Most vegan pie crust recipes use vegetable shortening or an alternative ingredient to replace the butter. The crust isn’t flaky and often has the same texture as cardboard. This recipe uses plant-based butter. We all know it’s the butter that creates the flaky crust we all expect surrounding our favorite pie filling.
When choosing a plant-based butter be sure to avoid oil-based butters. If you use an oil-based butter,, the crust will be no different than if you had used vegetable shortening. I’m not going to knock specific brands by name. Just look at the ingredients and make sure to avoid the ones that contain oils. As an example of what to avoid, I searched the top 5 best selling plant-based butters in the U.S. Most contain palm, canola, soybean, flax, or olive oil, or a blend of more than one oil.
This recipe recommends making the dough in a stand mixer. As I’ve mentioned in several of my recipes, I’m not a big fan of stand mixers. Unfortunately I’ve received several emails from bakers who asked for more recipes they could make in their stand mixers. If you’re an old school baker like I am, forget the stand mixer and just make the dough for this vegan pie crust in a large bowl using a pastry cutter. It’s no different than creating any other type of pie crust. The only difference is we’re substituting the butter with plant-based butter.
Flaky Vegan Pie Crust With Butter Recipe
Utensils & Equipment
- 1 electric stand mixer
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 large bowl
- 1 measuring cup
- 1 set of measuring spoons
- 1 spatula or spoon
- 1 pie crust rolling mat (optional)
Ingredients List
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp cider vinegar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 24 Tbsp vegan butter cut into 1/2" cubes and frozen
- 1/2 cup water cold
Instructions
Prepare The Liquid Mixture
- In a large bowl, combine the sugar, vanilla extract, salt, and cold water. Stir until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved.
- Set aside while you start preparing the dough.
Mix The Dough
- Measure exactly 4 cups of all-purpose flour. Make sure they are level cups and not mounded up.
- In a stand mixer equipped with the flat beater, beat the flour and frozen, cubed butter on low speed until the mixture resembles rough crumbles. Most of the butter should be the size of peas. None of the crumbles should be larger than the size of kidney beans.
- With the mixer running on low, slowly pour in the cold water mixture. Continue mixing until a rough-looking dough starts to form around the beater.
Form The Dough
- Remove the dough and place it on the counter, floured board, or pie crust rolling mat. Form the dough into a ball and carefully knead it a few times. Shape the dough into a shaggy rectangle.
- Lightly dust the dough with flour and use a rolling pin to roll it into a rectangle roughly 12" x 9" and about 1/2" thick. Fold the dough in thirds like you were folding a letter that came in the mail.
- Using a knife or dough scraper, divide the dough into two blocks. One block should be slightly larger than the other. The largest block will be for the bottom crust.
Wrap It Up
- Wrap each block in plastic wrap and gently form each one into a round disk.
- Chill for a minimum of 3 hours before using for a pie. If you're not making a pie today, you can refrigerate the dough for up to 48 hours.