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.
Angela says
I love how this wreath came out. It looks so pretty when you serve it and tastes amazing.
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
I'm so glad you liked the pie!
Jenn says
Could this be more stunning!? An absolute gorgeous option for my veg friendly friends during the holidays -- thanks so much for the recipe!
Dannii says
What a great vegetarian Christmas option. It looks beautiful.
Zoe says
Hiya,
Is the calorie information per seving? Can this be prepared in advance and kept in the fridge?
Would it be possible to use less pastry to make it a bit lighter, or might it collapse?
Thanks!
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
Hi! The calories are per serving. In reality I think this pie would serve 8 people, but they might be smaller serves, which would reduce the calories per serve.
To be clearer, I just adjusted the amount of pastry used in the recipe, as in reality you don't actually use the entire packet, which has reduced the overall calorie per serve..
I would definitely use at least 3 layers of pastry on the bottom/sides of the pie, otherwise it would collapse,but you could use less on top. (Or just eat the interior when you serve it up..)
Filo pastry is one of the lighter pastries around as it contains no fat, so you could also try to use a little less oil between the layers.
You can definitely make this in advance- Make it all up and cook it through, so the pastry is cooked, but not super golden, then you can refrigerate (or even freeze) and then reheat until the filling is hot and the pastry crispy.
Sara says
That looks very nice but I will still be having a nut roast in preference for my Christmas Day meal. Nothing sad about a nut roast as they are really delicious. I might do this in Christmas week but my daughter won't like it because it has squash in it.
Julia King says
Thank you!
Julia King says
Looks lovely....what size cake tin have you used please?
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
Thank you!
We used an 11 inch/ 28cm tin.
Roberta macsween says
Hello, this looks perfect , and fun, for my young vegan visitor this Christmas. However, she also has a nut allergy . Do you have any tips for replacing the pine nuts and still keeping it tasty ? I’d be very grateful . Thank you
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
You can easily use sunflower seeds or those small green pumpkin seeds to replace pine nuts in any pesto-- just make sure they are produced in a nut free factory. You can also omit if you can't find any- the flavours will still be lovely.
You might want to check that she is ok with chestnuts too? They can also be ommitted- maybe add in extra mushrooms or squash if you feel like it.
Suzi says
This sounds delicious! Could it be assembled in advance and frozen?
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
I've frozen similar pies to this, so I think it would work fine. I'd probably freeze in the baking tray to avoid any squishy mishaps. (my freezer is quite crowded, so there isn't room to test this for us right now! oops!)
Dorothy says
Hi I’m planning on making this for Christmas Day, it looks so delicious! I need to make ahead of the big day. Would I freeze before or after cooking?
Thank you
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
Hi Dorothy,
I would half bake it, (eg, not bake it until it's crispy) then freeze or pop into the fridge. Cook from frozen, you might need to cover it with foil (to prevent it burning) and cook on a low heat, then finish off on a high heat to crisp the top up.