Makes one 9-inch pie or one 11-inch tart
I’ve been there. Trying to make a vegan pecan pie that holds together, with the pecans floating in sweet suspension, somewhere between gel and custard. It comes out of the oven, and you can almost taste the toasty pecans, the caramel, the crust. You let it sit for a few hours, call your friends, tell them you’ve created the perfect pecan pie. You write the tabloids. You quit your job and wait for the pecan pie cash to start rolling in. And then you slice into it, and oh my god, what have you done?
Everything oozes everywhere! It’s a veritable brown rice syrup massacre. Your cats move out, no one will speak to you (after all, there’s agar agar in your hair). It’s just you and this crumbled oozy mess of pecans in what must be a pie plate.
But wait, it doesn’t have to be that way! I am the ghost of pecan past, and we can change all that. You can have a perfect pecan pie. A custardy pecan pie. A pecan pie that demands respect, that garners praise. With buttery hints of maple, a glossy top and caramelly insides. A virtually perfect pecan pie!
The secret is twofold: an easy caramel made with all the usual sugary suspects. And then, some pureed tofu with a little cornstarch, to create the thick custard. For all you tofu skeptics out there: don’t fear the tofu here. No one will know. I should write that again in all caps. NO ONE WILL KNOW. I’ve fed it to farmers in Nebraska who have never even heard the word “vegan” and they didn’t know.
In the picture we have the pecan pie in an 11 inch tart pan, but it works just as well in a pie plate! So try it either way…this is the pecan pie that won’t let you down.
Variation: For a Salted Maple Pecan Pie, sprinkle 1/2 a teaspoon coarse sea salt over the top of the cooled pie.
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
6 oz extra firm silken tofu (1/2 of a tetra pack)
1/4 cup cold unsweetened plain non-dairy milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups pecan halves
Prepared Single Pastry Crust, pressed into a tart pan or pie plate (no need to parbake)
First we’re going to make a caramel. In a 2 quart sauce pan, mix together sugars and maple syrup. Heat over medium heat, stirring often with a whisk. Once small bubbles start rapidly forming, stir pretty constantly for about 10 minutes. The mixture should become thick and syrupy. It shouldn’t be boiling too fiercely, if it starts climbing the walls of the pan in big bubbles then lower the heat a bit.
Add the margarine, and stir to melt. Turn the heat off, transfer mixture to a mixing bowl. In the meantime, prepare the rest of the filling, working quickly so that the caramel doesn’t completely set.
Crumble the tofu into a blender or food processor, along with the milk, cornstarch and salt. Puree until completely smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender to make sure you get everything.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
With the caramel still warm in teh mixing bowl, add in the tofu mixture and the vanilla, and mix well. Fold in the pecans to incorporate.
Transfer to prepared pie crust and bake for 40 minutes. The pie is going to be somewhat jiggly, but it should appear to be set.
Let cool for a few hours, slice and serve! No cheating and pulling pecans off the pie.
Fantastic – all wrongs in the house have indeed been righted. <3
Gonna try this for my mom’s birthday! Thanks!
Okay what happened here? I couldn’t cook the caramel for 10 minutes. After about 5 or 6 it was so thick I was afraid it would solidify completely. Then I added the margarine & the tofu mixture, and it was completely liquid. I mixed in the pecans and it looked like pecans in milk. Then I poured it in the crust, and saw there was sugar solidified in the pan! Even though I whisked constantly! I couldn’t get it out so I just set the pan to soak, hoping it wasn’t too much of the caramel, and put the pie in the oven. I was like, sweet merciful crap, I’m a pie disaster, but I might as well try it. You’ll never guess what I got 40 minutes later. Out of my oven came AMAZING, PERFECT, GOOEY BUT SET, TOASTY, DARK BROWN CARAMEL PECAN PIE. MAAAAAAAGIC. How did that even happen? Does Isa bless pies with voodoo from afar? Did someone hide a magical elf in my oven? MAGIC I TELL YOU. It is magic pie. The salted variation is awesome, but if you’re not planning to serve the whole pie I recommend salting individual slices. It’s so delicious, but the salt kind of seeps in too much in the leftover pie. Seriously: make magic pie. RIGHT NOW. I love it!!!
Mack the Spork you are, indeed, a lesson in persistence and faith. I applaud you.
I read a bunch of reviews before I attempted this pie. I saw a few people lamenting that theirs turned out too liquidy and thought “those fools! Mine will be perfect, because I am an experienced baker and I know how to read a recipe.” I am not literally eating my words because my pie is a goopy mess. Although it tastes delicious. I’m sure this is something I did wrong, since it seems to have worked for so many others, but I am a loss as to where I went astray…
Oh my, this is fantastic. I has been over 20 years since I have had pecan pie. It turned out YUMMY. I only had firm tofu ( not extra firm) and had King Syrup instead of Maple syrup. Oh and I baked it for about an hour. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Ok, I’ve only got FIRM silken tofu at hand…how badly will this screw up the texture of this recipe?? I’m going to check the Asian market in town tomorrow, but if I can’t find EXTRA FIRM tofu…any recommendations?
so i just put this in the oven,like others have said my carmel started crystalizing too after 7 minutes then i got the tofu mixture in it and it was almost hard i had to get my electric mixer and break up the sugar chunks to mix it,once i did that it seemed fine. I mixed in the nuts and poored in a 9 inch pie shell it seemed real liquidy..should i cook it longer than 40 minutes???? does the center have to come out clean with a knife to know it done?? or will it be gooey???
Pie mavens and Isa:
just spend 2 hrs in the health food stores gathering supplies for this weekend’s and week’s festivities only to find that I mixed things up and got shortening- to be safe, both types of Earth Balance Bars for this recipe (one for crust and one for filling.)
Will it be ok to use the green one- unsalted shortening (or yellow one- the “butter one”- with salt though) for this pie? Or must I brave the elements again for true margarine? So excited to make this! Thanks in advance.
i just made it and it turned out perfect,i used earth balance natural buttery spread,soy free.I baked it for 50 minutes,cooled for 3 hours. I have a question though does the pie need to be refridgerated???
My sister & I were staring at this beautiful creation after it came out of the oven and thought, “Who makes a homemade Maple Pecan Pie, anyway?!” So impressive!! I don’t get to eat it until tomorrow, so I put it in the fridge until then. I’ll have an answer for anyone wondering if that screws it up, tomorrow!!
I want to make the pie filling OR the whole pie the night before Thanksgiving. What would you recommend? I’d like to get at least some of the steps done the night before. I’m fine with making the pie filling ahead of time, then baking it the next day while we are eating Thanksgiving dinner. P.S. I make your vegan banana bread for my office once in a while. My office and roommates just rave!!!
Have you tried Agave syrup instead of sugar and does it make the pie more water more syrup-y?
Thanks Lisa re: the earth balance question. The pie came out pretty well. Making it again on thursday- unfortunately I will only be able to have regular silken tofu on hand this time. I saw somebody once had to do it that way- was it a total disaster or will it be ok? Wonder if I should just make something else if I can’t get the firm or ex firm? Thanks in advance!
Isa, does this pie need to be refrigerated if you make it a couple days in advance? I was thinking today how you should have a vegan Thanksgiving help line, like those guys at Butterball, for fools like me who have signed on to feed a herd of carnivorous relatives. Think this pie will be a good start, but I don’t want it to spoil between now & Thursday.
That is such a good idea!!!! And yes, tightly wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate it.
Awesome. I will be giving thanks this week for you and your ever-reliable recipes!
I tried to make this tonight… but my carmel failed 🙁 I put it on medium high and after 5 minutes of constant stirring it just crystalized and turned hard!! :'( I was going to bring this to a Thanksgiving potluck tomorrow. What went wrong?
Just made two! I used pre made crusts from the store, even though I had all the ingredients on hand for the crust- the filling is enough for me alone to handle. They are incredible-looking. I had enough filling leftover to fill a ramekin with some soi couodtaste test. It’s awesome.. I used coconut oil instead of margarine. That turned out great. I was suspicious when it was so soupy going into the oven, but it came out perfect at about 50 min. / The other review saying to mix the tofu mixture fist (before starting caramel), put in bowl and set aside is a good tip. Lots of focussing needed to get the carmel off the stove and mixed into the tofu at the exact right time.
My caramel failed. It crystallized something furious and the finished pie looks more grey than dark brown and bubbly. I put it back in for another 15… we’ll see how it comes out 🙁
Nope. This pie is going to become a trifle now, because it sure is triflin’. Layers of greyish pecan goop, cinnamon roll crust, cashew cream, and maybe some ganache for good measure. SUP
Truth.
Tried again this morning. Re-read the instructions. It says “medium heat” not “medium high” *doh!* Started the caramel at medium, turned down to low during whisking. Pie came out of the oven looking beautiful. Can’t wait to taste it tonight!
I am so happy that you had the spirit to try again!
Made this for my family’s first vegan Thanksgiving and it came out perfect. I mean, PERFECT. Heaven in a pie plate. Thank you!!
PS – We also made the appleberry pie from Vegan Pie in the Sky and it was similarly delightful.
Thank you for this fantastic recipe which truly made our Thanksgiving! I made a chocolate bourbon version of it which came out wonderfully! I added 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder to the caramel right after melting the margarine, and 1/2 a cup of vegan choc chips & 3 tablespoons of bourbon when mixing in the tofu. Came out 100% amazing! And NO ONE KNEW about the tofu!
Just made this pie for Thanksgiving, and it was delicious! Everyone was raving, and no one knew there was tofu in it until it was consumed and enjoyed. The only qualm I had was that it didn’t look particularly nice. It’s probably something I did, but the filling looked kinda tofu-ey. It wasn’t a nice golden brown, but a little bit gray. Eesh. Oh well!
Refrigerating it, does NOT screw it up! For those of you that were wondering. This was the most wonderful pie that I have ever tasted. Thank you!!
In the past, I used a great oil pie crust when making my (pre vegan days) pecan pies. It says not to pre bake the regular pie crust. Should I pre bake if using the oil type of crust?
So, i guessed and didnt prebake. THIS PIE IS AMAZING!!! Im a complete tofu skeptic, and it wasn’t detectable even in the least. Even my husband ate it and loved it, and he hates tofu (or anything that I tell him is vegan).
Perfection. I have never had so much success with a recipe, nor have I ever made a pecan pie before. I made two, one as a tart the other in a recycled giant Costco pie pan. the tart produced a better thickness, but both were remarkable in taste and presentation. Salted the tops as per suggestion and they were awesome. I will definitely make this again. I Thank You So.
I made it on Christmas day. It was heaven. Everyone loved it and everyone loved me for making it 🙂 Thank you.
http://a-foodie-loves-a-veggie.blogspot.com/2012/01/pecan-pie.html
as a true southern lady, i can say with great confidence that this is THE BEST PECAN PIE RECIPE EVER!
This is AMAZING! I made a pie for my friend’s B-Day on Saturday and it was so incredible, I made mini-pies (using a mini-muffin tin) for the Super Bowl party. Everyone was amazed and delighted. I want to eat this always!
This will be just the thing to make Albertan farmers realize that vegans do not subside on brown rice and air. Thanks!
My parents like you because I make you’re recipes and get a bit chubbier. I’m not complaining but you’re trixy is all I’m saying…..
I am intolerant to soya, any alternatives to our tofu ingredient? Thank you Z
This was so simple and the absolute best pecan pie I’ve ever eaten. I’ve never been able to make one successfully, but after following this recipe exactly, my pie was perfect.
Pecan Pie totally reminds me of the South and I miss my Pecan Pie. I live in the UK now and thanks you this recipe I can make my favs for my vegan husband, thanks!!