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.
This was SUPER AMAZING. I made it for Thanksgiving and it was the best pecan pie I have EVER HAD. I think I baked it well beyond 40 minutes because I was worried it would be soupy, and it turned out completely wonderful…not at all burned. Also, I don’t think I cooked the sugars for a whole 10 minutes because I was worried it would harden. Somehow the pie turned out magical regardless of those modifications. SO GOOOOOOOD.
ahgh My Favorite Pie ever! Now I must have the book!!
thanks for posting this recipe!
I must apologize for my earlier comment… I DID change something in the recipe. I used coconut sugar instead of cane sugar. That must be why it turned to candy immediately. I’m sensitive to dairy, eggs, and cane sugar and keep searching for a pecan pie recipe that will work using alternatives to all three!
I was skeptical. I am not vegan but wanted to try it for my vegan friends. Now I prefer this amazing vegan pecan pie than the regular non-vegan one. It is absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing!
¡Ay se me antojó muchooo!
Is there some way to do this without Tofu? I can’t do soy – body hates it. 🙁
Would potato starch work instead of corn starch? It’s just what I have and I don’t use starch a ton so hate to buy a whole new container.
This is my new go to recipe. It comes out perfectly if you follow the recipe just right. Most people say they like this better than traditional pies because of the texture. Thanks its awesome and I’m about to impress people with it again. Always credit to PPK!
My pie didn’t set! I used the refrigerated silken tofu, could that have caused it? It was a sad friendsgiving!
My vegan loves pecan pie and so I was delighted to discover this very easy to follow recipe. It’s still in the oven but looks delicious!
This looks fantastic. I’m having a pecan pie play day tomorrow (sooo much better than shopping on Black Friday!) so this is definitely going to be on the menu. To those who are asking for a replacement for tofu….I have been making a no-bake vegan pumpkin cheesecake recipe since last Thanksgiving, and it uses cashews (soaked in water overnight and drained) and coconut oil (melted) blended in a food processor as the base. It’s unexpectedly fluffy and creamy. Maybe that would be something to experiment with as a tofu alternative.
I am so happy to see such a lovely pecan pie dessert that is still vegan. I happen to be quite a sucker for pecan pie, and this recipe looks incredible! Can’t wait to try it out!
This recipe worked out so well!!! I made it for Thanksgiving for my vegetarian family and they loved it. 🙂 I’ve never made a pie before, but it turned out so delicious. I followed the advice from a comment above to make the tofu mixture in advance. Then, you pour everything together and into the pie crust it goes!
Several people have wondered what temperature was best for the caramel. I experimented and believe softball stage(240 degrees) is what will work. However, the heat needs to be low. I have a gas stove and had it turned down as low as I could. It took only 7 minutes with that low heat to get the sugar mix to softball stage. It became a thick syrup when I added the Earth Balance marg. I had to bake the pie slightly longer, but when it cooled it was a similar texture to “regular” pecan pie. I refrigerated it, mainly because I made a gluten free crust which needed to be chilled, but I also think it helped to set the filling. I think the pie should be refrigerated since it has tofu in it. Thank you, Isa, for sharing your creative and delicious solutions to the challenges of vegan baking!
SO GOOD. Everybody loved it. I followed the recipe to a T and it turned out perfect. The filling was very liquid when I poured it in but it was ok after baking and set completely after cooling. Caramel cooking time – 10 minutes as instructed. And you can’t tell there’s tofu! Thank God for ‘Vegan Pie in The Sky’, I keep going back to it and the recipes all turn out great.
Mucho vegan pie-love from France x
I have made this twice in one week. Not even ashamed. The first time I made it I had the problem that people have mentioned, that the sugars crystallized after seven minutes. I was nervous but I kept going. I put the sugars right into the food processor with the tofu mixture. It was very thin but I put it in the oven and it came out great. The second time I lowered the heat a little so that it didn’t start to crystallize quite as soon. I stopped cooking as soon as it looked like things were getting too far. I did mess up and try to cut that second one too soon, just because I knew about the yumminess and it was harder to wait. That was a mistake. The first couple of pieces were a delicious mess. Later they came out of the plate perfectly. Patience is a virtue. Basically, though, this recipe is foolproof. Even when I cooked the first batch too long it still came out great. This is definitely my new WOW recipe! Thank you, Isa!
I LOVE this recipe! But I recently found out that I can’t have soy. Is there a substitution for the tofu?? I really want to make this again, but need to find something that will replace the tofu. THANKS!!!
I wanted to make this pie for Thanksgiving but thought it wise if I did a test pie a few days earlier. The pie came out beautifully. There is not the faintest taste of tofu. It is firm and easy to serve and tastes like a delicious pecan pie.
For my Thanksgiving pie I made a few small changes. I added a few tablespoons of bourbon for flavor and used 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans in the pie and about half a cup of pecan halves to decorate the top.
Thank you so much for creating this wonderful recipe.
BEST PIE EVER!! MAKE IT FOR SURE 🙂 Y’all will love it!
This is an awesome recipe. Made it as written – only exception was baking it in a 9″ tart pan. Vegan and nonvegan guests loved it, and it held its own against my non vegan desserts (sour cream Apple pie and pumpkin cheesecake). Next time, I would chop the pecans in the filling and top with whole ones. I’m an experienced baker and make pies often – I liked the flavor of the filling so much more than the normal nonvegan sickly sweet version. I made the vegan flaky pie crust from veganbaking.net. Thank you!!!
This is delicious! Thank you! I made it for my family- all omnivores, and they really enjoyed it. Congratulations on another wonderful recipe.
I just made this with some friends and it is really delicious! We used jaggery powder instead of a mix between brown and white sugar for the caramel. Our pie ended up more like pudding than pie, but otherwise very tasty. It is really rich, though, so a small serving goes a long way.
Any chance that firm silken tofu instead of extra firm would work? Can’t find anything but firm in my city.
LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Made this for thanksgiving. It’s so good a non vegan, non desert guy loved it.
This recipe is amazing!
I’ve made this recipe every year for the past 5 years. It is the best and simplest vegan pecan pie recipe out there. I’ve re-written the directions in the manner that I make it which I find lessens the possibility of the caramel coming out bad:
-Preheat oven to 350 F.
-Puree the tofu, milk, vanilla, cornstarch and salt in a food processor until completely smooth. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
-Make the caramel. In a 2-quart saucepan mix together sugars and maple syrup. Heat over medium heat, stirring often with a whisk. Once small bubbles start rapidly forming, stir constantly for about 10 minutes. The mixture should become thick and syrupy. It should not be boiling too fiercely. If big bubbles form, lower the heat a bit.
-Once the caramel has thickened, turn the heat off and stir in the margarine to melt. Add to the tofu, mixing well. Fold in the pecans to incorporate.
-Carefully pour the filling into a prepared piecrust 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.