With a juicy fruit mince filling and buttery flaky pie crust, this vegan mince pie recipe makes the ultimate finger food for the holidays. They're eggless, dairy-free, and made without vegetable suet which can be tricky to get a hold of.
Serve them warm with a dollop of non-dairy cream or vanilla ice cream, or just enjoy them as they are, either way, they're irresistibly delicious!
Note: This recipe is made over 2 days for the best possible flavor. The mince filling and pastry are prepared on day 1 and baked on the second day, so a little patience is needed but they are so worth it!
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📚 Do Mince Pies Have Meat?
The traditional mince pie dates back as far as medieval times when it did contain meat, hence the name "mincemeat".
Nowadays, most standard mince pie recipes are made without meat but are still full of animal products. Usually, some form of animal fat like beef suet along with dairy and eggs.
This can make it tricky to find vegetarian mince pies, let alone vegan ones.
For more classic British Christmas desserts check out my vegan sticky toffee pudding, and chocolate biscuit cake.
🧾 Ingredients Needed
Here's everything you need to make this vegan mince pie recipe from scratch:
Ingredient Notes
Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Vegan Butter: Gives the mince filling a rich and thick consistency. As these are made without vegetarian suet, the butter is our vegetable fat acting as a binder for the filling.
- Vegan Pastry: A lot of mince pie recipes call for shortcrust pastry but I much prefer using this vegan buttermilk crust recipe as it's so flaky and crisp.
- Dried Fruits: The recipe calls for raisins, sultanas, and candied orange peel but you can mix and match with other dried fruits like golden raisins, currants, mixed peel, and/or cranberries.
- Flaked Almonds: These add flavor and texture. If you have a nut allergy you can leave them out and replace them with additional dried fruit.
- Green Apple: Preferably a sour type like Granny Smith or Bramley apple.
- Warm Spices: Ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves give them a delicious festive flavor.
- Vegan Brandy: You can also go for vegan port or whiskey, or if you want to make them without alcohol just use juice like apple juice or cranberry juice instead.
And as we're making these mince pies without eggs, some non-dairy milk acts as a simple vegan swap for eggwash.
🔪 Instructions
Mince pie filling is essentially a caramel sauce reduction with dried and fresh fruits and a good glug of brandy of course! You can make the filling a few days in advance but as with the pie crust, I highly recommend making it at least one day ahead of baking to give the flavors a chance to develop.
I recommend making the pie crust a day ahead because chilling it in the fridge creates a flakier result when baked.
Here are step-by-step images showing how to make Christmas mince pies. Please refer to the detailed printable recipe card at the end of this page for full measurements and written instructions:
Day 1: Prep Vegan Mincemeat and Pie Crust
Step 1: Mix all the dried fruit, apple chunks, flaked almonds, brown sugar, orange zest, and juice in a large mixing bowl. Let those mingle together for an hour.
Step 2: Simmer the fruity mincemeat filling and vegan butter for 30-40 minutes until thick and most of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the brandy and mix well to combine, and chill until ready to use (1-3 days).
Day 2: Assemble and Bake the Pies
Step 3: Roll out two-thirds of the chilled dough to 3mm (⅛ of an inch) in height and cut out 15 pastry circles with a cookie cutter.
Step 4: Press them carefully into the muffin tin. Use a spoon or your fingers to press the sides into the tin so that they are slightly higher than the pan.
Step 5: Fill the pies with around 1.5 tablespoons of mincemeat filling to each pie. Brush the edge of each pie with non-dairy milk to help seal on the tops.
Step 6: Roll out the remaining dough cut out 15 pastry discs (3"/7cm) and carefully sit them on top of each pie, pressing down the edges to seal them. Cut a cross on top of the mince pies, then glaze with non-dairy milk, and sprinkle with sugar before baking.
💭 Recipe Tips
Don't overfill your mince pies. Only fill them around three-quarters way full. This helps prevent the filling from bubbling out through the top of the pastry during baking.
If you are stuck for time and literally cannot wait to make these, you can prepare the filling and crust on the day of baking. The flavors just won't be as well balanced in the filling, and the crust won't be as flaky.
Most brandy like Courvoisier and Hennessey is vegan but it's best to check if you're unsure.
To make mince pies with crumble topping simply divide the pie crust between 22-24 bases and top them with streusel topping from my pumpkin crumble pie recipe!
💬 FAQs
Keep them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days, or at room temperature for up to 2 days.
You can freeze them in a sealed container for up to 3 months. Defrost them in the fridge or warm them in the oven before serving.
Yes, you can swap out the brandy for fruit juice like apple, cranberry, or orange.
I do recommend homemade pastry as tastes so much better, but you can take a shortcut here if needed! A lot of storebought pastry like puff pastry is accidentally vegan already, just make sure you check the labels.
🎄 More Vegan Christmas Recipes
📖 Recipe
Vegan Mince Pies With Homemade Mincemeat
Ingredients
- 1 batch vegan pie crust
- 150 g (1 ⅖ cup) granny smith apple approx 1 large apple
- 75 ml (⅓ cup) juice and rind from an orange freshly squeezed
- 100 g (⅔ cup) sultanas or golden raisins
- 100 g (⅔ cup) raisins or currants
- 70 g (½ cup) candied orange peel or candied mixed peel
- 40 g (¼ cup) flaked almonds omit for nut-free option
- 100 g (½ cup) light brown sugar I use light muscovado
- 100 g (½ cup) dark brown sugar I use dark muscovado
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¾ teaspoon ground cloves
- 100 g (½ cup) vegan butter
- 100 ml (⅖ cup) brandy or vegan port or whiskey, *see notes
- 50 ml (⅕ cup) non-dairy milk
- granulated sugar for garnish
Instructions
- I strongly recommend making the pie crust and mincemeat filling in advance (1-3 days) and keeping them in the fridge until the day of baking for the best results. This will ensure the flakiest pastry and the most flavorful vegan mincemeat filling.
- Make the pie crust: Prepare a batch of this pie crust recipe through to step 3, and shape it into a large disc. Wrap the pastry disc in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to chill for at least an hour (overnight or up to 3 days).
- Prepare the fruits: Core the apple and chop it into small cubes. Zest and squeeze the orange.
- Make the vegan mincemeat filling: To a large bowl, add the chopped apple, orange juice and zest, sultanas, raisins, candied orange peel, flaked almonds, light and dark brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Mix well with a spatula until all the ingredients are coated in the juices. Cover and set aside for an hour.
- Add the vegan butter to a medium-large pot and pour the mincemeat filling on top of it. Place over medium heat until simmering gently and stir to combine all the ingredients.Cook on a gentle simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring often, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the apples are soft. Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to cool slightly for 15 minutes.Next, stir in the brandy and mix well to combine. Cover the pot with the lid or transfer the mincemeat to a sealed container and refrigerate for 1-3 days until ready to use.
- Prepare to bake: Preheat your oven to 200°C (392°F).Grease 2 muffin pans with some vegan butter - you may need to bake them in batches depending on how many pans you have. You can also use disposable tin foil cups and arrange them on a baking sheet.
- Roll the dough: Separate ⅓ of the dough and set aside for the lids. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the other ⅔ of the dough to 3mm (⅛ of an inch) in height.Using a fluted or round cutter (4"/10cm) cut out 15 bases and carefully press them into the muffin pans. Use your fingers to press the sides into the tin so that they are slightly higher than the pan.
- Assemble the pies: Add around 1.5 tablespoons of mincemeat filling to each pie, making sure that the filling does not come all the way to the top. Brush the edge of the pies with some non-dairy milk.Roll out the remaining dough and cut out 15 lids (3"/7cm) and carefully sit them on top of each pie. Use your fingers to press the edges down to seal the pies. Cut a cross on top of each pie to allow air out whilst baking, glaze the tops with more non-dairy milk, and generously sprinkle with granulated sugar.
- Bake: For 20-25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. Allow them to come to room temperature before carefully removing them from the pan, use a knife to gently loosen the edges if needed.
- Storage: Keep them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days, or at room temperature for up to 2 days. You can freeze them in a sealed container for up to 3 months. Simply defrost them in the fridge or warm them in the oven before serving.
Notes
- Most brandy like Courvoisier and Hennessey is vegan but it's best to check if you're unsure. (ref. ChooseVeganism.Org)
- For alcohol-free use apple juice, orange juice, or cranberry juice instead of brandy.
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Absolutely yummylicious
So happy you loved them, thanks so much for commenting Cassie!
Hello Christina,
Just a quick note to say THANK YOU for your incredible and always reliable recipes!
I made these mince pies and WAW! The pastry is incredible, the filling perfect, so thank you thank you. I don't comment much but I subscribe to your newsletter and often make a few recipes, especially your cheesecakes which are the best for me! So there you have it, thank you and a very Merry Christmas to you.
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Hi Laura,
You have made my day! Thank you so much for your kind words, I really appreciate it. Happy Christmas x
I think they're the BEST I've ever had and I'll be making them again because my husband LOVES them. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply.