This easy vegan key lime pie (made with only seven ingredients!) is the perfect light, refreshing dessert on a sunny day. Zesty – yet sweet – creamy vegan lime pie filling complemented by a nutty gluten-free shortcrust pastry. The thought just has me drooling. This key lime pie recipe is healthier than the original and is spectacularly easy to make!
Key lime pie is a dessert very close to my heart. It’s what reignited my love for baking and made me start this very blog!
It was the first week of lockdown in 2020 and the sun was shining in the UK when I stumbled upon this key lime pie by Avant-Garde Vegan. I turned them into mini key lime pies and they were absolutely delightful. So now, two years later, here I am sharing my take on Key Lime Pie.
You’ll only need seven nourishing ingredients to make this easy and healthy key lime pie and you probably already have them in your kitchen!
WHAT IS KEY LIME PIE?
Key Lime Pie is an American dessert Pie that originated in Key West, Florida (hence the name “Key” Lime Pie). It consists of a shortcrust pastry or biscuit crust filled with a deliciously creamy, sweet lime pudding filling and usually has some kind of meringue or whipped cream filling.
How to make A Healthy Key Lime Pie
I love recreating classic desserts and making them more nourishing, so naturally, I had to do a healthy key lime pie!
Let’s start at the bottom: the crust. A traditional Key Lime Pie either has a shortcrust pastry base (made from processed white flour, butter and sugar) or it’s made using biscuits like Biscoff biscuits or graham crackers. The crust in this recipe is made from ground almonds, oatmeal, maple syrup and coconut oil.
The filling usually consists of lime, condensed milk and egg yolks. Whilst this is a perfect combination of sugar, fat and acid – it’s not the best route to take when you’re trying to nourish your body. This dairy-free key lime pie recipe, however, is a lot lower in sugar and the only fat is derived from a coconut!
And lastly, key lime pie is usually topped off with meringue or whipped cream. I’ve not added any to my recipe as I don’t find that it necessarily needs it.
DISCLAIMER: I am not saying you should eliminate these foods from your diet, I am simply showing you how you can make a delicious key lime pie that nourishes your soul AND your body! If you would like to make a classic Key Lime Pie with all the frills, try this Easy Key Lime Pie Recipe.
INGREDIENTS:
You only need seven ingredients – you probably already have them in your kitchen just begging you to be turned into a delicious key lime pie!
Ground Almonds: (also known as Almond Meal) Almonds are naturally gluten-free and make a delicious pie crust! Whilst they are high in fat, they also contain a good amount of protein, fibre and magnesium!
Oat Flour: This is simply blended oatmeal! You could buy oat flour from most health food stores or make your own by simply blending oats into a fine powder.
Coconut Oil: Whilst the conversation on whether coconut oil is better than butter is a heated one, I love coconut oil for its flavour and the fact that it is lower in cholesterol than butter.
Agave: Agave is an unrefined sugar that I love using instead of processed sugar. This adds a bit of sweetness to the crust and filling to counteract and balance the tartness of the limes.
Coconut Milk: This is a naturally vegan ingredient that is filled with nutrients – make sure you use tinned coconut milk (preferably the full-fat kind). You can find this in almost any grocery store.
Limes: Traditionally Key Lime Pie is made using Key Limes however, these limes are pretty hard to find in England so for now, regular shop-bought limes will suffice. Make sure to use ripe limes!
Cornstarch: Also known as Corn Flour, is a naturally gluten-free starch derived from corn kernels (who would have thought!). This ingredient is used to thicken sauces, gravies and in this instance: key lime pie filling!
Matcha: This is optional as it’s mainly used to make the key lime pie green!
Ingredient Substitutions:
Ground Almonds: You can use a different type of ground nut if you like, I recommend ground walnuts or tiger nuts. You can also use Almond Flour.
Coconut Oil: Feel free to use butter or any other oil!
Agave: If you don’t have agave you can substitute it with Maple Syrup, Honey or Sugar-Free syrup.
How to make Vegan Key Lime Pie
Gluten-free shortcrust pastry
To make gluten-free shortcrust pastry, all you need to do is combine the ground almonds, melted coconut oil and agave. The mixture should be wet, not crumbly.
Use your fingers to press the mixture into a baking tin with a loose base lined with some parchment paper. Evenly spread the crust over the bottom of the tin and then press it against the sides to create a crust. You could alternatively just have a flat base without the edges.
Once your crust is baked you may find that it has puffed up in some areas. Simply use a spatula to press down the crust so that it is more compact.
Dairy-free and Eggless Key Lime Pie Filling
Simply add all of your filling ingredients into a saucepan and whisk until smooth. You need to make sure that there are no lumps of cornstarch or matcha powder. Once smooth, heat on low-medium heat stirring regularly.
It should only take around 10 minutes to thicken, so you can do this whilst your crust is in the oven! The mixture will have noticeably thickened, but it will still be runny, it will set more in the fridge. See the video in this post to see the consisitency.
Next: Pour the filling mixture into your pie crust. You can place a sheet of clingfilm or parchment paper over the top as it might form a thickened layer on top. Leave to cool at room temperature for around 10 minutes before popping it in your freezer for a couple of hours to set.
Add some lime zest onto your lime pie before serving!
faq
Yes, you can! You will see in my recipe video that I actually use a spring-form cake tin! It won’t have the classic pie ridges that you get from using a pie tin, but it still does a very good job.
Limes are ripe when they go from dark green to a lighter green and they should be squeezable – if your limes are hard when you squeeze them they are probably not ripe yet! Luckily most shop-bought limes are already ripe! Before slicing the lime, I recommend rolling it on a flat surface with your palm to loosen up the juices.
You can keep the pie in the fridge for up to a week, slice it up and store it in an air-tight container.
Yes, you can. Simply place the sliced pie into a freezer-safe container and keep it there until you want to serve it. Leave it to thaw in the fridge for a few hours. This lasts for three months in the freezer.
You can make a traditional meringue topping, or serve it with some vegan whipped cream or even some coconut yoghurt (my personal favourite!)
Looking for more fruity desserts? Try these:
BAKING IN GRAMS
All of the recipes I create are tried and tested a few times until it has been perfected. My goal is to develop recipes that are simple to make and easy to follow so that anyone can make them – even if you’ve never baked before!
One very important thing that will ensure that you get the best results is to measure your ingredients by weight! I recommend purchasing a kitchen scale, they are very affordable and it will honestly change your baking game for good! Not all measuring cups are made equally – for example, a cup of flour to me weighs 120g, but for you, it may be anywhere between 100g and 200g – that’s a BIG difference!
If you don’t have a kitchen scale yet, you can use this Ingredient Weight Chart as a guideline to convert the ingredients to help you!
Now – dust your apron off and get baking! X
Hey! If you make this recipe, I would love it if you could leave me some feedback and a rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in the comment section at the bottom of the page! Also let me know on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts and see your photos!
Easy Vegan Key Lime Pie (gluten-free)
Equipment
- 7 inch Springform Cake Tin or Pie Tin
- Saucepan
Ingredients
Gluten-Free Shortcrust Pastry
- 120 g Ground Almonds (1.5 cup)
- 60 g Oat Flour (⅔ cup)
- 2 tbsp Agave or Maple Syrup
- 2 tbsp Coconut Oil, melted
- A pinch of salt
Vegan Key Lime Pie Filling
- 1 tin Full-Fat Coconut Milk 400ml
- 80 g Agave or Maple Syrup (¼ cup)
- 2 Limes zest and juice
- 30 g Cornflour (3 tbsp)
- 1 tsp Matcha optional
Instructions
Gluten-Free Shortcrust Pastry
- Preheat your oven to 180°C / 350°F / 160°C fan and grease a springform cake tin or pie tin.
- Add all of your crust ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix until combined. The mixture should be quite wet.
- Press the mixture into your tin, making sure there are no holes or cracks. Press the crust up around the edges to create a pie shell.
- Bake for 10 minutes until golden brown.
Vegan Key Lime Pie Filling
- Add all of your filling ingredients to a saucepan and whisk until smooth.
- Heat on low-medium heat, stirring regularly to avoid burning. Stir until thickened – this should take around 10 minutes.
- Pour the filling into your baked pie crust then cover the top with some clingfilm or parchment paper to avoid a film forming on top.
- Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until set.
- Top with lime zest and whipped cream or coconut yoghurt.
Video
Notes
- See blog post content for ingredient substitutions and more baking tips!
Such an incredible key lime pie recipe! Everyone was asking for the recipe!
Thank you so much Katie! Key Lime Pie is such a classic summer dessert that always hits the spot!
Hello, I was wondering if there is a substitute for the oat flour for the crust, since I have a dietary sensitivity to oats. Thank you!
Hey Katie! Thank you for checking out my key lime pie recipe. You can use plain flour or gluten-free plain flour (all-purpose) if you’re gluten-free. That should work just fine.