Like its Pumpkiny friend, Pecan Pie is a big deal around holiday time. However, while pumpkin pie booms around Thanksgiving, pecan pie recipes get consistent use all year round! The reason why is kind of obvious: it’s sweet, gooey, and decadent, with rich caramel flavors wrapped around nutty, buttery pecans.
Pecan Pie Ingredients
Here’s the low-down on the elements we chose to create this decadent dessert.
- The crust: no matter how delicious your filling is, every pie needs a great crust. Luckily, we’ve already developed an excellent vegan crust recipe you can use for almost any tart or pie.
- The nuts: make sure you select unroasted, unsalted pecans. To check their quality, give them a sniff. Bad pecans will smell musty or rancid. Here’s a handy guide on identifying expired nuts.
- The fat: this substitute is simple – instead of using cholesterol-heavy dairy, grab your favorite vegan butter.
- The sugar: we prefer brown sugar and maple syrup for this recipe. We love the rich toffee, butterscotch, and caramel notes that these sugars provide.
- The binder: since this pecan pie is vegan, we aren’t using eggs. Therefore, we’ll need something else to help the filling set. We use arrowroot powder. Bear in mind that the arrowroot makes the filling to set into a thick caramel rather than the traditional eggy custard. The texture is a little different, but the result is just as delightful.
Making the Pie Filling
The best way to describe this pie filling is “vegan caramel thickened with pecans and arrowroot.” To make it, start by combining a quarter cup of pecans with all the other ingredients (see recipe) in a blender. Then blitz this mixture at high speed until perfectly smooth. That’s it – you’ve finished the filling! Now load it into the pie crust, cover with pecan halves, and bake as per the recipe.
How to tell when your Pecan Pie is Done
If you know what you’re looking for, it’s easy to figure out when your pie is ready. Look for the following:
- Toasted edges on the pecans
- Bubbly filling
- Golden brown crust
Once you see all these signs, remove the pie from the oven. The filling will thicken as it cools. Once the pie is at room temperature, it should be easy to cut into neat slices.
Can you make Pecan Pie Ahead of Time?
Yes, but bear in mind that the crust will gradually lose its crispness. That said, vegan pecan pie will keep longer than traditional versions because there’s no egg or dairy. It’ll be fine in an airtight container on the kitchen counter for a few days.
Can you also freeze it? Well, since the filling is so easy, we recommend just freezing the pie crust and making the filling when you’re ready to bake.
We hope this recipe helped you make a wonderful vegan pecan pie! If you tried it, please let us know what you think with a comment and rating. Every bit of feedback helps make the blog even better!
If you enjoyed this recipe you might be interested in some other baked treats, like our Pumpkin Pie, Blueberry Galette, and Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp!
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Easy Pecan Pie Recipe | Eggless & Dairy-Free
- Total Time: 40 minutes + pie crust
- Yield: 1 pie / 12 slices 1x
Description
Ditch the eggs/dairy and try our vegan Pecan Pie recipe. This sweet pecan pie shows that plants have all the ingredients you need to create awesome flavors!
Ingredients
- 1 x vegan pie crust (unbaked)
- 3/4 cup maple syrup
- 3/4 cup organic brown sugar
- 1/4 cup arrowroot powder/starch
- 1/4 cup dairy-free/vegan butter
- 1/4 cup raw pecan pieces
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- 1 1/4 cups raw pecan halves
To serve:
- Dairy-free vanilla ice cream
Instructions
- Make vegan pie crust and then preheat oven to 375/190C.
- Combine maple syrup, brown sugar, arrowroot powder, dairy-free butter, pecan pieces, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon and salt into a blender. Blitz the mixture at high speed until the pecans have broken down and the mixture is perfectly smooth.
- Pour caramel into the pie crust, then cover the surface with pecan halves.
- Place the pecan pie into the oven and bake for around 25-30 minutes, until there are toasted edges on the pecans, the filling is bubbling, the crust is golden brown. Once you see this happen, remove the pie from the oven. The filling will thicken as it cools.
- Once the pie has cooled to room temperature, cut into 12 slices. If desired, serve with a scoop of dairy-free/vegan vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Store Pecan Pie in an airtight container on the kitchen counter and consume within 3 days. Avoid storing in the fridge as this will cause the caramel to go hard.
Notes
- If you want to make this recipe ahead of time, we recommend making the pie crust and placing it in the fridge or freezer until needed. Then blitz up the filling and bake the pie the day you want to serve this tasty pecan pie!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes + pie crust
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
Keywords: easy pecan pie recipe, pecan pie vegan, pecan pie ingredients
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