Answer: It depends.
It depends on the type of crust you are consuming. However, most Pillsbury crusts are not vegan since they contain non-vegan ingredients such as lard and food coloring.
Nothing screams fall season like a freshly made pie. However, preparing your homemade pie crust yourself is usually harder than you think.
As a result, many individuals choose to buy ready-made pie crusts. Whereas most people may buy any pie crust, vegans must examine the labels for a vegan pie crust. In this article, we will discuss if Pillsbury pie crust is suitable for your vegan plate to lessen your worries.
Pillsbury Pie Crusts – Brief History
Charles A. Pillsbury founded the firm in 1869 by purchasing a stake in a Minneapolis flour mill. Pillsbury Company is a former American food product producer, and flour miller bought out by General Mills around 2001. These firms were headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Pillsbury became synonymous with home cooking due to its long and rich history in the bread and other baked sectors, promotional baking contests, and cookbooks, most prominently the yearly Pillsbury Bake-Off. Pillsbury’s Best flour, one of the company’s primary items, is still manufactured. After launching more mills and implementing milling method improvements, his business was reformed around 1872 into C.A. Pillsbury and Company.
Under its Pillsbury branding, the firm makes many consumable food goods such as rolls, frozen biscuits, snack foods, cookie dough, breakfast meals, and cake mixes.
Are Pillsbury Pie Crusts Vegan?
Pillsbury makes four kinds of delightful pie crusts. Now let us take a closer look at their ingredient lists and see if these crusts are vegan-friendly.
Refrigerated Pillsbury Pie Crust
Pillsbury’s delicate pie crust is famous for its handmade taste. Unfortunately, this Pillsbury pie crust contains lard, which is not suitable for vegans.
Here is the nutritional content per serving.
| Nutrients | Nutrient Count |
|---|---|
| Calories | 110 Kal |
| Total fat | 6 g |
| Saturated fat | 4 g |
| Trans fat | 0 g |
| Cholesterol | 5 mg |
| Sodium | 130 mg |
| Total carbohydrates | 12 g |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g |
| Total sugar | 0 g |
| Added sugar | 0 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Vitamin D | 0 g |
| Calcium | 0 g |
| Iron | 0.7 mg |
| Potassium | 0 g |
| Vitamin A | 0 g |
| Vitamin C | 0 g |
Frozen Pillsbury Pet-Ritz Regular Pie Crust
This Pillsbury pie crust, which comes in a box of two, is prepared using basic ingredients and has the same flavor as the handmade pie crust. However, they don’t mention enough about what we’re looking for. Although the brand’s promise of utilizing basic ingredients is true with this pie crust, it is unfortunately not suitable for vegans. It contains animal-based fat!
The pie crust additionally contains sugar which is a contentious element in the vegan movement due to its commercial refinement. Plus, It also has artificial food coloring.
Let’s take a look at its nutritional content.
| Nutrients | Nutrient Count |
|---|---|
| Calories | 80 Kal |
| Total fat | 4.5 g |
| Saturated fat | 2 g |
| Trans fat | 0 g |
| Cholesterol | 5 mg |
| Sodium | 70 mg |
| Total carbohydrates | 9 g |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g |
| Total sugar | 0 g |
| Added sugar | 1 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Vitamin D | 0 g |
| Calcium | 0 g |
| Iron | 1 mg |
| Potassium | 0 g |
| Vitamin A | 0 g |
| Vitamin C | 0 g |
Pet-Ritz Deep Dish Frozen Pie Crust
This pie crust looks identical to the previous one, namely the frozen normal pie dough. And It appears that Pillsbury Deep dish frozen pie crust is precisely the same as frozen standard pie crust – only separately rolled and packed. However, this would not change the vegan identity. It also contains lard, making it non-vegan.
The deep-dish type of pie crust, resembling Pillsbury’s ordinary frozen pie crust, contains contentious components like artificial colors and sugar.
Presented below is its nutritional content for your reference.
| Nutrients | Nutrient Count |
|---|---|
| Calories | 90 Kal |
| Total fat | 5 g |
| Saturated fat | 2 g |
| Trans fat | 0 g |
| Cholesterol | 5 mg |
| Sodium | 85 mg |
| Total carbohydrates | 11 g |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g |
| Total sugar | 1 g |
| Added sugar | 1 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Vitamin D | 0 g |
| Calcium | 0 g |
| Iron | 0.6 mg |
| Potassium | 0 g |
| Vitamin A | 0 g |
| Vitamin C | 0 g |
Pet-Ritz All Frozen Deep Dish Vegetable Pie Crust
Is your pulse thumping faster as a result of your thrills? I certainly can since this may be it! Let’s examine its list of ingredients to see if our hunt for vegan-friendly pie crust has come to a grinding halt. This pie crust has no lard. Alternatively, it contains soybean oil.
Even though it contains artificial colors and sugar, many vegans would still be up for it. They claim it is difficult to avoid contentious compounds since nearly every product contains one or more of these ingredients.
Presented below is its nutritional information per serving.
| Nutrients | Nutrient Count |
|---|---|
| Calories | 90 Kal |
| Total fat | 6 g |
| Saturated fat | 2.5 g |
| Trans fat | 0 g |
| Cholesterol | 5 mg |
| Sodium | 130 mg |
| Total carbohydrates | 12 g |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g |
| Total sugar | 0 g |
| Added sugar | 0 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Vitamin D | 0 g |
| Calcium | 0 g |
| Iron | 0.6 mg |
| Potassium | 0 g |
| Vitamin A | 0 g |
| Vitamin C | 0 g |
Other Vegan Pie Crust Options
Since Pillsbury offers limited vegan options, you wouldn’t have to give up conveniences to prepare a tasty, vegan-friendly pie. We’ve undertaken the legwork to locate the finest commercial vegan pie crust products for you.
Frozen Pastry Pie Shells from Marie Callender’s
Marie Callender’s, well-known for its iconic home pies, offers frozen pie shells devoid of animal-based components. Fill these with whatever vegan flavor you think of—pumpkin, pecan, and sweet potato are just some of the crowd’s favorites.
Graham Pie Crust from Keebler
Keebler’s non-bake graham cracker pie crusts are honey-free and dairy-free, keeping them friendly to chickens, cows, and bees. These crispy sugary crusts are ready to eat straight out of the box and are excellent for refrigerated pies such as Chocolate Mousse Pie, Berry Tarts, or a non-bake vegan cheesecake. For such a retro treat, garnish it with roasted vegan-friendly marshmallows.
Wholly Wholesome Organic Pie Shells
These pie shells from Wholly Wholesome are available in two sizes and are prepared with basic natural ingredients. The 9-inch shells are available in Traditional, Whole Wheat, Spelt, and Gluten-Free types, while the 6-inch shells are only available in Traditional.
Rolled Pie Doughs, supplied in Whole Wheat and Traditional varieties, enable you to get artistic with your pie preparation, so you may cover the apple pie with such a lattice crust or even use cookie cutters to produce small hand pies loaded with vegan delight. These items may be available in so many grocery shops, so you can search and see if there are some around you.
Belmont Pie Crust
Belmont is an Aldi store brand. The pie crust in Belmont is vegan. It is free of fat, dairy, and other animal-based substances. The pie crusts used for Belmont Apple Pies and Belmont Deep Dish Pie Crusts are also vegan. We can expect that the remaining crusts offered by Belmont are to be vegan as well.
Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Pie Crust Mix
Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Pie Crust Mix is often vegan. It is free of fat, dairy, and other animal-based substances. On the back of the package, it is suggested that you add butter to the combination. You may, however, substitute vegan butter.
Diamond Pie Crust
Pecan Pie Crust offered by Diamond is dairy-free. On the other hand, Diamond Chocolate Nut Pie Crust and Diamond Walnut Pie Crust are still not entirely vegan because they include honey.
However, certain vegans could be fine with eating honey-sweetened pie crusts. These are free of dairy and lard ingredients; thus, they are practically vegan. Some vegans do not mind consuming honey.
Pillsbury – Frequently Asked Questions
Considering how famous Pillsbury is as a pie crust company, I’m certain many people have further questions regarding Pillsbury pie crusts. Now, before we close up this topic, let’s address a few of the FAQs.
Are Eggs Present In Pillsbury Pie Crusts?
No. There are no eggs or egg-related substances included in Pillsbury pie crusts.
Are Pillsbury Pie Crusts Dairy-Free?
Yes. No milk, whey, or other dairy components are inside any Pillsbury pie crust, making all of their crusts dairy-free.
What Type Of Lard Do Pillsbury Pie Crusts Contain?
In Pillsbury’s non-vegan pie crusts, there are two types of lard. The hydrogenated lard and the regular lard.
Is Lard Vegan?
Lard is just yet another fancy word for animal fat, and this will never be vegan.
Are Pillsbury’s Pie Crusts Vegetarian?
As previously stated, the majority of Pillsbury’s pie crusts include fat, which would be animal fat and hence off-limits to every vegan. Vegetarians, like vegans, can only eat one type of Pillsbury pie crust: All Vegetable Pie Crust.
Key Takeaways
Most Pillsbury pie crusts include lard, leaving them unfit for vegans. On the other hand, Pillsbury’s All Vegetable Pie Crust has no non-vegan ingredients. It is acknowledged to be vegan.
That said, it’s always a good idea to be aware of different vegan pie crust alternatives. For example, if you can’t get your grips on Pillsbury’s All Vegetable Pie Crust, there are still other options to try instead.