Description
If there’s a pie that you need to try this holiday season, it’s this vegan ube pie! No holiday is complete without a pie, and this is the perfect dessert to add to your holiday dinner table. It’s creamy and custardy, with delicious notes of vanilla and pistachio. This pie will make a statement, and everyone will be raving about it.
TOP TIP! It’s best to make this pie a day before you are planning to serve it, as it needs time to cool and set in the fridge.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 lb (454g) – frozen ube, thawed the night before (purple yam not potatoes!)
- 1 cup (200g) – sugar
- 3/4 cup (175g) – full-fat coconut milk, canned
- 1/2 teaspoon – vanilla extract
- 1–2 teaspoon – ube extract
- 1/2 teaspoon – salt
- 1/4 cup (35g) cornstarch, sifted
- Premade pie crust (ensure it’s vegan) or use my homemade recipe
Equipment:
- 9-inch pie plate
- Mixing bowl
- Whisk
- Fine mesh sieve
- Pie shield https://amzn.to/3q3DJDI see notes
- Large rimmed baking sheet, see notes
- Wire cooling rack
Instructions
Par-bake the crust:
- Whether you’re using store-bought crust or using my homemade crust recipe, you will need to par-bake/blind bake. Follow the directions on the package or recipe on how to par-bake/blind bake that particular crust. An easy way to transfer your pie in and out of the oven, place your pie plate over a large rimmed baking sheet.
- Allow the crust to cool completely before pouring in the filling.
Ube Filling:
- In a bowl combine the thawed ube, sugar, salt, full-fat coconut milk, vanilla extract, and ube extract. Whisk until well combined.
- Next, sift in the cornstarch and continue to whisk until fully incorporated.
- This step is optional, but if you want this pie to be smooth, you can blend up the mixture in a high-speed blender. I left the mixture as is because I love the texture and I find that the grated ube is already pretty fine.
Assembly & bake:
- Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
- Before adding in the filling, cover the crust with a pie shield or a piece of aluminum. This will prevent your crust from getting too dark. See notes.
- When your oven is ready and your crust is cool, pour in the ube filling mixture. Carefully transfer the pie into the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes. Keep an eye on it, as you don’t want to overbake it. The pie is done when the center jiggles just slightly, however, your pie should not be liquid in any way. This will prevent any cracks in your pie.
- Once the time is up, leave the pie in the oven and turn it off. Open the oven, just a crack, and allow the pie to cool inside for about 20-30 minutes minutes. See notes.
- Remove the pie from the oven, and transfer it to a wire cooling rack. Allow the pie to cool completely. Then place it in the fridge to set, about 4 hours. For best results, allow it to sit overnight. When it is time, serve it with a dollop of vegan whipped cream and enjoy!
Notes
- Top tip! It’s best to make this pie a day before you are planning to serve it, as it needs time to cool and set in the fridge.
- Do not mistake ube as a purple sweet potato or taro. These 3 are completely different from each other. Ube is a purple yam, and not a potato. And taro is a root vegetable that comes from the taro plant. It’s a light lavender color and completely inedible when raw.
- Fresh ube is rare to find in stores, you’ll most likely find it frozen or in powder form. For this recipe, we are using frozen. A great tip, if you are looking for a frozen ube, look for something that’s produced from the Philippines. I’ve found other purple yams produced from other southeast Asian countries and they are not the same. Another indicator is that ube is a deep purple color and not pink.
- You can buy a pie shield or make one out of aluminum foil. Check this post from Taste of Home on how to do that: https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/pie-crust-shield/
- You want the pie filling to slightly jiggle in the center because the end product will nice and creamy. If you let it bake completely in the oven, you’ll get a dense ube pie.
- Placing the pie pan on a large rimmed baking sheet will not only make it easier to transfer the pie in and out of the oven, but it also distributes the heat evenly throughout the bake.
- Leaving the oven door slightly ajar will help the pie cool down slowly and will help prevent any cracks in the pie.
Keywords: vegan, vegan filipino recipe, filipino recipe, dessert, filipino dessert, vegan filipino dessert, vegan ube pie, ube pie, vegan pie
Hi,
Can I use ube halaya for this?
Jess xx
Hi Jess,
I haven’t tried making this with ube halaya, so I’m not sure how the pie will turn out. The reason why I didn’t use ube halaya is that most people have a hard time finding vegan ube halaya.
i made this over the holidays (christmas + nye) and not only is it insanely beautiful its so delicious. im obsessed.
★★★★★
Aw thank you!! I’m so glad you loved it, it’s definitely very delicious!
Hi,
Is there a possible replacement you might recommend for the coconut milk? I love coconut but unfortunately it doesn’t love me back </3 I would love to try out this recipe even though I am allergic to coconut! My partner is Filipino and I want to surprise him with an ube treat that I can eat too.
Thanks so much,
Camilo
★★★★★
I’m sorry to hear that! So, before I suggest something, I wanted to let you know why we use coconut milk in this recipe. Because this recipe uses mostly frozen ube, which doesn’t have a strong flavor on its own, Filipinos always use coconut to bring complement it. It’s what gives ube that distinct flavor. While I do use ube extract, I didn’t want it to overpower the natural flavors, mostly just to boost it.
So for you, I would try a neutral-tasting milk, I prefer soy. I would avoid using any type of nut/oat milk as they are mostly just water and you need some fat and protein from the milk to help stabilize this pie. Then probably add more of the ube extract, maybe 2-3 teaspoons more? Taste as you go!