This Vegan Pecan Pie tastes remarkably similar to the kind my grandma used to make, but this one is naturally sweetened without using corn syrup. I’m amazed by how well the filling sets, without using eggs!
What is Pecan Pie Made With?
I wanted this pie to be as healthy as possible, without sacrificing the taste or texture. I included dates in the filling, to help add some structure and natural sweetness, but I also used a little maple syrup to boost the flavor.
Adding the liquid sweetener helps to “loosen up” the filling so that it doesn’t have the texture of a date ball.
To make this pecan pie egg-free, I added 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed to act as a binder. I find that if I use more than that in any given recipe, I can start to taste the flax seeds, but I can’t taste them at all in this recipe, and neither could my taste testers. Grinding some extra pecans into the filling also helps with the binding, and provides extra pecan flavor!
Why You’ll Love It
With a simple 5-ingredient filling, this vegan pecan pie recipe is just about as easy as it gets. All you need is a blender or food processor to blend it together. (Similar to my Vegan Pumpkin Pie.)
I prefer using the food processor so I can make my crust in it first, and then make the filling in the same bowl. There’s only one dish to clean that way!
If you’d like to make a pie crust from scratch, try my Vegan Pie Crust, which is also gluten-free. You can use any other unbaked pie crust that you love, too.
Because I had to test this recipe so many times, I actually relied on a frozen gluten-free crust from Trader Joe’s so that I wouldn’t have to make a crust from scratch every time. (Testing recipes is like a science experiment, so it’s a good idea to have a control when testing the filling– in this case, a store-bought crust kept the experiment results consistent!)
How to Sweeten Pie with Dates
I tested this recipe so many times because I couldn’t decide how many dates was the “perfect” amount for this pie. I landed on the recipe below, which uses a 1:1 ratio of dates to maple syrup.
I also tested this recipe using only 1/2 cup of dates + 1 cup of maple syrup, and enjoyed the results– but my testers thought the flavor wasn’t quite as authentic, since the maple flavor was a little heavier. I share this just in case you’re short on dates for this recipe and want to try it that way instead!
Vegan Pecan Pie (with NO corn syrup!)
Ingredients
- 1 unbaked vegan pie crust
- 3/4 cup medjool dates , pitted (about 6 ounces)
- 3/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
- 1 1/2 cups pecan halves , divided
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350ºF and press your unbaked pie crust in a 9-inch pan. (You can use an unbaked store bought crust, if you like.)
- In a food processor fitted with an "S" blade (or in a high speed blender), combine the dates, maple syrup, flax seeds, 1/2 cup of the pecans, and the salt. Process until the dates are broken down and you have a relatively smooth batter.
- Pour 3/4 cup of the pecan halves into the pie crust and spread them out evenly. Pour the batter over the pecans and use a spatula to smooth it evenly. Top the pecan pie filling with the remaining 1/4 cup of pecans-- I like to crush them between my fingers and sprinkle them over the top so that the little pieces are evenly distributed.
- Place the pie in the oven to bake at 350ºF for 45 minutes. When it's done baking the top should look drier and the edges of the filling will be firm to a light touch.
- Allow the pie to cool completely, for at least 2 hours. You can put it in the fridge to speed the process, if you'd like to. Slice the pie and serve chilled or at room temperature.
- Leftover pie should be covered and can be stored on the counter for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for up to a week.
Video
Nutrition
Per slice: Calories: 283, Fat: 15g, Carbohydrates: 35g, Fiber: 2g, Protein: 2g
Recipe Notes:
- If you’re trying to watch your sugar intake, I’m guessing a sugar-free maple syrup would probably work as a swap for the real kind. I don’t use zero-calorie sweeteners myself, so please leave a comment below if you give this a try!
- As I mentioned above, this recipe also worked with 1/2 cup of dates (4 ounces) + 1 cup of maple syrup, if you’d like to go that route. You can use less maple syrup for a less-sweet pie, if you prefer. I was trying to get it as close to the real thing as possible!
- You can also add a splash of vanilla extract, if you like. I tried 1/2 teaspoon and 1 teaspoon in several test batches and felt that the vanilla flavor was overwhelming, so I prefer it without.
As always, if you try something different with this recipe, please leave a comment below to let us know how it worked for you. We can all benefit from your experience!
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Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite holiday pie? I think mine is still French Silk Pie, but my strawberry cream pie and this pecan pie are not far behind!
I just made this today!! Amazing! Full of flavor for so little ingredients! I had a premade crust so I doubled the filling.
I’m glad you already tried it and loved it! Thank you for letting me know!
First of all your awesome! Thank you for all your recipes! Question… has anyone used one egg in place of the flaxseed? Thanks
Wow Megan, this is definitely going on my Thanksgiving meal plan! My husband absolutely loved it, thank you so much!
This looks so delicious! Can I substitue flax seeds with regular eggs?
Possibly, but I haven’t tested that so I can’t say for sure! Please let us know if you give that a shot!
I just watched your instagram live tonight! Please let us know how yours turned out! I will be baking this pecan pie with eggs on Thanksgiving morning 🙂
So I made this yesterday with two large eggs insetead of flaxseeds. It turned out delicisous! Everyone in my family loved them! Thank you!
I love this pecan pie! Thanks for the recipe!
Pecan pie has always been my favorite Thanksgiving dessert. I have missed it every year since I became vegan. I baked it today and couldn’t wait until tomorrow (Thanksgiving) to taste it. Fantastic!!!! thank you thank you thank you!!!!!
Following
I’d like to try this gluten free
It is gluten free. 🙂 Just buy a gluten free pie crust.
I made this for Thanksgiving 2018. Turned out amazing! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! For those of us on special diets due to allergies, I find vegan recipes are so helpful! So thank you from a person who has very limited food preferences. You made my Thanksgiving special!!
Can this filling be made in the Vitamix or does it have to be a food processor?
Yes, you can make this one in a Vitamix!
It has been decades since I’ve eaten a pecan pie for not eating eggs. My wife and I enjoyed this version very much.
Differences:
1) I used real maple syrup
2) I warmed the maple syrup and soaked the pitted dates in it overnight.
3) I took more like 2/3 cup of pecan pieces to cover the top of the pie to my liking. Which is basically completely covered. No loose pecans. All were stuck nicely to the blended filling.
i useed a Vitamix, but have lost my stomper so it took a lot of turning on and off and manually stirring. With the stomper, this filling would have been a breeze in the Vitamix.
This filled a commercial 9″ gluten free pie crust. So a bit on the shallow side compared to a glass pie dish.
I’m excited to try this recipe in tart size.
Bryan, you can get a replacement tamper from the Vitamix company. Call Customer Service!
Hi Meghan! I don’t know if this helps, but if you heat up the maple syrup to 235 degrees, it will mimick the texture of the corn syrup is supposed to impart on pecan pie. Great recipe!
Hi, made this yesterday with Walden Farms pancake syrup (real maple flavor but no sugar) and sucralose and it came out great! Since sucralose is dry compared to dates, I added an additional 2-3 tbsp of water. I always like vanilla so I included 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract as well. Thank you for this simple recipe. I like to limit my refined fats as well, so I appreciate that there’s no ‘butter’. No, it’s not gooey like traditional pecan pie, but honestly that was what I liked least about it anyway, so I don’t mind that this is not like that.
Wanted something for my birthday that I could eat too, and I’m so glad I found this! Made exactly to your instructions with a store bought gluten free vegan crust and even my gluten eating sugar freaks loved it. Since going gluten, dairy and refined sugar free, I have never bought anything that tasted as good as this and it was so easy! Thank you so much ❤️
I really want to make this for Thanksgiving, but I wanted to use Rum in my pie. (Clearly this seems taboo for a health conscious food blogger… but hey, we gotta live a little too.)
SO… do you think I can just add the amount of rum that another recipe calls for, or do I need to add something else bc of the extra liquid?
Thank you!! I LOVE BAKING BECAUSE OF YOU!!! 🙂
I was thinking about adding bourbon to mine. Some comments suggested heating the maple syrup up, so I would add any alcohol to that so it can cook off a little bit. I haven’t tried it yet, but that’s my game plan.
If using a ready to eat pie crust do I still need to bake it? Time/temp change?
Looks great!!
How much honey would you put instead of maple syrup?
Would date syrup also work instead of maple syrup?
Maple syrup is very expensive around here, so I would love for you to add a honey or date syrup option to your recipes…
Thanks!
Did you ever try out those alternatives to maple syrup? Very curious to know as maple syrup is very expensive here too and I don’t want to use up most of my bottle on one pie!
I haven’t had pecan pie in 9 years since I went vegan. This year, my wonderful husband made this pecan pie for Thanksgiving and it was fantastic! Thank you so much for this delicious recipe.
Made this pie with the vegan crust for Thanksgiving and it was delicious!
I followed this recipe exactly, and it turned out amazing! I served it on Thanksgiving and everyone loved it–plus, it was incredibly easy to make! This will definitely be made each year from now on!
Thank you,you really helped me
I LOVED this! I used SF maple syrup and it worked the same. Taste is authentic and I will be using this every holiday. Only thing I want to know is how to bake this without a crust—ceramic? Muffin tin?
I made this for Thanksgiving, and it was so delicious I made it twice! We like our pecan pie less sweet, so I cut this back to 1/3 cup maple syrup and used plain almond milk to fill the cup up to the 3/4 cup mark. It worked perfectly! A perfect pecan pie! Thanks so much for the recipe!
10 stars! I made this four times over the holiday weekend. My husband loved it, also my mother-in-law (who has made about a million traditional pecan pies), my sister (who does not like dates), and my vegan chef/pal who is (was!) not a fan of pecan pie. Huge hit all around. I used a store-bought vegan crust (wholly wholesome brand) which worked really well. Thank you so much for my new go-to fall dessert!
is this 350f fan or normal oven?
Normal oven; not convection.
I’m going to make this filling for tarts! Any idea how I should adjust the baking time?
Hi Megan going to try this Vegan pecan pie for Christmas! Very excited, but I have a reaction to flax seeds..I know sad, when I can’t have eggs. Will Bob’s Red Mill egg relaxer work instead? Thanks so much! Happy Holidays.
Sheri
Hmm… I haven’t tried using an egg replacer yet. I would give it a shot, and use however much water it tells you to use on the box (otherwise maybe keep it similar to this recipe, so that there’s enough moisture to help blend the dates.) Let me know how it turns out if you try it!
Hah I.meant Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer not Relaxer.. lol must be too excited…
Thanks Sheri
ok my husband is THE biggest fan of pecan pies, so wasn’t sure how this would go. In short, HE LOVES IT. He is shocked there are so few ingredients!!!! ahhhhhh this is too good to be true. THANK YOU 🙂
Tamara
I cannot say enough good things about this pie recipe. My husband is eating it right now and at every bit he says something new: Excellent! Ohhh, this is so good. Make sure you keep this recipe, and on an on. It is seriously delicious. I am Vegan and am slowly working on my husband, and this recipe with Megan’s pie crust recipe cannot be beat. Thank you Megan!!
I made this for group of friends the other night and they all raved about it. One person said, “This is a 10! I would serve it at any Christmas dinner!”
Omgggg This recipe turned out incredible!! Since my husband likes the regular gluten full crust… the change I made (besides a regular pie crust) was add 2 tbsp of regular flour and it turned out amazing! Even my son couldn’t have enough of it and he never eats pie! Any kind! – the pie lasted one day at home I had to make a second one the next day! It just really is amazing how similar to the full butter and eggs kind of pie is!! 💯 amazing!!!! Thank you for sharing!
This is a great, great recipe. Love the healthy ingredients and the decadent taste, a perfect combo!
I’m so glad you love it! Thanks for letting me know.
Thank you so much for this recipe. I’ve been vegan almost my entire (long) life, and this was absolutely delicious!
The only thing I did differently was add raisins, and garbanzo bean broth from a carton of garbanzo beans from Whole Foods. Are use that in place of egg. I have already eaten half of this pie. Thank you again, and I have saved your page.
This recipe is in our regular rotation!
Best pecan pie I’ve ever tasted!
You know what they say! 🙂 The best compliment is to get someone who doesn’t like something, (aka conventional pecan pie), to like it!
You did the job excellently!
We have used this recipe many times since we discovered it! Now onto your chocolate silk pie!!! 🙂
Looks amazing! Have you tried adding chocolate chips?
Can you leave out the flax seed? I wanted to make this but don’t have any flax
Just made this, and wished that it was mentioned to double the recipe for a store bought crust. Otherwise, the flavor was really fantastic. Next time I may do less maple syrup as a personal taste.
Was the pie not full enough with your store-bought crust? I used a store-bought crust in these photos, so that’s what I was going off of, but I’m curious if other brands are different.
I used a store bought crust as well and when I first filled it (before it was cooked), it didn’t fill up very high. It rose almost to the top when cooking and then settled a bit when cooling. Overall, after cooking and settling, it looked like the right amount of filling.
I’m out of flaxseed, can I use chia instead?
Yes, I think that would work similarly as long as you grind them first.
Hello! This looks delicious! Can I use a graham cracker crust instead of pie crust?
Sounds so interesting and easy—I have to try it. But I am curious why you put pecans on the bottom in the pie crust before adding your filling?
Terrible! Too sweet and a waste of expensive ingredients.I had two family members agree this one had to go in the trash.👎👎👎
This recipe came together with such easy and it was a winner! Great taste, texture and I felt so much better giving my family something much healthier than the original version. Thank you! (Definitely use the food processor, I nearly burned out my bullet)
I made this pie for Thanksgiving and it’s amazing! I’m actually eating it right now for breakfast the day after! Our non-vegan guests loved it as well. Thank you for this recipe!
This comment only pertains to the filling! (I didn’t have a piecrust on hand and since I was going to have to make one from scratch anyway, I tried a shortbread crust and made this recipe into bars in a square pan).
I’ve been trying to move away from using cane sugar in baking and love pecan pie so I was excited to find this recipe!
I ground the dates in my mini food processor and did the rest on the stovetop (maple syrup, pecans, salt, vanilla, flax). I only baked it for 15 minutes (per the pecan pie bar recipe I was also referencing) and just tasted the first one. Delish!!
It makes total sense to use dates (and maple syrup) to accomplish the sticky-sweet texture and flavor of pecan pie. This is a keeper!
Absolutely AWESOME!!! And you’re right- no vanilla necessary. My husband wanted more whole pecans so next time I won’t break them all in half and I might either put fewer in the date/syrup blend or add more pecans all together to make the pie more crunchy. But I thought it was hands-down the best pecan pie I’ve ever had! Thank you!!!
Is it possible to use dark agave syrup rather than maple?
Delicious. My husband requested a whole one for himself after the first one I made for Thanksgiving. So I made him one and myself one too. I never liked pecan pie before this.
Crust size question: I made a full size 9 inch almond flour crust in a pyrex dish – which I think must be deeper and wider than an average pie tin? The filling did not fill the pie crust for me. Or did I do something wrong? It tasted great! I just had extra tall crust sticking above the pie. If I made it again and did 1.5 x the recipe – do you think the cook time would be the same because it’s also thinner (spread over more area) OR add cook time because the total volume is greater? Or do you think I should just find a smaller pie pan? Thanks! Love the recipe!
This recipe is genius! Thank you! My husband and I have decided that this is the best pecan pie we’ve ever had. I made the filling exactly as listed in the recipe. For the crust, I sort of combined your almond flour recipe and your oat flour recipe. The whole thing was incredibly delicious!
I made this pecan pie for Thanksgiving 2020. This was the best pecan pie I have ever made. Everyone loved it. It will always be my pecan pie recipe. Thanks for creating and all the testing done to make it perfect. Look no further!! This is it!!
I want to try this recipe with a half teaspoon of cardamom. I feel like the mild citrus flavor gives a little depth to the pecan flavor.