Meatless Thanksgiving Main Meals You’ll Want to Eat
Thanksgiving is about bringing people together, but for vegetarians and vegans, holiday dinners can focus on meat before alienation. No one – not even your worst cousin – should be poking at leftover crudités, cranberry sauce and possibly toppings, while everyone else can eat whatever they want.
Many chefs choose meat by default when they want a terrific main course because, with the exception of turkey, it’s pretty easy to make meat taste good. However, as you’ll see, vegetarian meals don’t have to be a block of plain French onion tofu or whatever you think of when someone says “vegetarian Thanksgiving.” Whether you’re a lifelong vegan or an omnivore tasked with feeding some non-meat eaters this year, I hope you find something on this list to inspire you.
Vegetable-based turkey roast
Get ready to accept my hottest Thanksgiving response: tofurka-style rules. It has a perfectly juicy artificial meat texture – not very soft and not very rubbery – and tastes like a salty filling. Honestly, I would opt for this dry, gooey turkey breast every time.
Wheat and soy-based meats have come a long way in recent years; Like it or not, vegans have never been spoiled for choice. (If you don’t like that, think, Randall, why happy vegans make you so upset.) But as I learned from the many vegan meat reviews I read for this article, all vegan turkeys are not created equal, so don’t just grab onto the first thing you see and drop things. Brands with reliable year-round offerings such as Quorn and Field Roast are generally safe choices for seasonal options; Vegetarian Plus cooks roasts in the shape of a whole turkey, unsurprisingly, very polarizing. If you can find it, then the holy grail brand appears to beGardein, which is also the brand ofchoice for Whole Foods vegan deli and, according to some vegan turkey conspiracy theorists, the manufacturer of the hugely popular house Trader Joe. – signature roast turkey . But honestly, if you’re picking a vegan roast for a specific portion of your Thanksgiving crowd, email them ahead of time and ask if they have any brand preferences.
Large cheese casserole
Cheese casseroles are an easy option for vegetarian dishes, but sometimes you don’t have to choose between right and easy. Macaroni and cheese have already become a Thanksgiving staple for some people, and I think you could do a lot worse than a giant tray of cheese-soaked pasta as a vegetarian proposition. My favorite recipe comes from Angela “Kitinista” Davis , who should be your first stop for anything comfort food (if she hasn’t already).
If you feel like macaroni and cheese are jaded, I don’t quite get it, but I’m still here to help. Traditional Thanksgiving food isn’t, but eggplant Parmesan is my favorite food on this dumb floating trash rock, and this ingenious recipe from Food52 is by far the best version I’ve ever made. The dumplings casserole Claire made last month would be equally delicious with mushrooms, caramelized onions, or even sauerkraut replaced with bacon; vegetable moussaka would also be a great choice for forward potatoes.
Wellington vegetables
As I mentioned in the informal version of this post , Wellington is just a pie in a hat for a first course, and if any holiday calls for such a dish, then it’s Thanksgiving. If you prefer the traditional vegetarian Wellington, this Melissa Clarke recipe will really do the trick. But tradition can be terribly boring; why not wrap a large batch of samosa filling in puff pastry and serve it as a main course ? I would be very happy to eat a piece or two of wellington samosas with mashed potatoes and filling; Cranberry sauce beautifully sets off the spices, don’t you think?
Spanakopita
My mom raised me primarily as a vegetarian, and her special occasion dish was Spanakopita – specifically, Molly Katzen’s version of the Moosewood Cookbook . It’s tasty, mostly healthy, and can be prepared well before dinner; In other words, everything a working co-parent needs from a chic meal. Spanakopita makes a great vegetarian Thanksgiving dish for the same reasons, but don’t feel obligated to the classic spinach and feta filling unless it’s your only true love. Stewed leeks and fennel, herb- baked zucchini, mushroom duxelles, or even a green bean fixin – maybe grilled? – it will make a delicious filling for a festive phyllo pie. If you’ve never worked with phyllo before, that’s not a bad thing at all – as long as you buy it frozen and don’t make your own like some up-and-coming serial killer. Just be patient and use lots of butter (or “butter”; most phyllos are vegan!) Between each layer. Have you received it.
Cookies and (Vegetarian) Sauce
I know we’re getting into radical territory here, but I really think I figured out a thing or two with that. My logic is this:
- Cookies are better than Parker House buns in every way and should therefore be the standard side of Thanksgiving bread;
- A Thanksgiving menu with two or more gravies is inherently better than a one-gravy menu;
- Everyone, no matter how much meat, loves cookies and gravy.
For vegetarians, cookies and gravy require the least effort I’ve suggested so far: just make cookies instead of crowd-pleaser rolls, plus some mushroom or vegetable sausage gravy. Very simple. Veggie cookies and gravy are more effective, but not much. Whichever you choose, I suggest adding some sweet potato puree to the cookies to make them a little sweeter and more festive.
Almost any recipe by Amanda Cohen or Yotam Ottolengi
Sometimes the best way to come up with the perfect dish is to copy a professional. Amanda Cohen is a chef at Dirt Candy, a tasting “vegetable restaurant” in New York , and she believes in whole vegetables as much as boring bros believe in nose-to-tail food. Mr. Ottolenghi is also a chef , but I know him from his great vegetarian- oriented cookbooks, which combine ingredients in a way that I haven’t even dreamed of in a thousand years. This dish was inspired by the recent Guardian publication of Otolenghi recipes for preparing winter vegetables as stand-alone meals , but you should also get a copy of the Dirt Candy cookbook – Amanda Cohen’s recipes are great.
I followed the Ottolenghi cauliflower cheese recipe from the Guardian article with a few minor tweaks – halved, replacing feta instead of Stilton because that’s what I had – and it was fantastic. However, when I do it again, I will either cook the whole sous vide cauliflower or cut it into large wedges and continue the recipe as written. A whole head of toasty, draped béchamel, strewn with cheese cauliflower makes for a beautiful presentation, but mine didn’t quite cook at the suggested times and I found myself craving more surface area for the béchamel to hold on to. Nevertheless, this is a great recipe that cheese lovers will fight among themselves for the right to clean the dishes – but even if he did not quite call your name, I guarantee that something is more , that they have created will. In fact, I could just use the spare cauliflower head I bought to make smoked cauliflower and Dirt Candy waffles for the post-Thanksgiving brunch.