Easy, filling and comforting, this vegan pot pie recipe is the vegetable-packed weeknight dinner you need this winter. With a vegetable and white bean filling and a flaky vegan crust, it's hearty and SO delicious!
This vegan pot pie is the answer to chilly winter weeknights. It's full of colorful vegetables, a creamy vegetarian sauce and an easy pie crust topping. White beans add a bit of extra protein and creaminess to the filling.
Instructions
There are three basic parts of a good pot pie. The crust, the filling and the sauce.
Crust
For convenience, we went with a store-bought pie crust for our homemade vegetarian pot pie. Puff pastry would also work well.
Of course, if you have a bit more time, you can always make your own pie crust. We have a simple gluten free pie crust recipe for you in our Vegan Quiche recipe!
If you go our way, simply treat the pie crust as instructed by the packaging. You don't want it to get too warm before baking, as it may lose its butter in the oven.
When it comes to store-bought gluten free and vegan pie crust, we usually opt for this one from Bob's Red Mill. We simply use vegan butter and it always turns out so flaky and delicious! It's also widely available at more stores, so that's a huge plus.
Filling
Now for the "meat" of the dish: the vegan pot pie filling. We replaced the classic chicken with a vegetable-packed, flavorful filling. Here's what we used:
- Onion
- Garlic
- Carrots
- Sweet Potatoes
- Celery
- Mushrooms
- Green Beans
- Peas
- Kale (or spinach)
- Parsley
- White beans
All of these colorful vegetables make for a bright and warming winter dinner.
And you won't miss the meat in this plant based pie thanks to protein-rich white beans.
Sauce
To make this plant based pot pie just as flavorful as the conventional dish, it's all about the sauce.
This sauce is a rendition of the classic French Mother Sauce velouté. That basically means that it relies on stock for its body, and is thickened with butter and flour.
To start, melt down some butter. Next, add flour (gluten free all purpose flour works fine here) to thicken. This makes a roux, which is just a fancy word for a mixture of flour and fat.
Then, you'll add in vegetable stock in stages. Let the sauce thicken up between additions of stock. You want to stay stirring as you go.
If you want a thicker sauce for your pot pie, you can let it simmer here for a bit to reduce. Finally, add a bit of acid with both white wine and white wine vinegar. This is important to brighten up the dish. Season with salt and pepper and you're all set!
This is a classic sauce for a reason. It's deeply flavorful, silky smooth and will coat the vegetables in this pot pie beautifully.
Assembly
Once you've prepared the pie crust, made the vegetable filling and stirred up the sauce, it's time to assemble the vegan pot pie.
You'll need a regular pie pan for this recipe. If you don't have a round one at home, an 8 or 9 inch cast iron skillet will also work.
First, add the sauce to the cooked vegetable filling. Give everything a good stir to ensure it's fully coated in the sauce. Then add in those white beans for good measure.
Transfer everything to your pie dish (or leave it in the skillet, if you're going that route), and gently lay the prepared pie crust on top. Be sure to vent the pie crust with a few pricks from a fork or slices with a knife. I like to draw a little heart in the center, but that's just me.
Finally, pop the pie into the oven and let it bake away until the crust is firm and blonde. We like to paint the crust with some melted butter just before it finishes baking to get that beautiful golden hue on top.
Ingredient Substitutions
This vegan pot pie can be made gluten free quite easily. Simply use a gluten free pie crust and gluten free all purpose flour for the sauce.
If you don't like white beans (or don't have any on hand), you could substitute for great northern, red kidney or navy beans. Technically, you could use chickpeas, but I wouldn't. The texture isn't as well suited to a pot pie, but it would still taste fine.
Otherwise, this homemade pot pie is fully plant-based, dairy-free, nut-free and refined sugar free.
More Vegan Comfort Food Recipes
Since it's that time of year, why not add these warming plant based dinner recipes to your list:
- Vegan Mushroom Stew over Mashed Potatoes
- Vegan Pasta Bake
- Wild Rice Mushroom Soup
- The Best Vegan Mac and Cheese
- Vegan Scalloped Potatoes
If you make this Vegan Pot Pie recipe, we’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below! We also love to see your creations on Instagram – tag us at @crowded_kitchen so we can see what you’ve been cooking.
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Vegan Pot Pie
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 6 Servings 1x
Description
Easy, filling and comforting this vegan pot pie recipe is the vegetable-packed weeknight dinner you need.
Ingredients
- Store bought pie crust mix* (we used this gluten free one)
- 1-2 tbsp melted vegan butter
Filling:
- 3 tbsp vegan butter
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 3 medium cloves garlic, minced
- ¾ cup carrots, diced (about 2 carrots)
- ¾ cup sweet potatoes, peeled and diced (1 small potato)
- ¾ cup celery, chopped (about 3 stalks)
- 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
- 1 cup fresh or frozen french green beans, cut into ½ inch pieces
- ½ cup fresh or frozen peas
- 1½ tbsp Italian herb seasoning
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp ground pepper
- 2 cups chopped lacinato kale or spinach
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped or 4 tsp dried parsley
- 1 15oz can white beans, drained and rinsed
Sauce:
- ¼ cup vegan butter
- ¼ cup flour (we used gluten free all purpose)
- 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- ½ tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp salt
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Prepare crust as instructed on the packaging and roll out for topping. We used a store bought crust, but feel free to make your own.
- Melt the 3 tbsp butter in a large pan. Add the onions and garlic and stir a few times, cooking for 5-6 minutes.
- Add the carrots, sweet potatoes, celery, mushrooms, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper and stir well. Cook until softened, about 15 minutes, stirring often.
- Meanwhile, make the sauce. Melt ¼ cup butter in a medium saucepan. Once melted, add the flour and stir well. Slowly add the vegetable broth, letting it thicken before adding more, stirring. Once you’ve added all of the vegetable stock, whisk in the white wine, vinegar, salt, and some pepper. Stir well.
- Once the vegetables are softened, add the green beans, peas, chopped kale or spinach and parsley to the pan. Stir and cook for 5-6 minutes. Pour the sauce into the pan with the vegetables and stir to coat all of the veggies. Gently stir in the white beans. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
- Pour the mixture into a pie pan and lay the crust on top. Crimp the edges of the crust to seal it and prick with a fork a few times or cut a couple of slits in the top to release steam.
- Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush with remaining 1-2 tbsp melted butter. Return the pot pie to the oven and bake until lightly brown, about 10-15 minutes more.
Notes
*If you'd prefer to make pie crust from scratch, try this recipe.
Be sure to carefully crimp the edges of the pie - if it's not fully sealed, the pie will probably leak in the oven. It's also helpful to put a baking tray underneath the rack with the pie to catch anything that might drip. Much easier cleanup than having to clean the entire oven!
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: vegan pot pie
Sharon
Can this be made with two crusts, one on the bottom and one on the top?
Lexi
Hi Sharon, yes, that would definitely work! However I would blind bake the bottom crust in the pie pan for 15 minutes before adding in the filling.