It doesn’t get cozier than vegan pot pie. It is loaded with carrots, onions, celery, peas, and chicken-style seitan. Then it’s bundled up in a creamy cashew sauce.
This holiday-worthy dinner got a whole lot easier since it’s made with store-bought frozen crusts! And yes, there’s a top and bottom crust for maximum yum factor.
Vegan & gluten-free option.
One of my favorite dishes to bring to holiday get-togethers is pot pie.
It’s instantly recognizable to people who may be unfamiliar with plant-based dishes. And you just can’t argue with delicious!
This decadent pot pie is made with seitan and veggies in a luxuriously creamy cashew filling. Perfect for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and winter dinner parties.
In this post:
Why readers love this recipe
“Absolutely AMAZING! I had been craving pot pie and hadn’t had it in years. My mom made it for me in the winter, and now it’s a family favorite with everyone – even non vegans! Yum!!” – Rosalyn
Frozen crusts are an easy shortcut
At the holidays, people are plenty busy without adding dough-making to the list. So this simple pot pie recipe saves a step by using frozen pie crust.
(Thanks to reader, Janis, for the suggestion!)
Frozen crusts usually come two to a pack. So you get both a top & bottom crust out of it. That makes it doubly cozy!
FYI: You don’t need to thaw the pie crust until you’re ready to start cooking!
Frozen crust doesn’t take long to thaw. So as soon as you’re ready to cook, pull the frozen crusts out of the freezer, and put them on the counter. By the time you are ready to fill them, they will be thawed.
Prefer to serve the pot pie in a nicer pie plate? After you take the crust out of the freezer, move it to a standard pie plate within the first half hour or so, and it will still hold its shape. For a crisp crust, use a metal pie pan, not ceramic.
Chicken-style seitan
This vegan pot pie recipe is made with chicken-style seitan, which adds a wonderful chewy quality. It’s reminiscent of the chicken pot pies I grew up eating.
Here are ideas for the chicken-style filling:
- 1 ½ cups of homemade seitan chicken, chopped in bite-sized pieces
- 8-ounce package of store-bought seitan, like Upton’s Naturals traditional or Herbivorous Butcher
- Tofurky plant-based chick’n
- 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, Great Northern beans, or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
Step by step instructions
This section shows how to make this recipe at a glance with process photos of the steps. For complete ingredient amounts & instructions, keep scrolling to the recipe card below.
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Then pull a double pack of frozen pie crusts out of the freezer to thaw. Put them on the counter.
Then make cashew cream by blending raw cashews and water in a high-speed blender.
Note: If you don’t have a high speed blender, you’ll need to help your standard blender. Get workarounds in the FAQ or notes section of the recipe card.
2. Sauté onions, garlic, and spices in a soup pot.
3. Add water, vegetable bouillon, carrots, potatoes, green peas, seitan, and salt. Cover and cook for 7 minutes, until the potato has softened slightly.
4. Add the cashew cream from the blender, stir, and cook for another 5 minutes. Then remove the filling mixture from the heat. Allow it cool for 30 minutes before adding it to the pie crust. (Adding hot filling to the pie crust can make the pie soggy.)
5. Once cool, carefully ladle the pot pie filling into the bottom pie crust in its tin.
6. Take the second pie crust, and invert it over the top of the pie. Pull off the tin from the top crust. Then carefully pull at the crust to lay lightly over the top.
If the top crust has any tears, dab your fingers into aquafaba (chickpea liquid) or water. Then use your moistened fingers to smooth out the tears.
Remove any excess crust from the top. Press the tines of a fork along the edges of the crust all the way around to secure the top and bottom crusts.
Then dab your fingers into chickpea liquid or water (or use a pastry brush if you prefer), and add a very light coating to the top of the pie.
Cut a few slits into the top of the pie to act as air vents, so that steam can escape while cooking.
Put the pie onto a baking sheet. It will catch any filling that may bubble over. It also makes it easier for putting the pie into and out of the oven. (The aluminum pie tin is a little wobbly otherwise.)
Bake on the bottom rack for 30 minutes. (If it’s not brown enough on top, bake for up to 15 minutes more.)
The pie interior will be bubbling hot when you remove it from the oven. So wait at least 15 or 20 minutes before slicing into it. The longer you wait to slice into it, the firmer the filling will be.
Make it your own
You can make this recipe your own by varying the ingredients or amounts.
- Replace onions with leeks or shallots
- Replace water + bouillon with 1 ½ cups of vegetable broth or vegetable stock in the filling
- Replace Russet potatoes with yellow potatoes or sweet potatoes
- Replace any of the veggies with an equal amount of corn, green beans, mushrooms, or cauliflower
- Replace vegan chicken with Great Northern beans, cannellini beans, or chickpeas
- Instead of brushing the tops with aquafaba, brush with olive oil, melted vegan butter, or liquid Just Egg
- Instead of making a full-sized pot pie, make mini vegetable pot pies
Serving ideas
Since pot pie is filled with plant protein and veggies in a hearty crust, it could be a fill meal on its own. But it’s even better with a vegetable side dish.
Here are some serving suggestions:
FAQ
There are a surprising amount of vegan options these days when it comes to pie crusts. Check out the frozen section of your favorite co-op, natural grocery store, or the health market of your mainstream grocery store.
I picked mine up at Natural Grocers. The crusts I used are from Wholly Wholesome. The 9 inch crusts come two to a pack. (By the way, they also have a gluten-free vegan pie crust. Although, I’ve never tried it. )
There are lots of options. Just read the ingredient labels to find a crust that will work for you.
If you don’t have a high speed blender, you’ll need to help your standard blender. You can either soak the raw cashews for several hours ahead of time, then drain the cashews before continuing with the recipe.
Or grind the dry raw cashews in a clean coffee grinder until they become like a flour. Put the ground cashews into your blender. Then continue the recipe as written.
Aquafaba is what vegans use instead of egg wash. It helps the crust to brown.
Yes! If you’d prefer to keep this vegan pot pie gluten free, just use gluten-free pie crusts. Then opt for 1 ½ cups of chickpeas or Great Northern beans instead of seitan. Your call!
If you’re taking your pot pie to a holiday potluck or gathering, I recommend using a 9×9 insulated carrier.
After you pull the pot pie out of the oven, give the dish about five minutes to cool before handling. Then move it to an insulated carrier.
When I’ve used an insulated carrier for my pot pie, it has stayed nice and warm even after a two hour car ride!
If you try this recipe and love it, let me know! Leave a comment and ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the comment section below. It truly makes my day and is such a help!
📖 Recipe
Vegan chicken pot pie
Ingredients
- 2 (9-inch) frozen pie crusts
- ¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons raw cashews soaked if necessary
- 2 cups water divided
- ½ teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup chopped onion in medium pieces
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup sliced celery
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- 1 vegetable bouillon cube or 1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon no chicken base
- ½ cup thinly sliced carrots cut into coins
- 1 medium Russet potato about 6 ounces, chopped in small to medium pieces
- ½ cup green peas fresh or frozen
- ½ to ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups chopped seitan chicken or an 8-ounce package of seitan
- Aquafaba** liquid from can of chickpeas or olive oil, to use as vegan egg wash on top of pie crust
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Take the frozen pie crusts out of the freezer, and put them on the counter to thaw.
- Make the cashew cream. Put the raw cashews into a high-speed blender with ½ cup of water. Blend until it is completely smooth, a thick cashew cream. Set aside.(See standard blender instructions in the notes below.)
- Bring a soup pot to a medium heat with extra virgin olive oil. Saute onion in oil for about 5 minutes, until it has softened slightly and is fragrant.
- Add garlic, celery, dried rosemary, dried basil, and saute for for a minute more.
- Add remaining 1 ½ cups water, vegetable bouillon cube (or Better Than Bouillon), carrots, potato, green peas, ½ teaspoon salt, and seitan chicken. Bring to a simmer. Then lower heat, cover, and cook for 7 minutes, until the potato has softened slightly.
- Add cashew cream from blender and cook for 5 minutes more over a low medium heat, so that the cashew cream can reduce slightly and flavors can combine. Stir occasionally. Taste for salt. Add the remaining ¼ teaspoon, if necessary. But keep in mind, the filling will continue to condense while it bakes.
- Remove the filling mixture from the heat. Allow it cool for 30 minutes before adding it to the pie crust. (Adding hot filling to the pie crust can make the pie soggy.)
- Use a ladle to put the filling into one of the crusts. Then take the second crust and invert it over the top of the bottom crust. Remove the tin from the second crust. Gently pull the top crust, so that it lightly lays evenly over the bottom one. If the top crust has any tears, dab your fingers into aquafaba (chickpea liquid) or water. Then use your moistened fingers to smooth out the tears.
- Remove any excess crust from the top crust. Press the tines of a fork along the edges of the crust all the way around to secure the top and bottom crusts. Then dab your fingers into chickpea liquid or olive oil (or use a pastry brush if you prefer), and add a very light coating to the top of the pie. (Aquafaba is what vegans use instead of egg wash. It helps the crust to brown.)
- Cut a few slits into the top of the pie. They will be air vents, so that steam can escape while cooking.
- Put the pie onto a baking sheet. It will catch any filling that may bubble over. It also makes it easier for putting the pie into and out of the oven. (The aluminum pie tin is a little wobbly otherwise.)
- Bake on the bottom rack for 30 minutes. If it doesn't look brown enough on top, bake for up to 15 more minutes.
- The pie interior will be bubbling hot when you remove it from the oven. So wait at least 15 or 20 minutes before slicing into it. The longer you wait, the firmer the filling will be when you slice into it.
Shirley Leger
I was wondering if you could make suggestions for substitutions for all those who are allergic to nuts and or seeds. Thanks
Cadry Nelson
Happy to!
The usual way of making a pot pie is to make a gravy-style sauce. I’m going a little off book by thickening with cashew cream instead. So to avoid nuts, I’d recommend going back to the standard method of using flour as a thickener.
Saute onions, garlic, and celery until fragrant. Then add dried rosemary, dried basil, carrots, potato, green peas, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and seitan. Give that a couple minutes. Then add 1 1/2 to 2 cups of vegetable broth and around 1/4 cup all-purpose flour. Stir until the gravy has thickened and until the potato has softened slightly.
The flour is less prone to clumping if you let it dissolve in a separate bowl with some of the broth before adding it to the hot pot or skillet. Give it a good stir with a fork or whisk before adding.
Finally, add about 1/4 cup of soy milk or oat milk for added creaminess.
I haven’t tested the recipe this way, so you may have to play with it a bit to get it just right for you. Let me know how it goes!
Susan
I made this earlier this week for a mixed group of omnis and vegetarians and it was a HUGE success – incredibly delicious, creamy pot pie filling. But I have to admit I HEAVILY modified the recipe, and it didn’t matter one bit: I added potatoes and mushrooms and increased the quantity of the other veggies because I love potatoes and mushrooms in chik’n pot pie and because I wanted it to serve at least 6. I also used soy curls instead of seitan, because I bought them a few weeks ago and am experimenting with how to use them. They worked really well in this recipe! Finally, I am making a savory hot water crust pie for the vegans at this year’s Thanksgiving, so to practice I made a hot water crust for this pot pie and made 6 individual pies using a giant muffin tin, and used the rest of the filling and crust with a small loaf pan. Anyway, they came out great! Thanks for the delicious recipe.
Cadry Nelson
That’s excellent, Susan! I’m delighted that you and your guests enjoyed the pot pies. I love that you took the recipe as a launching point & tweaked to your tastes. Potatoes and mushrooms sound like delicious additions! Thanks for the great review!
Adam
I tried this as written, including the Organic Wholly Wholesome pre-made pie crusts and the referenced brand/flavor of seitan — and it came out great! First time I’ve made anything on my own that required a crust, so pre-made was definitely a bonus. 🙂 Right alongside this though I made a second one with the Wholly Wholesome gluten free crust (organic version not found, but still vegan), using chopped-up Quorn nuggets as an alternate faux meat because hey, let’s see what that’s like! Things I learned:
1) The gluten-free crust was wet and gooey when thawed and so it was not possible to remove it from the pie tin in any coherent shape. I had already made up the stuff to put in it though and it was time to move on to other things I was supposed to be cooking so in the spirit of “what have I got to lose?” I (should I be confessing this?) just left it in the tin and put in atop the other, now-filled bottom half and pushed the edges together, and then cut slits in the bottom of the pie tin on the top. After 20 minutes I checked and found the top tin came right off, and although I didn’t put any olive oil or aquafaba on top of that one it actually browned a little more than the regular/non-gluten-free pot pie.
2) The chopped-up Quorn nuggets soaked up the liquid way more than the contents of the other pot pie, so the filling was more like a paste to start with — but no harm done to the final product, it worked well.
3) Somewhere during the cooking process I read the Quorn label more closely and learned that while some Quorn products are vegan, this one was not. No meat, but some egg-based components. D’oh! So although the final product was good, it wasn’t what I was aiming for — and, the seitan version definitely tasted better anyway.
Adam
Minor clarification re: “After 20 minutes I checked and found the top tin came right off” — that’s after 20 minutes of cooking in the oven.
Cadry
Thanks for the newsy review, Adam! That’s some good intel on the gluten free crust. I haven’t tried that one, so I’m glad to hear about your experience. I’m glad you enjoyed the pot pies!
Katherine Emerson
Merry Christmas Cadry,
Is there an alternative to using cashews? I am allergic to nuts. Thank you.
Katherine
Cadry
Merry Christmas to you as well, Katherine! The usual way of making a pot pie is to make a gravy. I’m going a little rogue by thickening with cashew cream instead. So to avoid nuts, I’d go back to the standard way and use flour as a thickener.
So you’d saute onions, garlic, and celery until fragrant. Then add dried rosemary, dried basil, carrots, potato, green peas, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and seitan. Give that a couple minutes. Then add 1 1/2 to 2 cups of vegetable broth and around 1/4 cup all-purpose flour. Stir until the gravy has thickened and until the potato has softened slightly.
The flour is less prone to clumping if you let it dissolve in a separate bowl with some of the broth before adding it to the hot pot or skillet. Give it a good stir with a fork or whisk before adding.
You could also replace some of the broth with soy milk for added creaminess.
I haven’t tested the recipe this way, so you may have to play with it a bit to get it just right for you. Let me know how it goes!
Terry
This was easy and deeeelish!!! Everyone loved it! I will definitely be making this again!!
Cadry
I’m so happy to hear that, Terry! Thanks for letting me know!
rosalyn
absolutely AMAZING! i had been craving pot pie and hadnt had it in years, my mom made it for me in the winter and now its a family favorite with everyone! even non vegans! yyuumm!!
Cadry
I’m so delighted to hear that, Rosalyn! That was so nice of your mom to make it for you, and I’m thrilled it was a hit all around. Thanks for letting me know! 🙂
Teri
Tried this at Christmas. Delish!
Cadry
Thanks, Teri! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Shell
Brilliant! I tried to make a pie recently and the crust was the most painful part of the process..and it didn’t turn out. This would make the process much more enjoyable!
Cadry
Oh, wow! I’m so surprised that you made a pie. What was the occasion? I’m lucky to have a pie maker in the house. And when he’s busy, frozen pie crust to the rescue!
Becky Striepe
This looks amazing, Cadry! I love that you used a frozen crust to save time. I’m all about a no-stress holiday.
Cadry
Agreed! Might as well make it easy on ourselves. There’s enough to do!
Dianne
I haven’t had potpie in forever, and it used to be one of my favorites. Making it at home always seems so daunting, but I love how easy you’ve made it with the pre-made pie crust. I can’t wait to try it!
Cadry
Oh, if pot pie used to be one of your favorites, you’re going to love this. I’m excited for you to try it! And with pre-made pie crust, it doesn’t get much easier. 🙂
David
Having just had some of this pot pie for lunch, I can attest that it is delicious indeed! 🙂
Cadry
I’m glad to hear it!!
Debra Maslov
Thank you Cadry for another great recipe! I love the idea of using 2 frozen pie crusts – easy & clever! Happy Thanksgiving!
Cadry
Thanks, Debra! When a person isn’t feeling like making pie crust from scratch, it’s an easy workaround. Happy Thanksgiving to you too!!