Gluten-free Dairy-free Lemon Cream Pie + VIDEO

This tangy, sweet dessert has a creamy, no bake filling that is like biting into a lemony cloud. With three layers: a graham cracker crust, lemon filling and topped with dairy-free whipped cream it’s a triple threat that takes little work. Perfect for a spring or summer dessert. This pie is free of: wheat, gluten, dairy, egg, fish, shellfish, peanut, tree nut and sesame–making it free of 8 out of the top 9 allergens. 

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WHY THIS LEMON CREAM PIE ROCKS

This pie is lemony without making you pucker. It’s the perfect blend of tangy and sweet. It’s easy to make, and only has a handful of ingredients. The only part you have to bake is the crust, and the filling is no bake. It’s cold and creamy–refreshing for warm spring or summer days. 

HOW THIS PIE IS GLUTEN FREE

The filling has no ingredients that have wheat or gluten in them naturally–although always double check every single label to be sure.

However, you will need to make adjustments to make the crust gluten-free. If you CAN have gluten, feel free to purchase a store-bought crust (Keebler doesn’t have dairy ingredients). If you need a gluten-free store bought crust, you can use Mi-Del (though personally, I don’t love the flavor).

So, I prefer to make my own graham cracker crust. It just takes dairy-free butter and crushed Schar Honeygrams. Most homemade graham cracker recipes call for sugar too, but I find the crust (as well as the filling) is plenty sweet and so it doesn’t need it. Feel free to use a different brand of gluten-free graham crackers if you prefer. I also have a homemade gluten-free graham cracker recipe (that can be soy free, unlike Schar) if you need it. 

HOW THIS PIE IS DAIRY FREE

To make this pie dairy free, you’ll need three key dairy-free ingredients: dairy-free butter, sweetened condensed coconut milk and a vegan whipping cream.

Feel free to use what vegan butter works for you. I used Country Crock’s Plant Butter with Olive Oil.

For the heavy cream, I prefer Country Crock Plant Cream because I feel it whips up better and has a plainer taste, whereas Silk’s Heavy Whipping Cream is made of coconut and has a coconut after taste, but either brand should work. Do what works for your diet and what you can find locally. I’ve found Country Crock at my Walmart, and Silk at Albertson’s, both in the refrigerated dairy aisle. 

WHERE TO FIND SWEETENED CONDENSED COCONUT MILK

I find sweetened condensed coconut milk at my local Walmart in the baking aisle, or on Amazon. It’s normal for it to separate, as you’ll see in the video, the water came out first and then I had to scoop out the thicker/whiter part. It’s fine, as it will all get whisked together. 

DOES JELLO HAVE DAIRY IN IT

I know it’s confusing, because you’re thinking of the Jell-O finished product, that has milk in it because the directions tell you to add milk. But the powdered mix that comes in the box does NOT have milk in it. You’re simply using the mixture and not following the package directions.

For other situations, where you want to make Jello-O pudding dairy free, use my handy method here.

The ingredients for the Jell-O vanilla pudding mix is as follows, in case you need to see it:

• Sugar, Modified Food Starch, Contains Less than 2% of Sodium Phosphate, Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate, Salt, Mono- and Diglycerides, Artificial Color, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Yellow 5, Yellow 6.

*Be sure to always check the product in hand though, in case it’s changed since the time of publishing this recipe.

CAN I USE A STORE BOUGHT CRUST?

Yes, see above in the gluten-free crust section.

DO I HAVE TO USE FRESHLY SQUEEZED LEMON JUICE?

You will already have to have a lemon to get the lemon zest, so go ahead and juice that lemon. If you find you’re short a little for the needed measurement, then go ahead and top off with some bottled lemon juice. If you’re like me–I always have some handy in my fridge. You’ll get a brighter flavor from freshly squeezed, but know that some lemons don’t give you much juice. If you have more than one lemon on hand and can squeeze multiple of them to get the right amount, then go for that too! I’m all about options.

One trick for this is taking the whole lemon (uncut) and rolling it out on your counter, while at the same time pressing down on it with your palm. By doing this, it helps the lemon release it’s juices when you cut and squeeze it afterwards.

DO I HAVE A REGULAR PIE CRUST RECIPE?

If you’d rather put this lemon filling in a typical flour pie crust, I have a gluten-free pie crust recipe here.

WHAT TOOLS DO I NEED?

You will need:

• A large mixing bowl
• Measuring cups and spoons
• A microplane zester
• Spatula
• Another large mixing bowl/or a stand mixer 
• Handheld electric beaters/or the whisk attachment for your stand mixer
• 9.5″ glass pie plate
• Rolling pin or food processor for crushing the graham crackers

INGREDIENTS NEEDED:

You will need:

• 1 box of Schar Honeygrams
• Dairy-free butter
• 3.4oz-serving size Jell-O vanilla instant pudding mix
• Zest and juice of one lemon
• Bottled lemon juice, in case your lemon doesn’t give you enough (or buy extra lemons to be safe)
• One 11.6oz can sweetened condensed coconut milk
• 1 carton Country Crock Plant Cream or Silk’s Heavy Whipping Cream (see above for notes and preferences)
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

DO I HAVE OTHER GLUTEN-FREE DAIRY-FREE PIES?

Oh man, do I! Pies are great for Thanksgiving, Pie Day (March 14), the 4th of July, Memorial Day and just about any other time. Some of my favorite gluten-free dairy-free pies are my: Cherry Cheesecake Pie, Peppermint Pie, Faux Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Crumble Pie, Pumpkin Mousse Pie, Peach Pie, and my Triple Chocolate Pie. The hard part is deciding which pie to make!

DO I HAVE A VIDEO SHOWING HOW TO MAKE THE PIE?

Yes, I do! I know it can be helpful to see how to make it, especially if you’ve never whipped a dairy-free heavy whipping cream before to see what texture to beat it to. The video should auto play, but if it doesn’t, it’s embedded into the bottom of the recipe card. If that fails, you can view it on my YouTube Channel (and while you’re there–please subscribe!)

Continue to Content

Gluten-free Dairy-free Lemon Cream Pie

Yield: 1 pie

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

This tangy, sweet dessert has a creamy, no bake filling that is like biting into a lemony cloud. With three layers: a graham cracker crust, lemon filling and topped with dairy-free whipped cream it's a triple threat that takes little work. Perfect for a spring or summer dessert. This pie is free of: wheat, gluten, dairy, egg, fish, shellfish, peanut, tree nut and sesame--making it free of 8 out of the top 9 allergens.

Print

Ingredients

CRUST:

• 1 box Schar honeygrams 5.6oz
• 1/3 cup melted dairy-free butter

LEMON PIE FILLING:

• One 3.4oz-serving size vanilla instant pudding mix
• Zest of one lemon
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• One 11.6oz can sweetened condensed milk coconut milk
• 1 cup plant cream, whipped to stiff peaks

TOPPING:

• 1 cup plant cream
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Take a box of Schar honeygrams and crush them to a fine sand (either by smashing with a rolling pin in a bag, or using a food processor). Melt 1/3 cup dairy-free butter. Mix the two together.

3. Press the wet honeygrams mixture into a pie plate to form the crust.

4. Bake for ten minutes.

5. Remove from the oven and cool completely as a warm crust would melt the filling. You can place the crust in your fridge to hurry the cooling process along.

6. Place your mixing bowl, beaters and plant cream in the freezer while you do step 7. You want everything to chill for 10-20 minutes to beat better.

7. In a medium bowl combine pudding mix, lemon zest, lemon juice, and sweetened condensed milk. (If you don't have enough lemons to make the 1/2 cup requirement, you can top it off with bottled lemon juice.) Whisk to combine and then set aside in the fridge.

8. Take your bowl, beaters and plant cream out of the freezer, measure out one cup and beat until medium-stiff peaks form with either your electric hand held beaters, or your stand mixer.  Remove pudding from the fridge and place whipped cream in the mixture. Whip until combined.

9. Pour the mixture into your prepared and cooled graham cracker crust. Place in the fridge until you're ready to serve.

10. Before serving, whip the remaining 1 cup cream with powdered sugar and vanilla until medium peaks form.  Spread on top of your pie.

11. Enjoy!

Notes

*Our allergies, while severe and that get re-tested frequently, are such that we can go strictly by what's on the label. I do not call companies to see what things are derived from, or call manufacturers to see about potential cross contact. If your allergies require you to do so, please do your own homework. I cannot assure you of any ingredient's safety, only you can do that. I simply share what works for our family.

**If you are going to feed this to someone with food allergies, and you yourself do not have food allergies, I HIGHLY recommend having them check every single brand and ingredient you are using, to ensure they're OK with each part of the recipe. And, to make sure you've talked to them about how to avoid cross contamination in your kitchen.

Adapted from: Our Best Bite's Lemon Cream Pie

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 617Total Fat: 42gSaturated Fat: 28gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 107mgSodium: 237mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 1gSugar: 41gProtein: 8g

DON’T FORGET TO PIN THIS, SO YOU DON’T FORGET IT. WHILE YOU’RE THERE, BE SURE TO LOOK AT MY OTHER GLUTEN-FREE DAIRY-FREE DESSERTS.

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