Vegan Meat Pie (Vegan Tourtière)
A simple and delicious vegan meat pie made with plant-based ground “meat,” warm spices, and a flaky golden crust. Easy to prepare, hearty, and perfect for a cozy, protein-packed holiday meal that feels classic and comforting. Easy to make vegetarian if you're not vegan!
Quick Look: Vegan Meat Pie
- ⏰ Prep Time: 20 minutes
- 🔥 Cook Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 1 hour, 35 minutes (plus chilling time)
- 🥦 Serves: 6 people
- 🍽️ Calories: 540 per serving
- 📖 Dietary info: vegan, dairy free, high protein, holiday, main course
- ⭐️ Why you'll love it: this is a dish everyone can enjoy! It's filling, flavourful and perfect for any holiday menu. It's a comforting twist on a classic recipe.
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My grandmother used to make tourtière every Christmas eve. It was a traditional tourtière with pork, so once I became vegetarian, it wasn't something I ate anymore. But I loved the recipe so much, and missed enjoying this holiday tradition, that I adapted the recipe to be plant-based. When I make it for myself, I use regular butter and an egg wash. But this recipe is completely vegan, making it easy to adjust to any dietary preference.
If you're looking for more vegetarian options for a holiday menu, check out my mini beet galettes, or my Boursin stuffed dates (they make a fabulous, easy appetizer).
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Vegan: With this recipe being vegan, it means everyone can (and will) enjoy it. If you don't need it to be vegan, you can make some swaps to make it vegetarian.
- Source of protein: the TVP (textured vegetable protein) is a good source of protein, making this a filling, hearty dish, even though it doesn't include meat.
- Flavourful & Cozy: the herbs and spices used in this recipe are very similar to a traditional tourtière (or meat pie), so it's full of flavour with warm winter spices.
Ingredients You'll Need
- Pie pastry: you can either buy pie dough, or make it. It's easy to make, the recipe card below walks you through it. All you need is flour, water, butter and salt.
- Potatoes: surprisingly, majority of the filling of this pie is potatoes. I use white potatoes and grate them.
- TVP: textured vegetable protein is what provides the protein. It's a soy based meat replacement. You can find it at Bulk Barn or the organic/vegan aisle of most grocery stores.
- Spices: you'll need ground cloves, dried thyme, salt, pepper and I added some red wine vinegar.
Additions & Substitutions
- Add vegetables: this recipe doesn't include many vegetables. Chances are there are lots of side dishes on the table featuring vegetables, but if not, serve it with a salad. Or you could add some veggies like celery or carrots. I haven't tried this though.
- Make it vegetarian: if you don't need to make it vegan, simply use regular butter instead of vegan butter, and brush with heavy cream or an egg wash instead of plant milk.
- Use lentils: while I haven't tried it, you could possibly use lentils instead or in addition to TVP.
How to Make Vegan Meat Pie
- Step 1: Shred your potatoes using a box grater. And rehydrate your TVP.
- Step 2: In a large pot, cook your onions and garlic. Then add the shredded potatoes, thyme, cloves and salt.
- Step 3: Add water and let the potatoes cook down for about 15 minutes. Add TVP, red wine vinegar and more water. Cook for another 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are cooked.
- Step 4: Roll out one of your pie dics until it's larger than the diameter of your pie plate. Gently fit it into the plate, and trim off any excess dough around the edges.
- Step 5: Add your filling into the bottom pie crust. And roll out your second pie disc, and either cut out shapes or slits in the middle to allow steam to escape.
- Step 6: Cover the filling with the top pie crust, pressing gently all around the pie to seal the two crusts. Use your fingers to flute the edges. Brush with plant-based milk before baking.
What to Serve with Vegan Tourtière
Vegan meat pie is a delicious holiday meal that goes well with so many things. Here are some tasty pairing ideas:
- Soup: I love to serve soup as a start for holiday meal. This pie goes well with my roasted butternut squash soup, or my vegan french onion soup.
- Salad: a simple green salad pairs nicely with the richness of the meat pie.
- Sides: enjoy alongside green beans, roasted sweet miso Brussels sprouts, carrots, beets, or butternut squash with brown sugar.
- Cocktails: sip on a passionfruit spritz, make my holiday mocktail, or my mocktail rosemary paloma.
- Dessert: if you want a lighter dessert try my easy Eton mess, but use fall/winter fruit in the recipe. Or make my pumpkin bundt cake, which is also vegan!
Vegan Meat Pie FAQs
A vegan meat pie is a savoury pastry filled with plant-based protein and vegetables instead of meat, offering the comforting flavours of a traditional tourtière without meat.
You can make the pastry dough and the filling ahead of time - maybe the day before. But it's best to assemble and bake the day you'll be serving.
TVP (textured vegetable protein) has a very similar texture to meat, and works very well as a meat substitute in this dish.
Yes! You can use mini or smaller pie plates to make mini versions of this recipe. You'll make the same amount of dough and filling, but divide everything equally among each mini pie.
Since this dish has carbohydrates and protein in it, it's best to serve with a side salad for a well balanced meal.
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Vegan Meat Pie (Vegan Tourtière)
Ingredients
Pie Pastry
- 300 g all-purpose flour
- 3 g salt
- 150 g plant-based unsalted butter
- 100 g ice water
Filling
- 1 cup TVP (textured vegetable protein), dry
- 1 cup vegetable broth, hot
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small cooking onion, diced
- 1 large garlic clove (or 2-3 small cloves), minced
- 3 cups white potatoes, grated
- 1 ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2-3 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon plant-based butter, for brushing or non-dairy milk
Instructions
Make pie pastry
- Mix flour and salt in a medium sized bowl.
- Add in the butter. Cut into small pieces, and then use your hands to rub into the flour mixture until the butter is well combined and in pea-sized pieces.*
- Add in your ice water. Mix until your dough forms a ball, but do not overwork.
- Divide dough into two equal pieces. Shape into a disc, wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least one hour.
Make filling
- Combine your TVP and broth in a small bowl. Let soak for 10-15 minutes until the TVP is fully rehydrated and soft.
- Wash, dry and shred your potatoes using a box grater. No need to peel them, unless you want to.
- Add oil to a large frying pan or pot over medium heat. Add your diced onion and cook until soft and translucent. Then add the minced garlic.
- Add the potatoes, thyme, ground cloves and salt. Combine well.
- Add ¼ - ½ cup water and let potatoes cook for about 15 minutes on medium low. Stirring occasionally to make sure they don't stick.
- After 15 minutes, add TVP and combine well. Once combined add red wine vinegar and another ¼ cup water.* Cook for another 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are cooked (less crunchy).
- Season with salt and pepper. Add more thyme or ground cloves if you want.
- Preheat oven to 400 °F
- Remove one disc of your pie pastry from the fridge. Lightly flour a clean surface, and roll out your pastry so it's a little larger in diameter than your pie/tart shell. Use your rolling pin to transfer your pastry to your shell and gently press the so it's against the bottom and the sides of the shell. *
- Remove the second disc from the fridge and roll out the same way. Cut slits or make cut outs with dough cutters to let steam escape. Set aside.
- Add all filling to the shell. Cover with top pastry, press lightly all around to seal the edges. Trim overhanging pastry, and flute the edges.
- Brush the entire surface with melted butter.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
- Let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
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If we haven’t met yet, hi hello! I’m Bailey, a Registered Dietitian and recipe creator. I offer 1:1 nutrition coaching and cooking classes to help make healthy eating easier. On my blog you can find easy, seasonal, vegetarian recipes! If you try this recipe (or any of my other recipes), leave me a comment with your thoughts!
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I make this every year for Christmas. I hope you love it as much as my family does. Enjoy and let me know if you give it a try!
Hi Bailey Can you tell me what 1 1/2 tsp of Savory is , I haven't heard of this in Australia. Can you suggest an alternative ?
Savory is an herb, but I think it's more common in North America. You can use thyme instead! Fresh or dried should work. Hope that helps!
Can you tell me the measurement of TVP needed? I buy mine in bulk. Thank you!
Hi Rebecca, one package of Yves TVP is approximately 1.5 cups. However, if your TVP is dehydrated, and not pre-cooked, then you might need a little less than 1.5 cups because it will expand once rehydrated. Alternatively, if you use 1.5 cups TVP, you might need to add a little more liquid. Hope that helps!