Oatmeal Pie Crust
Tired of the traditional pie crust? This healthy Oatmeal Pie Crust recipe is easy to make and creates the perfect foundation for your favorite vegan pies. Make it gluten-free or regular, either way, it’s a perfect crispy, flavorful crust.
I love a good pie. I mean, who doesn’t! If I met someone who said they didn’t like pie, I would smile and say something nice, but I’d definitely have my doubts about them.
My good friend Marty used to tell me that when it comes to people, they have to prove that they’re trustworthy. And someone who doesn’t like pie? I feel a little skeptical about them.
OK. So now that we have that ground rule on the table, let’s talk about this tasty oatmeal pie crust. Because even though I love to eat pie, and I love my vegan pie crust, sometimes it’s nice to have a crust that’s a little different. You can make a vegan graham cracker crust, but that requires having some graham crackers on hand.
I may not always have graham crackers on hand, but I do always have oatmeal. Always. That’s just one more thing I love about this simple oatmeal crust recipe.
What You Need
You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe:
- Rolled oats — otherwise known as old-fashioned oats. You can also use instant oats because instant oats are rolled oats cut into a more fine consistency.
- Flour — I recommend all-purpose flour, but for a gluten-free oatmeal pie crust, substitute a good 1:1 gluten-free flour. I have tested this and it works great.
- Ground cinnamon — we’ll use just a pinch of cinnamon to add some flavor!
- Coconut sugar — I love adding coconut sugar because I think it’s a bit healthier and has some great caramel flavor to it. If you don’t have any handy, feel free to substitute granulated sugar.
- Salt — Just a smidge of salt enhances the complexities of flavor.
- Vegan butter — I used Earth Balance and cut the cold butter into little cubes to add to the food processor. This marbleizes the fat throughout the dough, creating a more crispy crust.
- Water — Yep, water. That’s it, nice and simple. I like to add just enough to make the dough workable.
How to Make Oatmeal Pie Crust
- Add oats, flour, cinnamon, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse until a flour-like consistency develops.
- Add vegan butter sliced into cubes. Pulse in short burst marbleize the fat throughout the dough.
- Press into a pie pan, then chill for a few minutes before baking.
- Fill the crust with your favorite pie ingredients.
Step-by-Step Instructions
There’s only a few steps to make this easy oat crust, so let’s get to ’em:
Step One: Place ingredients in a food processor
I used a food processor, but a blender works too. Place the oats, flour, cinnamon, sugar, and salt together in a food processor or blender and pulse until the oats resemble a coarse flour consistency.
You just made oat flour. Impressive! This creates the foundation for our oat flour pie crust.
Step Two: Add Vegan Butter
Next, cut the cold vegan butter into cubes and add that in the food processor with the coarse oat flour mixture. Pulse in short bursts until the vegan butter is broken into bits and distributed throughout the dough.
Add the water, one tablespoon at a time, and pulse until the dough is moist. You should be able to pinch it between your fingers and it holds its shape. If not, add another tablespoon of cold water and pulse again. I find a minimum of 2 tablespoons works best.
Step Three: Press Into Pie Pan and Bake
Press the dough into a prepared pie pan, pressing it up against the sides of the pan. I tried crimping the edges, but it always caused the finished pie crust to crumble. So, I don’t recommend it. Just use your fingers to create a nice, level edge to the edges.
Place the pie pan in the fridge for about 10 to 15 minutes, to allow the crust to chill.
After the pie has chilled. Preheat the oven to 375°F and then bake the crust for 10 to 15 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
Then fill with your favorite pie filling. For these photos, I used the chocolate pie filling from my vegan chocolate pie. It’s so good!
Other Filling Ideas
It’s good to have some pie crust alternatives. Of course, the next step is the filling. What other vegan pie fillings can you add to this tasty little crust? Here are some of my favorites:
Oatmeal Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 1½ cup rolled oats (see note on using instant oats)
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour (or use gluten-free baking flour)
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons coconut sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 5 tablespoons vegan butter , cold
- 3 tablespoons cold water
Instructions
- Generously grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie pan with vegan butter or coconut oil. Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Place oats, flour, cinnamon, sugar, and salt together in a food processor or blender. Pulse until the oats resemble a course flour consistency.
- Cut the cold vegan butter into cubes and add that to the food processor with the course oat flour mixture. Pulse in short bursts until the fat is distributed throughout.
- Add the water, one tablespoon at a time, and pulse until the dough is moist. You should be able to pinch it between your fingers and it holds its shape. If not, add another tablespoon of cold water and pulse again. I find 3 tablespoons works best.
- Press the dough into a pie pan, pressing it up against the sides of the pan. Place the pie pan in the fridge for about 10–15 minutes, to allow the crust to chill.
- After the pie has chilled. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Bake the crust for 10–15 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completey. Then fill with your favorite pie filling.
Recommended Equipment
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Notes
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
My dad found out he was gluten intolerant in his seventies and the switch hasn’t always been easy, but this makes pies so much easier. I will add that you can use quick oats for this recipe. How do I know? To make quick oats, instant oats and oat flour you take old fashioned oats and blend them finer and finer. Since this recipe calls for the oats to be chopped up in a food processor until it reaches a coarse flour, you are basically turning your old fashioned oats into something between instant oats and oat flour.
Hi Teresa! So glad you liked this recipe! And love your point about instant oats. I will add that to the recipe notes too. I just have to send a hug to your dad and how much he must have suffered not realizing he was gluten intolerant until his seventies. But I’m glad he’s got it figured out now! Knowing how to eat for your own body is so important!
Could you just use oat flour for this recipe or would it be too fine? It looks so tasty!
Hi Christine. Great question! I haven’t tried using oat flour with this recipe, but I think it should work, since that’s what we’re doing with the rolled oats!