The BEST vegan banoffee pie with an easy graham cracker crust and caramel without dates. An absolute taste explosion!
This banoffee pie is one of the best vegan desserts you will ever make! It's exploding with lots of flavours and textures and is:
- easy to make
- indulgent
- impressive to friends and family!
- date-free
- uses common pantry ingredients (no vegan condensed milk!)
- egg free, dairy free and can be made gluten free
If you're craving a vegan pie but prefer other flavour combinations, see my Easy Vegan Apple Crumble Pie or Vegan Chocolate Mousse Pie with Berries.
Table of contents
Step-by-step video on how to make vegan banoffee pie:
Making the graham cracker pie crust
This banoffee pie is completely nut free and date free. Instead of a raw base, we're using a classic graham cracker crust! It'll melt in your mouth and complement the gooey caramel.
To make the biscuit base, add some vegan-friendly cookies to a food processor (or bowl) and crush them into fine crumbs. Add melted vegan butter (or coconut oil) and mix again.
If you want to make a gluten-free vegan banoffee pie, simply use gluten-free cookies!
Making the caramel without dates
This is the BEST banoffee pie because of the easy ooey gooey vegan caramel! This caramel is made using 3-4 simple ingredients including:
- Thick canned coconut cream: Make sure that you use the solid creamy stuff at the top of your can! If you use a runny coconut cream, your caramel will not set. Or you can use dairy free whipping cream :).
- Dark brown sugar or coconut sugar or dark brown sugar to give the caramel the sweetness it deserves! I don't recommend using light brown sugar or regular sugar (unless you add some molasses) unless you are happy with a lighter coloured caramel.
- Corn flour / starch as a flavour-free thickener
- Vegan butter / margarine for that indulgent butterscotch toffee flavour.
Unlike other banoffee pies, you don't need a blender or dates or condensed milk (aka Carnation milk)!
The caramel only needs to be cooked for 10 minutes until slightly thickened. It will thicken a lot more when it cools down! The only liquid component in the caramel is in the coconut cream and butter. This results in a lovely gooey vegan caramel for your banoffee pie!
Assembling the banoffee pie
I topped the toffee/caramel layer with 3 bananas which I found to be enough! I made sure my bananas were ripe because they're sweeter!
For the topping, I used canned coconut cream but you can use any vegan whipping cream. I chilled 1 x 400g (15 ounce) can of coconut cream in the fridge overnight. The next day, I scooped out only the thick part of the cream which has floated to the top at the top of the can.
Make sure you buy a brand of coconut cream which seperates as some brands never do (due to emulsifiers).
My can of coconut cream was filled with the thick cream which was more than enough for the vegan banoffee pie. However some brands have a lower percentage of cream.
If you aren't sure which brands of coconut cream seperate, buy a can of coconut cream which is designed for whipping. I used coconut whipping cream from Harris Farm Markets).
Customising the banoffee pie
To make a vegan GLUTEN FREE banoffee pie, simply use gluten free cookies in the base.
To take this pie to the NEXT LEVEL, add ½ cup of smooth Biscoff spread to the caramel. Combining Biscoff with caramel and banana is a real dream come true!
Can this pie be assembled a day in advance?
Technically, yes you can assemble the pie the night before you need it. If you whipped the coconut cream sufficiently, the pie won't collapse overnight.
However, bananas naturally oxidise and brown over time. At the earliest, I'd recommend assembling the pie a couple of hours beforehand.
Alternatively, you can store the whipped coconut cream in a jar/container. Just before serving, slice the bananas and assemble the whole pie!
Vegan Banoffee Pie
Ingredients
Crust
- ~2 cups (200g) plain sweet cookies, gluten free if needed
- ⅓ cup (75g) vegan butter, margarine or coconut oil, melted
Caramel filling:
- 2 cups (385g) dark brown sugar, or coconut sugar
- 1 cup (240g) canned coconut cream, thick part only
- ¼ cup (30g) corn starch / corn flour
- 2 tablespoons (30g) vegan butter
To assemble:
- 1 can (400g) canned whipping coconut cream, thick part only and chilled
- 3 medium-size bananas, sliced
- 2 tablespoons chocolate, optional
Instructions
To make the crust:
- Add the cookies to a food processor and pulse until fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and pulse until combined. Firmly press the mixture into the bottom of a 20 cm (8 inch) greased pie dish. Set aside.
To make the filling:
- Add the sugar, coconut cream, corn flour / starch and butter to a medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Simmer the mixture for 10 minutes and set aside to thicken.*
- When the caramel is no longer very hot, pour it into the graham cracker crust and set aside to chill in the fridge.
To assemble:
- When the caramel is slightly firm to the touch, you can assemble the rest of the pie.
- Add the coconut cream to a large bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Set aside.
- Arrange and layer the bananas on top of the caramel. Spoon the coconut cream on top. Use a grater to shave some chocolate on the coconut cream
- Serve the pie immediately or store in the fridge until needed. Leftovers can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Video
Notes
This recipe was originally published in September 2018 but updated in May 2021.
Please leave a comment below if you made this recipe, have any questions or thoughts! Your comment will help other readers and Rainbow Nourishments.
is there supposed to be coffee in this?
No. Banoffee is banana + toffee
awesome!
Thanks 🙂
It was lovely to read this post Anthea and see your own tips / ways you reduce food waste. I absolutely hate food waste and try my best to never waste food, although it times it becomes inevitable unfortunately... I have started to shop at "Oz Harvest" which sells food that is fine to eat, but cannot be sold. The supermarket standards of fruits and vegetables are so ridiculous and only compounds the problem. Personally, I couldn't care less if my bananas are spotty or my potatoes have knobs here and dents there. They all taste the same, and they are all food, and like you said, some people would be very grateful for that.
Hi Rosie!
I know exactly what you mean about it being inevitable to waste food! I just more people were aware of how much food gets wasted in this world. Fab idea about shopping at Oz Harvest! I am aware of Oz Harvest's work but never knew that you can shop there! I'll have to check out whether I can do that in Canberra.
I also wish more restaurants and places that process food in bulk are more conscious of their food waste! I see some restaurants producing 5 times more waste than I would make in a normal household! xo