Vegan Crème Brûlée (no coconut!)
Feb 13, 2021 • Updated Jun 20, 2023
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This vegan creme brulee recipe is an easy and delicious egg-free, dairy-free, and coconut-free dessert. It has a rich and creamy vanilla custard base with a crunchy caramelized sugar topping. A 6-ingredient, no-bake dessert that is ready in just minutes!
What is Crème Brûlée?
Crème brûlée is a dessert comprised of a rich and creamy, custardy base with a layer of crunchy, caramelized sugar on top. The name translates to “burnt cream” and it’s a beautiful combination of texture and flavour.
It’s traditionally made with vanilla cream or custard, but you can also flavour the cream with chocolate, fruit, and more. When enjoyed, you can crack the crunchy surface with a spoon and enjoy it like a candy topping.
A conventional crème brûlée recipe involves sugar, cream, and egg yolks but you can also make a non dairy crème brûlée quite easily!
What Makes This Recipe Great
Vegan Crème Brûlée is one of my all-time favourite desserts! This recipe with just 6 ingredients and contains no dairy or eggs. The hands-on time is minimal, and you can easily prepare this crunchy creamy dessert in advance. I’ll be including a method to prepare with a kitchen torch, and an alternative oven method as well.
Many vegan versions rely on full-fat coconut milk as a substitute, but this vegan crème brûlée is dairy free and coconut free. To substitute, we will be using silken tofu, cashew butter for creaminess and a source of healthy fats, plant milk to blend, vanilla extract, and cornstarch or agar agar to thicken into a pudding consistency. To sweeten and torch, we’ll use organic cane sugar.
Ingredient Notes
See the recipe card below for ingredient details, instructions, and notes.
- extra firm silken tofu
- unsweetened plant milk of choice: Soy milk, oat milk, almond milk, etc.
- unsweetened creamy cashew butter
- vanilla extract: Feel free to swap this out with vanilla bean if you want a deeper vanilla flavor.
- cornstarch: You can also use arrowroot powder or agar.
- granulated organic cane sugar: You’ll use this for both the custard and the crunchy brûlée topping.
- pinch of salt
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Add all of your crème ingredients into a food processor or blender. We’ll be using silken tofu, plant milk, cashew butter, vanilla, cornstarch, or agar agar and sugar! Blend until completely smooth.
- Transfer the mixture into a saucepan over low heat, whisking constantly. Cook for a few minutes, until the mixture, starts to thicken slightly and the cornstarch or agar are activated.
- Pour your mixture into ramekins or heat safe dishes then let chill in the fridge until set.
- When ready to serve, sprinkle the top of your ramekins or dishes with granulated sugar, then use a torch to caramelize the sugar. Alternatively, you can pop the ramekins or dishes into the oven and broil until the sugar starts to brown.
Making the Crème Brûlée Topping
The most common way to prepare crème brûlée is with a butane torch. It’s the best and most accurate way to caramelize the sugar and create the crunchy topping.
Usually, the crème is prepared in advance and set in ramekins until ready to serve and the burning of the sugar happens just before serving. I highly recommend investing in a butane torch–they are easy to work with and you can find them at quite affordable prices at culinary/kitchen stores and online.
The Best Sugar to Make Crème Brûlée With
For best results, granulated cane sugar is always the best to use. While you can experiment with coconut sugar or a refined sugar free alternative, I would personally recommend against it.
Coconut sugar, for example, tends to be prone to more burning and due to its darker colour, it’s more difficult to determine when it is burning vs. caramelizing. If you must, I would recommend using a refined sugar free alternative in the crème base, but I strongly advise not to substitute the sugar you’re using to brûlée.
A quick note on granulated cane sugar–to ensure it is vegan, you can use organic cane sugar. I really like the Wholesome Sweet brand which is also certified vegan.
Recipe Variations
- Experiment by incorporating different flavours into your crème base like chocolate, coffee, matcha, Thai tea or fruit-like berries.
- I highly encourage you to get creative once you nail the original recipe to level up your dairy-free dessert!
Serving Tips
- Torch to sugar on top to make the hardened caramelized coating right before you’re ready to serve. If you’ve seen this served in restaurants before, you’ll notice they often torch the sugar right at the table as you watch!
Storage Tips
- If you’re making this dessert for later, I recommend storing the custard base in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Once ready to serve, scoop into individual ramekins, and make the blow-torched caramelized candy topping.
Recipe FAQs
Yes. You can make this vegan crème brûlée by using an oven instead and broiling the top. Keep in mind that this method is much less accurate and with varied results. Using an oven method, your vegan crème brûlée will be more prone to browning and uneven caramelization, which could possibly burn the sugar.
Yes! In addition to being completely vegan, egg-free, nut-free, and dairy-free, this recipe is also gluten-free!
Instead of cream, for vegan crème brûlée, I use silken tofu, cashew butter for creaminess, and a source of healthy fats, plant milk to blend, vanilla extract, and cornstarch or agar agar to thicken into a pudding consistency.
More Delicious Dairy Free Desserts
Pumpkin Cheesecake Chia Pudding
Flourless Chocolate Avocado Fudge Cookies
If you try this recipe out, tag me on Instagram @veggiekins so I can see your delicious re-creations and feature them! As always, I love when you share your reviews in the comments below, and if you make any fun substitutions, let me know how it worked out below too.
Vegan Crème Brûlée (no coconut!)
Ingredients
- 12 oz extra firm silken tofu
- 2/3 cup unsweetened plant milk of choice
- 1 tbsp unsweetened creamy cashew butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp cornstarch arrowroot powder or 1-2 tsp agar
- 1/4 cup granuated organic cane sugar plus more to brûlée
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Add all of your crème ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend or process until completely smooth.
- Transfer the mixture into a saucepan over low heat, whisking constantly. Cook for a few minutes, until the mixture starts to thicken slightly and the cornstarch or agar are activated.
- Next, pour the mixture into ramekins or heat safe dishes and let chill in the fridge until set or ready to serve.
- When ready to serve, sprinkle the top of your ramekins or dishes with additional granulated sugar (roughly 1 tsp, more as needed) then use a butane torch to caramelize the sugar. Alternatively, you can pop the ramekins or dishes into the oven and broil until the sugar starts to brown.
Notes
Making the Crème Brûlée Topping
The most common way to prepare crème brûlée is with a butane torch. It's the best and most accurate way to caramelize the sugar and create the crunchy topping. Usually, the crème is prepared in advance and set in ramekins until ready to serve and the burning of the sugar happens just before serving. I highly recommend investing in a butane torch--they are easy to work with and you can find them at quite affordable prices at culinary/kitchen stores and online.The Best Sugar to Make Crème Brûlée With
For best results, granulated cane sugar is always the best to use. While you can experiment with coconut sugar or a refined sugar free alternative, I would personally recommend against it. Coconut sugar, for example, tends to be prone to more burning and due to its darker colour, it's more difficult to determine when it is burning vs. caramelizing. If you must, I would recommend using a refined sugar free alternative in the crème base, but I strongly advise not to substitute the sugar you're using to brûlée. A quick note on granulated cane sugar--to ensure it is vegan, you can use organic cane sugar. I really like the Wholesome Sweet brand which is also certified vegan.Recipe Variations
- Experiment by incorporating different flavours into your crème base like chocolate, coffee, matcha, Thai tea or fruit-like berries.
- I highly encourage you to get creative once you nail the original recipe to level up your dairy-free dessert!
Serving Tips
- Torch to sugar on top to make the hardened caramelized coating right before you’re ready to serve. If you’ve seen this served in restaurants before, you’ll notice they often torch the sugar right at the table as you watch!
Storage Tips
- If you’re making this dessert for later, I recommend storing the custard base in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Once ready to serve, scoop into individual ramekins, and make the blow-torched caramelized candy topping.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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