Vegan Chocolate Pudding Pie

By The New York Times

Updated Oct. 26, 2021

Vegan Chocolate Pudding Pie
Jim Wilson/The New York Times
Total Time
30 minutes, plus chilling
Rating
5(1,355)
Comments
Read comments

This vegan pie pairs a thick, creamy, chile- and cinnamon-laced pudding from Mark Bittman with a graham cracker crust adapted from the cookbook "Vegan Pie in the Sky." The pudding, whose flavors recall Mexican hot chocolate, can also stand alone. It's made with silken tofu, and it comes together in 10 minutes in the blender, which whips in air for a mousse-like texture. The chocolate is of the utmost importance here; its flavor will be the one that dominates, so be sure to buy the highest quality you can. Top with shaved chocolate if you'd like.

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Ingredients

Yield:One 9-inch pie

    For the Crust

    • 10whole graham crackers (approximately 5.5 ounces)
    • 3tablespoons sugar
    • 4tablespoons melted coconut oil
    • 1tablespoon plain soy milk or almond milk

    For the Filling

    • ¾cup sugar
    • 1pound silken tofu
    • 8ounces high-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted (at least 60 percent cacao)
    • 1teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 1½teaspoons ground cinnamon
    • ¼teaspoon chile powder, or more to taste
    • ⅛teaspoon salt
    • Chocolate shavings (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. For the Crust

    1. Step 1

      Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray a 9-inch pie plate with nonstick cooking spray.

    2. Step 2

      Place the graham crackers in a food processor and process until finely ground, about 30 seconds (you should have about 1¼ cups of crumbs). Add the sugar and salt, drizzle over the melted coconut oil and soy or almond milk, and pulse until the mixture begins to clump together.

    3. Step 3

      Pour the crumbs into the pie plate. Press crumbs into the sides of the plate first, then work your way down to the bottom. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until firm and slightly golden. Let the crust cool while you prepare the filling.

  2. For the Filling

    1. Step 4

      In a small pot, combine sugar with ¾ cup water; bring to a boil and cook until sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally. Cool slightly.

    2. Step 5

      Put all ingredients except for chocolate shavings in a food processor or blender and purée until completely smooth, stopping machine to scrape down the sides if necessary. Pour into the cooled crust, and press a piece of plastic wrap directly to the top of the pudding. Chill until firm, at least 4 hours and up to overnight. If you like, garnish with chocolate shavings before serving.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
1,355 user ratings
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Comments

Maggie

For people who are saying that the filling is too soft, I suspect the answer lies in draining the tofu. That's a step that this recipe omits, but that most similar recipes (Alton Brown's, for instance) include.

Sam

The key to this recipe is SILKEN FIRM tofu--this is generally in shelf-stable packaging, but there is zero reason to drain it. With regular silken tofu, your pie will already be much looser, and that can only get worse when you add more water....using Silken firm tofu, mine set up very firmly (moreso than the average cream pie) and was easy to slice cleanly.

ck

Thanks to other commenters notes, I used only 1/2 cup sugar in the pie, and as the graham crackers had sugar in them already, I left out the 3 tablespoons of sugar in the crust. Drained the silken tofu on paper towels for 15 minutes and, combined with using only 1/2 cup of water in the simple syrup, the texture ended up being prefect...thick, firm yet creamy, it held its shape and the sweetness was perfect. A major hit at a small dinner party and was entirely demolished.

Anonymous

Followed the advice of others and reduced the sugar: I only used 2 tbsps. of sugar in the graham cracker crust and 1/2 cup of sugar and it was the perfect amount of sweet for me. I didn't have chili powder that was pure chili, so I just added a few sprinkles of cayenne, so it still had a little kick to it. Made it a for a vegan Friendsgiving and people were really happy with it, including the lactose-free people. Made just the pudding for myself.

JMR

For a 5-star rating recipe, my expectations were high, but I wouldn’t expect a 5-star result by leaving out a key ingredient. I forgot the tofu (by accident), but the result was still amazing - dark, fudgey, perfect w/ this crust. I made 6 desserts for Thanksgiving. This was the only vegan one. All were delicious, but this was my favorite — which is saying a lot since I love pumpkin pie. I will make it with the tofu the next time, but this happy accidental is already going into my rotation.

June

The recipe omits how much salt to add for the crust. I'd say an 8th of a teaspoon, but let me know if you've tried a different amount that worked well.

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