many years. It's my family's favorite pie recipe and it always bowls guests over, even those who are decidedly not vegan. It's comforting and delicious, and the only problem you might run into is that everyone will want more. But then that's a good problem to have.
Recipe FAQs
You don't have to, especially if you are using organic apples. The skins will add a little more texture to the filling and if you don't like that just peel the apples.
Adding the juice of half a lemon to the filling will help keep the apples from browning. The juice and the zest also add a pop of unexpected, fresh flavor to the filling. The corn starch helps the juices released by the apples to thicken as the pie bakes.
To make a lattice top, roll out the pie crust to the diameter of the top of the pie plate. Cut into 12 strips. Then place six strips over the pie, using the shorter sides for the edges of the plate. Roll three alternating strips all the way back and place a strip of pie dough crosswise. Then unroll the strips you had rolled back and roll back the other three alternating strips. Place another ribbon of dough crosswise, and so on, until you've used up all 12 strips. Tuck in any overhanging dough around the edges and pinch in the seams.
To make a gorgeous and extremely easy apple pie without a top crust, try this stunning vegan French apple tart.
Store the vegan apple pie in the fridge for up to six days. Freeze the assembled but unbaked pie for up to three months and bake at least six to eight hours before you plan to serve it. You can freeze the baked pie for up to three months. Thaw and warm in the oven before serving.
Recipe card
Vegan apple pie recipe
Ingredients
- 2 vegan pie crusts
- 7 apples (I used golden delicious apples. Peel the apples for best texture, then halve and core them. Cut each half into eight slices, then halve each slice).
- Juice of ½ lemon
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 4 tablespoons corn starch (or tapioca starch)
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Prepare the crust
- Roll out the bottom crust of the apple pie and carefully lift it into the plate. You can fold the dough once, transfer to the pie plate, and unfold. Tuck any overhanging edges under and flute or crimp the edges with your fingers or with a fork. Place the pie plate in the fridge while you make the filling.
Prepare the filling
- Place the sliced apples in a bowl. Add the lemon juice and zest and mix.
- Add the remaining filling ingredients to the bowl--sugar, corn starch, ground cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and salt.
- Mix the filling ingredients with a ladle or spatula. Make sure there is no dry flour in the bowl. Set the filling aside for 15 minutes.
Assemble the apple pie
- Pour the filling into the pie pan along with any juices that have expressed from the apples. Spread evenly.
- Prepare the top crust. You can either do a lattice top, like this one (see FAQs for directions), or just place the rolled-out crust on top of the filling, tuck the edges under the bottom crust and flute or crimp the edges to seal them, then cut four vents in the center with a knife for the hot air to escape as the pie bakes. Place the pie in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Bake the pie
- While the pie is chilling, position a rack in the bottom third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit/220 degrees Celsius.
- Place the chilled apple pie on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any juices that escape during baking and place on the oven rack. At this point you can make a vegan "egg" wash by adding a tablespoon of nondairy milk to the bowl that contained the filling and mix it with any residual juices stuck to the bottom of the bowl. Mix and brush the juices on the top crust for a lovely, golden-brown color.
- Bake the apple pie for 30 minutes. Then turn down the oven temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit/190 degrees Celsius. Continue baking 35 to 45 minutes until the juices are bubbling through the vents and the crust is golden brown.
- Remove the baked pie to a cooling rack and cool at least 6 hours or overnight. Then slice and serve!
Notes
- Keep the pie dough cool while working with it. This will keep the larger bits of vegan butter in the pie dough from melting. Those pockets of butter to melt in the oven, creating flaky little pockets of crunchiness. Roll out the dough on a cool surface like a stone or marble countertop, or a metal baking sheet turned upside down. Chill the pie dough or unbaked pie anytime you are working on another task.Â
- Slice the apples evenly. Cut the apples lengthwise, into ¼-inch thick slices, then halve each slice. Making sure the slices are uniformly sized will ensure the filling cooks evenly.
- Bake the pie on a rack in the lower third of the oven. This way the filling cooks thoroughly without the top crust burning or browning too much. No need for a pie shield!
- Use a deep-dish pie pan. Use a pie pan or pie dish that is 10 inches wide and 2 inches deep. There are seven apples in this pie, which is quite a lot. They will reduce in size as they bake and release their juices, but you still need a pie pan big enough to hold all that goodness in.
- Cool the pie thoroughly. It's so tempting to eat that pie right away, I understand, but be patient. Let the pie cool at least six hours or overnight so the juices will thicken up nicely.
Nutrition Information
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