Give me a crisp, flaky, oozy savory pie any day of the week and I’m good. I’m talking melt-in-your-mouth saucy, jam packed with hearty flavor and meat free goodness – yes please!
These beefless vegan pies really hit that savory spot. The mix of smooth borlotti beans and creamy white beans give the pies a velvety mouthfeel that are a delight to devour. The rich brown onion gravy thickened with tapioca flour adds hearty depth, and thyme adds an extra savory sensation to the sauce. A few generous grinds of fresh black pepper take the filling to the next level – so good!
You can play around with your choice of beans if you’re well versed in the ways of the legume. The basic formula is to use two types of beans – one brown and one white. You can substitute the borlottis for kidney beans if you like. We used lima beans (aka butter beans) because we liked the contrast between the small and large beans, but these can easily be substituted with cannellini beans, or other white beans of your choosing. If you’re only just dipping your toe into the wonderful world of beans, try to stick to the two suggestions above for best results.
The best part about these bad boys? Truth be told, there are many ‘best parts’, but the convenience factor is probably at the top of the list, right after flavor. You make put large pot of filling on the go, roll out some store bought puff pastry which in most cases is actually already vegan (thanks frozen goods department!), assemble a bulk batch of pies and freeze the extras!
Store bought puff pastry is such a time saver, and is usually cooked in under 15 minutes. Nothing beats taking out a couple of these pre-prepped, frozen pies for a quick, lazy, week night dinner. Simply pop into the oven and crisp to your hearts content!
How to make savory vegan pies
There are a couple of different options for assembling these pies which include a full sized pie, individual pot pies or hand held pies. The easiest ways I’ve found for making individual vegan pies are:
- Using a giant muffin tin.
- Using individual foil pie pans or mini pot pie dishes.
- Creating half-moon folder over pies.
Savory Borlotti and White Bean Vegan Pies
Ingredients:
(Makes around 10 individual pies, with some filling left over.)
- 1 tin Borlotti beans (or substitute with kidney beans)
- 1 tin white beans (Lima/ butter beans or Cannellini)
- 2 yellow onions, chopped
- 1 – 2 large carrots, diced
- 3 – 5 sprigs of thyme
- 2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
- 3 – 5 tablespoons of brown onion gravy or soup powder (vegan)
- 1.5 cups of water
- 2 heaped tablespoons of nutritional yeast
- 1 heaped tablespoon tapioca starch / tapioca flour
- Olive oil for sauteeing
- 2 packs of ready made puff pastry, thawed
- black pepper
- Salt to taste
Savory Borlotti + White Bean Vegan Pot Pies
METHOD
For the vegan pie filling:
- Take the frozen puff pastry out of the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge overnight. If you forget to do this you can leave it thaw on the counter, however watch it carefully so that it does not melt into a gooey mess.
- Sautee chopped onions in a saucepan with olive oil until translucent
- Add thyme, and half the parsley, sautee for a further 3 minutes.
- Add diced carrot, a few grinding of black pepper, and coat thoroughly with oil and herbs, Sautee for 3 minutes.
- Add onion gravy to 1 cup of water and add to saucepan.
- Allow sauce to thicken, cooking for around 5 minutes.
- Drain the white and brown beans of their liquid, add to saucepan.
- Add more water if needed, 1/3 cup at a time, till beans are covered but not floating.
- Add nutritional yeast, along with salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the tablespoon of tapioca flour, premixed into a bit of cold water. Stir as the sauce thickens up to a stodgy consistency suitable for a pie filling.
- Allow to cool
To assemble the pies:
- If you’re cooking these today, preheat the oven using the settings provided on your pastry packaging.
- Roll the pastry out on a flat, floured surface, using a round bowl or plate to cut out pastry circles in a size suitable for your chosen pie dish.
- Form the pie base and use basting brush to wet the outer perimeter edge of the base with water to help with sealing. (Skip this step if making pot pies.)
- Fill two thirds of the base with pie filling.
- Add the pastry lid and press down around the sides. You can use a fork to around crimp the edges.
- Pierce the lid several times with a toothpick or fork.
- At this point you can put the pies in a the freezer, covered in plastic to avoid freezer burn, or proceed to baking these badboys in the preheated oven following the instructions on your pastry packaging!
- 1 tin Borlotti beans (or substitute with kidney beans)
- 1 tin white beans (Lima/ butter beans or Cannellini)
- 2 yellow onions, chopped
- 1 – 2 large carrots, diced
- 3 – 5 sprigs of thyme
- 2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
- 3 – 5 tablespoons of brown onion gravy or soup powder (vegan)
- 1.5 cups of water
- 2 heaped tablespoons of nutritional yeast
- 1 heaped tablespoon tapioca starch / tapioca flour
- Olive oil for sauteeing
- 2 packs of ready made puff pastry, thawed
- black pepper
- Salt to taste
- Take the frozen puff pastry out of the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge overnight. If you forget to do this you can leave it thaw on the counter, however watch it carefully so that it does not melt into a gooey mess.
- Sautee chopped onions in a saucepan with olive oil until translucent
- Add thyme, and half the parsley, sautee for a further 3 minutes.
- Add diced carrot, a few grinding of black pepper, and coat thoroughly with oil and herbs, Sautee for 3 minutes.
- Add onion gravy to 1 cup of water and add to saucepan.
- Allow sauce to thicken, cooking for around 5 minutes.
- Drain the white and brown beans of their liquid, add to saucepan.
- Add more water if needed, ⅓ cup at a time, till beans are covered but not floating.
- Add nutritional yeast, along with salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the tablespoon of tapioca flour, premixed into a bit of cold water. Stir as the sauce thickens up to a stodgy consistency suitable for a pie filling.
- Allow to cool
- If you’re cooking these today, preheat the oven using the settings provided on your pastry packaging.
- Roll the pastry out on a flat, floured surface, using a round bowl or plate to cut out pastry circles in a size suitable for your chosen pie dish.
- Form the pie base and use basting brush to wet the outer perimeter edge of the base with water to help with sealing. (Skip this step if making pot pies.)
- Fill two thirds of the base with pie filling.
- Add the pastry lid and press down around the sides. You can use a fork to around crimp the edges.
- Pierce the lid several times with a toothpick or fork.
- At this point you can put the pies in a the freezer, covered in plastic to avoid freezer burn, or proceed to baking these badboys in the preheated oven following the instructions on your pastry packaging!
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