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Mains

Vegan Pasties with Leek and Caramelised Onion

January 3, 2018 by Alexandra Daum
Vegan pasties filled with leeks, caramelised onion, and green peas. Pasties are a traditional Cornish pastry recipe, with savoury filling enclosed in pastry.
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One half-moon pasty cut in half on a plate, with knife.

If you’re from Cornwall, I apologize for taking your famous dish and making it vegan. I had an idea in my mind of a vegan Cornish pasty and just couldn’t shake it. Even though I’ve never eaten a Cornish pasty, it’s been featured often enough on Bake Off that it seems familiar. Nadia, a winner of bake off, got in deep trouble for daring to add peas to the classic recipe, so I’m sure vegan pasties are rather worse.

The outer pocket is a coconut oil spelt pastry that’s much easier to make than regular butter pastry, I think. You just pop it in the food processor and let it do the work, and no worries about keeping everything ice cold. It’s not as flaky as butter pastry but it’s a bit flaky, and a lot crispy. Perfect for vegan pasties.

About the filling – I’ve chosen caramelised onions alongside leeks, peas, little white beans, and lemon, on top of a little hummus. I see several variations of this in my future (definitely mushrooms) but this is a great winter option using frozen peas with cold weather vegetables.

If you’re looking for another good vegan pastry recipe, check out my vegan hot water crust pie, roasted vegetable pie with puff pastry, or vegan mushroom pot pie.

Table of Contents hide
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Recipe Notes
How to Store
Expert Tips
Vegan Pasties with Leek and Caramelised Onion

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

  • Spelt flour: substitute plain white flour if preferred, or use up to 50% whole grain flour.
  • Coconut oil: use refined oil to avoid any slight coconut flavour. I’m sure you could also use your favourite vegan butter pastry as well but I haven’t tried with it.
  • Beans: you can, of course, omit the beans. I do find that they blend in so well as to be hardly noticeable.

Recipe Notes

The only trick is not to overfill the pasties so that you can close up the pocket, but you can always pull a bit of the filling out if need be.

If you don’t want the extra step of caramelising the onions, you can sauté them with the leeks instead. I encourage you to make a huge batch of caramelised onions and freeze the extra, though, because they’re a great addition to just about everything.

You can use a milk wash (for vegan) or egg wash (vegetarian) on the outside of the pasties, but it’s not about taste, just appearance. Adding an egg wash makes the pasties more golden, and not including it will result in a slightly lighter pastry.

How to Store

Storage: leftovers can be kept in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to two days.

Freezing: these freeze very well, and can be frozen before baking. Simply freeze on a parchment lined tray and, once frozen, transfer to an airtight container. Bake from frozen.

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Expert Tips

  • Seal well: the filling will leak out if given the chance. Seal carefully with a fork and don’t overfill the pasties.
  • Make extra: if you’re going through the trouble of making caramelised onions and homemade pastry, it might as well be worth it. Double the batch and freeze some for later.
  • Add a wash: the pasties are quite pale and anemic looking if you don’t brush with something before baking. Don’t skip this step.

More Caramelised Onion Recipes

Winter Pizza
Mushroom and Caramelised Onion Wreath
Potato Galette

If you make these Onion Pasties or any other vegetarian mains on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.

Yield: 6

Vegan Pasties with Leek and Caramelised Onion

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Caramelized Onions 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes
5 from 1 vote

Ingredients

Metric – American

Spelt Coconut Oil Pastry

  • 300 grams spelt flour*
  • 1 teaspoon coconut sugar
  • ¾ teaspoon sea salt
  • 60 grams coconut oil solid
  • 6-8 tablespoons cold water

Pasty Filling

  • 1 teaspoon oil
  • 1 medium leek cut into 1 cm rounds
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • Juice of a lemon
  • 100 grams little white beans cooked
  • 70 grams frozen peas
  • 100 grams hummus
  • 1 batch caramelised onions

Instructions

Spelt Coconut Oil Pastry

  • Place the flour, sugar, and salt into the bowl of a food processor with the blade attachment. Pulse until combined.
    300 grams spelt flour*, 1 teaspoon coconut sugar, 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • Add the coconut oil and pulse until sandy, then add the water a tablespoon at a time, pulsing between each addition. The finished pastry should be a little crumbly looking but come together easily when pressed.
    60 grams coconut oil, 6-8 tablespoons cold water
  • Form a disc with the pastry and wrap it in something to keep the moisture in (I like beeswax wrap). Set it aside, at room temperature, while you prepare the filling.

Pasty Filling

  • Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the leek and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned and softened. Stir in the salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Add the beans, onion, and peas, and stir to combine. Set aside.
    1 teaspoon oil, 1 medium leek, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, Juice of a lemon, 100 grams little white beans, 1 batch caramelised onions, 70 grams frozen peas
  • Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll the pastry out on a floured surface to about 5 mm and cut large rounds, about 15 cm**.
  • Place a tablespoon of hummus on each round and top with a couple tablespoons of the pastry filling. Repeat, rolling out any leftover pastry, until it’s been used up.
    100 grams hummus
  • To close the pastries, use a finger or brush to slightly dampen the outer ring of the pastry round. Pinch each pastry closed, starting at one corner and moving around to the other. Use a fork to crimp the edge and seal the pasty. If it tears slightly don't worry, it shouldn't open up much in the oven.
  • Brush the pasties with an egg wash if desired to help with browning. Continue until all the pasties are sealed, then place them on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, until crisp. Serve hot or keep leftovers in a sealed container for up to 2 days.

Notes

* I make this pastry with a mix of different spelt flours. Here I did half whole and half light, but it works well with fully light and whole spelt as well. Avoid bread flour.
** I used a cereal bowl to make the round imprints in the pastry and then cut them out with a butterknife. If you have a pastry cutter, you can use that instead.

* For American cup measurements, please click the pink link text above the ingredient list that says ‘American’.


Nutrition

Serving: 1 Calories: 335kcal Carbohydrates: 43g Protein: 10g Fat: 14g Saturated Fat: 8g Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g Monounsaturated Fat: 2g Trans Fat: 0.003g Sodium: 582mg Potassium: 197mg Fiber: 9g Sugar: 2g Vitamin A: 353IU Vitamin C: 7mg Calcium: 35mg Iron: 4mg

Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.

© Alexandra Daum
Course: Autumn, Main Course, Mains, Winter
Cuisine: British
Diet Vegan, Vegetarian
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More Mains:

Pasta with mushroom sauce on two plates with drinks.Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff
Three rice-stuffed pumpkins on plates.Vegetarian Stuffed Pumpkins
Plates with pieces of puff pastry pie on them.Roasted Vegetable Pie with Puff Pastry
Bowls of pumpkin curry with naan and small pumpkins around.Chickpea Pumpkin Curry

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Comments

  1. Alexandra Daum says

    January 18, 2018 at 4:23 pm

    I'm so happy to hear that, Nicky! They'd be amazing with mushrooms, great idea.

    Reply
  2. Nicky Hawthorne says

    January 10, 2018 at 7:50 am

    Made these. Impressed all my friends. Thank you. Will make again and try w mushrooms.

    Reply

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