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I bet potica [potiza] is the most beloved dish in Slovenia. Even foreigners absolutely adore it! It’s made of leavened sweet dough and traditionally walnut filling.
Variations include poppyseed filling and tarragon potica. One thing is certain: vegan walnut potica is traditional Slovenian food that you NEED to try.
You’ve probably guessed already – potica is a dessert. The dough is rolled out, then the filling is spread all over it. Afterward, you roll it into a snake as if you were making cinnamon rolls. But you don’t cut it. You move the whole snake into a bundt cake baking tray or rectangular bread baking tray. Then you bake it whole so you get some kind of a loaf. After it’s cooled down, you cut that into pieces and serve it.
Fun fact: on Easter, it is eaten with ham on top of it as an Easter breakfast. People eat it instead of bread on Easter Sunday. I never really understood that combo; on the other hand, I never understood what’s so great about ham anyways.
Potica is usually served on bigger holidays like Christmas and Easter. I might not be Christian, but I love the traditional foods and making them vegan. There simply are some dishes that we only make on special occasions. What would they be if they weren’t connected to special days?
Traditional vs. vegan
Vegan potica doesn’t mean it’s any less delicious. In my opinion, it’s even a lot better than the classic one. The classic one includes eggs, butter, heavy cream, and milk. Mine excludes all of these ingredients which makes it a lighter meal and a lot easier to digest.
Instead, I use oat milk and coconut fat. I do not use anything to substitute eggs; it doesn’t seem necessary to me. I also don’t use heavy cream of any kind as I don’t really miss all that extra fat in my potica. The dough is still fluffy and soft and stays that way for a few days if stored correctly.
Vegan Walnut Potica – traditional Slovenian food that steals hearts
I have a friend who makes potica all the time just because her mother loves it so much. She’s made it so many times in the past year she doesn’t even feel like having some anymore.
Another friend of mine is from Slovakia where they don’t make potica. He came for Erasmus exchange to Slovenia and fell deeply in love with it. We met after his Erasmus when I was on Erasmus in the Czech Republic and he was the happiest when he realized I can and will make potica. He always asks me to make it when we meet.
All my omnivorous friends and my whole family loved my vegan version of potica. You could never tell the difference, trust me.
If you like what you see you will be happy to try my softest vegan cinnamon rolls (they really are the softest ever) or these homemade crescent rolls with chocolate (you can even try filling them with walnut filling from this recipe).
In case you make this recipe, make sure to tag me on Instagram @littlekitchenvibes and use #littlekitchenvibes

Vegan Walnut Potica - traditional Slovenian food
Ingredients
The dough
- 300 g flour
- pinch turmeric
- pinch salt
- 1 tsp dry active yeast
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 4 tbsp agave syrup
- 100 ml oat milk warm
- 50 g coconut oil melted
Walnut filling
- 300 g walnuts
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 50 g raisins
- 150 ml oat milk boiling
- 1 apple grated
- 5 tbsp agave syrup
Instructions
- Add all the dry ingredients to a big bowl. Whisk them so they are all distributed evenly.
- Warm-up the milk and melt coconut oil in it. Add agave syrup and mix.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix them all together. Start kneading and knead for 5-10 minutes so the dough becomes elastic and smooth. Cover the ball with a wet kitchen towel and let it rest until it doubles in size - about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, prepare the walnut filling. Ground the walnuts. Bring milk to a boil. Put raisins into the hot milk and let them sit for a few minutes. Add cinnamon and lemon zest to walnuts and whisk it all together. Grate the apple. Add the apple, milk with raisins, and agave syrup to walnuts and mix it well.
- When the dough has doubled in size, transfer it to a floured surface. Roll it out into a rectangle, about 5 mm thick. Spread the filling evenly around the whole surface. Using a knife even it out as much as possible.
- Start rolling the dough into a snake shape length-wise. Make sure you're putting an even pressure all the time, rolling the dough quite tightly, but still gently enough to keep the dough fluffy.
- Take your bundt cake or rectangular long baking tray and grease it. Then sprinkle it with flour. Take your snake and transfer it to the tray. Be careful not to tear it, it's quite heavy and very soft. If there's someone around, ask them if they can help.
- Bake at 180°C for 40 minutes covered with tin foil. After that, bake uncovered for 20 more minutes. Before you cut into it, let it sit for a bit to cool down at least a little. It's best when still a bit warm, but not at all hot.
Thanks for this recipe! I’m excited to try it. About how much is “5 jž agave syrup”? I’m having trouble converting into ml or cups/tsp. Thanks again!
Hi, Rachel! Thank you so much for using this recipe. There must’ve been a typo in there when I was translating the recipe to English. I fixed it now so all should be correct. I’m telling you right away too, that 5 “jž” is 5 table spoons or tbsp. 🙂 Have a great time creating this traditional recipe, hope you like it!