This Vegan Wellington–style Tofu & Vegetable en Croûte features layers of golden seared tofu, sautéed mushrooms, and herbed greens encased in flaky shortcrust pastry. A hearty, elegant vegan main that’s perfect for special occasions—and convenient to make ahead.
I’ve always loved working with pastry and pies, so this was an especially enjoyable dish to make. Not only did it turn into a delicious dinner, but it also made excellent leftovers for the next day — the kind of recipe you happily come back to again and again.
What excited me most was deciding on the filling. I had plenty of ideas but couldn’t quite settle on just one. I’d never used tofu as a pie filling before, so I decided to experiment, playing with different flavour combinations for the marinade. The result was surprisingly satisfying, with layers that felt both hearty and well balanced. A touch of cayenne pepper added just enough heat to lift the whole dish.
I used a loaf tin for this recipe. To get clean, neat slices, I layered the filling with a simple mixture of puréed tofu and soy milk, which helps everything hold together nicely once baked.
I made the shortcrust pastry from scratch, working it by hand before finishing it with a hand mixer fitted with a spiral hook (the smaller, swirly attachment that usually comes with hand mixers). For consistently good shortcrust pastry, I recommend using metric measurements, as they’re much more accurate — especially when working with cold fat.
Tofu & Vegetable en Croute
If you’d like to see some of the process in action, I’ve linked a short video from another recipe where I demonstrate how I make shortcrust pastry step by step. And if you prefer an alternative made with oil instead of butter or margarine, there’s also a flaky oil-based shortcrust pastry recipe on the blog. For this en croûte, you’ll need to make about one and a half times that recipe to have enough dough.
Tofu & Vegetable en Croûte – A Vegan Wellington–Style Centrepiece
Layers of seared tofu, mushrooms, herbs, and greens wrapped in buttery shortcrust pastry. A satisfying, well-structured vegan main that’s ideal for special occasions—and can be made in advance.
Ingredients
Shortcrust Pastry
- (No cup measurements here—cold margarine is difficult to measure accurately by volume. See Notes for an oil-based alternative.)
- 500 g plain flour
- 220 g vegan margarine or butter, very cold
- 14 tablespoons cold water (approx., adjust as needed)
Mushroom Layer
- 4 portobello mushrooms (about 250 g), sliced
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon vegan margarine
- Salt, to taste
Marinated Tofu Slices
- 375 g firm tofu (1½ blocks), sliced to fit the width of the tin
- ½ teaspoon Chinese five-spice
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 2–3 tablespoons soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Salt, to taste
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, for shallow frying
Green Purée
- 150 g mixed greens (watercress, spinach, and rocket)
- 190 g firm tofu (¾ block)
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
Tofu Purée
- 190 g firm tofu (¾ block)
- 100 ml soy milk
- ½ onion or 1 shallot, chopped
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Optional Decoration
- Small amount of leftover pastry
- Beetroot juice (for colouring)
Instructions
Make the Shortcrust Pastry
- Cut the cold margarine into small pieces.
- Place the flour and margarine in a large bowl.
- Cut the margarine through the flour to break it down, then rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Lift the flour as you rub to incorporate air. Avoid overworking.
- Using a hand mixer fitted with a spiral hook (or mixing by hand), add a few tablespoons of water at a time until the dough just comes together. It should be soft but not sticky.
- Press the dough together gently and knead no more than 2–3 times.
- Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight. (The dough can also be frozen.)
Prepare the Filling
Mushrooms
- Heat the margarine in a non-stick pan.
- Add the garlic, mushrooms, and salt.
- Sauté until soft, then remove from heat and set aside.
- The mushrooms will release liquid—discard it or reserve it to use in the tofu marinade if you like.
Marinated Tofu
- In a bowl, mix the five-spice, turmeric, soy sauce, cayenne, and salt.
- Dip each tofu slice into the marinade, coating well. (You can also leave them to marinate briefly.)
- Heat the oil in a pan and shallow-fry the tofu until golden and lightly crisp on both sides. Set aside.
Green Purée
- Blend all ingredients until smooth. A hand blender works well. Set aside.
Tofu Purée
- Blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
Assemble and Bake
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Divide the chilled dough into two portions: roughly ¾ for the base and ¼ for the top.
- Roll out the larger portion to line the loaf tin, allowing enough dough to cover the sides with a little overhang.
- Line the tin with greaseproof paper, then place the pastry inside, pressing gently into the corners.
- Layer the filling in this order:
- A layer of tofu purée
- A layer of fried tofu slices
- Another layer of tofu purée
- The sautéed mushrooms
- A final layer of tofu purée
- Pour over the green purée - Roll out the remaining dough and place it over the top. Seal the edges well.
- Cut three small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
- Bake for 1 hour, until the pastry is golden and dry.
- Check doneness by inserting a skewer into the centre—it won’t be completely dry due to the moist filling, but it should come out fairly clean.
- Allow to cool slightly, then lift out using the greaseproof paper. Slice with a serrated knife.
Notes
- Make ahead: This dish can be assembled in advance and baked on the day, or baked ahead and gently reheated.
- For How-to make shortcrust pastry, see this video.
- Pastry alternative: For an oil-based shortcrust pastry, see this recipe. You’ll need to multiply it by 1.5 to have enough dough.
- Decoration: The flowers on top were made from leftover pastry coloured with beetroot juice instead of food colouring. Only a small amount of dough and about a tablespoon of beetroot juice is needed.
- Finishing touches: Leftover pastry can be braided and placed around the edges of the loaf before baking.
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My jaw is on the floor.
You are AMAZING! This is seriously impressive, I can’t believe it. All those layers, all those delicious flavors, I want to make this right now! Well done!
What an amazing and complex recipe! Wow, really impressive…and so beautiful!
Gorgeous! Love the look of this. 🙂
Absolutely beautiful! You really worked hard on this and got amazing results.
Wow, that’s so pretty and impressive!!!
It looks so delicious!
Wow, that looks fantastic!
This looks beautiful and delicious..mmmmm! Happy new year 2010!blessings of joy!much love,Mia 🙂
Yum…its lovely.
http://nuestracena-vegancuisine.blogspot.com
looks beautiful!!! I’ll try it!!
oh my goodness! so tasty!
I LOVE pie – yours looks amazing.
🙂
That looks delicious 🙂
Wow!! That is truly a labor of love. Looks absolutely scrumptious!!
I follow a Whole Food Plant-based (special kind of Vegan), and I can usually modify your recipes to adhere to these restrictions. For the dough in this recipe I plan to try a chickpea flour dough, and prebake the shell so it remains crispy. It won’t be as flaky as the dough you are using, but it should be just as delicious with the filling. Will let you know.
6rtury