Alton Brown's Chocolate Pie Is Going Viral for Using a Surprising Protein-Packed Ingredient

There's a TikTok creator who has been taste-testing vegan dessert recipes by some of our favorite celebrity cooks.

The vegan chef—fittingly known as That Vegan Chef on the platform—is testing a bunch of easy plant-based recipes that can be loved by all. While he has a series trying out savory dishes by TV stars like Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri, he also has a subseries where he's whipping up dessert recipes from Martha Stewart, Nigella Lawson and more.

Who currently ranks at the top of the celebs for the best dessert tasted by the social media star? It's none other than Alton Brown, and it's for good reason. The cookbook author and Iron Chef host's Moo-Less Chocolate Pie received a near-perfect rating. Here's what is so great about his surprisingly vegan recipe—and it stars a shocking ingredient.

First, the chocolate wafer crust for the pie has only three ingredients: 6.5 ounces of chocolate wafer cookies, 1 tablespoon of sugar and 3 ounces of unsalted butter. Vegan options for these ingredients can be easily subbed in, and a store-bought crust will work just fine if you don't have any dietary restrictions. The pie filling itself has just five ingredients, making this recipe notably simple to make. With 13 ounces of vegan semisweet chocolate chips, ⅓ cup of coffee liqueur, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of honey (That Vegan Chef switches out the honey for agave syrup to make it vegan), this recipe doesn't feel like anything peculiar until the final ingredient is revealed: 1 pound of silken tofu.

You're not the only one surprised by there being a whole pound of tofu in this, but according to That Vegan Chef, it works!

"[It's] absurdly light and creamy, a perfect balance of sweet and bitterness, and it literally dissolves as soon as it hits your tongue," the TikTok creator said.

Tofu is a nutritious ingredient with a subtle flavor that's packed with plant-based protein. So with 8 grams of protein per slice, Brown's pie is a satisfying dessert choice.

And the tofu is definitely the cause of the incredibly creamy texture in this pie. That's why we love our own highly rated Chocolate Raspberry Tofu Pie so much. It's smooth, fruity and, according to the five-star reviews, it's "simply delicious" and you "definitely cannot tell this is made with tofu." Try it for yourself and thank us later!

Up next: Why You Should Start Freezing Tofu (Plus How to Do It)