These homemade Vegan Brioche Croissants are easy to make and as fluffy, soft and delicious as classic butter croissants or milk buns from the bakery, though this recipe is eggless and dairy-free! Perfect for breakfast or brunch on the weekend or just as a quick snack on the go!
Soft and fluffy brioche croissants from the bakery have been a childhood favorite, because I always loved them! The soft croissants, called “Hörnchen” here in Germany, are just perfect for small children’s hands to grab on the go. Often there were also small slightly sweet mini milk buns, also known as “Kinderbrötchen”, at the bakery for free. Of course, I was always very happy about such a yummy gift because they were handy and delicious!
What are butter croissants?
Butter croissants or milk croissants are a brioche-like pastry made of airy yeast dough with a slightly sweet flavor and soft crust, which is then shaped into croissants. They taste best fresh from the oven and are served traditionally for breakfast with butter, jam, chocolate cream or another sweet spread!
Since classic milk croissants from the bakery are prepared with eggs, dairy milk and butter and are therefore not vegan, I now make the popular croissants at home without using dairy products!
How do I make vegan brioche croissants like from the bakery?
To make your croissants taste like from the bakery, it is important that you prepare the yeast dough properly. Knead it for at least 5 minutes and then let it rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size.
Then form your croissants and let them rise for another 30 minutes. Make sure that the dough is always well covered or slightly moistened so that it doesn‘t dry out.
To make your milk croissants look as pretty as they do at the bakery, brush them with a little soy cream or soy milk mixed with a pinch of turmeric before baking. This gives them a beautiful golden color and a wonderful shine!
Can I make filled croissants?
Of course you can fill the croissants with chocolate, vanilla custard or jam. You could also knead some chocolate drops or raisins into the dough. Or instead of croissants, form simple buns or rolls to make chocolate brioche rolls or raisin buns.
Ingredients needed for this recipe
- Flour: all-purpose flour, spelt flour or gluten-free flour or a mixture of light flour and whole wheat flour works well.
- Raw cane sugar: or other sugar to taste.
- Yeast: fresh yeast or dry yeast.
- Salt
- Soy milk: or oat milk or almond milk.
- Soy yogurt: or other dairy-free yogurt.
- Vegetable oil: such as canola, sunflower or butter-flavored alba oil.
- Vanilla extract: optional.
How to make vegan brioche croissants
As always, I recommend checking out these step-by-step instructions and the recipe video first. Then you’ll find the full recipe with exact measurements in the recipe card below!
Step 1: Make the yeast dough
First, dissolve the yeast and 1 tablespoon of sugar in the soy milk and set aside until foamy. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt and remaining sugar. Then add soy yogurt, oil, vanilla extract, and yeast mixture and knead everything into a smooth dough for about 5-8 minutes.
Cover the dough and let it rise for about 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.
Tip: If you don’t want to bake the croissants until the next day, you can then place the dough in the refrigerator overnight.
Step 2: Shape croissants
Then knead the dough again briefly and divide it in half. Roll out the halves one at a time into a circle and cut into 8 “pizza pieces”. Roll up each piece into croissants and leave to rise on a baking sheet for another 30 minutes.
Tip: to keep the dough pieces from getting too dry, you can spray them with a little water.
Step 3: Bake the croissants
After the resting time, brush the croissants with soy cream or soy milk and sprinkle with poppy seeds as desired. Bake in a preheated oven at 356 °F (180 °C) heat for about 15-20 minutes. Then allow to cool.
Can I use dry yeast?
To make the preparation of the yeast dough easier, you can use dry yeast. This does not have to be dissolved in lukewarm liquid and left to stand, as fresh yeast does, but can be mixed directly with the flour.
How to store and freeze brioche croissants?
The croissants can be stored like chocolate buns or other yeast pastries. Stored in an airtight bag or container, they will keep at room temperature for about 3-5 days.
If the pastry becomes too hard over time, you can simply heat your croissant in the microwave for a few seconds before eating. This will make it really soft and fluffy again and it will taste like freshly baked!
You can also freeze both the raw and the baked croissants for a few months. Then simply bake them as instructed or let them thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat.
This vegan brioche croissants recipe is:
- Eggless
- Without butter
- Dairy-free (lactose-free)
- Can be made gluten-free
- Easy to make
- Sweet & airy
- Soft & fluffy
- Freshly baked
- Totally delicious!
- Perfect for breakfast or as a snack in between!
- Better than from the bakery!
More homemade vegan buns and bread recipes
- Chocolate Brioche Buns
- Classic Vegan Croissants
- Blueberry Babka
- Braided Bread
- Apple Stuffed Buns
- Homemade Bagels
- Burger Buns
- No Knead Bread
- No Knead Bread Rolls
- Spelt Carrot Bread
- Buckwheat Chia Bread
- Low Carb Keto Bread
- Naan Bread
- Garlic Pull Apart Bread
- Easy Flatbread
- Foccacia
If you try this easy recipe for homemade Vegan Brioche Croissants, feel free to leave me a comment and a star rating! And if you take a photo of your yeast pastry and share it on Instagram, please tag me @biancazapatka and use the hashtag #biancazapatka because I love seeing your creations! Happy baking! 🙂
Easy Homemade Vegan Brioche Croissants
Author:You do not have a fitting cake pan at hand right now? Try my Cake Pan Conversion Calculator!
Ingredients
Yeast dough:
- ½ cup (120 ml) soy milk lukewarm (or other milk)
- ¼ cup (50 g) raw cane sugar or other sugar*
- 0.7 oz (21 g) fresh yeast 21 g, or 2 tsp (7 g dry yeast)
- 4 cups (500 g) all-purpose or spelt flour or gluten-free flour, see notes*.
- 1 tsp salt
- ⅔ cup (160 g) soy yogurt room temperature (or other yogurt)
- ¼ cup (50 g) vegetable oil e.g. canola, sunflower or butter-flavored alba oil or sub soft margarine/vegan butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
To Brush:
- 2-3 tbsp soy cream or milk or other vegetable cream/milk
- pinch of turmeric optional for color
Topping: (optional)
- poppy seeds or other seeds of choice
Instructions
*Note: Check out the recipe video + tips + step-by-step pictures above!
- Warm the soy milk to lukewarm (about 95 °F/35 °C). Then crumble in the yeast and add 1 tbsp of the sugar. Mix with a whisk until the yeast has dissolved. Then set aside for about 3 minutes until the mixture begins to foam (then you know the yeast is working).
- In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and remaining sugar. Create a well in the middle, then add in the soy yogurt, oil, vanilla extract and yeast mixture. Using a wooden spoon mix the ingredients together, until combined. Then continue kneading using the dough hook of a food processor (or your hands) for about 5-8 minutes until a smooth dough is formed.
- Lightly oil the dough and cover the bowl with a lid (or cling film). Let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes, until the dough has doubled in size. (If you want to bake the croissants the next day, you can refrigerate the dough overnight.)
- Knead the risen dough again briefly on a work surface and divide in half. Place one half back to the bowl, cover and set aside. Roll out the other half into a circle, about ¼-Inch (5-8 mm) thick. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut into 8 "pizza pieces".
- Roll up each piece from the wide side to the top and shape into croissants. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving enough space between each, and let them rise again, covered, for 30 minutes (you can spray them with a little water to keep them from getting too dry). Repeat this process with the second piece of dough.
- After about 20 minutes of resting, start to preheat the oven to 356 °F (180 °C).
- Brush the croissants with soy cream or milk (optionally mixed with a pinch of turmeric for a golden and shiny color). Sprinkle with poppy seeds if desired and bake for about 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool and enjoy!
Notes
- Flour: For fluffy croissants, I recommend using light all-purpose or spelt flour or a gluten-free flour blend for yeast dough. If you use a heavier flour like whole wheat, they will be denser and won't rise as well. A blend of light flour and whole wheat flour would be better.
- Sugar: You can use any kind of sugar you like.
- Soy milk/soy yogurt: is best for vegan baking because of its binding properties. However, you can also use another milk/yogurt.
- Filling: Feel free to fill the croissants with chocolate, vanilla custard or jam. You could also knead some chocolate chips or raisins into the dough.
- Tips for make ahead, storing + freezing as well as other helpful information about this recipe are mentioned in the blog post above!
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What can I use instead of yogurt? I don’t want to use any kind of yogurt. Please indicate the substitute and how much quantity of the substitute… thanks!
You can use more soy milk instead, however, you’ll get the best result with yogurt.
Easy to follow recipe and they turned out amazing! Definitely going on my regular rota of recipes.
Great! Thank you very much! 🙂