Magnifique! 20+ Vegan French Patisserie Recipes (2024)

Wish you had access to vegan French patisserie every day? With these recipes, you can!

By Lora O’Brien

Let’s face it – being vegan in France can be a bit of a torture. The menus are usually pretty meaty, and can include horrifying things like frog’s legs, foie gras and *gasp* horse meat. Most dishes also have either butter, eggs, cheese or cream in them – usually a combination of these – and that includes the most tempting of French foods: patisserie.

The French excel at making this, as any drool-inducing glance in a Parisian bakery window will demonstrate. Often called Viennoiserie, pastries include croissants; Vienna bread and its French equivalent, pain viennois; brioches; pain au chocolat; chouquettes, chausson aux pommes and more.

It should be noted that whilst quintessentially French, these treats have Viennese roots, and were introduced to France by August Zang, who opened his Viennese bakery in 1839. The French later adapted (some may say ‘perfected’) these recipes to include puff pastry, and of course, they have always excelled at creating their own cake shop delights, including macarons, meringue, gateaux, eclairs and fruit tartes – all of which you can see temptingly displayed in any French pastry shop.

Here, I’ve assembled what I think are some of the tastiest vegan French patisserie recipes around so you can take a little slice of Paris home with you today – or better yet, so you can surprise your cheri this weekend with something a bit unexpected!

20+ Vegan French Patisserie Recipes

1. Vegan Croissants

When you think of croissants, what comes to mind? For me: flakes, hot, crunchy…and butter. So how on earth could you make a croissant vegan? Well, the answer to that is through the magic of aquafaba. And no, it’s not a spell from Harry Potter! It’s actually a kind of gel generated by chickpeas, and gives these a slightly nutty edge. This is one of the most basic vegan French patisserie recipes to add to your roster!

Get the recipe here.

2. Vegan Pain Au Chocolat

It’s the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of French baking. I mean, what’s tastier than one of these, dipped into your morning almond latte? Zero butter here, but all the flavour! Definitely one of my favourite vegan French patisserie recipes.

Get the recipe here.

3. Vegan Mini Eclairs

At the risk you’ve never before has an eclair, allow me to briefly explain. An eclair is basically a thin, very light choux pastry and is then filled with cream and topped with icing. Now, recently eclairs have been getting pretty fancy and are being made with new flavours such as blackcurrant and coffee. But we’re throwing it back to the classic chocolate eclair with vanilla-scented filling because it’s a classic for a reason: it’s so bloody yummy!

Get the recipe here.

4. Vegan Tarte Au Citron

This recipe is basically just a fancier name for a lemon tart. The outside is comprised of a crusty pastry, filled with a thick and tangy lemon custard. And the meringue? Not an egg in sight! The creamy part is made from coconut cream. Refreshing, zingy and sweet!

Get the recipe here.

5. Raspberry Mille-Feuille with Lemon Pastry Cream

This is one of those vegan French patisserie recipes for those with some skill in the kitchen!

Mille-feuille means ‘a thousand leafs’ and that’s exactly how the pastry here should feel – rather than a dense cookie, these layers should be as flaky as an Alpine ski resort in January. Sheets of pastry are wedged together between lashings of custard filling and icing make this a delicately difficult thing to eat without making a mess, but it does look so pretty when served as a dessert.

Get the recipe here.

6. Easy Vegan Baba au Rhum

This dessert is basically an eggy cake moistened with rum flavoured syrup – but here it gets a healthier, vegan makeover, whilst losing none of the irresistible texture or taste. Word of warning, though – this has quite a bit of rum. Like, enough to get a child pretty drunk. Just sayin’!

Get the recipe here.

7. Strawberry Mousse Cake

Tell me the truth: if you saw this is a patisserie window, wouldn’t you just want to stop and grab a slice? It’s just bursting with berry flavour! And whilst this type of cake normally calls for not only cream, but also gelatin, this version is rather shockingly 100% vegan. It’s one of those vegan French patisserie recipes that’s perfect for serving for dessert after a fancy meal!

Get the recipe here.

8. Peach & Almond Galette

How divine does this look? The pastry is used to create a flat, round, cake-like base known as a galette and is cleverly folded over to hold in all of the juices. It’s then topped with succulent, ripened peaches. Of course if peaches aren’t in season yet, you could opt for tinned.

Get the recipe here.

9. Vegan Tarte Tatin

Of all the vegan French patisserie recipes, this may be the best known! But a tarte tatin isn’t like an American apple pie; rather, this is kind of an upside down apple tart. The pastry is baked over the fruit, which has been caramelized in sugar beforehand to make it sweet, and then it’s all baked together. Instead of sugar, the apple slices are bathed in a mixture of olive oil, maple syrup and autumnal spices with just a sneaky hint of brandy.

Get the recipe here.

10. Orange Zest Madeleines

Not only are Proust’s favourite snacks aesthetically pleasing, they’re super tasty, too. These rich little mini muffin-like treats are traditionally cooked in little shell-shaped pans, but they can also be made with a small muffin tin. These are flavoured with orange essence but you could also use fresh orange juice plus some orange zest if you have that on hand instead.

Get the recipe here.

11. Raw Salted Caramel Creme Brulee

Ok, I know crème brulee isn’t exactly vegan French patisserie in any way, but it is a French classic dessert! It’s ever so satisfying to crack open that crunchy layer of caramel on top to reveal the rich, creamy custard inside. And these are raw, so there’s so baking – but you still get to feel cool and use a blow torch (or oven lighter if you don’t have one).

Get the recipe here.

12. Vegan Mini Palmiers

Crunchy, sugary golden palmiers are basically a cookie made from pastry. And like many things French, they just seem made to go with a steaming cup of coffee!

Get the recipe here.

13. Vegan Strawberry Macarons

Fruity, crunchy and absolutely delicious, these vegan strawberry macarons are packed with vegan buttercream and strawberry jam. This is one of those vegan French patisserie recipes everyone will love!

Get the recipe here.

14. Vegan Meringues

Ah, le meringue! A fluffy, sweet concoction that’s wonderful decorating a cake, or eaten on its own. Whilst normally it would be impossible to create these without egg whites, innovative vegan chefs have discovered that acquafaba – a.k.a chickpea water – can do the job just as well, and just as tastily!

Get the recipe here.

15. Vegan Petit* Fours

Petit Four means “small oven” in French. These tiny cakes are the perfect finger food dessert to pass around to your family or holiday guests. And did I mention they are insanely moist, rich and delicious?

Get the recipe here.

16. Vegan Biscoff Macarons

Lotus Biscoff are some of the most popular cookies sold in France. They’re sweet, but also a bit spicy, thanks to the cloves and cinnamon in the recipe. And now you can make a cream from those biscuits, and stuff that cream into crispy macarons. So French, and SO delicious!

Get the recipe here.

17. Vegan Blueberry Financiers

Not sure what a financier is? It’s basically a small almond cake that is flavoured with hazelnut brown butter and then baked in individual moulds. The end result is a light and yet moist dessert with a crisp exterior. Whilst the traditional recipe is laden with dairy and sugar, this is a healthier vegan version that’s just as delicious!

Get the recipe here.

18. Vegan Brioche

Another one of the most essential vegan French patisserie recipes! This golden, bready puff is a favourite French breakfast, dipped into a cafe au lait, bien sur! The French don’t like them too sweet – personally, I add jam to mine, but that’s just little ol’ English moi. Simple, tasty and light, this is definitely vegan French patisserie at its best!

Get the recipe here.

19. Chouquettes (Sugar Puffs)

This is one of my favourite vegan French patisserie recipes! The name of these little pastries actually means ‘little cabbages’ but they don’t taste anything like that vegetable, obviously. These are light, fluffy, moreish little bites of goodness that taste amazing dipped into a creamy hot chocolate. Really pretty, and surprisingly easy to make, too!

Get the recipe here.

20. Raw Fruit Tart

The fruit tart was practically a French invention, and what a great one! A thick crust filled in with creamy custard, topped by fresh fruit. Here, we have the crust – but it’s raw; the custard, but it’s coconut cream. At least the fruit is still trad!

Get the recipe here.

21. Gluten Free Vegan Crepes

Thought I would start winding up this vegan French patisserie recipes roundup this with the ultimate go-to French favourite: the crepe. These won’t be found in any pastry shop (maybe because their simplicity puts off those fancy French chefs) but they are a sweet delight that I simply couldn’t ignore here. Whether drizzled with syrup or chocolate sauce or filled with banana or Nutella, these are pretty much irresistible. No wonder there’s practically a crepe stand on every Parisian corner!

Get the recipe here.

22. Vegan Praline Chocolate Spread

Ok, finally I will leave you with this! It’s a sauce that is so rich, creamy and chocolatey, it pretty much goes with everything on this list. Smear it on to crepes, croissants, brioches, on top of pies, you name it. And guess what? It’s just as tasty as Nutella – but it’s actually vegan! (since Nutella is full of orangutan and rainforest killing palm oil, we can hardly call it vegan now, can we?)

Get the recipe here.