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This no bake vegan chocolate mousse pie is a low-key, crowd-pleasing dessert for any celebration! It’s super creamy and has rich, deep chocolate flavor.
For the most part, turning on my oven at this time of year feels like a treat, rather than a burden. I love to bake, and I love it especially during the holidays.
But when you’re at the tail end of the holiday season, it’s not necessarily the time to be fussing with a complicated holiday dessert. That’s exactly why I’m happy to be posting this easy, no-bake vegan chocolate mousse pie.
The pie is a low-key, crowd-pleasing stunner. And, true to the recipe name, you won’t have to bake anything. This is an assemble-and-chill kind of dessert. And I’m totally here for it.
How to make vegan chocolate mousse pie filling
Chocolate mousse pie usually features a pie crust—no bake or baked, traditional or chocolate—and a chocolate mousse filling.
That chocolate mousse center is, of course, the heart of this yummy dessert.
There are a number of ways to make vegan chocolate mousse. My favorite is to use silken tofu and melted dark chocolate as a base.
There are a lot of advantages of making mousse this way. First, the melted dark chocolate gives the mousse an intense flavor. It’s much more chocolatey than using cocoa powder alone (though there is some cocoa powder in the mousse).
Second, the chocolate firms up as it cools. When it’s mixed with silken tofu, it sets easily, so that your mousse will have a nice, jiggly-but-not-runny, texture.
Finally, silken tofu gives this dessert the slight nutritional boost of plant protein—what’s not to like about that?
My favorite, no-bake crust
I sure do love a no-bake pie crust. I love a regular pie crust, too. But it’s hard to beat pie crust that avoids the pitfalls of burnt edges and the dreaded soggy bottom.
I always use graham crackers as the base for my no-bake, press-in pie crusts. You could of course make your own, but I tend to rely on store-bought options.
Happily, there are a number of vegan graham crackers that are easy to find in supermarkets. I always get Nabisco Original Grahams, but Cinnamon Teddy Grahams and Keebler Grahams (cinnamon or original) are also options.
To make the crust, you’ll just pulse the graham crackers together with melted butter and sugar in a food processor fitted with the S blade. Press that crumbly mixture into a pie plate, using the back of a spoon or a measuring cup to press and smooth it out.
Refrigerate the crust for one hour, so that it can set up a bit. And that’s it! Instant pie crust with minimal fuss—no rolling, no blind baking, no soggy bottom.
Vegan chocolate mousse pie ingredients
Here’s a little more on the ingredients that you’ll need to make the chocolate mousse pie.
Graham crackers
See above for the store-bought options that I most often rely on. For even more vegan graham cracker options, this is a helpful post.
Vegan butter
You can use your favorite vegan butter for the recipe—any brand should be fine.
Cocoa powder
I used to use any cocoa powder that was inexpensive and easy to find in most of my baking. I didn’t tend to distinguish much between types of cocoa powder, and I didn’t have a favorite.
Lately I do have a favorite, which is the E Guittard Cocoa Rouge. It is amazingly intense, a little bitter but with a rounded, rich flavor. I highly recommend it for brownies, cookies, cake, muffins, and more.
If you already have a cocoa powder that you love, go for it and use it in the chocolate mousse pie!
Silken tofu
You’ll need 15-16 ounces of silken tofu for the recipe, which is the standard size that you’ll find refrigerated, with water (such as the Nasoya silken tofu or 365 by Whole Foods brand).
You can also use shelf-stable silken tofu that comes in aseptic packaging, such as the Mori-Nu brand. Most of the time this tofu is sold in 12-ounce packages, so you’ll need one and a quarter of them. You can use the leftover in smoothies, whipped cream, soup, and more.
Maple syrup
I use maple syrup to sweeten the mousse filling of the pie. You can substitute agave syrup if you like.
Dark chocolate
Any vegan dark chocolate should work well to make the chocolate mousse pie filling. Some of the dark chocolate that I use regularly for this pie and my silken tofu chocolate pudding include:
Whipped cream
You have the option to use any whipped cream that you like for the pie! I’ve given you an option for homemade, coconut whipped cream. However, I also love to use my tofu whipped cream with this recipe.
If you have a store-bought whipped cream that you love (I really like the So Delicious Cocowhip), that’s fine, too.
Can the pie be made gluten-free?
Yes, this vegan chocolate mousse pie can definitely be made gluten-free. It’ll be a little extra work, though!
I’m not aware of a store-bought graham cracker that’s both GF + vegan. So, you can make the crackers from scratch (with a recipe such as this one) for the crust.
Make ahead options and storage
There are a few easy ways to make the chocolate mousse pie ahead of time if you plan to bring it to a holiday gathering.
First, you can make the pie crust and refrigerate it for up to two days before assembling the pie.
You can also make the mousse filling up to two days ahead of assembly.
Once assembled, the pie can be stored in the fridge for up to four days. Leftovers can be frozen for up to six weeks.
Coconut whipped cream will last for up to 4 days in the fridge. I recommend topping the pie with the whipped cream right before you’re ready to slice and serve.
Coconut whipped cream tends to harden as it sits in the fridge, so I recommend whipping it again before serving if you’ve chilled it.
More chocolate desserts to savor
This mousse pie is definitely one of my favorite chocolate desserts. But I’m a chocolate-dessert-loving person, and I have a lot of others that give me joy. Here’s a handful of them:
- Chocolate bundt cake with chocolate ganache
- Dark chocolate pear cake
- Double chocolate muffins
- Silken tofu chocolate pudding
- Chocolate peanut butter cupcakes
4.45 from 20 votes
Easy No Bake Vegan Chocolate Mousse Pie
Author – Gena Hamshaw
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time: 35 minutes minutes
Chilling time 4 hours hours
Yields: 10 servings
Ingredients
No Bake Vegan Chocolate Graham Crust
- 9 vegan graham cracker sheets (140 g)
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar (24 g)
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (10 g)
- 4 tablespoons melted vegan butter (56 g)
Vegan Chocolate Mousse
- 16 ounces silken tofu (454 g)
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup (40 g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch sea salt
- 7 ounces vegan dark chocolate (196 g, or 1 1/4 cups; you can use chips, morsels, or chopped dark chocolate bar)
Coconut Whipped Cream (substitute tofu whipped cream or a store-bought vegan whipped cream of choice)
- 10.8 ounces coconut cream, chilled overnight in the fridge (2 5.4-ounce cans)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons confectioners sugar
- shaved/chopped vegan dark chocolate, for decorating (optional)
Instructions
Place the graham crackers in a food processor and pulse repeatedly to break into a crumble. Add the brown sugar and cocoa powder and pulse to combine. Add the melted butter and pulse a few more times, until you have a crumbly mixture that will hold together if you squeeze it tightly in your hand. (Alternately, you can crush the graham crackers in a large mixing bowl with a can, till they're finely crumbled, and proceed with adding the melted butter.) Press the graham mixture into a standard size pie dish, using your fingers and/or the back of a spoon to inch it up the sides of the dish. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for at least 1 hour to set.
To make the mousse, place the tofu, maple syrup, vanilla, and sea salt into a blender and blend till smooth. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler or in your microwave and whisk to get it smooth. Add the melted chocolate to the blender and blend again to combine everything well. When the crust has set, pour the mousse into the prepared crust. Transfer the pie back to the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
To make the coconut whipped cream, drain the coconut cream cans of any loose liquid that might be hiding under the cream. Place the cream into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on high speed till the cream is fluffy and light and smooth (about 2-3 minutes). Alternately, use a hand mixer on high speed to whip the cream. Add the vanilla and the sugar by the tablespoon, beating as you go.
Spoon the coconut cream on top of the pie and use a spatula to gently spread it into a circle, or simply serve the cream alongside the pie. Garnish the top of the pie with shaved or chopped vegan dark chocolate, if you like.
A nutrition client recently mentioned to me that chocolate cream pie was always served at the kids’ table at her family’s Thanksgiving, but that everyone loved it so much that the adults would sneak slices as the night went on.
More traditional and grown-up holiday pies are lovely, but sometimes a plate of something simple and chocolatey just hits the spot.
I hope this pie will hit the spot for some of you.
xo
