Vegan Pecan Pie Recipe from the Millennium Restaurant (No Corn Syrup!)

This naturally rich and decadent Vegan Pecan Pie recipe was shared with us from The Millennium Cookbook: Extraordinary Vegetarian Cuisine by Chef Eric Tucker, founder and executive chef of the Millennium Restaurant. It’s a wonderful dairy-free and egg-free holiday dessert that’s also corn-free, optionally soy-free, and optionally gluten-free.

Vegan Pecan Pie from the Chef at Millennium Restaurant

Years before most of us had even heard the word “vegan,” Chef Eric Tucker was quietly introducing people to it via his cooking. Back in the 1990s, he founded the Millennium Restaurant in San Francisco and he released The Millennium Cookbook. Back then, he used the word “vegetarian” to describe his menu and recipes, but Chef Tucker’s fare was also dairy-free and egg-free. In fact, it was purely vegan.

These days, Chef Tucker is proud to call his cuisine vegan, and enjoys sharing his delicious creations, like this vegan pecan pie. It is sweetened with a full-bodied combination of maple syrup and brown rice syrup that puts corn syrup to shame. It’s also generously spiked with vanilla and ginger, and seasoned with a touch of sea salt to heighten the flavors.

Vegan Pecan Pie Options & Tips

Pie Crust – A few of our favorite dairy-free crust recipes include the Dairy-Free Buttery Pie Crust, Easy Oil Pie Crust, and Pamela’s Gluten-Fee Pie Crust (using a mix). You can also buy premade pie crust in the freezer section of most grocery stores. Many brands are dairy free. We really like Wholly Wholesome, but even Walmart offers some dairy-free pie crusts.
Starch Options – Arrowroot starch is a popular starch for baking, but it can be expensive in stores and is sometimes hard to find. In a pinch, you can substitute non-GMO cornstarch or tapioca starch.
Flaxseed Notes – You might be tempted to buy flaxseed meal instead, but I recommend grinding your own for a few reasons. One is that whole flaxseeds are typically fresher. Once your grind it, flaxmeal becomes rancid more quickly, which could affect the taste of the pie. Two is that freshly ground flaxseeds absorb more liquid than preground flaxmeal. I’ve found that preground meals have already taken on some moisture, so they don’t thicken as well. And finally, it’s harder to accurately measure flaxmeal. Flaxseeds make quite a bit more flaxmeal once ground (3 tablespoons flaxseeds makes closer to 6 tablespoons of flaxmeal), and measuring it isn’t as simple since the flaxmeal can pack down. There’s more margin for error. If you can’t use flaxseeds, ground chia seeds might work, but we haven’t tested it.

Special Diet Notes: Vegan Pecan Pie

By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, peanut-free, optionally soy-free, plant-based, vegan, and vegetarian. See crust options above for gluten-free.

Vegan Pecan Pie

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

45 mins

This is the pecan pie that we serve at our Thanksgiving Day meal. It is as traditional as it gets: rich, thick, and moist, with a great toasted pecan taste.

Author: Chef Eric Tucker

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Serves: 10 servings

Ingredients

2½ cups pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped
¾ cup maple syrup
⅓ cup brown rice syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
¼ teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons flax seeds
1½ teaspoons arrowroot starch
⅓ cup dairy-free milk beverage (Chef Tucker uses soy milk)
1 prebaked 9-inch vegan pie crust (see post above for options)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Place the pecans in a large bowl.
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the maple syrup, rice syrup, vanilla, ginger, and salt. Simmer the mixture for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool to room temperature.
In a spice grinder, grind the flaxseeds to a powder.
In a small bowl, whisk together the milk beverage, flaxseed meal, and starch until the starch is dissolves.
Pour the milky mixture and the syrup mixture into your blender, and blend until smooth.
Pour the liquid from the blender over the pecans and stir well to combine.
Scrape the pecan mixture into your prebaked pie shell and even it out.
Bake the pie for 30 minutes, or until the filling has firmed up.
Let cool completely before slicing.

Notes

This recipe was reprinted with permissions from The Millennium Cookbook by Eric Tucker back in 2007. It has since been updated.