Chocolate Pecan Pie made healthier!! Luscious chocolate filling, smooth caramel and buttery pecans on a flaky shortbread crust. NO grains/gluten, sugar, eggs, or dairy! This pie is 100% Vegan & Paleo friendly 🙂
Paleo & Vegan Chocolate Pecan Pie
Are you ready for a recipe makeover?
I recreated one of my favorite desserts, Chocolate Turtle Pie, and made it much healthier using whole foods. So, YES, you can have your pie and eat it, too! 😉
Have YOU ever experienced the amazingness that is chocolate turtle? It's the scrumptious combination of chocolate, CARAMEL, and pecans!
But in this pie, you won't find any sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup, bleached flour, or refined sugar in this recipe. So what's it made of?? Unconventional ingredients that are delicious and good for you!
Secretly Made with Avocado!
The chocolate filling is made with (gasp!) AVOCADO. (And no, it doesn't taste like guac! Haha!) They make it so smoooooth and creamy.
Avocados make the perfect healthy swap for traditional chocolate pie filling. Blended with maple syrup, cacao and coconut oil, avocado takes on a delicious rich chocolate flavor that you don't have to regret eating. And avocados are SO incredibly good for you.
How to make Quick & Easy Dairy-Free Caramel
This pie has a thick layer of caramel spread on the chocolate.
But it's made with 1 ingredient:
DATES! Have you tried date caramel? It's super easy to make and has a similar flavor to conventional caramel, but it's vegan, Paleo and full of healthy fiber!
Crisp Toasted PECANS
Don't even get me started on PECANS. Freshly roasted with a touch of sea salt... Mmmm!
But when you combine them with chocolate and caramel! It elevates them to a whole other level.
This pie would be a wonderful addition to your holiday menu! Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any fall party!
If you're looking for more healthy and festive desserts, check out my Cinnamon Maple Crunch Pie or Secret Ingredient Chocolate Silk Pie!
Click the image below to save this recipe on Pinterest:
Chocolate Turtle Pie
Ingredients
Crust:
- 2 ¼ cups almond flour
- 4 ½ Tbs oil - I used almond
- 1 ½ Tbs maple syrup
- 1 Tbs ground flax + 1 Tbs water
- ¼ teaspoon pink salt
Chocolate Filling:
- 3 ripe avocados
- ½ cup raw cacao powder - to taste
- ¼ cup coconut oil - melted
- ½ cup pure maple syrup - to taste
- 1 Tbs vanilla extract
- 1/16 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/16 teaspoon pink salt
Caramel Layer:
- 1 heaping cup medjool dates - pitted
- Water to soak
- Pinch of pink salt
- Dash of vanilla - optional
Topping
- 1 cup pecan halves - roasted
Instructions
To make the crust:
- Preheat oven to 350. Lightly oil a pie plate.
- In a mixing bowl, combine flour and salt.
- In a small cup, combine flax, water, oil and maple syrup.
- Pour wet over dry and mix well. Press into a standard size pie dish.
- Bake for 16-20 minutes until lightly golden. Set aside to cool.
To make the chocolate filling:
- Add avocados to food processor and blend well.
- Warm coconut oil gently in a glass measuring cup in the microwave.
- Add warm oil and remaining ingredients to taste (add more syrup or cacao, if needed).
- Spread over cooled crust. Set in the fridge while you prepare the caramel.
To make the caramel layer:
- Place pitted dates in a bowl and cover with water (about ½ cup).
- Soak for 30 minutes. Remove dates from water and place in food processor, but SAVE the water.
- Blend dates, vanilla and salt then stream in water and until desired consistency is achieved (about 3-4 Tbs).
- Spread caramel on top of chocolate layer. Decorate with pecans.
- Refrigerate for 3 hours to set. Enjoy!
Kathryn
This looks amazing! So soft and fudgy, perfect little treat, thanks for sharing : )
Kathryn |
Emily
Thanks! I'm happy to share
Celyne
Looks delish and paleo too!
Celyne
It was a perfect and delicious Easter dessert!
Since I like to personalize recipes I did this: once the pecans were roasted, I added some maple syrup to the pan and let them caramelize a bit; I then let them to cool on parchment paper. I made extra maple-covered pecans to nibble on...
Emily
Yum! Sounds amazing Celyne!! I could eat my weight in maple glazed pecans
Laila
For the crust what oil did u you use? Can you use coconut oil?
Emily
I used almond oil in this one (now I use avocado oil) but coconut should be fine. It just might be a little crumbly.
Crystal
This looks fabulous! I’m kicking myself that I don’t have any avocados in the house today as some want Pecan Pie and some want a Chocolate Silk pie, which I used your recipe for last year and it was AMAZING! Even my mother in law really liked it and she likes “traditional” SAD food. So thankful for your work and recipes, I didn’t even bother googling for a paleo pecan pie recipe without eggs, and I won’t have a super sad 5 year old this year who can’t eat pecan pie!
Emily
Thank you! So glad the pie was a hit last year. That makes me so happy to hear