These Thanksgiving Dishes Are Sure to Delight Your Vegan Guests
Thanksgiving has a reputation for endless pickling techniques, divisive side dishes, and contentious relatives. It’s no surprise that hosting can be stressful. If you don’t have the “Right Stuffing” , that is. This series is all about the Thanksgiving meal, and will help you create dishes that will show up on your table year after year, even if it doesn’t help you cope with the in-laws.
The traditional Thanksgiving menu isn’t exactly vegan (or even vegetarian) friendly. Almost every dish contains cream, butter, eggs or turkey broth, all centered around a large dead bird.
This can make vegetarians, vegans and people with lactose intolerance feel less grateful, which is not a mood you want to cultivate among your guests. In my experience, most vegans are more than willing to bring a few dishes that fit their diet, but you can make your meat- and dairy-free friends feel welcome and loved with just a few tricks and extra dishes.
In previous years, I’ve relied heavily on the following recipes and hacks. My sister is allergic to milk proteins, my boyfriend is lactose intolerant, and two of my very good friends are vegans and vegetarians. I’m not worried though. I got it, and so do you.
Satisfactorily “meaty” Wellington mushroom
Perhaps Sir Biff would have a problem with this, but I say poppy! Mushrooms are excellent: hearty, rich in texture, plentiful, affordable, and extremely juicy when cooked. Let’s wrap these suckers in a blanket of vegan puff pastry. Surprisingly, vegan puff pastry is much more common than you might think. The butter option is more expensive, and you can bet that most commercial puffs are actually made with butter or shortening, unless it explicitly says butter. Pepperidge Farm has a frozen boxed version that contains no animal products, as does Jus-Rol . When you check your local grocery store’s freezer for puff pastry, look through the ingredients to find out. Try this recipe from Kitchn and don’t worry about the egg in the ingredient list – it’s just there to rinse the top of the dough and you’ll be fine without it.
A creamy green bean casserole that tastes better than anything you’ll make from condensed soup.
This mushroom-rich casserole has deep, well-developed flavors and is low in liquid. It’s creamy, savory, and loaded with onions (onions, shallots, and garlic!). Making the soup base requires a little more work than opening a can, but you can make it up to a week ahead and then store it in the refrigerator for easy Thanksgiving assembly.
Stuffed mushrooms with umami
Speaking of mushrooms, they also make a satisfying side dish filled with umami and possibility. Stuffed mushrooms can be made using ready-made white buttons or baby cremini porridge, or you can make separate main courses using large portobello mushrooms. Simply remove the stem (save it) and you have the perfect container for any combination of chopped greens, nuts, vegan cream cheese , breadcrumbs, or beans. Be sure to chop these stems as part of the mixture. Place the empty mushrooms on a foil-lined, greased baking sheet and fill them with the mixture of your choice. Depending on their size, bake them for 20 to 40 minutes in a 350°F oven.
Beautifully salted cauliflower
Brine isn’t just for birds! Soaking a whole head of cauliflower in salty, sweet water before roasting imparts flavor to the entire vegetable, turning the cauliflower into a waviflower. I use a 10% salt brine as Matty Matheson recommends, but be careful: you need to make sure the brine is completely cool before pouring it over the cauliflower, and be sure to use sea salt for the brine – I brined the cauliflower. with iodized salt a while ago and it was too salty. (And that’s saying something, because I’m obsessed with salt.)
Amazing Hasselback Pumpkin Exhibit
Vegetarians and vegans often lose out when it comes to presentation, so give them something pretty and make it delicious. This fanned dish of tender pumpkin is not only beautiful, but it’s glazed with miso, brown sugar and fresh hot chili.
Creamy soup that everyone will love
Did you know you can make cozy, comforting, creamy vegetable soups without cream (or dairy, for that matter)? All you need is (lots of) fat (like at least half a cup of olive oil), vegetables, and your favorite vegetable or chickpea broth . Fry the vegetables in the fat, then blend them with the broth in a high-powered blender and season to taste. It’s so easy, you almost won’t need a recipe, but of course I have one .
Delicious non-dairy eggplant parm
Eggplant parm sounds like a vegan staple, but what about cheese? Luckily for us, modern food science has reached incredible levels, especially when it comes to vegan cheeses. Take a look in the non-dairy section of your grocery store, and chances are you’ll find at least two vegan mozzarellas there. Once you’ve chosen plant-based cheeses, make this bright and tangy, super-easy vegan marinara to top juicy eggplant slices. Top with melted non-dairy cheese and bake according to recipe directions.
Mighty Garskhashroom
I originally developed this delicious stuffed kabocha dish four years ago—how long? — as a sort of vegetarian answer to the turducken. This thing is filled with carrots, mushrooms, shallots and herbs, but what makes it special is a whole head of roasted garlic.
Tender roast with incredibly crispy skin
Yes, there are plenty of frozen vegan roasts out there, but very few of them include mock orange duck and mock orange goose, the latter of which is designed to crisp up the skin and give your roast a crispy skin. Make this if you’re serving to a meat-avoiding crowd, and be sure to prepare the stuffing and gravy. What’s Thanksgiving without stuffing and gravy?
Beautiful pot of Lima beans
Don’t get too hung up on it: a pot of warm, flavorful and comforting lima beans will be welcomed by everyone (especially if you have any Southern vegans). The Limans make their own sauce and rarely need more than salt and pepper, but you can make your sauce extra special by topping it with a bouquet of seasonal herbs and a whole head of garlic.
Stunning view of Brussels
Leaving the Brussels on its stem makes a stunning, completely vegan centerpiece . I mean, just look at this. By making small cuts in the sprouts, make sure the maple glaze penetrates deep into the vegetable and the glaze will be good . When it’s time to serve the sprouts, cut them off with a sharp knife or hold the stem perpendicular to the table and cut churrascaria style. It requires a little more effort than serving the already freed sprouts from a serving bowl, but not nearly as much as carving a turkey.
Super garlic puree
I don’t have a “correct” recipe for vegan puree, but you don’t need one. With all the latest advances in vegan technology, you have too many options. You can add richness and body with coconut cream, buttery flavor with vegan Miyoko butter , and emulsify everything with vegan mayonnaise (I like Simply Mayonnaise).
But the real trick is not in the substitutes, but in the addition: Roast two or three heads of garlic until they darken and stick, then mash and fold the sweet and tender cloves of garlic into the potatoes. Sprinkle the whole thing with vegan parm and place under the broiler for a few minutes to create a crispy, savory crust.
Galam Bpli Pad Nam Pbla
Who said Thanksgiving can’t be an international event? One of the simplest yet flavorful Thai dishes I like to whip up is galam bli pad nam pbla , or large strips of cabbage fried with lots of garlic, butter and fish sauce. Substituting fish sauce is easy. For a delicious vegan dish, swap out a small amount of fish sauce for a vegan option like tamari, soy sauce, or this vegan fish sauce . This is an affordable dish that fortunately has few ingredients and takes minutes to prepare and plate.