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This Chai Spice Vegan Pear Pie combines the best of both worlds: chai spices with caramelized pears, all packed into a flakey, buttery vegan pie crust.
Today is a good day for vegan pear pie. I mean, right? It is November after all, which is basically the month of pies in my mind.
Plus, with Thanksgiving coming up, we need to start thinking about the dinner menu. This pear pie will absolutely be making an appearance, along with my vegan green bean casserole and probably my vegan sweet potato pie as well.
I love pumpkin pie — love it — but sometimes you need to switch it up. Also, I know pies can sometimes seem intimidating, but this one’s really easy I pinky promise, mostly because the pie dough is really easy to work with.
Recipe features
- A pear pie that’s filled with chai spices
- A delicious switch up from your usual apple pie
- The easiest vegan pie crust you’ll ever make (whoa, bold statement!)
- Good on its own, but even better when paired with vanilla ice cream
Ingredient notes
This is to provide further clarification on a few of the ingredients. The full ingredient list is provided in the recipe card below.
Pears – I used d’anjou; chopped into bite-sized pieces but you can keep the skin on
Almond milk – or any kind of dairy free milk
Step-by-step instructions
Step 1: Make the pie dough. Place HALF of the dough ingredients into your food processor — starting with the dry ingredients, then adding the cold butter, then adding the milk/syrup/water– until the mixture forms dough. Repeat this process with the rest of the dough ingredients.
If you put all of the dough ingredients in at once, your food processor will probably get stuck (at least mine did), which is why I like to do this in two batches.
Then, separate the dough into two separate balls and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes.
Step 2: Prep the filling. Heat coconut oil (or vegan butter) in a large skillet, then add the pears, along with the sugar and spices, and sauté for 5-8 minutes or until the pears are soft but not mushy.
Step 3: Assemble the pie. Take the pie dough out of the refrigerator and roll out the larger ball of dough and transfer it to your greased pie pan. Crimp the edges as you normally would, then pour the pear filling into the crust.
Last, roll out the second ball of dough to create the top crust, forming a criss-cross crust (or whatever kind of top crust you prefer). Then, brush it with a bit of melted butter and sprinkle with sugar, then bake the pie for a little less than 1 hour.
FAQs and tips
- Use your food processor to make the pie dough. It’s easier, it’s cleaner and it results in a smoother dough; however, you will have to do this in 2 batches.
- To save yourself time, you can make the pie dough up to 2 days ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator until you need it.
- Chop the pears while your pie dough is refrigerating; that way, they’re ready to go when you need them.
Can this pie be made ahead of time?
Yes! The Kitchn has a great article on how to store pie you make ahead of time, but essentially, you can either prep pie far in advance and freeze it, or a few days and store it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to bake/serve.
Do I have to use chai spices?
Nope! If you’re not a fan of chai, just use the 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and omit the other spices.
More vegan dessert recipes
- Vegan Chocolate Birthday Cake
- Healthy Caramel Sauce
- Healthy Peanut Butter Balls
- Gluten Free Apple Crisp
If you made this recipe, be sure to leave a comment and star rating below. Thanks!
Chai Spice Vegan Pear Pie
Ingredients
for the crust:
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup vegan butter cold
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup almond milk
- 1/2 cup ice water
for the filling:
- 5 pears chopped
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/4 cup cane sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp all spice
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/8 tsp cardamom
Instructions
make the crust:
- Start by making the crust. I like to use my food processor for this because it's easier/quicker than using my hands, but you have to do it in 2 batches. Start by adding 1.5 cups flour and 1/2 tsp salt to your food processor. Then, with the motor running, add 1/2 cup butter in through the top, followed by 2 tbsp syrup, 2 tbsp milk and 4 tbsp ice water.
- At this point, the dough should be in one ball; remove it and set it aside, then repeat the exact same process with the remaining crust ingredients.
- Once the dough is completely made, divide it into 2 separate balls, one slightly larger than the other. Wrap them in plastic wrap and place them in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
make the filling:
- Once the time is up, preheat the oven to 400°.
- Next, make the filling: heat coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped pears, then sprinkle the sugar and spices over top. Cook the pears for 5-8 minutes, or until they're soft but not mushy; remove skillet from the heat.
assemble:
- Remove dough from the refrigerator. Flour a work surface, then roll out the larger ball of dough and carefully transfer it to your greased pie pan. Crimp the edges as you normally would, then pour the pear filling into the pie crust. Then, roll out the second ball of dough to form the top crust. Brush crust with melted butter or coconut oil, and sprinkle with a little bit of cane sugar.
- Place pie in the oven and bake for 15 minutes; then reduce heat to 375° and bake pie for 40 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling.
- Transfer pie to a cooling rack and allow it to cool for 1 hour; you want the pie to be slightly warm or at room temperature before cutting. Serve with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
UPDATE NOTE: This post was originally published in November 2016. It was updated with new text and photos in November 2020.
