Vegan Banana Cream Pie
Totally dreamy, vegan banana cream pie - flaky, buttery crust filled with vanilla-whipped cream pudding and loaded with banana slices.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Chill Time: 4 hours
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 6 hours
- Yield: 1 9-inch Pie 1x
- Category: Pies and Pastries
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
Scale
For the Crust
For the Filling
1 3/4 cups nondairy milk, divided
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
For the Whipped Cream
1 cup nondairy heavy cream*
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 bananas, sliced
Instructions
- Piecrust: Prepare the single pie crust dough as directed. Shape into a disk, wrap tightly in plastic and place in the fridge to chill for 2 hours or overnight.
- Pie Filling: Add 1/4 cup nondairy milk and cornstarch to a small bowl and stir together until there are no lumps remaining. Set aside but keep handy. To make your pie filling, add remaining nondairy milk, sugar and salt to a small saucepan. Heat on stove over medium until mixture is boiling. Reduce heat to a simmer and slowly pour in cornstarch mixture, whisking continuously. Continue to heat, whisking frequently until mixture reaches the consistency of a thick pudding. This should take 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla.
- Chill: Allow filling to cool in the saucepan for about 10 minutes before transferring to a different bowl. Cover with plastic wrap (plastic wrap should touch filling so a “skin” doesn’t develop during chilling) and set in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours.
- Whipped Cream: Pour your nondairy heavy cream into a large bowl. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat with an electric hand mixer for 2-3 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Cover bowl and set in fridge to chill with the filling.
- Par Bake Piecrust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C) and locate a 9 inch pie pan. Remove dough from fridge and turn out onto a floured surface. Roll out the dough into an 11-12 inch circle. Transfer dough to pie pan and fold under the edges. Crimp them with a fork or using your hands. Poke the bottom and sides of the crust with a fork several times to allow ventilation. Place prepared piecrust in the freezer for 15 minutes. Remove crust from freezer and lay a sheet of parchment paper into the shell. Fill shell with ceramic pie weights*, taking care to push them all the way to the perimeter of the piecrust so they fill the shell evenly. This will prevent the crust from shrinking into your pan. Lightly brush the edges with nondairy milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes then remove from oven. Remove pie weights and parchment from pie crust and wrap the crimped edge of your crust in tin foil. Place in the oven and bake for another 15 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
- Set Pie: After pie filling has chilled for 2 hours, remove from fridge and whisk until smooth. Add about two-thirds of the whipped cream to the pie filling, reserving the remaining one-third for garnish. Whisk together vigorously until filling comes together and no lumps remain. Line the bottom of your prepared pie crust with 1 banana’s worth of slices. Pour filling evenly over the top and smooth with a rubber spatula. Cover pie and place in fridge to set 4 hours or overnight.
- Assemble: Once pie is set, top with remaining whipped cream and decorate with remaining banana slices. I like to pipe on the whipped cream using a piping bag and decorative piping tip. Chill pie until ready to serve.
Notes
*Pie will keep covered in the fridge for 3-4 days. Do not freeze!
*I prefer to make my piecrust in a food processor. It’s easier to keep the ingredients cold as you are handling them less. If you would like to go this route, combine all crust ingredients in a food processor using the dough blade and pulse until dough ball comes together. Wrap in plastic and set in the fridge.
*When you are adding the cornstarch mixture to your filling be sure you are whisking! If you dump it in and then whisk, your filling will be riddled with cornstarch lumps.
*Dairy-free heavy cream can typically be found near the coffee creamers and traditional heavy creams. I like Country Crock and Trader Joe's brand.
Find it online: https://censoredbaker.com/vegan-banana-cream-pie/
