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These Vegan Pumpkin Tarts are an easy and delicious dessert, made without eggs or dairy. You can whip up the filling in no time, without turning on your oven!
Why You’ll Love these Pumpkin Tarts
This healthy dessert comes together in just about 20 minutes of effort, and then they will chill to perfection in your freezer. Keep in mind these vegan tarts won’t have the exact same texture as a tradtional pumpkin pie. This is more of a frozen dessert, that’s totally fruit-sweetened!
If you like the idea of serving perfectly portioned pumpkin pie “ice cream” desserts to your holiday guests, this recipe is for you.
If you would rather have a dessert with the texture of pie, try my Vegan Pumpkin Pie, instead. It’s also sweetened with dates, and has a more traditional, baked texture. In fact, it’s the best pumpkin pie I’ve ever made!
How to Make the Crust
To prepare the crust for these no-bake tarts, you’ll simply need to pulse the walnuts in a food processor, along with maple syrup, coconut oil, and salt. The coconut oil helps to act as a binder, so the crust will solidify when chilled.
Note: If you would rather use dates to help bind the crust, you can do that, too! I’d use about 6-8 dates as a substitute for the maple syrup, and pulse them with the walnuts until the mixture is sticky.
When the mixture looks relatively uniform and crumbly, you can press it into the bottom of 9 paper liners in a muffin pan. Place it in the freezer to chill while you make the pumpkin filling.
How to Make the Filling
This no-bake vegan pumpkin pie filling couldn’t be easier. Just toss everything in the blender, and blend until smooth! I tried to use as little liquid as possible in this recipe, to keep the texture creamy, rather than “icy.”
The more liquid you have to add, the more icy of a texture these final pumpkin tarts will have. So, start with just 2 tablespoons of almond milk, then add 1 tablespoon at a time until the filling blends smoothly.
Spoon the filling evenly over the 9 crusts, then smooth the top. Pop them in the freezer to set, which should take about 2 hours.
These frozen pumpkin tarts can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months, but be sure to keep them in an airtight container. I like to make them no more than a week in advance, if I plan on serving these for a holiday meal, just to make sure the flavor is as fresh as possible.
Serve topped with coconut whipped cream, and a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice, for an extra-pretty presentation!
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 cup walnuts
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil , melted
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the filling:
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 to 4 tablespoons almond milk
- 1/4 cup coconut oil , melted
- 3/4 cup Medjool dates , pitted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (see notes)
Instructions
- Line a standard muffin tin with 9 parchment cups, and set aside.
- In a large food processor, combine the walnuts, maple syrup, coconut oil, and salt together. Pulse briefly, until the dough sticks together when pinched between your fingers. Scoop the dough by heaping tablespoons into the 9 parchment cups and use your fingers to press down and form a crust for each cup. Place the pan in the fridge to set while you prepare the filling.
- To prepare the filling, simply combine all of the ingredients in a blender, starting with just 2 tablespoons of almond milk, and blend until completely smooth. Add more almond milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, as needed, to make the filling blend smoothly. (If your dates aren't soft enough to blend easily, soak them in warm water for 10 minutes beforehand.)
- Remove the pan of crusts from the fridge, and spoon the batter evenly into the 9 cups. Smooth the tops, then place in the freezer to set completely, about 2 hours.
- When the center of the filling is firm to the touch, the tarts are ready to serve! Remove the paper cups while the pumpkin tarts are still frozen. They will get softer as they come to room temperature, so be sure to serve them within 15-20 minutes of pulling them out of the freezer. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Need More Vegan Holiday Dessert Ideas?
Try one of these fan favorites!
- Vegan Pecan Pie
- Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars
- Vegan Pumpkin Bars
- Dairy-Free Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Chocolate Pots de Creme
- Vegan French Silk Pie
If you try these Vegan Pumpkin Tarts, please leave a comment below letting me know how you like them! And if you make any modifications, I’d love to hear about those, too. We can all benefit from your experience.
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Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite holiday pie?
These turned out really well & are quite tasty, with no hint that they’re vegan. Definitely needed to soften the dates though.
I have a friend with nut allergies, so I changed out to a graham cracker crust using coconut oil in place of the butter to keep it vegan. Worked just as well as the nut crust, just a slightly different flavor.
Can I make this without the walnuts, or is there a good substitute? Thanks!
This is my go-to every Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s always delicious and satisfying. Thank you!!!
Highly recommend moving the instruction to soak the dates 10 minutes in the ingredients list. I didn’t do this and am stuck with large chopped dates in the filling. Tried blender and food processor.
These are the best! I’ve been making them for quite a few years and they are always a hit! Just making them today and realized I didn’t have any dates so I subbed 4 tbsp. of maple syrup and omitted the almond milk. Worked out beautifully!
I have make variations of this recipe several times starting in 2013 when the recipe ( Istill have the prined copy) was not discussing Freezer. My variation yesterday for thanksgiving was a batch of 19 ( some how my calculating did not make 24 to fill both 12 muffin tins … and as always huge success. I brought 2 pumpkin pies ( not seen your recipe yet ) and 12 tarts with whipped coconut cream.Hosts and family ALL appreciated. I was just tying up my recipe instead of my scribbles and decided to check back on your site… thank you! Nice to see so many suggestions thank you !
Delicious, and the kitchen smelled so good while this was baking Doubled the recipe, but only did 1 1/2 the amount of maple syrup, and it was still sweet enough.
Sorry I posted on the recipe! Hoping to try this one today though, with the pumpkin I roasted yesterday!
Delicious! I made these for Thanksgiving, and my son is hard to please when it comes to desserts. We both loved them. The two modifications I made was to use coconut milk (heavier canned kind) in place of almond milk and avocado oil in place of coconut oil. Delicious!
Mary again. I used pecans instead of walnuts (due to walnut allergy).
These are hands down a top favorite dessert. I make them at least twice a year and everyone loves them. Sooo good! I may prefer the original crust with the coconut but enjoyed the all walnut version as well. I typically roast and purée my own pumpkin as I think that makes the flavor better than canned. And always serve with coconut whipped cream!! I make them in mini cheesecake pans so they are single serve for parties. Makes 12.
Does this work okay with silicone liners?