This Vegan Lemon Pie is a light, creamy, and refreshing dessert that comes together with just 10 ingredients! It has a crunchy gluten-free oat crust and is best enjoyed topped with fresh fruit or coconut whipped cream.
This Vegan Lemon Pie is the best spring and summer dessert! It has the perfect balance between sweet and tangy and is made with *mostly* whole food ingredients.
It's rich, luscious, and bursting with lemon flavor!
This pie could be made with or without a vegan meringue. But either way, it's a delicious plant-based dessert that is sure to impress!
For more vegan desserts, check out my vegan lemon blueberry muffins and lemon blueberry crisp.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Made with simple pantry ingredients! This vegan lemon pie is budget-friendly and made with accessible ingredients, most of which you may already have at home.
- Healthier than regular lemon pie. This pie is lower in sugar, and higher in fiber, compared to regular lemon pie. It's vegan, gluten-free, egg-free, and dairy-free.
- Easy to prepare. The steps are easy to follow and this recipe can be made even by people who are beginners at cooking.
Ingredients and Notes
- Oat flour: To make your own oat flour, blend rolled oats in a food processor until a fine powder has formed.
- Coconut oil: Instead of vegan butter, we're using solid coconut oil to make the gluten-free crust.
- Canned coconut milk: Since we're not using egg yolks, which is the traditional way to make a lemon custard, you'll need to use full-fat coconut milk. Make sure the coconut cream is not separated from the liquid and shake the can well before measuring.
- Sugar: We use white sugar, but you can also use brown sugar. I don't recommend using coconut sugar, because the color of the filling will change.
- Lemon zest: You can add more or less depending on how you like it.
- Fresh lemon juice: You can also adjust how tangy your vegan lemon pie is by adding more or less lemon juice.
- Turmeric: I use it for the bright yellow color, but it's optional.
How to Make Vegan Lemon Pie
Step 1: Make vegan pie crust
In a large bowl, mix the oat flour, tapioca or cornstarch, sugar, and salt.
Next, add the flax egg, coconut oil, and a few tablespoons of cold water. Using your hands, mix everything, adding more water as needed, until the dough comes together.
Step 2: Roll out the crust
Transfer the dough between two pieces of parchment paper. Using a rolling pin, roll it out into a circle that's an inch wider than the size of your pie dish.
Transfer the rolled dough to the pie dish, and using your hands, press the dough into the bottom and up the sides to form a crust.
Use a fork to poke holes, then freeze for 10 minutes and blind bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes. Then, set it aside to cool.
Step 3: Make the lemon filling
To a medium saucepan, add all of the ingredients for the lemon curd filling. Whisk until the cornstarch and agar have dissolved, then bring to a boil over medium heat.
Once it starts to simmer, lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 5-8 minutes while whisking constantly.
When it thickens, remove the filling from the heat and set it aside to cool to room temperature.
Step 4: Assemble
When everything has cooled down, whisk the lemon pie filling to make sure there are no clumps. Pour it over the baked pie crust.
Smooth the top with a spatula, cover it tightly with plastic wrap, and let it sit in the fridge overnight.
I like to top this vegan lemon pie with fresh fruit or coconut whipped cream before serving.
How to Make Vegan Aquafaba Meringue
While a traditional meringue is made with egg whites and sugar, a vegan meringue is made with aquafaba (the liquid from a can of chickpeas).
I didn't add meringue to my vegan lemon pie, but if you want to make your own here are the steps (find the full measurements in the recipe card below).
- Refrigerate a can of chickpeas until cold. Drain and save the liquid.
- In a bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, add aquafaba and beat on high speed until foamy.
- Stop beating and add caster sugar, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and cream of tartar.
- Continue beating for 5-8 minutes, until stiff peaks. Spoon the meringue over the pie and bake in a preheated oven at 375ºF (190ºC) for 5-6 minutes, or until the peaks are golden.
Expert Tips
- Use solid but scoopable coconut oil. This is a key ingredient when making this vegan lemon tart.
- When cooking the filling, whisk constantly. The mixture tends to burn easily, so make sure to whisk non-stop and turn the heat low.
- Let the filling cool down completely. This is an important step so make sure to take the time and let it cool for as long as it needs to.
- Let the pie rest in the fridge overnight. The lemon curd needs enough time to set and firm up.
- To avoid a soggy pie crust, blind-bake it first! This means that you bake the crust before adding any filling to it.
FAQ
No, the turmeric is added only for color and you can't taste it at all. If you're concerned you can always leave it out.
It has a slight coconut flavor, but I wouldn't say it's overwhelming or that it tastes entirely like coconut. For best results, use refined coconut oil in the crust, as it doesn't leave a coconut flavor. For the coconut milk, you can try and use a vegan cream such as almond or soy cream, but I haven't tested that and I can't say for sure.
This vegan lemon pie is best in the first 2-3 days after making it, then the crust starts to get soggy. Although it can keep for up to 6 days in the fridge.
You can make both the crust 3-4 days ahead of time, but I recommend making the filling a few hours before assembling the pie. This is because we want the filling to set in the pie crust.
Yes, using a vegan graham cracker crust can work in this recipe! Actually, you can use any pie crust you like, even store-bought.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Lemon Pie Recipe
Equipment
- Pie tin
- Rolling Pin
- Sauce pot
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 ⅔ cup (165g) oat flour (gluten-free if needed)
- ⅓ cup (37g) tapioca flour or corn starch
- 1 batch flax egg (2 tablespoons flaxseed meal mixed with 4 tablespoons water)
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- ⅓ cup (70g) solid but scoopable refined coconut oil
- ¼ - ½ cup cold water
- Pinch of salt
Filling
- 2 cups full-fat coconut milk (from a can)
- 1 cup soy milk
- ¾ cup granulated sugar use up to 1 cup of sugar to make it sweeter
- 8 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon agar agar powder
- ½ cup lemon juice
- Zest of 2 lemons
- ½ teaspoon turmeric (for color, optional)
- 25 g vegan butter optional, for richness
Aquafaba meringue (optional)
- ½ cup aquafaba liquid from a can of chickpeas
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Crust: In a medium bowl add the dry ingredients - oat flour, tapioca starch, sugar, and salt. Mix until well combined. Then, add the coconut oil, half of the water, and flax egg, and use your hands to mix everything until a dough is formed. Add more water as needed. The dough shouldn't be sticky nor dry.
- Get two pieces of parchment paper and place the dough between them. Use a rolling pin or any flat-bottomed object to roll the dough until it becomes an inch wider than your pie dish. Try to roll it out evenly, there shouldn't be any "bumps".
- Peel the top layer of parchment paper and transfer the rolled dough into a 9-inch pie dish. Use your hands to press and form the dough into an even, flat pie crust, pushing the dough up the sides as well.
- Then use a fork to poke the crust, this will prevent the dough from puffing when it's in the oven. Freeze the crust for 10 minutes. Pre-heat oven to 180C (356F).
- Bake the crust for 20 minutes. Set it aside to cool.
- Filling: To a medium pot, mix all of the ingredients - coconut milk, soy milk, sugar, corn starch, agar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and turmeric. Make sure the corn starch dissolves well.
- Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Once it starts to bubble, turn the heat to medium-low and start whisking constantly for 5-8 minutes or until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and taste and adjust the flavor if needed. At this point, you can add more sugar or lemon juice if needed.
- Pour the mixture into a medium bowl, and cover tightly with plastic wrap or parchment paper. Make sure the plastic touches the surface of the mixture. Let the filling cool to room temperature.
- Assemble: Once the crust and the filling are cooled, assemble the pie. Using a whisk, mix the filling until creamy to make sure there are no big clumps. Pour it into the crust and use a spatula to smooth it out. Let the pie rest overnight in the fridge before slicing.
- Meringue (optional): If you don't have a blow torch pre-heat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC).
- In a bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, add aquafaba and beat on high speed until foamy. If you don't have a stand mixer you can also use a handheld mixer.
- Stop beating and add the rest of the ingredients - sugar, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and cream of tartar. Continue beating for 5-8 minutes, until stiff peaks.
- Spoon the meringue over the pie. If you have a blow torch blast the peaks of the meringue until they're golden brown. If not, bake the pie for 5-6 minutes or until the tops are golden. Make sure to stay nearby to rotate and watch it constantly because it tends to burn easily.
Notes
- Use solid but scoopable coconut oil. This is a key ingredient when making this vegan lemon tart.
- When cooking the filling, whisk constantly. The mixture tends to burn easily, so make sure to whisk non-stop and turn the heat low.
- Let the filling cool down completely. This is an important step so make sure to take the time and let it cool for as long as it needs to.
- Let the pie rest in the fridge for at least one night. The lemon curd needs enough time to set and firm up.
- To avoid a soggy pie crust, blind bake it first! This means that you bake the crust before adding any filling to it.
- Use full-fat coconut milk. Since we're not using egg yolks, which is the traditional way to make lemon custard, you'll need to use full-fat coconut milk. Make sure the coconut cream is not separated from the liquid and mix well before measuring.
- Oat flour. To make your oat flour, blend rolled oats in a food processor until a fine powder has formed.
- Fridge: This pie will last for a week in the fridge, but it's best in the first 3 days.
- Freezer: I haven't tested freezing this pie but I suspect it may not work.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated with third-party calculations without including the optional ingredients.
Fari says
You guys are the best. Everything is so delicious! There's never food left. Keep going! Much love for yall💚
Petranka says
Thank you so much! We're glad you enjoy our recipes!
Terry says
I tried this lemon pie for a friend's birthday and it was sooooo good! Everybody loved it. I normally like chocolate desserts but this one was definitely worth trying <3
Petranka says
Amazing to hear! Thank you for the lovely review!