This Vegan Peanut Butter Pie with coconut milk doesn’t use tofu or vegan cream cheese. It’s a healthy vegan peanut butter mousse pie with a creamy chia seed peanut butter filling and crunchy, no-bake chocolate almond crust. Bonus, this healthy peanut butter pie is keto-friendly, using sugar-free Monk fruit sweetener.
We love eating no-bake vegan desserts like my No-Bake Brownies, Healthy Fruit Pizza, or No-Bake Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake Bars. But sometimes, we like a classic peanut butter pie. And, of course, it needs to be no-bake!
What’s Vegan Peanut Butter Pie?
Most vegan peanut butter pies use tofu or vegan cream cheese in their filling. While both options are tasty, some people may not like soy flavor in their desserts, or you might struggle to find vegan cream cheese at the store.
So this peanut butter pie without cream cheese is your option!
Ingredients and Substitutions
It is a straightforward healthy peanut butter pie recipe made with only a few ingredients.
You will love the combination of peanut butter and chocolate crust. Let’s see the ingredients you need to make this recipe. The ingredients should be sticky and easy to bring together but not wet. You need for the crust:
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – For a strong chocolate flavor, use good quality powder. If you can’t find unsweetened cocoa, you will need to reduce the quantity of maple syrup to avoid an overly sweet taste.
- Almond Flour or almond meal – if you are concerned about eating raw flour, read my article about the raw flours that are safe to eat.
- Coconut Oil – Coconut oil is solid at room temperature. You can also use cocoa butter, but no vegetable oil.
- Maple Syrup – This bring the sweetness in the crust. You can swap it for coconut nectar, agave syrup, or brown rice syrup.
- Vanilla Extract – For flavor.
Peanut Butter Mousse Filling
- Natural Peanut Butter – Make sure you use fresh, natural peanut butter, no added oil, no added sugar. If you are allergic to peanuts, you can use almond butter, cashew butter, or sunflower seed butter.
- Chia Seeds – That’s the magic healthy ingredient that adds such a creamy pudding-like texture to the pie filling.
- Liquid Sweetener – Maple syrup or brown rice syrup, or Monk fruit syrup if you are on a keto diet.
- Coconut Milk – Canned coconut milk with no additives. This is slightly thicker than the beverage version, as a result, if you swap coconut milk for almond milk or oat milk, you’d have to increase the quantity of canned coconut cream.
- Canned Coconut Cream – Full fat or low fat as you like. This brings most of the consistency in the filling.
- Unrefined Coconut Oil – Or refined if you don’t like coconut flavor much.
How To Make Vegan Peanut Butter Pie
This pie takes a few steps to make, but it’s totally worth it!
- Begin by using a pastry brush to coat a 9-inch round pie pan with a removable bottom with melted coconut oil. This step facilitates the easy removal of the crust, especially after baking. Set the prepared pan aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine almond flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, melted coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Use your hands to knead the ingredients together for about 90 seconds, ensuring a thorough mix.
- Squeeze the ingredients well to create a consistent and sticky pie dough. While there’s no need to form a ball since it’s a press-in crust, it’s crucial to achieve a consistent and sticky dough.
- Transfer the dough into the prepared pan and press it evenly to cover the entire surface. Avoid leaving any holes, as they may cause cracking during baking. Use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface, and consider watching a recipe video for a demonstration of the technique.
- Bake the crust at 350°F (180°C) for 15-20 minutes, or if you prefer a raw pie, freeze it for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, proceed to prepare the peanut butter filling.
- For the peanut butter filling, place all the ingredients in a blender and blend at high speed until a thick, sticky paste is formed. If the mixture is too thick and challenging to blend, add a splash more of coconut milk, up to 1/4 cup, blending between each addition.
- If you baked the crust, allow the pie to cool for 15 minutes in the pan, then release it easily by pushing the removable bottom. You may need to loosen the sides of the crust with the tip of a sharp knife to ensure a smooth unmolding process.
- Once the crust is at room temperature, pour the peanut butter filling into the pie crust. If the crust was frozen for a no-bake option, pour the filling immediately, even if the crust is very cold.
- Spread the peanut butter filling evenly onto the pie crust and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Decorate the chilled pie with pieces of vegan dark chocolate and a drizzle of fresh peanut butter and melted dark chocolate.
Decorating Vegan Peanut Butter Pie
This vegan chocolate peanut butter pie is even better with some healthy toppings. I recommend the vegan toppings below:
- Melted Chocolate – melt 1/4 cup of chocolate chips with 1 teaspoon of coconut oil and drizzle all over the pie.
- Peanut Butter – melt 1/4 cup peanut butter with 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil and drizzle on top.
- Peanuts – sprinkle roasted peanuts on top of the mousse.
- Dark Chocolate – finely chop the dark chocolate and sprinkle it on top to add some crunch.
- Coconut Whipped Cream – whip some canned coconut cream and add a dollop on top of each slice before serving. You can also make my Vegan Whipped Cream.
Storage Instructions
This peanut butter pie can be stored in the fridge in a sealed cake box for up to 4 days. You can also make ahead a healthy vegan dessert and freeze the whole pie or slices.
Make sure you freeze the pie in an airtight box to prevent the top from changing in color. Thaw the pie in the fridge the day before serving and decorate just before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course, if you miss the crunchy crust of your old classic pie with an Oreo crust, this crust bakes in 15 minutes and gets as crunchy as the original.
This vegan peanut butter pie has a soft, chocolaty crust with fluffy peanut butter mousse.
It tastes like the store-bought peanut butter pie you used to buy from the bakery, except it’s better for you, as it is gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, healthy, and raw!
If you want to make this pie even healthier, almond butter is a great option.
It contains less saturated fat and fewer carbs.
However, almond butter is not as smooth as peanut butter, and it adds a slightly gritty texture to the mousse.
More Healthy Vegan Desserts
If you love gluten-free, vegan dessert recipes, I recommend trying my recipe below, including my vegan chocolate mousse pie!
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Vegan Peanut Butter Pie
Ingredients
Chocolate almond crust
- 2 cups Almond Flour
- ¼ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- ¼ cup Coconut Oil - melted
- ¼ cup Maple Syrup - or brown rice syrup
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Peanut butter filling
- 1 cup Peanut Butter (Unsalted) - creamy, fresh, no added oil, no added sugar
- 2 tablespoons Chia Seeds
- ⅓ cup Maple Syrup - or brown rice syrup
- 1 ¼ cup Coconut Milk - at room temperature not cold (or plant-based milk of choice)
- ⅓ cup Coconut Cream - at room temperature, not cold
- ¼ cup Coconut Oil - lukewarm not burning hot
Instructions
- The crust can be unbaked or baked. For a crispy crust, bake the crust and preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Using a pastry brush, brush some melted coconut oil all over a 9-inch round pie pan with removable bottom (this makes it easier to unmold the crust, especially if you bake it!). Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add almond flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, melted coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
- Use your hands to knead the ingredients together for about 90 seconds. Squeeze well all ingredients to bring them in contact and create a sticky pie dough. You don't have to form a ball as it's a press-in crust but make sure the dough is consistent and sticky.
- Bring the dough into the pan and press in the dough to cover the entire pan. Make sure you don't leave holes, or it will crack in those areas when baked. Use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface. I recommend watching my recipe video below to see my technique to get the crust pretty in a second.
- Bake the crust for 15-20 minutes at 350°F (180°C) or freeze it for 10 minutes if you prefer your pie raw. Meanwhile, prepare the peanut butter filling.
- In a blender, add all the peanut butter filling ingredients. Blend at high speed until it forms a thick sticky paste. If it is too thick and hard to blend, add a splash more of coconut milk up to 1/4 cup. Always blend between each addition.
- If you bake the crust, remove the pie from the oven and cool down for 15 minutes in the pan, then push the removable bottom to release the pie crust easily. You may have to loosen the sides of the crust with the tip of a sharp knife to make sure it unmold without breaking on the sides.
- When the crust is at room temperature, pour the peanut butter filling into the pie crust. If you freeze the crust to make a no-bake peanut butter pie, take the pie out of the freezer and pour the filling immediately. That is ok if the crust is very cold.
- Spread evenly the peanut butter filling onto the pie crust.
- Refrigerate 30 minutes then decorate with pieces of vegan dark chocolate and a drizzle of fresh peanut butter and melted dark chocolate.
Storage
- Store the pie in the fridge for up to 4 days in a cake box to prevent the top from drying out.
- If you didn't bake the crust, you can freeze the whole pie, or slices, in an airtight container and defrost for a few hours before serving. Serve half-frozen or cold.
Notes
- Use brown rice syrup to reduce the amount of sugar to 5.5g per slice and create a low GI dessert.
- Use monk fruit syrup if you are on a keto vegan diet to decrease sugar and carbs.
It looks amazing! I was wondering if I can use something else instead of the coconut cream.
Thanks 🙂
This looks soo good! And l can’t wait it to make it! But I was wondering if l can use almond butter instead of peanut butter?
Yes you can but almond butter is a bit dryer and gritty so your filling won’t be as creamy smooth. Enjoy, XOXO Carine
Sure, you can use something lower in fat too like more coconut milk or unsweetened almond milk! Enjoy the treat, XOXO Carine.
Hi! I’m thinking of using almond milk instead of coconut cream. Do I still use 1/3 of a cup of almond milk like I would if it was coconut cream, or would I use a different quantity?
It should work with the same amount but the filling will be runnier as coconut cream us thick and dense. Enjoy, XOXO Carine