Finding vegan puff pastry is harder than it should be.
Traditional puff pastry uses butter as its main fat, and even brands that skip butter often swap in other animal-derived ingredients. Below are the store-bought options that actually work for a plant-based diet, plus tips for making your own.
Is Puff Pastry Vegan?
Puff pastry is a flaky, light pastry that became popular in France, where it is known as pâte feuilletée. However, old books point to puff pastry originally coming from Muslim Spain.
The first recorded puff pastry recipe is found in a Spanish recipe book published in the year 1607. This type of pastry is quite similar to the Middle Eastern phyllo, and many people confuse the two.
However, they are distinct: Traditionally, puff pastry is made with just flour, butter, and water, while phyllo also contains oil and sometimes white vinegar or egg yolk.
Puff pastry is incredibly versatile. It is used for both sweet and savory dishes, ranging from appetizers to main courses to desserts (and pairs well with vegan pie crusts). You'll find puff pastry in beef Wellington, sausage rolls, savory pies, strudel, turnovers, and much more.
However, since puff pastry is usually made with butter, it is not often vegan. Even those puff pastry brands that don't use butter often use animal by-products.
So, it can be pretty hard to find a puff pastry brand that fits into a vegan diet. You may be better off making your own vegan puff pastry rather than trying to hunt down a good brand; the recipe is simple enough to make it worth the time, plus you'll have total control over what goes into it.
Nevertheless, there are a small number of vegan puff pastry brands that you can check out if you want.
If you're a baking fanatic, be sure to also check out these vegan chocolate chip brands. They'll come in handy in the kitchen!
Puff Pastry Vegan Brands
Orgran All Purpose Pastry Mix
The other vegan puff pastry brand to know about is Orgran All Purpose Pastry Mix. You can use it to make a wide variety of pastries, including puff pastry. This product is best purchased online. The ingredients in this product are:
- Maize starch
- Rice flour
- Tapioca flour
- Potato starch
- Rice bran
- Yellow pea flour
- Salt
- Vegetable gums
- Calcium carbonate
- Vegetable monoglycerides
Again, no animal-derived ingredients whatsoever! Compared to the other option, though, it is not quite as nutritious. While Pepperidge Farms Frozen Puff Pastry Sheets is made with vitamin-enriched flour, this dry mix is not. However, some things about Orgran's pastry mix that some people are sure to appreciate are that it's gluten-free, GMO-free, and Kosher.
Pepperidge Farm Frozen Puff Pastry Sheets
Pepperidge Farm, a brand owned by the Campbell Soup Company, makes a frozen puff pastry. You can find it in grocery stores. Its ingredients are:
- Unbleached enriched wheat flour
- Water
- Palm, soybean, and hydrogenated cottonseed oils
- High fructose corn syrup
- Salt
- Mono and diglycerides
- Soy lecithin
- Malted barley flour
- Turmeric extract
- Annatto extract
As you can see, there are no animal products or by-products in this puff pastry. It's also decently nutritious as far as refined carbohydrates go. One serving has 8% DV iron, 4 grams of protein, 2 grams of fiber, and no trans fat.
Pepperidge Farm Frozen Puff Pastry Sheets are also Kosher Certified. There are a couple downsides to this product to be aware of, however. It contains palm oil, the production of which is known to be harmful to the environment and to endangered species such as the orangutan.
Because the palm oil industry indirectly harms orangutans, some strict vegans avoid it at all costs. However, feel free to use your own judgment; some vegans are much more strict than others, and there is not anything wrong with that as long as we keep sharing our common overall goals.
What to Look For on the Label
When shopping for puff pastry, flip the box and scan the ingredient list for these non-vegan ingredients:
- Butter is the most common one. Traditional French puff pastry relies on butter for its flaky layers. Most grocery store brands use it.
- Milk or milk solids show up in some brands as an added ingredient or processing aid.
- Egg wash is sometimes applied to the surface for a golden finish. This is more common in pre-made pastry products (turnovers, croissants) than plain pastry sheets.
- L-cysteine is a dough conditioner that can be derived from animal hair or feathers. It's rare in puff pastry but worth checking.
If the ingredients only list flour, vegetable oil (or vegetable shortening), water, salt, and maybe some leavening, it's almost certainly vegan.
Easy Vegan Puff Pastry Ideas
Once you have a vegan puff pastry sheet in your kitchen, the possibilities are wide open. Here are some quick ideas to get you started.
Spinach and mushroom puffs. Sauté garlic, mushrooms, and spinach with a pinch of nutritional yeast. Spoon the filling onto cut squares of puff pastry, fold into triangles, and bake at 400°F for 20 minutes.
Cinnamon sugar twists. Cut the pastry sheet into strips, brush with melted coconut oil, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, twist each strip a few times, and bake until golden. Takes about 12 minutes.
Tomato tart. Spread vegan pesto on a sheet of puff pastry, layer sliced tomatoes on top, season with salt and pepper, and bake for 25 minutes. Simple and impressive looking.
Apple turnovers. Fill squares with diced apples tossed in sugar and cinnamon. Fold, crimp with a fork, brush with plant milk, and bake. These freeze well before baking, so you can make a batch and have them ready whenever you want one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Pillsbury puff pastry vegan?
Pillsbury Crescent Rolls are often confused with puff pastry, but they're different products. Pillsbury does not currently sell a standalone puff pastry sheet. Their crescent dough and pie crusts vary by product; always check the label for dairy and eggs.
Is phyllo dough the same as puff pastry?
No. Phyllo (also spelled filo) is paper-thin sheets of unleavened dough. Puff pastry is thicker and uses a lamination technique (folding fat into the dough repeatedly) to create flaky layers. Phyllo is more commonly vegan since many brands just use flour, water, and oil. Athens and Fillo Factory are two widely available vegan phyllo brands.
Can you freeze homemade puff pastry?
Yes. Wrap the finished dough tightly in plastic wrap, then in foil, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before using. Homemade puff pastry actually freezes better than some store-bought brands because you control the fat content.
Conclusion
Puff pastry opens doors to limitless possibilities in your baking. However, not all store-bought puff pastry brands are vegan. If you don't feel like making your own from scratch, the vegan puff pastry brands you should try out are Pepperidge Farms and Orgran. And while you're at it, show your support for the vegan cause with an eye-catching printed shirt.
