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This Vegan Baklava recipe is inspired by the traditional Middle Eastern dessert and just as good as the real thing! It’s made with layers of flaky phyllo pastry, a sticky nut filling, and a hot syrup naturally sweetened with dates. This sweet treat is guaranteed to become one of your favorite desserts.
What is baklava?
Baklava is a sweet pastry that is popular in many Middle Eastern, Balkan, and Mediterranean cuisines. It is made from layers of thin and flaky phyllo pastry and filled with chopped nuts then drizzled with a sticky sweet syrup. Our recipe is inspired by a restaurant on the east called Mamoun’s. They serve up a next level baklava – the only downside is that it contains honey. If you’ve never had baklava, this date-sweetened version will completely blow you away.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Dates: Many classic versions of this popular dish are filled with a nut mixture that’s sweetened with cane sugar, brown sugar, and honey. Instead, we added chopped dates to our filling to add sweetness while keeping it refined-sugar-free. From experience, the drier your dates, the better! They will be easier to cut and spread throughout the wet ingredients.
- Nuts: The most common nuts are pistachios and walnuts. We used a blend of almonds, walnuts, and pistachios, but feel free to use a mix of your favorite nuts or what you have available to you.
- Orange zest: Fresh orange zest adds a boost of fresh, unique flavor that compliments the sweetness. If you have it, you can also substitute orange blossom water. If needed or preferred, you can also opt for lemon zest.
- Vegan butter: We swapped the traditional melted butter with melted vegan butter. We typically use Country Crock, Earth Balance, or another brand of vegan butter sticks. If you are using salted butter, we recommend omitting the added salt.
- Phyllo dough: Store-bought phyllo dough is typically found in the freezer section near the other pre-made doughs like pie crust or puff pastry. Most store-bought versions are accidentally vegan, meaning they aren’t advertised as vegan foods but happen to be free of animal products.
- Just Date syrup: This liquid sweetener is a sugar alternative that happens to be the perfect alternative to honey. It’s also loaded with potassium, antioxidants, and has a low glycemic index so it won’t spike your blood sugar. You can also use it as a liquid sweetener in other baking recipes as well as in your coffee, tea, or vegan matcha latte.
- Lemon juice: A small squeeze of lemon juice helps brighten the syrup and makes it taste fresh and light. A little goes a long way!
- Spices: You’ll need a simple blend of cinnamon, ground cardamom, vanilla extract, and sea salt for this vegan baklava.
Equipment Needed
How to Make Vegan Baklava
- Roughly chop the filling. Add the dates, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, orange zest, cinnamon, and salt in a large cup food processor. Pulse until the mixture is just roughly chopped (avoid making a fine consistency). Set aside.
- Trim the phyllo dough. Place the thawed phyllo dough on a clean work surface, then lightly place the baking dish on top of the dough. Using a sharp knife, trim the phyllo dough to fit the size of the pan. Feel free to be a bit generous – it is better to cut the dough slightly larger than the dish than cutting it too small.
- Cover the dough. Once cut to your ideal size, cover the phyllo dough with a slightly damp kitchen towel to keep it from drying out. Set aside until ready to layer.
- Prep the baking dish. Using a pastry brush, brush the bottom and sides of the baking dish with a thin layer of melted vegan butter.
- Begin to layer the vegan baklava. Lay two sheets of the phyllo in the bottom of the buttered baking dish then gently drizzle with vegan butter. Add two more sheets of phyllo directly on top and drizzle again with vegan butter. Repeat the process two more times until you’ve layered 8 sheets of phyllo sheets in the bottom of the baking dish.
- Add in the filling. Spread 1/3 of the ground nut mixture on top of the phyllo dough and spread it as evenly as possible to the edges of the pan.
- Continue to layer. Layer on 8 more sheets of phyllo dough, drizzling vegan butter between every two sheets. Then, add on another 1/3 of the ground nut mixture before repeating the full process once more.
- Add final layers of phyllo dough on top. Layer on the final 8 sheets of dough on top, drizzling with melted butter between every two sheets then drizzling any remaining melted vegan butter over the top of the phyllo dough layers.
- Chill for one hour. Once fully layered, place the vegan baklava in the refrigerator for 1 hour so that the butter can set.
- Cut the baklava. Using a very sharp knife, cut the uncooked baklava four times lengthwise, then diagonally, creating diamond shapes.
- Bake. Bake the vegan baklava for 50-60 minutes or until golden brown and flaky.
- Prepare the syrup. While the vegan baklava bakes, prepare the syrup. In a small pot over medium heat, whisk together the date syrup, water, lemon juice, cinnamon, salt, and ground cardamom until well combined. Heat for 8-10 minutes or until thickened and syrup-like. Set aside to cool, then once cool, stir in the vanilla.
- Drizzle the vegan baklava with syrup. Once baked, remove the vegan baklava from the oven and drizzle with the cooled syrup immediately while hot.
- Serve. Top the vegan baklava with crushed pistachios and allow it to sit at room temperature for several hours or overnight before serving.
Recipe FAQs
Traditional baklava is not typically vegan-friendly. Although the base ingredients like phyllo dough and nuts are vegan, the pastry is typically brushed with dairy butter or ghee and drizzled with a honey-based syrup. We swapped the honey syrup with date syrup, and it worked perfectly. Date syrup is also loaded with potassium and antioxidants and has a low glycemic index, so it won’t spike your blood sugar.
Yes! If you don’t have a food processor, finely chop the pitted Medjool dates, almonds, walnuts, and pistachios until a chopped consistency. Again, avoid chopping it too finely or else your vegan baklava recipe won’t have much texture.
Serving Suggestions
Baklava is traditionally served either warm or cold with a cup of hot coffee or tea for dessert or entertaining guests. It’s one of our favorite desserts to enjoy with warm beverages or served with a scoop of non-dairy vanilla ice cream and a dollop of Coconut Whipped Cream.
Storage Instructions
This decadent treat will keep best for up to 1 week at room temperature or 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Always store vegan baklava tightly covered in either an airtight container or directly in the casserole dish covered with plastic wrap or reusable wrap.
Vegan baklava can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Before freezing, allow the hot baklava to cool completely to room temperature, cut it into individual pieces, then transfer it to a freezer-safe container or bag. If layering in your container, place a piece of parchment paper between each layer to prevent sticking. Thaw your desired number of pieces at room temperature until softened again.
More Vegan Dessert Recipes You May Enjoy:
- Creamy Ube Pie – a Filipino dessert made with a buttery pie crust filled with a creamy yam filling.
- Vegan Chocolate Fudge – made with just 3 ingredients in 15 minutes!
- Vegan Cannoli – our spin on the classic Italian dessert.
- Classic Vegan Brownies – the best, fudgy brownies made with simple pantry staples.
- Classic Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies – our must-try cookie recipe.
+ If you post any photos on Instagram, make sure you tag us @sweetsimplevegan and @consciouschris so that we don’t miss it; we love seeing your photos!
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Vegan Baklava Recipe
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 27 pieces
Description
This Vegan Baklava recipe is inspired by the traditional Middle Eastern dessert and just as good as the real thing! It’s made with layers of flaky phyllo pastry, a sticky nut filling, and a hot syrup naturally sweetened with dates. This sweet treat is guaranteed to become one of your favorite desserts.
Ingredients
Filling
- 1 1/2 cups (11.87oz) pitted medjool dates, finely chopped*
- 1 cup (5.4 oz) almonds*
- 1 cup (4 oz) walnuts*
- 1 cup (4.12 oz) pistachios*
- 1/2 tablespoon orange zest
- 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick vegan butter, melted
- 32 sheets phyllo (filo) dough, defrosted
Syrup
- 1/2 cup Just Date Syrup
- 1/2 cup filtered water
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice, adjust to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
- 2 tablespoons shelled unsalted pistachios, finely chopped or crushed
Instructions
- In a food processor, add in the dates, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, orange zest, cinnamon, and salt. Pulse until the mixture is just roughly chopped. You do not want them to be fine as they will not have the right consistency for the baklava. Set aside.
- Grab your phyllo dough and a medium baking dish (ours was 10×8″).
- Placed it on a clean work surface and then put a baking dish on top. Be sure not to press down so hard so you don’t compact the phyllo. Using a sharp knife, trim the phyllo to the size of the pan. It is better to cut bigger than smaller here so if it is not perfect, don’t worry because once it bakes you won’t be able to tell. This step is optional, you can also just fold in the edges as you layer the baklava. This will just yield the best results.
- Cover the phyllo with a slightly damp tea towel to keep it from drying out. Set aside.
- Brush the bottom and sides of the baking dish with a thin layer of melted vegan butter. Lay on two sheets of the phyllo and then gently drizzle it with vegan butter. We did not brush on the vegan butter as it may rip the phyllo. Repeat the layering, buttering ever 2 sheets of phyllo, until you have a base of 8 sheets of phyllo.
- Add 1/3 of the ground nut mixture to the pan and spread it out evenly to the edges of the pan. If possible, try to avoid having large date pieces on the outer edge as they tend to burn easily.
- Lay on 8 more sheets of phyllo, buttering them every two layers, and then add on another 1/3 of ground nut mixture. Repeat one more time.
- Add on the final 8 sheets of phyllo, drizzling them with butter every two layers. Evenly drizzle any remaining melted vegan butter over the top.
- Place the baking dish into the refrigerator for 1 hour so that the butter can set.
- Remove the pan from the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 350°F. Using a very sharp knife, cut the uncooked baklava four times lengthwise (into long rectangles). Then, cut across diagonally to create diamond shapes. You can do as many diagonal cuts as you would like, depending on how big or small you want your baklava pieces to be when cooked.
- Bake the baklava for 50-60 minutes, or until golden brown and the edges of the phyllo is flaky.
- While the baklava bakes, prepare the syrup. Combine all of the syrup ingredients except for the vanilla extract in a small pot over medium heat. Warm the syrup for around 8-10 minutes, or until it has thickened but is still the consistency of syrup. Set it aside to cool. Once cooled, mix the vanilla in.
- Remove the baklava from the oven and set it on a heat-proof surface. Drizzle the cooled syrup evenly over the baked baklava while it is still hot (this is key!).
- Top the baklava with crushed pistachios and allow it to sit at room temperature for several hours or overnight before serving.
Notes
- The drier the dates, the better! They will be easier to cut and spread through the baklava.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for 5-7 days.
- Just Date Syrup is available on Amazon and you can a discount until the end of the month using our code 10SWEETSIMPL 🙂
- We used a mixture of almonds, walnuts, and pistachios as that is our favorite combination for baklava, but feel free to mix and match to your liking!
- Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Holiday
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern, Greek
Nutrition facts label provided by Nutri Fox.
Disclaimer: The nutritional information shown is an estimate provided by an online calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional’s advice. This page may contain affiliate links, which simply means that we earn a commission if you purchase through those links, but your price remains the same. Thank you for supporting Sweet Simple Vegan!
Me and my friend made this recipe today, it took several hours of impatience and focus (thirty two sheets of filo pastry are a lot thinner than you think). However, our creation was the epitome of perfection. We have birthed something immeasurable in the culinary world and can only hope that one day other people can experience even a fifth of what it is like to taste this date-sweetened baklava.
Side note: The recipe fails to let you know when to actually add the vanilla extract to the syrup, we didn’t want to make any mistakes so added it once the syrup was nearly cool and this seemed to work well for us. 🙂
Thanks for sharing and for the note!! We will add that correction in! 🙂
JUST the recipe I needed! I only had baklava once but I fell in LOVE with it. The dates add the most glorious sweetness, stickiness, and overall caramel flavor to the filling. Phyllo dough that’s flaky and buttery with crunchy pistachios combine perfectly with everything. Baklava is really the best Turkish dessert!
Sounds amazing. Can’t wait to try it.