Fall is just around the corner. As the trees are preparing to shed their leaves and longer, cooler nights are on their way, it’s time to get ready to whip up some fall flavors in your kitchen.
When it comes to food, nothing says fall louder than a freshly-baked pie. But, making your own pie crust at home and getting it right is often easier said than done.
Therefore, many people prefer to use store-bought pie crusts. While most people can get literally any pie crust off the shelf, vegans have to go through the strenuous checking of labels to find a vegan pie crust.
To help make that process a little easier for you, today, I will evaluate the renowned pie crust brand Pillsbury for you. Is Pillsbury pie crust vegan? Read on to find out!
Is Any Pillsbury Pie Crust Vegan?
Pillsbury offers four different types of pie crusts. Let’s take a look at the ingredients list of each to figure out if any of them is suitable for vegans.
§ Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust
This flaky pie crust from Pillsbury is known for its homemade flavors. Let’s look at what it is made of to determine if it is the right fit for vegans.
Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust ingredients include:
Can you spot the culprit? I’m sure you can!
This pie crust from Pillsbury has lard, making it off-limits for plant-eaters.
It’s sad, but don’t lose hope just yet; we still have three more Pillsbury pie crust options left. Let’s get onto the next one, shall we?
§ Pillsbury Pet-Ritz Frozen Regular Pie Crust
Available in a pack of two, this Pillsbury pie crust is claimed to be made with simple ingredients and promises to offer the same taste as homemade pie crust. But, they say nothing about what we’re interested in. Let’s take a look at Pillsbury Pet-Ritz Frozen Regular Pie Crust ingredients to get our answer:
While the brand lives up to its claim of using simple ingredients for this pie crust, sadly, it’s not vegan-friendly. It has lard in it!
The pie crust also has sugar, which is considered a controversial ingredient in the vegan community because it’s commercially refined. Refer to my article Are Sour Patch Kids Vegan for a detailed discussion and find out if all types of sugars used in the commercial food industry are controversial.
It also contains artificial food color. Don’t know what’s the deal with artificial food colors? Check out my article Are M&M’s Vegan to learn why some vegans prefer to avoid them.
§ Pillsbury Pet-Ritz Frozen Deep Dish Pie Crust
This pie crust appears to be the same as the previous one, i.e., the frozen regular pie crust. Let’s take a look at Pillsbury Pet-Ritz Frozen Deep Dish Pie Crust ingredients to figure out if it’s any different.
Turns out, Pillsbury’s frozen deep dish pie crust is exactly the same as the frozen regular pie crust – just differently rolled and packaged. But, this doesn’t make its vegan status any different. It also has lard and hence, is non-vegan.
Like Pillsbury’s regular frozen pie crust, the deep dish also contains the controversial ingredients of sugar and artificial colors.
§ Pillsbury Pet-Ritz Frozen All Vegetable Deep Dish Pie Crust
Can you feel your heart pounding harder due to excitement? I sure can because this could be it! Let’s look at the ingredients list without any delay to find if our search for vegan pie crust ends here.
This is it! (Happy screams…)
There’s no lard in this pie crust. It has soybean oil instead (why can’t they make all pie crusts with vegetable oil?)
While it still has sugar and artificial colors, most vegans would be okay to consume it. They argue that it’s impossible to avoid controversial ingredients because almost every product has one or more of them (they have a point).
Frequently Asked Questions
Knowing how popular a pie crust brand Pillsbury is, I am sure many people have some more questions about their pie crusts. So, let’s answer some of the most commonly asked ones before wrapping up this article…
§ Do Pillsbury pie crusts have eggs in them?
No. Pillsbury pie crusts do not contain eggs or any egg ingredients.
§ Are Pillsbury pie crusts dairy-free?
None of Pillsbury pie crusts have milk, whey, or any other dairy-based ingredient. They are 100% dairy-free.
§ What are the ingredients in Pillsbury pie crust?
The exact list of ingredients varies for different types of pie crust. However, all of them are made with the following two core ingredients:
Wheat flour and fat (lard or soybean oil).
§ What kind of lard is in Pillsbury pie crust?
There are two different kinds of lard used in Pillsbury’s non-vegan pie crusts. These include regular lard and hydrogenated lard.
§ Is lard vegan?
Lard is another (somewhat sophisticated) name for animal fat. It can never be vegan.
§ Is Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust vegan?
Pillsbury’s Refrigerated Pie Crust contains lard, which means it is not vegan.
§ Is Pillsbury frozen pie crust vegan?
Pillsbury offers two different varieties of frozen pie crust – regular and deep dishes. But, sadly, both of them contain animal fat, aka lard, and hence, are not suitable for vegans.
§ Is Pillsbury All Vegetable pie crust vegan?
As the name suggests, all of Pillsbury’s All Vegetable pie crust ingredients are plant-based. It does not contain lard or any other animal-derived ingredient. It is vegan-friendly.
§ Is Pillsbury pie crust vegetarian?
As mentioned earlier, most of Pillsbury’s pie crusts contain lard, which is animal fat and off-limits for all plant-eaters. Just as with vegans, there is only one Pillsbury pie crust suitable for vegetarians: the All Vegetable Pie Crust.
Now that you’ve got your vegan pie crust sorted, it’s time to find a great vegan pie recipe. And what could be better than the classic apple pie? Check out the following video for a perfect vegan apple pie recipe…
Conclusion
Most (three out of four) Pillsbury pie crusts contain lard, making them unsuitable for vegans. However, there is no non-vegan ingredient found in Pillsbury’s All Vegetable Pie Crust. It is confirmed vegan. So, make sure to get that only for all your homemade pies.
Having said that, it’s only wise to know about some other vegan pie crust options as well, for instance, when you can’t get your hands on Pillsbury’s All Vegetable Pie Crust. PETA provides a list of accidentally vegan pie crusts available on the market. Check that out to know your other options.
Did you find this article helpful? Are you interested to learn about the vegan status of other popular brands and products as well? Check out my article Are Jolly Ranchers Vegan to find out if these popular candies are suitable for plant-eaters!
