Creamy Gluten Free and Vegan Key Lime Pie

This creamy and perfectly sweet and tart key lime pie is perfect for warm weather months and it’s not hard to make. We made our version of this classic recipe dairy free and gluten free, and it doesn’t use tofu or cashews.

We’ve been diving into fruit-flavored recipes lately since the weather is warming up, and when I remade my older recipe for lemon mousse, I decided to use it as a blueprint for creating a recipe for creamy vegan key lime pie!

This recipe is doesn’t actually use key limes and uses regular Persian limes for a better taste (I explain why farther down). But this works out better so you don’t have to worry about trying to source key limes for this recipe if you can’t find them.

This is a delicious recipe for warm weather and it’s perfectly creamy, sweet, and tart!

Food allergy notes:

• Dairy free
• Egg free and vegan
• Gluten free
• Peanut free

Why you’ll love this recipe

This version of key lime pie is creamy and delicous, and while it has a similar texture to no-bake jello pie, there is no jello or gelatin in this recipe. We also made this recipe without tofu or cashews.

Our recipe for key lime pie is similar to our key lime cheesecake recipe but this doesn’t have cream cheese in it, so if you’re not a fan of cream cheese flavors or can’t find a good dairy free cream cheese, this is a good option.

How to make a vegan key lime pie

Our version of the classic key lime pie recipe has several steps but it’s not difficult to make. Here are the steps to make this recipe (this is just an overview, the recipe card is at the end of the post):

• If making your cookie crust:
• Put the sandwich cookies in a food processor and pulse until they are crumbs.
• Add the melted coconut oil and melted dairy free butter and pulse/process until it begins to stick together a bit.
• Press the buttery crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate and set in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

• For the key lime filling:
• This recipe is based on our lemon mousse recipe, so we follow similar steps. First, we make a lime pudding by adding the coconut milk, dairy free milk (we used oat milk), sugar, lime juice, vanilla, lime zest, and salt to a small saucepan and heating to a low simmer.
• While this is heating, you can add some natural green food coloring if you like (this is optional).
• Once the coconut milk mixture begins to simmer, scoop out about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of it into a small mixing bowl and whisk in the cornstarch to make a slurry. Make sure to whisk well so there are no lumps.
• Add the slurry to the simmering coconut milk mixture, whisking as you add it. It will begin to thicken immediately.

• Cook for another minute longer to thicken it more, whisking constantly to avoid lumps.
• Remove from the heat and let it cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, whisking periodically.
• Pour into a shallow bowl and cover with a piece of plastic wrap, setting the plastic wrap directly on the surface of the lime pudding (this helps to prevent “pudding skin”).
• Chill for about 30-45 minutes.
• Fold in half the container of So Delicious CocoWhip. For a creamier and fluffier pie, fold in the entire container of CocoWhip.
• Once it’s mixed well, pour into the prepared pie crust, cover, and chill for 6 hours or overnight.
• Cut and serve with whipped cream on top and some fresh lime zest.

In the recipe video and photos, I used a pre-made graham crust from MiDel graham crust, but I later used a homemade cookie crust and we prefer the homemade crust. You can choose whether you want to use a pre-made crust or make your own (I have some notes on the crust below).

If you’re looking for a key lime dessert recipe that doesn’t require cooking, check out our key lime cheesecake. It’s dairy free, vegan, and gluten free as well!

Why we didn’t use real key limes in this recipe

Despite the name of this recipe, we didn’t actually use real key limes. I tested this recipe with fresh key limes multiple times, but could not get rid of the strong bitter aftertaste in the filling.

I used both key lime juice and key lime zest at first and it was really bitter, then I tried it with just key lime juice but Persian lime zest and it was better, but still bitter.

Persian limes (or Tahitian limes) are the most cultivated variety and the one most people find in their supermarkets (at least in the US).

So I finally just made this with only Persian limes for the juice and zest and it tasted much better, with great lime flavor without the bitterness.

I still labeled this as “key lime pie” for people who are looking online for that recipe, but we made this with Persian limes for the best taste without any astringent bitterness that the key limes caused when I tested this recipe with them.

The best part is since this recipe is made with regular limes, you don’t have to worry about trying to find key limes for this recipe if you can’t find those locally!

Gluten free cookie crust options for this pie

For the first batches of my key lime pie, I used the MiDel gluten-free graham cookie crust to easily make the pie. But I didn’t realize that their ingredients or facility must have changed since it is now made in a facility with tree nuts, so we switched to a homemade crust the next time.

I ended up making a homemade crust with the vanilla Glutino cookies the second time using our homemade cookie crust recipe from our vanilla cheesecake.

We prefer a homemade cookie crust to the MiDel one these days, but you can use whatever easy graham or cookie crust that fits your food allergies.

Of course, if you are dairy free and not gluten free, you can use regular vanilla Oreo cookies in the crust recipe if you want!

Here are some good options for dairy free and gluten free vanilla sandwich cookies if you’re making your own crust:

• Kinnitoos vanilla sandwich cookies (this is usually the one we use)
• Glutino vanilla sandwich cookies (contains eggs)
• Gluten free golden Oreos (contains soybean oil)

Layered blueberry lime cups

Since I was recipe testing this key lime pie recipe at the same time as our blueberry mousse recipe, I decided to take some extra key lime pie filling and layer it with the blueberry mousse along with some crushed gluten free sandwich cookies to make a layered trifle-like dessert!

I didn’t add any food coloring to this batch of lime filling so it’s white, which looks great with the vibrant blueberry mousse colors.

We also created some mini layered desserts in shot glasses as well, which would be great for larger parties! I posted a short video of how we layered these on Instagram.

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