Eight flavour variations on a simple shortcrust vegan pastry, to suit any dish! So easy to make with great results every time.
🍴 Why you will love this recipe
A foolproof pastry recipe with no weird ingredients, perfect results every time! Eight flavour variations for you to choose from, so you can personalise your pastry and match it to whatever you are making.
Read the top tips and FAQs further down the post for advice on how to achieve a perfect pastry texture and make it easy to roll and handle.
There are two main recipes - savoury or sweet shortcrust, and each one comes with four suggested flavour variations. Will you choose vegan cheese, mustard or fresh herbs? Chocolate, almond or vanilla?
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📝 What you need
Ingredients
Flour There's no need for fancy flour to make a good pastry - just everyday plain flour from the supermarket is fine. However you can swap out 50g of the flour for wholemeal or rye flour for a slightly different texture and flavour.
Dairy-free block margarine Make sure you use a block margarine, not a tub which is too watery for pastry making. Keep it chilled until the last minute so it is easier to rub in to the flour. I usually use Flora Plant Block, Naturli Block or Tomor Vegetable Block Margarine, all of which are excellent.
Dairy-free milk Use an unsweetened plant milk - either soya, oat or nut milks are all absolutely fine here.
👩🏽🍳 How to make your Vegan Pastry
For a full, printable recipe with ingredients and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of this page 👇🏼 .
Mix the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Cut the block margarine into cubes and rub into the flour with your fingertips. Add the plant milk a little at a time until it comes together into a soft dough.
Put the dough in a lidded tupperware and chill for 30 minutes in the fridge. It will then be ready to roll out as needed.
👩🏽🍳 Variations
The lovely thing about homemade pastry is that you can make it your own, and adjust it to whatever you are making and your own tastes.
Here are a few suggestions for vegan pastry variations:
Vegan cheese pastry: Add 25g grated vegan cheese to the pastry once you have rubbed in the margarine to the flour.
Mustard: Add 1tbsp dijon or wholegrain mustard to the dough as you add the plant milk.
Fresh herbs: finely chop your choice of herbs (how about parsley and/or thyme?), and stir through the mixture just before adding the plant milk.
Almond: stir 40g ground almonds through the mixture just before adding the milk.
Chocolate: replace 25g of the flour with cocoa powder.
Vanilla: Add ½tsp vanilla extract as you add the plant milk.
How will you customise your pastry?
🔪 Top Tips & FAQs
Make your dough a little softer and stickier than you expect, it will firm up and become easy to roll once chilled in the fridge. This improves the texture of the cooked pastry, and also makes it much easier to handle and shape than a drier dough.
Keep your vegan butter and milk as cold as possible. This makes a shorter better-textured pastry, and makes rubbing in easier and less messy.
If you've never tried rubbing fat into flour before, don't worry - it is very easy!
Gently rub the cubes of butter and the flour between your fingers and thumb, lifting it up out of the bowl as you do to aerate it.
Shake the bowl to bring any bigger lumps to the surface. Keep going until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
If you have time, chill the pastry again before cooking (once rolled into your tart case or pie dish). It will help it to cook without shrinking back from the sides. If you're short of time pop it in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.
Yes - pastry dough freezes really well. You can either freeze the lump of dough if you've made too much, or you can line a tart case or pie dish and freeze that, then just defrost and pop in the oven when needed.
Yes it is always cheaper to make your own pastry than to buy ready-made, and very satisfying too! You can also adjust the seasoning and flavour variations to your own taste.
If you're short on time and decide to buy ready-made pastry, always check the ingredients on the packet. In general, most brands (including Jus-Rol and most supermarket own-brands) are vegan, except for the luxury all-butter varieties which contain milk.
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🍽 If you liked that...
.... you might also enjoy these vegan recipes from The Veg Space:
📖 Recipe
Vegan Pastry
Ingredients
For savoury shortcrust pastry:
- 225 g plain flour (or 175g plain flour + 50g wholemeal or rye flour)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 125 g dairy-free block margarine (or 75g block margarine + 50g vegetable 'lard' - I use Trex)
- 3-4 tablespoon unsweetened dairy-free milk
Optional savoury flavourings - use one or more:
- 25 g dairy-free cheese, grated
- 1 tablespoon mustard dijon or wholegrain
- 2 tablespoon fresh herbs, finely chopped I like parsley and/or thyme leaves
For sweet shortcrust pastry:
- 210 g plain flour
- 40 g icing sugar
- pinch salt
- 125 g dairy-free block margarine (or 75g block margarine + 50g vegetable 'lard' - I use Trex)
- 3-4 tablespoon unsweetened dairy-free milk
Optional sweet flavourings- use one or more:
- 40 g ground almonds
- 20 g cocoa powder (use 20g less flour if using this)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
To make savoury shortcrust pastry:
- In a large mixing bowl mix together the flour and salt.
- Cut the block margarine into cubes and add to the bowl.
- Rub the fat into the flour using your fingertips, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- If you are adding any of the optional flavourings, add them to the mixture at this point.
- Add the dairy-free milk little by little until the mixture comes together into a dough. Aim for a soft dough that would be too soft and sticky to roll out at this point - it will firm up in the fridge to a roll-able consistency.
- Place in a lidded tupperware container and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or until needed.
To make sweet shortcrust pastry:
- In a large mixing bowl mix together the flour, icing sugar and salt. If you are making chocolate pastry, add the cocoa at this point.
- Cut the block margarine into cubes and add to the bowl.
- Rub the fat into the flour using your fingertips, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- If you are adding ground almonds or vanilla extract, add them to the mixture at this point.
- Add the dairy-free milk little by little until the mixture comes together into a dough. Aim for a soft dough that would be too soft and sticky to roll out at this point - it will firm up in the fridge to a roll-able consistency.
- Place in a lidded tupperware container and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or until needed.
ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Judy Jones says
Made the sweet shortcrust pastry, following the recipe exactly (used all vegan butter) and it was perfect! It rolled out perfectly, no breaking, sticking or crumbling. Used it to make mini apple crumble pie and they taste great - the pastry is sweet and short. Will definitely be using this recipe again, best pastry recipe ever! I’m
Kate Ford says
This is great to hear, thanks Judy!
Kevin Hart says
Hi I Kate , I'm trying to switch my normal Apple Pie recipe to a vegetarian one. Currently I'm using 50/50 margarine- lard.
I see in your recipe you suggest 125 g dairy-free block margarine (or 75g block margarine + 50g vegetable 'lard' - I would opt for Trex). As I said I'm using 50/50 margarine and lard, you seem to be going for a 75/25 ratio, is there any reason why or it just a personal choice
Kevin
Kate Ford says
Hi Kevin, it is purely personal choice - I like a bit more of the 'buttery' flavour, but do go for whichever ratio you prefer.
Lisa says
Hi,I've made the savoury pastry with mustard and am filling with soya mince and veggies (pre cooked). How long should I cook it for and at what temperature please?
Kate Ford says
Hi Lisa, my guess would be c.20-25 minutes, but it does depend on pastry thickness, size of pie etc - sorry not to be more precise!
Sage says
Hi Kate. Your sweet pastry recipe specifies using icing sugar. Icing sugar here has cornstarch as well as sugar. Can I substitute caster sugar for that?
Thanks
Sage
Kate Ford says
Yes absolutely, caster sugar will be fine.
Anne says
I needed a vegan pastry recipe so I could make mince pies for a group of friends, very pleased to find it worked as well as my normal method.
Kate Ford says
Great to hear, thanks Anne
Frances says
Thanks so much for the sweet pastry recipe, Kate, I need this for my mince pies!! Have a Happy Christmas!
Kate Ford says
Oh lovely, hope they turn out well! X
Isabelle says
I have made this pastry several times, just used it again to make a cherry tart (I added the ground almonds to the pastry). Absolutely delicious! Thank you.
Kate Ford says
That's great to hear, thanks Isabelle.
Katie says
Hi I'm gf but interested in vegan food as trying to create a meal planer for type 2 diabetic.
And cut down on meat
Thanks
Rosy Jo says
how long should i bake this recipe for?? & at what temperature
Thanks
Kate Ford says
Hi Rosy, that completely depends what you're using it for - what are you making?
Dannii says
I have never tried making my own vegan pastry, but I am definitely going to give this a try. It looks really simple.
Jen says
Easy recipe and great variations. Chocolate for sweet and herbs for savory dishes are my two favs.
Tavo says
such a nice and easy recipe! I really loved the customization ideas. I will try the almond one!
Claudia Lamascolo says
We are all vegan here and this is like hitting the jackpot thank you!
Sharon Chen says
This looks perfect for vegan desserts! Thanks for sharing this healthier version of pastry.