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Looking for a dessert that's a little different this holiday? Try this rich vegan chocolate pumpkin pie that's packed with chocolate and pumpkin flavours and will become a new, welcome addition to your holiday table.
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Not long ago, I made a video to accompany my vegan gluten free pumpkin spice muffins recipe (you can see the video if you click that link!). In the video, I add chocolate chips to the muffins.
When the video was shared on Facebook (on another page, not mine) there was a comment that stood out to me that made me laugh a little.
The person commenting could not wrap her head around using pumpkin and chocolate chips together in a recipe. She thought it was a terrible combination and she thought it would taste awful.
Well, lady, this recipe for chocolaty, pumpkin spicy, vegan chocolate pumpkin pie is definitely not for you! (but I bet if she tried it, she'd love it!)
For the record, I think pumpkin and chocolate go perfectly together. Those muffins I mentioned earlier are a favourite in my home. I've tried to use other add-ins like nuts and raisins, but nope, chocolate chips always win out.
To me, pumpkin and chocolate goes together like chocolate + banana, chocolate + mint, and apples + cinnamon.
Perfection.
How to Make the Crust
(Note: I’ve outlined the step-by-step on how to make this recipe here, but find the full recipe, ingredients, and directions at the end of this post.)
The first thing you'll do is make the crust. It's crust is made with just a few simple ingredients and it's gluten-free.
NOTE: For a nut-free and more traditional pie crust, you can make my vegan gluten-free pie crust or my vegan pie crust instead of this one. Both are delicious, so you can't go wrong!
The main ingredients in the crust are almonds and oats. It's a lightly sweetened crust and even though it seems crumbly, it holds together very well once it's baked.
You'll first grind the oats and almonds, and then mix it with the rest of the ingredients. Then you'll press it into your pie dish, refrigerate for a few minutes and then bake for 15 minutes for it to set.
This crust adds great contrast to the smooth, creamy filling, but if you have a favourite crust you like to make or if you prefer to save some time with a store bought crust, that's okay, just make the filling and go from there. (But, of course, I highly recommend this crust!)
How to Make The Filling
To make the filling, first, you'll melt the chocolate. Once melted, mix together all of the ingredients and then add the melted chocolate to the mixture. That's it!
When you look over the recipe for this vegan gluten free chocolate pumpkin pie (it contains NO tofu, by the way!), you'll notice that it takes 30 minutes to prepare before you get to put it into the oven. This is due to the way the crust is made (I promise, it's not complicated!), but it's so worth it.
It's nice to sit down at your holiday dinner table expecting all of your favourites, but it's also nice to sometimes try something different, too!
If you love pumpkin pie and you love chocolate, then I think this may be your kind of dessert.
The almond oat crust is gluten free (if you use gluten free oats) and adds a nice contrasting texture to the smooth chocolate pumpkin pie filling.
Depending on the type of dark chocolate chips you use, the sweetness of your vegan chocolate pumpkin pie will be based on the percentage of cocoa in your chocolate chips, the higher the percentage, the less sweet it will be. The sweetness may also vary across different brands.
After you make the filling, I recommend giving it a taste test for sweetness. (Another plus to vegan baking, you can taste everything and not have to worry about getting sick from an ingredient that isn't meant to be eaten raw!)
If you find that it's not sweet enough, adjust with more maple syrup. Full details are below in the recipe. I don't like overly sweet desserts, so the 3 tablespoons is enough for me, but you may prefer to add a little bit more, and that's totally fine!
And you may be wondering:
What does a Vegan Chocolate Pumpkin Pie Taste Like?!
It tastes like chocolate pudding collided with pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spices and formed a pie. Simply put, it's rich, chocolaty, and delicious.
Exactly what a holiday dessert should be.
A garnish for your gluten free vegan chocolate pumpkin pie is not needed, it stands very well on its own, but I highly recommend coconut whipped cream to take it over the top.
If You Like This Recipe...
...you may also like these:
- Vegan Pumpkin Pie
- Vegan Gluten Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
- Vegan Gluten Free Pumpkin Spice Muffins
- Vegan Gluten Free Pumpkin Pancakes
- How to Make Homemade Pumpkin Puree
- Pumpkin Pudding
You can help others to find this recipe by pinning it to your recipe board on Pinterest. Click here to pin it now!
Be sure to have a look through all of my other Thanksgiving recipes and Christmas recipes and if you make this one, please share a pic with me on Instagram or tell me about it in the comments below!
Vegan Chocolate Pumpkin Pie
Suggested Equipment:
Ingredients:
For the crust:
- 1 ¼ cup rolled oats (gluten free, if needed)
- 1 ¼ cup raw almonds
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 5 tablespoon melted coconut oil (see note below)
For the pie filling:
- 1 ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 ¾ cup unsweetened pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 3 teaspoon arrowroot starch
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (see note below)
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup unsweetened dairy-free milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoon pure maple syrup (see note below)
- coconut whipped cream (optional, for garnish)
Instructions:
Make the crust:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Add rolled oats, raw almonds, coconut sugar, ground cinnamon, and ground ginger to a food processor or to the dry container of your high speed blender. Blend until ingredients have been broken down into a fine meal.
- Slowly add melted coconut oil and pulse until everything has been combined.
- Put mixture into a 9" pie dish and using your hands or the bottom of a measuring cup, press it evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the dish. Be sure that the thickness is even all around the dish.
- Refrigerate the crust for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes have passed, remove from the fridge and let sit at room temperature for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes have passed, place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven, set aside, and make the filling.
Make the filling:
- Fill a large glass bowl with hot water. Place chocolate chips in a small glass bowl and place it into the hot water bowl. Let sit and stir every few minutes. Replace hot water as needed until chocolate chips have all melted. Set aside.
- Whisk together pumpkin puree, arrowroot starch, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, salt, unsweetened non-dairy milk, vanilla extract, and pure maple syrup until combined.
- Add melted chocolate to the pumpkin mixture and mix until combined.
- Add the pumpkin mixture to the pie crust and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
- Bake for 40 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let cool. It can be served warm or completely cooled and is great served with coconut whipped cream.
Recipe Notes:
- Make sure to use a deep-dish pie plate to make this pie. If you use a smaller dish, you will have extra filling and the baking time will need to be adjusted.
- Either virgin or refined coconut oil can be used in the crust, but note that if you use virgin coconut oil, there will be a slight coconut flavour.
- If you don't have the three separate spices, you can use 1 ¼ teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice.
- After adding the maple syrup to the pumpkin mixture, taste for sweetness and if you prefer it to be a little sweeter, add more maple syrup, 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Homemade pumpkin puree tends to be a little more runny than canned. If you are using homemade puree, bump the arrowroot starch up to 3 ½ teaspoons.
- Cover and store uneaten chocolate pumpkin pie in the fridge. After chilling, it will firm up quite a bit because of the chocolate chips in the filling. It is great served cold and firm but it you prefer for it to be softer, let it come to room temperature before serving again.
- Crust recipe adapted from this Oat Pecan Crust Recipe.
- Calorie count is for 1 of 8 slices and is only to be used as a rough guide. Click here to learn how nutritional info is calculated on this website.
Jane says
Can I use almond flour instead of almonds?
Gwen Leron says
Hi Jane, I'm not sure how well it would work with almond flour. Almond flour is quite fine. The way the almonds are ground down in this recipe is not fine, there are still small pieces, nothing large, but it's definitely not fine like almond flour, so that could cause an issue. If you do end up giving it a try, let me know how it works, and I'm curious now, too. When I try it, I will update the recipe to say if it will work or not. If you don't have almonds, you can use a store-bought pie crust or make your own vegan gluten-free pie crust for this recipe.
Mary Bright says
How would I substitute using natural cocoa powder in place of the 1.25 cups chocolate chips.
Gwen Leron says
Hi Mary! I have not tried making this recipe with cocoa powder, but I can tell you that it would not be a 1 to 1 swap. Since the chocolate chips contain sugar, they help to sweeten the pie filling. Cocoa powder is very bitter and contains no sweetener, so sugar would have to be added in order to compensate. The melted chocolate chips also contribute to the volume of the filling. So all that to say, I don't think it would be an easy switch. Definitely doable, but I have not tried, so I would not be able to direct you confidently. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Donna says
Hi, I made this yesterday and it was amazing. What brand of vegan chocolate chips do you use? I almost grabbed Nestle’s then realized they are not vegan, (Me either), but my friends are. Just curious.
Gwen Leron says
Hi Donna! Glad to hear you liked the pie! I'm not sure where you are, but here in Canada, I usually use President's Choice brand, it's easy to find and their semi-sweet chocolate chips are vegan. If you're in the US or somewhere else, Enjoy life brand chocolate chips are vegan, and there's also Made Good, Kirkland Signature brand from Costco, or you can also check the Whole Foods and Trader Joes brands. The main thing to look for in the ingredient list is milk ingredients. Let me know if you have any more questions, glad to help 🙂
trini_chef says
umm 1 1/4 cup of oats and 1 1/4 cup of almonds? are those right? because I end up with my 9" pie dish pretty much full with crust and it's not thin like the picture above of a slice.?
Gwen Leron says
Hi! Sorry to hear you ran into trouble. Yes, those measurements are correct. What did you use to grind the oats and almonds? The only thing I can think of is that they were not ground down fine enough. Have a look at this recipe for sweet potato pie, I use the same crust in that recipe, but there are some step-by-step images in there to show what the texture of the crust should look like and how it comes together. I hope it helps.
Ricki says
Can I use cocoa powder or dark chocolate chips
Gwen Leron says
Hi Ricki, yes, you can use dark chocolate chips, that is what I use when I make this recipe (they're the same as semi-sweet). Hope that helps, let me know how things go! 🙂
Poonam says
What can I substitute for almond ??
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
Hi there! I have not made the crust with anything but almonds, but I do think that pecans would also work very well. If you try, let me know how it goes! 🙂
Johan says
Hi Gwen
I just found your profile on Instagram and had to come check out this recipe.
I have never used pumpkin and chocolate together in a recipe before, but this looks so good I just have to try it! I am so happy that it is gluten free too!
I think I should make this for my boyfriend, for our upcoming anniversary. I don't have arrowroot starch, do you think I could substitute with tapioca starch?
Thanks!
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
Hi Johan, glad you found my site! I have not tried it with tapioca starch, but since tapioca starch is also used as a thickener in recipes, it should work out just fine (you can also use cornstarch). One thing to note, there is always the chance of cross contamination, so if you need the pie to be 100% gluten free, be be sure that you use a gluten free brand. I hope you and your boyfriend like the chocolate pumpkin pie! 🙂