This Vegan Christmas Pie is the spectacular centerpiece that will wow everyone (vegan or not) when you serve it up on Christmas Day or at festive party. Packed with layers of pesto, mushroom and squash, before being enveloped in flakey filo pastry, this pie is a true show-stopper that everyone has gone mad for!
Don't leave your vegan friends or family to have a sad potato and maybe some gravy for Christmas Dinner, wow them, and everyone else with this amazing centerpiece. Yes this recipe does take a little bit of prep, but that's kind of the point of Christmas food, you take care over it, then bear it triumphantly to the table, to ooohs and ahhhs... before cutting into the masterpiece you have made and sharing it around. The centrepiece of the show needs to be pretty and full of festive flavors, just like this yummy vegan pie is!
If you're looking for an alternative to vegan pies- I like to make a festive Mushroom Lasagne with Kale. Either way, don't forget to serve festive trimmings like these Vegan Roast Potatoes and these delicious Vegan Sausage Stuffing Balls.
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🎄Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you'll need for this gorgeous vegan Christmas Pie Recipe.
- Filo pastry - the best pastry in my opinion, as it's cheap, always vegan, and can go in the freezer. (Sometimes also called phyllo pastry )
- Olive oil - featured in several of the layers of this vegan Christmas pie, but key for slicking on the filo pastry for that crunch!
- Cranberries - a typical festive ingredient. You can use fresh or frozen. They can be quite tart, so leave them out if you're not a cranberry fan. Alternatively choose to use sweeter dried cranberries or dollops of cranberry sauce.
- Cooked chestnuts - these can be bought in long-life packets. While they're a festive ingredient, we love them all year round!
- Butternut Squash - gives lovely body and colour to this Christmas Pie! It's also a filling and festive ingredient.
- Smoked paprika - to give a little smokiness to the butternut squash.
- Chestnut Mushrooms - these form a substantial part of the pie. Chestnut mushrooms have an almost meaty texture, and a good umami (savoury) flavour
- White wine - adds a delicious flavour to the mushrooms. Make sure your wine is vegan - Promise we won't judge you if you drink some during the cooking process!
- Thyme - a great winter herb for giving your mushrooms extra flavour
- Garlic cloves - because all pies must have garlic and it enhances the flavor of the mushrooms.
- Spinach or parsley for the pesto layer. This could be made with other leaves instead, such as basil. -- Alternatively use store bought pesto. (I like to make my Parsley Pesto with Pistachio )
- Pine Nuts - traditionally in pesto, but you could use another nut if you don't have or don't like pinenuts. I really like walnuts or pumpkin seeds as a substitute.
- Plus Flakey Sea Salt and cracked black pepper to taste.
See recipe card for quantities.
👩🍳Instructions
Here's how to make your amazing vegan pie for Christmas dinner!
Start by preparing all the fillings for the pie. Then you assemble it in layers before baking.
1.Chop and peel a butternut squash. Toss it in oil and paprika and roast until tender. Once done mash it up a little bit.
2.Slice mushrooms and garlic cloves, sautee in olive oil and a little white wine until toasted and delicious.
3.Make the pesto by blending spinach or parsley leaves, pine nuts, nutritional yeast, salt, olive oil and garlic.
4. Prepare the pastry and your tin.Put a ramekin in the middle of your springform cake tin and brush with a little oil.
Use a sharp knife to cut the filo pastry into long triangles, and slick with olive oil.
Place the triangles of pastry in the tin, with the larger ends on the outside. You can brush with oil before or after they go in the tin.
5.6.7. Assemble the pie with it's layers.
First add the pesto, then the mushrooms and the butternut squash. Finally dot around the cranberries and chesnuts.
8. 9.10 Finish your pie with a pastry top.
Fold down the pieces of pastry on the ramekin in the middle of the Christmas Pie. Using remaining pastry, add more pastry layers to the top so the pie is fully covered. Scrunch some up with olive oil so it has a nice ruffled pastry top.
Put in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 200°C / 400°F / Gas Mark 6. If the top of the pie is not golden brown and crispy it can go in for a bit longer.
Once cooked, take off the outer part of the tin, and serve up with the yummy vegan roast potatoes and vegetaian gravy and my favourite air fryer brussels sprouts.
Hint: Make sure to remove the glass or ramekin from the middle of the springform pan before putting it in the oven!
🌶️Substitutions & Variations
Here are some easy ways you can switch up this recipe:
- Different pastry- instead of filo pastry, use puff or shortcrust pastry.
- Gluten-Free- use a gluten-free pastry to replace the filo pastry. Gluten free pastry can be a little tough so be gentle when handling it.
- Different pie filling- swap out one or any of the layers for a different type of pesto, some roasted sweet potatoes or other root vegetables. Choose festive flavours such as celeriac or parsnip or why not add in wild mushroom or creamy vegan chk'n as a filling.
🔪Equipment
Some key equipment to mention for this Christmas Pie are:
The tin - if you have a bundt tin, or one of those tins with a middle insert, you can use that to create the wreath shape. I don't have a bundt tin, so I improvise with a spring-form 24cm/9 inch cake tin & a glass or bowl in the middle, which worked perfectly well. Springform tins are really great for easily getting pies and cakes out, so I highly recommend them for other recipes.
Food processor - for the pesto. It doesn't have to be state of the art, but I love my MagiMix food processor.
Pastry brush - this really does make life so much easier when slicking oil on the pastry.
🫙Storage and Make-ahead
This delicious pie is great to make ahead over the holiday season. Either make the inside layers and then assemble on the day, or assemble fully but only partially bake. Then on the big day, heat in the oven until hot all the way through and crispy on the outer. You can also freeze the pie either in portions or whole and heat through.
Top tip
You can make this recipe ahead of time and leave in the fridge for a couple days. Reheat until crispy and hot to serve on the big day!
❓FAQ
To make this recipe nut free omit the pinenuts when blending the pesto and the chestnuts.
Not all pastry is vegan. Filo pastry is most often vegan but can be brushed with butter. Many pastries are made with butter, however brands such as Jusroll are vegan. Check the packaging before purchasing.
Festive Sides
Here are some delicious Christmas Side dishes to try
More Christmas Ideas
Why not try one of these other Christmas dinner ideas?
📖 Recipe
Chestnut, Mushroom & Squash Christmas Filo Wreath Pie
Equipment
- Ramekin / small bowl (to create the centre of the wreath, if you don't have a bundt tin)
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
To Assemble the pie
- 250 g (8 ⅞ oz) filo pastry (about 1 pack or 7 sheets)
- 4 tablespoon olive oil
- 100 g (1 cup) whole, fresh cranberries (frozen or dried is also fine)
- 100 g (¾ cup) cooked chestnuts (roughly chopped)
For the Mushroom layer
- 500 g (5¼ cups) chestnut mushrooms (sliced)
- 2 cloves garlic (finely minced)
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 80 ml (⅓ cup) vegan white wine
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- pinch salt
For the Pesto Layer
- 250 g (3¾ cups) Spinach or parsley (you can also add basil)
- 50 g (½ cup) pine nuts (or pisatchios)
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- pinch salt
For the Squash Layer
- 1 medium butternut squash (peeled, seeds taken out and chopped into cubes)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- pinch salt
Instructions
For the Butternut Squash
- Add all the squash ingredients into a large baking tray and roast on a medium heat (200°C / 400°F / Gas Mark 6) until soft and a little browned.
- Roughly mash the roasted squash with a masher.
For the Pesto
- Add all pesto ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until you have a chunky paste. Add more oil or salt if needed.
For the Mushrooms
- Add all the mushrooms & garlic into a large pan with the olive oil.
- Gently fry until the mushrooms shrink. Then add the wine & herbs.
- Cook until the liquid mostly evaporates.
To Assemble the Pie:
- Open out the packet of filo pastry & cut the filo pastry into thin triangles (as pictured). You can cut all the layers together.
- Slick the layers of filo pastry with olive oil and oil the tin. If you are using a little ramekin or bowl to create the centre of the wreath, oil that too. It is much easier if you use something to create your centre.
- Assemble layers of pastry in the base of the dish: lay the larger end of the triangle on the outside edge, the pointy side facing the 'hole'. The pastry should be long enough to go over the edges of the tin. (This will help form the lid of the pie later)
- Keep layering until the whole pan has 2-3 layers of pastry over it. Add extra oil on some layers if they're a bit dry.
- Now, fill the 'wreath' with the fillings.
- First, smear your kale pesto on the pastry.
- Add the mushrooms layer.
- Then add your layer of the mashed butternut squash.
- Sprinkle over the chestnuts and cranberries.
- Finally, carefully close the all the edges of the filo pastry over the filling. You will need to do this bit by bit.
- If there are any gaps in the top of the pie, add some strips of extra pastry. You can also add a few more pieces of pastry ruffled up with a little oil for that crucnhy wreath topping!
- Finally, brush with extra oil & bake in the oven until crispy and golden. About 20 minutes at around 200°C / 400°F / Gas Mark 6.
To Serve
- Remove the outer ring from the wreath & take the ramekin or inner bowl out from the middle.
- If the pastry is looking a little soggy, add the wreath back into the oven for 5 minutes or so to crisp up.
- Put the whole wreath (bottom of tin and all) onto a pretty plate. Decorate with rosemary sprigs and serve as part of a festive meal!
Video
Notes
🌶️Substitutions & Variations
Here are some easy ways you can switch up this recipe:- Different pastry- instead of filo pastry, use puff or shortcrust pastry.
- Gluten-Free- use a gluten-free pastry to replace the filo pastry. Gluten free pastry can be a little tough so be gentle when handling it.
- Different pie filling- swap out one or any of the layers for a different type of pesto, some roasted sweet potatoes or other root vegetables. Choose festive flavours such as celeriac or parsnip or why not add in wild mushroom or creamy vegan chk'n as a filling.
Kate says
Hello - if i wanted to make this ahead and freeze - would it be best to freeze it before or after baking?
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
HI, I would go ahead and bake it, but not bake until golden, just enough for the pastry layers to stiffen up a bit. Wrap it up really well in foil, then freeze. Bake it from frozen, covered in foil until the last 10 minutes, then brush with a little extra olive oil and finish baking.
Georgia says
Me and my guests loved it, all the ingredients combine perfectly, such a different dish. Thank you. Happy holidays.
Julie Lush says
Fairly easy to make but I am really worried about the cranberries. The raw fresh ones are not sweet. Will they even cook in 20 minutes? I am in UK and paranoid that you have sweetened cranberries somehow in USA. I guess I will find out on Christmas day!! I will let you know.
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
I hope this turned out ok for you. I'm also in the UK and used unsweetened cranberries in this dish. They are quite tart, and they do cook in time, but I like the pop of tangy flavour. You can leave the cranberries out if you wish, or use dried sweetened ones instead.
Sally Hayes says
Hi there, I love this Christmas wreath pie with filo pastry. Would you mind if I used it in our December newsletter? Fully credited of course with a link to your page. I run a small vegan wholefood shop and we stock all the ingredients so it would be ideal for us. I'm thinking I might do it myself for Christmas as well but it would be good to be able to use one of your excellent photos. Thank you!
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
Hi Sally,
Absolutely, I would love you to use it in your newsletter! I hope your customers love the recipe! I'll pop you an email
x Louise
Claudia Lamascolo says
What a wonderful and festive presentation this is a must make so beautiful!
MJ says
This is such a delicious and gorgeous dish for the holidays! Your step-by-step assembly and cooking tips were super helpful too - thanks!