These Vegan Pasties are rich and packed with flavour, perfect for picnics or even a Sunday Roast dinner. Make your own rough puff pastry to make them extra-special!
For me, a vegan option for Sunday Lunch should be big, bold, tasty, and enough of a 'showstopper' to make the meat-eaters insanely jealous.
Let's just say that I've never found a nut roast recipe which has ticked all of those boxes.
So instead, here are my 'posh' vegan pasties - posh in that they contain red wine, flat-cap mushrooms, puy lentils and thyme, all wrapped in a layer of fabulous flaky pastry.
I sometimes make my own rough-puff pastry for these, (homemade puff pastry is a step too far for me, life is too short! But rough puff is a delicious compromise).
My go-to recipe is this one from River Cottage and it also works well with half and half spelt flour too. Flaky pastry is also a good option for pasties, like this one from Delia.
Obviously with both of these recipes you need to use a good dairy-free block margarine - Flora Plant Butter, Naturli Block margarine or Stork block margarine are all excellent for pastry making. (NB tubs of Stork are not vegan, just the block margarine - so do double check before buying).
What you need to make your Vegan Pasties
Ingredients
Puff pastry Many ready-made puff pastries in supermarkets are vegan - it is only those marked all-butter that tend to contain dairy. Always check the ingredients, but Jus-Rol and most supermarket own-brands are vegan. I always use the ready-rolled stuff, but give it an extra roll-out before using or else it will be a bit thick.
Mushrooms You can use whatever fresh mushrooms you have available, but I like chestnut mushrooms which retain their juicy texture when cooked, or flat cap which give a lovely dark colour to the red wine gravy.
Puy lentils These nutty dark green lentils bring a lovely texture and bite to the pasty filling, so are worth looking out for. If you can't find them, half a tin of cooked brown or green lentils will be fine instead, but you can reduce the cooking time by about 15 minutes.
Red wine Never cook with a wine you wouldn’t drink! There’s no point in paying a fortune for wine that’s going to be bubbled down in your vegan pasties, but equally if you have a bottle that’s been sitting half-empty on the worktop for over a week, it will ruin your supper! A medium-bodied red will go well with these flavours – not too heavy but reasonably acidic. something like a Cabernet Sauvignon would be excellent. Do check labels to make sure it is vegan, or consult the brilliant Barnivore app.
Vegetable stock powder I like Marigold Stock Powder (they do various versions and some aren't vegan so do check for milk powder in the ingredients), but any good quality stock powder will be great.
Equipment
You don't need any fancy equipment at all to make these vegan pasties - just a large saucepan, frying pan or casserole with a lid, a baking tray and a rolling pin. Simple!
Can I freeze my Vegan Pasties?
Yes! These pasties freeze really well before cooking so you can make the filling, then make up as many pasties as you can but only cook the ones you need.
Then put the uncooked pasties onto a baking tray straight into the freezer, and once they are frozen solid, you will be able to take them off the tray and pop them into a reusable freezer bag or container.
When you want to cook one, defrost and then cook as per the recipe.
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If you liked that...
.... you might also enjoy these vegan recipes from The Veg Space:
📖 Recipe
Vegan Pasties with mushrooms, lentils & red wine
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive or rapeseed oil
- 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped into 1cm cubes
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- 350 g mushrooms roughly chopped into 1cm cubes
- 1 medium potato, peeled and roughly chopped into 1cm cubes
- 70 g puy lentils
- 250 ml red wine (merlot works well!)
- 300 ml water
- 1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder
- leaves of 2 stalks fresh thyme
- 400 g puff, rough puff or flaky pastry - homemade or ready-rolled
- a little dairy-free milk to glaze
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large, lidded saucepan or casserole dish, and fry the onion and carrot for 3 minutes until starting to soften.
- Add the garlic and mushrooms and cook on a medium heat until the mushrooms have released their juices.
- Add the potato, lentils, red wine and water, stock powder and thyme.
- Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover with a lid and cook for 30-35 minutes until the potatoes and lentils are cooked through.
- Taste and add salt as necessary. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.
- Preheat the oven to 190°C / 375°F / Gas Mark 5.
- Roll out the pastry to roughly the thickness of a £1 coin, then use a small-ish plate as a template to cut 4 circles of pastry roughly 20cm in diameter. If necessary, re-roll the offcuts and cut again until you have enough circles.
- Brush a little water around the edge of each circle.
- Divide the filling between the four pasties. Don't over-fill or the filling will explode out during cooking!
- Bring together the edges of the pastry to form a firm seal, and use a fork to crimp and seal the pasties firmly.
- Brush the pasties with a little plant milk and cook for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and crisp all over.
Video
Nutrition
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Brooke says
Can I do the filling ahead, refrigerate and then warm and bake?
Mirjam says
You could turn theses into empanadas. The dough would be a bit different and they would be a bit smaller, I guess.
Georgina says
I cooked more than intended and put them in the freezer (they're completely cooked including the pastry and now frozen oops) do you have any guidance on reheating them?
Kate Ford says
Hi Georgina, I would let them defrost completely, then reheat in the oven for 15 mins or so until piping hot and the pastry is crispy again.
Kathleen Kidman says
Thank you, I'm definitely going to use your recipe.
Tom says
Is there a viable substitute for lentils and if so, how should it be incorporated? Some family members can't stand them and yet they crop up very frequently in vegan/vegetarian cooking.
Lins says
Is there an alternative to using wine in this recipe?
Kate Ford says
Absolutely, just use extra vegetable stock instead in the same quantity.
Mirjam says
Or you could use juice of red grapes, this way you keep the colour and some sourness.
Enma says
These tasted amazing. I did had a problem with the liquid though, as it didn't reduce down enough, could this be because I used tinned lentils?
Kate Ford says
Ah, that's right - the recipe uses dried lentils which soak up a lot of liquid as they cook. It is absolutely fine to use tinned instead but you will need to reduce the liquid to compensate - perhaps start with half then keep an eye on it and add more whenever it starts to look a little dry. Glad they tasted good though!
Lucile says
We’ve been doing this recipe almost every week for the past 5 months !
I really don’t get tired of it, great recipe !! 👍👍👍
Mina Joshi says
The pasties look delicious. I love the perfect shape. I can never crimp mine so well.
thevegspace says
Thanks Mina - the crimping is easier than it looks!
Lucy says
These sound fantastic. Lovely for Sunday lunch but I'm also thinking picnic. I've been saying I'll meet my partner from work for lunch with a picnic now the sun's come out - I think he'd love me forever if I took him these!
thevegspace says
Oh what a great idea - perfect picnic food too!
deborah says
Oh Yum! What else is there to say? I love pasties and can't wait to give these a go, and also check out the others you've linked in to.
thevegspace says
Thanks Deborah, yes me too - a bit of a pasty fiend!!
Sandhya Hariharan says
Gorgeous Pictures... And I loved the way you have put together Mushroom and Merlot!!
thevegspace says
Thanks Sandhya!
Sarah Maison Cupcake says
Loving the sound of wine with mushroom. Your pastry looks fabulous!
thevegspace says
Thanks Sarah! Wine with anything is pretty good in my book....
kellie@foodtoglow says
I'm very impressed you made your own pastry for these gorgeous looking and gorgeous sounding little handpies. Very lovely, Kate. I've shared around. 🙂
thevegspace says
Ah thanks Kellie, I love making rough puff - so satisfying and really not too much work at all!
Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours says
These are lovely Kate, I'd love one for my lunch.
Am I the only one that cannot see Merlot written down and not think if it in an American accent as in Sideways?
Lucy @ BakingQueen74 says
These pasties look delicious and I love the sounds of the filling, mushrooms and merlot are right up my street! This does sound like an ideal veggie main dish which is both big and bold.
kate @veggie desserts says
Merlot in pasties? Now you're talkin! These sound fantastic.
Margot says
Oh, those sound and look amazing. Puy lentils and mushrooms must be a delicious combo!
Thank you for mentioning my Jamaican patties.
Choclette says
Oh my, those pasties of yours sound absolutely fabulous Kate, especially with roast potatoes, veggies and lashings of gravy. Although I have to say I am very fond of a good nut roast too 😉
I'm getting quite excited to see so many recipes coming up for National Vegetarian Week already. Looking forward to seeing some more.