Vegan Croissants - The Plant Based School (2024)

Our vegan croissants are made with soft and aromatic brioche dough, rolled into the classic crescent shape, and baked to perfection until golden brown and pillowy soft.

You can eat vegan croissants as they are or filled with vegan custard or jam; either way, they are a delicious breakfast for all.

Table of Contents

• What are Vegan Croissants?
• How to Make Vegan Croissants
• Tips
• Questions
• Similar Recipes
• More Breakfast Ideas
• Vegan Croissants Recipe

Our vegan croissants are inspired by Italian croissants and made with an aromatic and pillowy soft vegan brioche dough.

Unlike French croissants, which are delicious but difficult to make with laminate flaky layers of dough and butter, our vegan croissants are made with simple everyday ingredients and a straightforward process that makes them pillowy, soft, light, and airy.

While they don’t have a flaky texture, they are absolutely delicious!

We tested the brioche dough extensively in many other recipes, such as our Italian brioche buns, vegan brioche bread, vegan cinnamon rolls, and chocolate chip brioche.

Like vegan crepes, french toast, and vegan pancakes, vegan croissants are a delicious breakfast recipe everyone loves; they are excellent for the weekend and holidays.

Here, we’ll show you how to make the best vegan croissants and fill them with a delicious homemade vegan custard, Nutella, or your favorite jam.

Quantities are in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.

Flour

We use all-purpose flour, bread flour, or first-clear flour.

We haven’t tried this recipe with gluten-free flour.

Sugar

Plain white sugar works best.

Substitute brown sugar or coconut sugar for white sugar. We haven’t tried maple syrup.

Instant dry yeast

We recommend instant dry yeast because it’s the easiest to use, and you can mix it right away with the other ingredients.

You can substitute fresh yeast for instant dry yeast, but if you do so, you need three times more fresh yeast than the instant dry yeast dose.

Non-dairy milk and water

You can use any dairy-free milk, such as almond milk, soy milk, rice milk, oat milk, and more.

Mix the milk with plain water to make the vegan croissants light and fluffy.

Oil

We recommend neutral vegetable oil such as mild olive oil, sunflower oil, avocado oil, or canola oil. Pick your favorite.

We don’t recommend coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, or vegan butter here, as they make the dough less airy and more compact.

Aromas & Salt

We add vanilla extract and orange zest.

They are both delicious in this recipe, and we think they are both necessary as there are no eggs or butter to give flavor to the vegan dough.

Substitute the seeds of a vanilla pod for vanilla extract and aroma extract for orange zest.

A pinch of salt helps bring the other flavors together.

Optional fillings

• Vegan custard: you can pick a classic vegan custard, a chocolate custard, a coffee custard, or a pistachio custard.
• Vegan Nutella: you can get it in most stores or make it at home with our hazelnut spread recipe.
• Your favorite jam: we recommend apricot or strawberry jam.

If you want to fill your vegan croissants, then you’ll need a pastry piping bag with a long and thin nozzle.

US cups + grams measurements in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.

Make the croissant dough

In a large mixing bowl, stir togetherall-purpose flour,sugar,andinstant dry yeast.

Add the rest of the ingredients:grated orange zest,lukewarm milk,water,olive oil,vanilla extract, and apinch of salt.

Mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until the ingredients form a dough.

Note:if you don’t have instant dry yeast, you can use either 7g (1.4tsp) of active dry yeast or 25g of fresh yeast. In both cases, you mustfirst dissolve the yeastin lukewarm water and sugar before adding it to the flour.

Dust a clean worktop with 2 tablespoons of flour and knead the dough with your hands for 5 minutes or until soft and smooth.

Add more flour if the dough is too sticky, but remember that your dough should beelastic,soft,andmoist by the end. It should almost stick to the worktop.

Note: You can use a Kitchen Aid or any other standing mixer with a dough hook attachment to knead the dough.

Proof the dough in a warm place

Shape the dough into a ball, then transfer it into a greased bowl,brush itwith athin layer of oil,and cover the bowl with adamp kitchen cloth, leaving enough space for the dough to double in volume.

Letit proof for 2 to 3 hoursin a warm place.

Tip: we recommend putting it in a slightly warm oven. Turn the oven on for 30 seconds, then turn it off and put the dough in it to proof.

Shape the vegan croissants

After proofing, transfer the dough onto aclean worktop without flour on it and flatten it into a rectangle with your hands, then with a rolling pin.

Make a rectangular shape 20 inches by 12 inches or 50cm by 30cm.

With a sharp knife or with a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 9 to 10 triangles.

Roll each triangleon itself to give it the traditional croissant shape (crescent shape).

Knead the croissant dough scraps together, roll them out, and repeat until you run out of dough.

Put the croissants on abaking sheet lined with parchment paper,leaving some distance between them. On a standard tray, you should be able to fit 9 croissants.

Let themproof for 1 hourin a warm place.

Tip:turn the oven on for 30 seconds, then turn it off and put the croissants in it to proof.

Bake the vegan croissants

Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C.Brush the topof the croissants withnon-dairy milk(that’s our vegan egg wash) and bake on the mid-lower oven rack foraround 20 minutes.

Tip:The time depends on the oven and the size of the croissant, sokeep an eye on them. They should be slightly golden brown on top.

Let them cool down for 10 minutes before eating them or filling them withvegan custard, your favorite jam, or Nutella to make chocolate croissants.

You need a pastry piping bag with along and narrow tip to fill them.

You can do so from the top, inserting the nozzle diagonally in between one of the layers of dough, pushing it through the core, and squeezing about 2 tablespoons of filling in the croissant.

Tips

• Pick the correct type of yeast: We recommend instant dry yeast, which doesn’t require activation in warm water and sugar but can be added to the flour.

  If you don’t have instant dry yeast, you can use either 7g (1.4 tsp) of active dry yeast or 25g of fresh yeast.

  See Also

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  In both cases, you mustfirst dissolve the yeastin lukewarm water and sugar before adding it to the flour.

• Proof the dough in a warm place: turn on your oven for 30 to 45 seconds, then turn it off and put the dough proof inside it.

  If you have that function, you can also keep the oven’s light on (just the light, not the heat).

• Cover the dough with a damp cloth: a damp cloth is better than a piece of film because 1) it doesn’t contribute to plastic pollution, and 2) it keeps the dough moist, helping the yeast do a better job.

  Remember that the dough will double or triple in volume, so leave enough space between the dough and the damp cloth.

• Avoid using flour when rolling out the dough. It’s best to use little to no flour when rolling the dough so that the croissants will be soft and airy.

Make ahead: you can make the croissants ahead of time and freeze them before the second proofing. To do so, shape the croissants, arrange them on a baking tray, and freeze them for 15 minutes.

Storage: Keep leftover croissants in a reusable plastic bag at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 4 days.

We recommend reheating them in a preheated oven for a couple of minutes or in the microwave for 30 seconds to make them soft again.

Alternatively, you can freeze baked vegan croissants for about one month. In this case, let them cool completely before freezing them.

If you love baking and experimenting with leavened dough, here are some ideas for you:

• Vegan cinnamon rolls or apple cinnamon rolls.
• Vegan brioche bread or chocolate chip brioche.
• Vegan brioche swirls with custard.
• Vegan donuts.

Get more delicious breakfast inspiration with these tasty and easy treats:

• Chocolate glazed donuts, easy to make, without yeast.
• Easy cake donuts.
• Apple muffins.
• Vegan pancakes.
• Egg-free French toast.

For many more breakfast ideas, check out our breakfast category page.