Easy Gluten free Tart Crust (Vegan)

Easy gluten free tart crust that is also dairy free and egg free. Made without xanthan gum, this gluten free vegan tart base comes out the right amount of soft, nice and flaky.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Tips and substitutions
• Baking in grams
• 📖 Full Recipe

Other recipes you may enjoy:

• Oil tart crust
• Gluten free vegan key lime pie
• Double chocolate pear tart
• Veggie quiche

One day my boyfriend and I were talking about sweets he used to eat before being diagnosed with his many food intolerances, years ago. And he told me: “Oh I miss the good old classic tart, you know the one with LOTS of jam in it? Apricot jam! Lots of it. That’s my kind of tart”.
And I obliged, got myself at work, experimenting and trying to bake for him a piece of happiness. Because sweets are happiness. Can I get an amen!
Sorry I got carried away by a sugar rush.

Ingredients

Here are the ingredients to make this tart crust gluten free:

• ground flax seeds mixed with water, this works as an egg replacer
• brown rice flour, or a mix of brown rice flour and almond flour
• gluten free starch, I usually use potato starch, but any starch will do
• brown sugar, or white sugar
• baking powder
• pinch of salt, this is precious in tarts and sweets in general, as it enhances the sweetness
• grated zest of a lemon
• vegan margarine, shortening or butter
• a liqueur, like rum or limoncello, this is optional of course, but it definitely adds an extra layer of flavor!

Instructions

Yeah, so, here’s how to make gluten free vegan tart crust:

• mix the ground flaxseed and water and let it rest a few minutes
• in a bowl mix flours, sugar, baking powder, grated lemon zest and a pinch of salt
• then add the vegan butter/margarine, the flax-egg and the liqueur
• start by mixing all the ingredients in the bowl with a spoon, then as they start to turn into crumbles, move them on a board and knead the dough until it becomes firm
• shape it into a “ball”, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour
• pre-heat the oven at 160°C / 320°F
• now take a piece of parchment paper and roll the dough out on it
• then lay the dough into a previously greased baking pan, flattening it onto the bottom and ½ inch up on the border
• alternatively, you can skip the two steps above by putting the dough ball into the baking pan and spread it directly with your hands and the help of the bottom of a glass/cup, to push and spread the dough.
• fill it with jam, nut spreads or anything you like
• bake for 30-40 minutes (depending on your oven)
• Once ready, let it cool down before slicing it and enjoy!

All the quantities and instructions in the recipe card below

Tips and substitutions

This gluten free tart crust is really easy and quick to whip together.
It uses flax seed gel as an egg replacer, but in case you want to omit it, the tart base will still work, it will be less soft and a bit more crumbly little less soft.

Since this gluten free crust is without xanthan gum or other binders, if you want to use this dough for decoration, like stripes and shapes (make extra dough, in this case), you will need it to be cold and to handle it carefully, as it does tend to break.
I like to save a handful of dough and crumble it all over the tart filling (or wathever filling you use). It adds a nice extra texture on top.

I have made this gluten free tart shell both using only rice flour, and with half rice flour and half almond flour.
The final result is great both ways, firmer in the first case, softer and more flaky in the second.
It depends on how you prefer your tart crust really.

Baking in grams

I cook and bake in grams as they are more accurate (than cups) when measuring ingredients. This is especially important when it comes to gluten free and vegan recipes.
Also, I weigh both dry and wet ingredients in grams and most of the time I share one- or two-bowl recipes, to make everything easier for you.
A simple affordable kitchen scale is definitely a useful and worthy investment for your gluten free cooking.
So you will simply need to place the bowl on the scale and weigh ingredients as you go!

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Ciao!
Sonia

📖 Full Recipe