Vegans have a heck of a time finding appropriate pie crusts that actually taste good. This recipe is both flaky and able to brown nicely (especially with a nice nondairy milk glaze!). Try this recipe the next time you have lots of quickly-ripening fruit that you have to use up!

Easy vegan pie crust

1 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup boiling water
2 cups all-purpose flour

Place the shortening in a deep mixing bowl that is heat-safe (thick glass or wood work best). Make sure the water is fully boiled, and then pour over shortening, stirring until the shortening is all melted and mixture is thicker, 3-5 minutes. Gently stir in flour, only mixing until just blended. Cover bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour.

To assemble pies, roll the pastry out on a floured board and line the bottom of the pie plate(s) with the pastry or cut out 4″ rounds of the pastry to line muffin tins for tarts. If the pastry needs to be trimmed, do that once the pie filling is in the pie shell, as it will weigh down the pastry a bit and might move it around.

Tip: When working with a large sheet of rolled pastry for full-sized pies, a tip to make it easier to lift onto the pie plate is to fold it over in half first and then quarters. Lift the newly-folded wedge into one edge of the pie plate, and then unfold the quarters to cover the rest of the pan.

For a double-crusted pie or tart, once the filling is in the pies or tarts, cover the top with pastry—either fully sealing the filling in or placing a slightly-too-small round on the top for a more rustic look. I like to leave a bit of filling peeking out on the sides, especially for tarts. For better browning, brush the tops of the pies with nondairy milk. Seal the top crust, if doing a full crust, and cut slits in the top to help steam escape. For a single-crust pie, eliminate this whole step, as they don’t have a top crust at all!

Tip: When filling tarts, be sure not to over-fill, as the sweet filling may bubble over the edge during baking and cement onto the pan! It can make it nearly impossible to get the tarts out of the muffin tins!

Bake pies according to the recipe’s instructions, until the crust is golden brown and the filling is starting to bubble through the slits in the crust.

This pastry makes it pretty simple to make the most of your fresh fruit or even fruit scraps like in my homemade mincemeat pie filling. What would you use this vegan pastry for? Let us know in the comments!