This mushroom pot pie took a few tries in the kitchen to get right! The results wound up being so worth it though. It’s a big, warm, bubbly, golden brown hug in a baking dish. This is a great vegan main for the plant-based skeptics too, similar to my lentil bolognese. The mushrooms are incredibly meaty and rich.
My main stumbling block when I was testing this pot pie was the pastry topper. I experimented with a few homemade whole grain as well as gluten-free options, and nothing was working for me. The mushroom bourguignon part was simple and so good every time, but the topping had me struggling. Finally on a late night trip to the grocery store, I found a vegan-friendly puff pastry brand and just went with that. Honestly, this recipe is a little bit involved so a frozen pastry topper is a-ok with me. Hope it is with you too! :)
Some tips for making this vegan mushroom bourguignon pot pie:
- Arrowroot is generally my sauce thickener of choice. If you don’t have it on hand, Real Simple has a whole article on alternatives to try here.
- You could make the bourguignon portion of this up to 3 days ahead of time. Just store it in a sealed container in the fridge and bring to room temperature before baking in the pot pie.
- If you want to make a gluten-free version of this, I recommend trying a mashed potato-style topping like I do in this Mushroom Gravy Pie. I did test a version with my go-to vegan and gluten-free savoury pastry and it just wasn’t working.
- The red wine gives us all the flavour and richness here. I would not recommend trying this recipe if you need to substitute for the wine.
- It’s really important that the filling goes almost right up to the edge of the dish (like in my photos) so that the pastry doesn’t “dip” in the middle of the pot pie. This causes the pastry to not cook evenly/not at all in some spots, so just make sure it’s all level :)
- In the US, Pepperidge Farm is a widely available and vegan-friendly puff pastry option. In Canada, the Tenderflake brand of puff pastry does not contain animal products in the ingredients list. I like to thaw mine overnight in the fridge the day before I’m using it.
The actual mushroom bourguignon portion of this is outstanding on its own. Serve it with some mashed potatoes and a simple green salad, and all the deep warming Winter goodness is yours! I recommend finishing it with a handful of chopped parsley if you’re serving it this way.
Hope that you give this vegan main a try next time you’re in need of some coziness. My partner is extremely mushroom hesitant, and happily ate this up, just saying! If you’re in holiday feast planning mode, don’t forget to check out my epic collection of Vegan Holiday Recipes.
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Vegan Mushroom & Red Wine Bourguignon Pot Pie
This vegan mushroom bourguignon pot pie is such a flavourful and cozy Winter meal. A rich red wine mushroom stew with garlic and thyme is topped with golden puff pastry. Deeply flavourful and so impressive looking!
Servings 6 -8
Ingredients
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil or vegan butter, divided
- 6 portobello mushrooms caps, chopped
- 454 grams (1 lb) cremini mushrooms, caps quartered
- sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 cups red wine, divided (such as merlot, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir)
- 3 large shallots, small dice (1 cup of diced shallots total)
- 3 medium carrots, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, minced
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup vegetable stock (see notes)
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
- 1 tablespoon Tamari soy sauce
- 1 thawed sheet of vegan puff pastry
- flour for dusting
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened non-dairy milk
Notes
- You can substitute 2 teaspoons of dried thyme for fresh.
- I like to simmer the vegetable stock with some of the discarded mushroom stems beforehand–just to get that extra boost of mushroom-y flavour! I recommend simmering the stock in a small, covered saucepan for about 15 minutes. Then strain the stock and proceed with the recipe.
- Use coconut aminos instead of Tamari to make the bourguignon soy-free.
- There are a few vegan puff pastry brands available! In the US, I think Pepperidge Farm is a widely available option. In Canada, the Tenderflake brand of puff pastry does not contain animal products in the ingredients list.
- It’s really important that the filling goes almost right up to the edge of the dish (like in my photos) so that the pastry doesn’t “dip” in the middle of the pot pie. This causes the pastry to not cook evenly/not at all in some spots.
- Shallots always make my eyes water! I peeled mine and pulsed them in my mini food processor/chopper to make the job go faster. Highly recommend this if you have one.
- If the portobello mushrooms at your store are huge (like the size of your hand), you’ll only need 4.
- You can make this filling up to 3 days ahead of time and keep it in a sealed container in the fridge.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Set out a 8x11x2 inch baking dish and a baking sheet that’s large enough to hold the dish.
- Heat a large, heavy bottomed pot (like a Dutch oven) over medium heat. Once it’s hot, pour in ½ tablespoon of the olive oil. Add half of the mushrooms to the pot and let them sit for a full 2 minutes. Stir them up and season with salt and pepper. Let them sit another 2 minutes. Once they start browning and glistening, and they’ve shrunken down in size slightly, transfer the sautéed mushrooms to a medium bowl.
- Pour another ½ tablespoon of olive oil into the pot and repeat the sautéing process with the remaining mushrooms. As you get towards the end of cooking this batch, Pour in a couple tablespoons of the wine and quickly scrape up all the brown bits with your spoon. Transfer the second batch of mushrooms to the medium bowl.
- Give the pot a little rinse and wipe it out before returning to the stove over medium heat.
- Pour in the remaining olive oil and swirl it around. Add the shallots and carrots to the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Cook the shallots and carrots, stirring occasionally, for about 6-7 minutes, or until edges of carrots have softened slightly.
- Add the garlic, thyme, paprika, and bay leaves to the pot and cook for another minute.
- Add the tomato paste to the pot and cook for another minute.
- Pour in a splash of the red wine and use your spoon to scrape up any brown bits. Then, add the sautéed mushrooms, remaining red wine and all but 2 tablespoons of the vegetable stock. Give the bourguignon a good stir and then bring it up to a hard boil for two minutes. Lower the heat to a simmer and let it cook, uncovered, until the liquid has reduced by a third, about 25 minutes. Turn off the heat.
- Stir the arrowroot powder into the remaining vegetable stock. Add this slurry to the bourguignon and stir for about 30 seconds. Stir in the Tamari too. Check the bourguignon for seasoning and adjust if necessary. It should thicken up considerably! Remove the bay leaves and discard them. Transfer the bourguignon to the baking dish and gently spread it out to the edges in one even layer. Place the baking dish on top of the baking sheet. Let the bourguignon cool in the baking dish for at least 15 minutes.
- Sprinkle a bit of flour on a clean working surface. Roll the puff pastry out until it’s an inch bigger than your baking dish on all sides. Loosely roll the pastry onto the rolling pin to transfer it over to your baking dish. Then, unroll it out over the bourguignon in the dish. Let the sides overhang–they’ll puff and shrink up.
- Using a sharp knife, cut three vents into the center of the puff pastry. Then, brush the pastry with the non dairy milk. Sprinkle the top with coarse salt and pepper if you like.
- Bake the pot pie for 25 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbling. Let the pot pie sit for 5-8 minutes or so before digging in and serving. This allows the stew portion to thicken back up a bit. Enjoy warm with sides of your choice.
Why is there no pie crust on the bottom of the pie?
Thank you for this amazing recipe! It was so delicious. I added some lentils and extra greens such as peas and potatoes. Wonderful main dish for New Year’s Eve ✨
I loved this recipe. Rather than using wine, I used a vegan beef broth. It was an extremely satisfying, savory dish!
Hi Siena!
Do you mind sharing which brand of vegan beef broth that you used? Thank you so much!
-L
I made Bourguignon Mushrooms as part of our Thanksgiving dinner, and I didn’t quite know what to to with the leftovers. When I googled “what to do with leftover Mushroom Bourguignon,” I found your recipe! It’s the perfect answer to my question. Brilliant! Thank you.
Could I sub the arrowroot powder for potato starch?
Do you think you could add lentils to this? Would you use less mushrooms to compensate?
Hi JD,
I think this recipe could handle up to 1 cup of cooked lentils without any other adjustments. I would add them with the mushrooms in step 8.
-L
Who needs meat when you have incredible depth of flavour in mushroom. It has savoury comfort in every bite and has won my heart with its rich flavours and flaky crust. This dish takes comfort food to a whole new level.
I forgot to rate this recipe previously. The dish was wonderful, and the fact that I got to use puff pastry was awesome. I expanded my horizons, and feel confident enough to attempt some of your other amazing recipes. Maybe this vegan thing isn’t so hard with recipes like this.
I found this recipe and your website by mistake. I am so glad that I did. The dish came out wonderful, and I learned how to use puff pastry, which I have always wanted to use, but was overly intimidated to do so. I plan on exploring the rest of your recipes.
Absolutely delicious and needed when the weather is not cooperating getting into Spring mode
Laura, I’m just so grateful for your recipes. This is so delicious! And the directions are so clear and helpful with visual queues. I have your cookbook too but I so appreciate you keeping up the blog with new recipes to try. And I bow down to your knack for nailing flavors! Don’t hate me but I added a tsp of Dijon at the end for a little je ne sais quoi. :-)
Really tasty recipe! I scaled it up by 1.5 so that I could fit it in a 9 x 13″ pan. Only other change I made was to add a bit of vegan butter at the end before transferring to the baking pan which took away a slightly bitter aftertaste (maybe I needed to cook the wine out for even longer than 25 minutes?). Loved this recipe, very forgiving, thank you!
This recipe is so delicious! I took my time cooking the mushrooms in the wine. Came together wonderfully. Another hit with my family!
I made this for New Year’s Eve and absolutely loved it! It was a special holiday meal!
Oh my, this is absolutely delicious! Made do with a slightly larger pan and had to bake about 15 mins longer so the pastry was cooked through. Will be making this again and again! Thanks Laura
This was absolutely delicious!! Seriously, seriously delicious!! Could not stop eating it! I’m not vegetarian, but this will immediately go on my list of all time favorite recipes!!
This is one of the most amazing recipes we’ve ever had. And we aren’t even vegan! Next time I’m going to make it using mashed potatoes for the topping instead, and see which way we prefer.
Hi Laura, this was a delicious addition to our holiday feast. Thank you so much for the clear, easy to follow instructions and beautiful photographs to follow along. It turned out wonderful and exactly as advertised. Your recipes are always spot on. Thank you!
We just ate this for Thanksgiving. I made it according to your directions, they were perfect and it was delicious! Thank you for a great new addition to our Thanksgiving tradition.
Just made this for Thanksgiving. Delicious and not nearly as complicated as it first appeared . I used filo instead of puff pastry because that was what got pulled out of the freezer! It worked just fine. Otherwise I basically followed the recipe.
Loved the stew (tasted more sophisticated than most of my homemade meals!) but I had some issues with the pastry – since I used a bit of a deeper dish (my fault) my pastry sunk down in the middle and it took longer in the oven until it was golden and cooked all the way through (covered the edges with foil once they were browned). Maybe I didn’t let the liquid reduce enough because even after baking it longer, it was still quite liquidy underneath (but about the same as the pictures) so I found that the pastry had nothing to help hold it together and it was more like a stew with a soggy piece of pastry sitting on top rather than a pot pie. But regardless it was still delicious – just wish I had skipped the puff pastry part and gone straight to serving over mashed potatoes instead as you suggested – which we did with the leftovers the next night :)
I just made this for friendsgiving and it is delicious! I used a cast iron, topped it with mashed potatoes (I don’t like puffed pastry) and chives. It looks so elegant. Only thing is I think I should have baked it in lower temperature because some of the sauce inside came on top of the mashed potatoes. But it tastes great and looks even better! Thank you!
If you were to make the bourguignon to serve with mashed potatoes instead of as a pot pie, would you add extra cooking time? I assume you wouldn’t want to bake it without a topping but I wondered if it need more heat/time to work.
Hi Alanna,
No need to add extra cooking time to the bourguignon. Once you add the arrowroot slurry and the stew thickens up a bit to your liking, you’re good to ladle it over some mashed potatoes straight out of the pot.
-L
Hi Laura – is there anything you would use to replace of the wine please? :)
Hi Emily,
I do address this question under the “Some tips…” heading of the blog post! I’ve been trying to better anticipate recipe substitution questions and provide answers right from the start. In sum, the red wine really provides the backbone and essence of this recipe. I would recommend trying an alternative recipe altogether if you do not consume wine. My mushroom gravy pie has a similarly deep flavour and feel, and is free of alcohol! You can find it here: https://thefirstmess.com/2017/10/04/vegan-mushroom-gravy-pie-recipe/
-L
Hi Laura, this looks so so good! I’m drooling! Do you think I could throw in some cooked lentils into the mixture right before baking to add some protein? Or would you recommend a different protein source or to add nothing at all?
I was wondering about adding soy curls along with the mushrooms
Hi Renee,
I have never worked with soy curls so cannot comment on how they would work here unfortunately.
-L
Hi Kristin,
I think this stew could handle about 3/4 cup cooked lentils if you want to add them. They will absorb some of the broth as it sits and bakes in the oven, but it shouldn’t change the texture or overall essence of the dish too much.
-L
Can the filling be portioned out to individual ramekins and cooled than add the puff pastry then frozen and later thawed and baked per directions?
Hi Rick,
I love this question. I think you could do exactly this and it would be such a smart make-ahead strategy! I would recommend thawing in the refrigerator overnight and then baking as the recipe states.
-L