This Vegan Strawberry Cream Pie was inspired by a pie I enjoyed in childhood– one made with a box of strawberry Jello and a tub of Cool Whip! I loved that creamy strawberry pie so much I could eat the whole thing myself, if my family and friends didn’t beat me to it.
This homemade variation tastes remarkably similar to the original version I remember, but it’s made with fresh strawberries, creamy coconut milk, and pure maple syrup for a healthier alternative. Agar Agar flakes, a granulated seaweed, gives this pie it’s jello-like quality, but it’s used sparingly enough that it doesn’t have the exact texture of jello; it just helps give each slice some structure without melting into a pudding.
As you may know, I spend my nights and weekends testing my recipe ideas, and after making this pie 3 times this past weekend, I still can’t figure out the “perfect” ratio for the pie filling. The first time I made it, I made too little filling. The second time, I doubled the recipe and made over a cup too much! You’d think the third time would be the charm… but it wasn’t.
That’s when I realized that it would be WAY easier to just serve this pie in individual serving cups. No need to have the perfect amount of crust or filling, because the number of servings you make is up to you, depending on the number of people you need to serve. I made mine in some small glass dishes that hold about 6 ounces, but you could even make smaller portions using cute little shot glasses! I’ll continue to test the amount for filling a traditional pie, but for now I’ll leave you with this delicious recipe that can be doubled to fill a pie (with extra filling to spare) or created as-is and served in individual serving cups. Either way, it’s totally delicious without weighing you down!
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Vegan & Paleo Strawberry Cream Pie
Serves 4-6, depending on cup size
Ingredients:
Strawberry Filling:
3/4 cup full-fat coconut milk
1 tablespoon agar agar flakes
8 ounces fresh strawberries (about 1 1/4 cups chopped)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
No-Bake Crust:
1 cup almond meal
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1 1/2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
Pinch of salt
Coconut whipped cream (optional for topping)
Sliced strawberries (optional for garnish)
Directions:
To prepare the no-bake crust, combine all of the ingredients and divide the dough between the number of cups you plan on using. (I used 4 6-ounce cups, but you could probably do up to 8 shot glasses with this amount of crust.)
To prepare the strawberry filling, combine the coconut milk and agar flakes in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Use a whisk to stir well and lower the heat to a simmer, whisking occasionally until all of the agar flakes have dissolved, about 5 minutes. Place the strawberries, vanilla, and maple syrup in your blender container and pour the coconut milk/agar mixture over the top. Blend on high until smooth and creamy, then pour the filling over each crust. Place the pies in the fridge to set until the center is firm, about 4 hours. Top with coconut whipped cream and fresh sliced strawberries just before serving!
Vegan & Paleo Strawberry Cream Pie
Ingredients
Strawberry Filling:
- 3/4 cup full-fat coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon agar agar flakes
- 8 ounces fresh strawberries (about 1 1/4 cups chopped)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
No-Bake Crust:
- 1 cup almond meal
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- Pinch of salt
Coconut whipped cream (optional for topping)
Sliced strawberries (optional for garnish)
Instructions
- To prepare the no-bake crust, combine all of the ingredients and divide the dough between the number of cups you plan on using. (I used 4 6-ounce cups, but you could probably do up to 8 shot glasses with this amount of crust.)
- To prepare the strawberry filling, combine the coconut milk and agar flakes in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Use a whisk to stir well and lower the heat to a simmer, whisking occasionally until all of the agar flakes have dissolved, about 5 minutes. Place the strawberries, vanilla, and maple syrup in your blender container and pour the coconut milk/agar mixture over the top. Blend on high until smooth and creamy, then pour the filling over each crust. Place the pies in the fridge to set until the center is firm, about 4 hours.
- Top with coconut whipped cream and fresh sliced strawberries just before serving!
Nutrition
Per Serving: Calories: 400, Fat: 30g, Carbohydrates: 31g, Fiber: 4g, Protein: 7g
Note: If you don’t need this pie to be vegan, I’m sure gelatin could be used as a substitute for the agar flakes, but the ratio will be different! I haven’t tested this recipe with gelatin yet, so be sure to Google the appropriate substitution before attempting this recipe with different ingredients. And please leave a comment below if you try something that works, so everyone can benefit!
I’ll do my best to get the amounts for the full-size pie up later this week, but I wanted you to enjoy this pie as much as I am right away. It’s so delicious!
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Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite Valentine treat? Any other makeovers I should try in the next couple weeks?
Love this beyond delicious twist on the classic strawberry cream pie treat! My favorite Valentine’s Day treat = White Chocolate Chip-Cherry Blondies. Any chance you would consider making over/improving this treat? I always love your blondie/brownie/bar recipes (and all of your recipes, really).
And here’s to February being a little warmer and even more fun for you! 🙂
This looks so easy and delicious! I can’t have raw almonds though – would pecans or another nut work as a substitute?
My wife makes a traditional, original NY Cheesecake (yes non-everything, except – not paleo, no sugar-free, etc.) the crust). Once or twice a year treat. However, she has used various nuts for the crust instead of any of the traditional flours. And they all come out good, walnut, pecan, almond, mixture, etc.
Thanks John! I think I’ll try pecans + walnuts 🙂
Delightful! That’s all I can say. In Buffalo, you can say I’ve hit the January slump and am just so perked up that it’s finally February! And nearly Valentines’ Day. I actually almost named my daughter Valentine. This pie just is happy and has only good ingredients that I feel good about giving my family. So sweet! The presentation is lovely, epic visual appeal =)
Ohh i love this and I will try it with gelatin and let you know:) Gotta love the joy of recipe try out – again and again and again!! What do you do with all the ‘failed’ attempts – big freezer??
How did the gelatin go?
Gelatin worked perfectly, I made these and my kids loved them 😊
How much gelatin did you use?
Can frozen strawberries be used?
Btw, I love, love, love your Vegan French Silk Pie (Soy-free!) . It’s to die for. Can’t help it to eat 2 slices a portion. lol.
Why not? Sometimes frozen fruits and vegetables have more nutrients than fresh, that is if fresh is not from a local farm, but shipped across country or even from another country. Than often frozen retains/has more nutrients.
I haven’t tried that myself, but it might be worth a shot. I would definitely thaw them first and give them a taste to make sure they taste as good as the fresh variety!
Used frozen strawberries that I picked last summer and it turned out amazing!! I let them thaw first and used the juices too. It definitely works! 🙂
Woman! You nailed yet another amazing recipe! I just made these, and tasted as I went along (of course) and they are AMAZING. The flavor is spot on! Plus its such a pretty color- love this so much! Cannot wait for our after dinner treat tonight. Well done!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Looks so yummy! I Got an Instapot based on your recommendation but don’t quite know what to do with it. Could you compile a post liting which recipes you use it for? Thank you!!
I still have an InstaPot set aside on my Amazon Wish List – a bit expensve, so waiting for extra cash and enough justification. I think come canning season come this next summer/fall – I might find it more useful than all the time and energy used to both sterilize and can 8 pints at a time.
NOTE: 1 Tbl Agar Agar FLAKES = 1 tsp Agar Agar powder = 1 tsp gelatin.
P.S. Agar Agar sets up a little firmer then gelatin.
Thanks!
I used to be obsessed with the texture of cool whip when I was younger and I put it on everything! This pie looks amazing and the texture is where its at!
I love this recipe and can’t wait to try it!!! Agar is one of my favorite ingredients to use in dessert – it’s really good for your digestion. People are asking about frozen berries – with agar it often doesn’t work to make this replacement and the amount of agar usually needs to be increased – but by how much I don’t know. I would start with 1 teaspoon.
This recipe sounds wonderful, and I plan to make it for my family for Valentines Day! However, for me, Valentines Day = chocolate!!! I was wondering how it would be to make this recipe with a chocolate crust?! Any suggestions as to how to tweak the crust ingredients for a chocolate variety? Thank you so much! (last weekend I made your Chocolate Pecan Crumble Bars, and what a hit they were! Truly delicious!)
Delicious! I made it tonight in a larger pie pan. I doubled the filling recipe, which was the perfect amount for that pan, and multiplied the crust ingredients by 1 1/2. I used frozen strawberries and 2 1/2 tsps of gelatin. Everything set up perfectly and was absolutely yummy!
Anyone try this with gelatin yet? I’m going to do it for company tomorrow, but I don’t want to waste any ingredients… Thanks!
I just read the instructions on the red Great Lakes gelatin. It says I tablespoon of gelatin will set 1 pint or 2 cups of liquid. I might just give it a try.
This has delicious taste! 1 tsp gelatin is not enough… It was too runny and not fully set- and I waited longer than 4 hours. Still tasted great, and next time I’ll add more gelatin!
Thank you for yet another simple and delicious recipe! I doubled the recipe and made it into a pie and used the remaining filing to make smaller deserts. It came out perfect! The only question I have is how to get it out of the pan in a such neat slice…the crust was soft and sticking to the bottom..not a big issue but would be nice to know if serving to guests. Would appreciate any suggestions!
The crust stays firm for serving as long as it’s served very well chilled. It gets soft when it sits on the counter too long! I’m also working on a crust that can be baked, but I do prefer not baking with nuts too often and the no-bake option is faster!
I make this last night for some friends….delicious! I made individual servings in bowls and did not use the Agar Agar or gelatin and they were still firm and super creamy!
Made this for my love on Vday with the agar flakes and the only other thing I changed was reducing the maple syrup in the filling part, maybe by 2 tablespoons. Turned out perfect, made them in glass cups and my husband loved them as well. I highly recommend with coconut whipped cream. Not too sweet of a dessert.
Thank you Megan!
HI! Anyone having my same problem? I’m using powdered Agar instead of flakes, I reduced it to only 1/2 a teaspoon but the texture is kinda like split. Help!!
I disregarded your warning and made a full pie. Are used Agar agar powder as that’s all I could find. I made a regular amount of crust and doubled your recipe for that filling and it turned out perfectly. I think I’ll use a little less than 1tsp of powder in place of the 1 tbsp of flakes though. It firmed up in less than 2 hours. My kids and I just ate half of it?
I made this the other day with blueberries instead of strawberries and it is out of this world delicious. It will be my go to pie for sure. Great job and Thank you!!!
Can I use a regular pie crust that has already been cooked?
Sure, I don’t see why not!
Can I use gelatin in
place of the agar flakes?
Excellent! These were so good. Made them in custard cups. Was able to make four. Going to try doubling or tripling and make whole pie. Will certainly be something that is made often here. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
I made this last night. I was a little skeptical about the unbaked crust. I thought it might taste gummy, but it was fine.I did not have agar agar, so I used 1 + 1/2 tsp. of Knox gelatin powder. It firmed up nicely in less than 4 hours and the texture was great. My husband said it was the best healthy dessert I’ve ever made!
Thanks so much for all of your great recipes, Megan, including this one! I will certainly make this again, trying other fruits and berries as well. 😊
I substituted frozen raspberries for the strawberries and OH, MY GOODNESS…this recipe is UNBELIEVABLE! HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Thank you for an incredible recipe!
I made this with raspberries from my garden. Everyone LOVED IT!! I subbed gelatin for the agar flakes in the same quanitiy and it was fine. I’m going to try peaches nex time!