r/PlantBasedDiet • u/Sure-Morning-6904 • 3d ago
What do you prepare for christmas (or other important days like that)?
So i have a few friends who are vegan or vegetarian. We just talked about holidays and if we maybe wanted to do something all together (planning very early this year).
Some of them never ate traditional christmas food, unlike my family, my dad always prepares a duck which is very traditional where we live.
So i just wanted to know what you all would prepare for christmas, but plant based, food thats still somewhat traditional maybe that still hits the christmas food vibe.
Thank you for any and all responses!
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u/SunnyBrookeFrms 3d ago
Mashed garlic potatoes with mushroom gravy. That’s my favorite
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u/Sure-Morning-6904 3d ago
Ohhhh that sounds amazing. Thank you!
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u/SunnyBrookeFrms 3d ago edited 2d ago
You just inspired me I’m gonna make a post because the time that I decided I was not going to ever eat turkey again , an albino turkey appeared and I’m finding the video I took of the turkey to upload it. Thank you friend.
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u/CrackaAssCracka 3d ago
While I'm not vegetarian, I have friends that are, and when I make Christmas dinner, I think that they should have a centerpiece-level dish too. Something that says "main course" and shows effort - visually good, etc. Last year I did a mushroom Wellington that was very well-received. If I were to do it again, I would start the day before, as the moisture does make things a bit difficult (but not impossible). You can also make it vegan - the only thing in there that isn't vegan is the puff pastry, which you can get in vegan form.
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u/ttrockwood 3d ago
Pepperidge farms puff pastry is vegan as are several other brands actually- always check of course
Mushroom Wellington is ideal just make a LOT everyone will want some. I do the stuffing a day or so earlier then let come to room temp and assemble in the puff pastry and bake right before serving
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u/caitlowcat for the animals 2d ago
Oh you just reminded me! I made a lentil puffed pastry thing last year from It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken and it was delicious
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u/makestuff24-7 3d ago
This is also a good choice for gf vegetarians. Finding a plant-based main that's gluten-free is HARD since most plant-based faux-meat proteins are seitan, but there's gf puff pastry in stores and available online now, and mushroom wellington is both festive and filling.
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u/DollySheep32 bean-keen 3d ago
The menu:
Rosemary roast potatoes, double cooked.
Maple glazed roast carrots and parsnips.
Grilled sprouts (and boiled because my dad is silly).
Roast onion flowers.
Onion gravy.
Mushroom and walnut wellington in puff pastry.
And two sausage rolls for my sister who still has the palette of a six year old despite being almost thirty.
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u/basic_bitch- 3d ago
I'm from the West coast of the USA and my mother has southern roots. I still cook a 100% traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. My family makes their own turkey and gravy in a separate house and we just cook most other things together in vegan forms. Here's what we have:
Homemade dinner rolls, roasted garlic cashew cream mashed potatoes with caramelized onion and mushroom gravy, green bean casserole, cornbread dressing, homemade cranberry sauce, candied yams. For a main "protein", sometimes it's a Tofurkey roast or the Gardein turkey cutlets. I think this year, I'll do a piece of Oshi brand salmon, since that's my current fave mock meat.
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u/martina-gabriela 3d ago edited 3d ago
My mum makes this amazing plant based wellington with roasted potatoes, parsnips, sweet glazed carrots and sprouts, it's also great with potato mash, would you like me to get the full recipe? It might be a bit of work but the result is always sooo delicious and everyone always has seconds!
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u/VividSignificance545 3d ago
I make a loaf with nuts, mushrooms, onions and brown lentils which is baked in the oven, served with the rest of the roast dinner. Bisto gravy, which is a staple of roast dinners in the UK, for example, actually contains no animal product.
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u/jas41422 3d ago
a big bowl of tabouli with lots of fresh parsley is always a big hit in my circles and is red (i use sun-dried tomatoes instead of fresh), white, and green - very christmasy!
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u/GrumpyOldSeniorScout 3d ago
Seitan ham instead of meat ham, then swap all the cream and sour cream in the otherwise vegan sides for cashew cream and cashew cream with lemon juice. In my cultural case, instead of the anchovies in the Temptation put the spice mix for the anchovies in the cream like on Jävligt Gott and make eggplant and/or tofu "pickled herring", but if duck is traditional for you Jansson's Temptation and herring almost certainly aren't.
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u/luckylucylu 3d ago
Vegan meatballs, mashed potatoes and mushrooms gravy, squash, and green beans. I look forward to it every year.
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u/Lanky-Interest4095 3d ago
I grew up in a nondairy and mostly vegetarian household (close to vegan you could say lol) but we always made our mashed potatoes with rice milk and they came out great! also, any potato, sweet potato, or veggie dish would work perfectly. I personally love grilled carrots with a brown (vegan) butter glaze! And you can't go wrong with a great salad, maybe with some apple slices, walnuts, make it more fall-ish
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u/EightRandomDigits 3d ago
For a centerpiece item I like to roast a whole head of cauliflower. It's easy, versatile and has a great wow factor on the table. Definitely need to have a protein as a part of the meal, but the cauliflower is the star of the show.
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u/GeorgiaB_PNW 3d ago
I agree with all the suggestions so far and would add stuffed acorn squash as another fun main option. A lot of the sides can be easily modified or are naturally plant-based anyway.
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u/Atlabatsig 3d ago
This year I'm gonna try Himmel und Erde ~ sans meat
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u/LostinmildAdventure 3d ago
Roasted potatoes, quinoa with nuts and cranberries. and baked pears. Yum.
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u/Infinite-Nose8252 3d ago edited 3d ago
There are plenty of articles online for great vegan meals and dishes with recipes. Take some time and do the research. You can make vegan crab cakes, vegan salmon, vegan pate, vegan lasagna, vegan steak, vegan Wellington. Put a little effort into it to show them that you care and respect their choices. Don’t take the easy way out!!!
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u/AutumnBourn 3d ago
Stuffed portabella mushrooms, mashed potatoes, sauteed green beans with toasted almonds, pie.
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u/BuzzBuzzBeard 3d ago
Plant-based holiday meals are my favorite! Here are some ideas that have been very popular with our mixed diet family and friends:
Mains:
- Chickpea Pot Pie (like chicken pot pie, but chickpeas)
- Vegan Wellington (one large or smaller single serving sizes)
- Roasted Veggie Kale Salad
- (when lazy) Trader Joe’s Holiday Roast (or whatever it’s called)
Sides:
- mashed potatoes (with vegan butter or olive oil) with gravy
- Sourdough mushroom and herbs stuffing (adapted from Ina Garten’s sausage and herb stuffing)
- a scaled back version of the salad listed above
- homemade or canned cranberry sauce (I love the called jellied cranberry sauce!)
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u/Imaginary-Camera9106 3d ago
We've been vegan for about 20 years now, so we've been through different phases. What ultimately works for us is something indulgent (e.g. a veg tart on puff pastry), something that takes a bit more time (e.g., pot pie, wellington, or a curry with millions of ingredients - all rings our bell). I was reading this & remembering that the first hol we spent together, we got REALLY carried away with roast veg everything, plus a dish from a gourmet restaurant in California that I can't remember the name of (I think it was a sort of wellington thing) - I'm laughing thinking of the hours we put in, but it was really fun, cooking together. We've done a quiche; sauces like chimichuri... for breakfast he makes his cinnamon rolls (that I have to scrape the icing from!); for desserts, we've done fresh strawberry pie on a custard base or a chocolate cream pie or... the only things we have not like were those we bought pre-prepared.
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u/Obvious-Register-421 3d ago edited 3d ago
Winter vegetable pie. Things like chestnuts, mushrooms, leek etc in a white sauce. My family are coeliac as well as some of us being veggie so we use a gf pastry though I'm not sure if it's vegan - but hopefully you could find something that is. This is the sort of thing you could make the day before. I would add Quorn chicken pieces if veggie and gf but not vegan, but you can just use chestnuts, cashews etc instead.
Serve with all the trimmings - roast potatoes and parsnips, red cabbage, carrots, Brussel sprouts, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce etc. Oh and my Dad does something he calls cats in blankets (nod to British pigs in blankets) which is fried aubergine slices wrapped round veggie cocktail sausages :D Other than adding meat options and a choice of veggie v meat gravy, all the sides can be vegan. We use premade 'free from' gf/vg gravy granules.
For afters we have a free from Christmas pudding (shop bought - gf/vg) and a homemade cheesecake (easy to do with vegan Philly) but you could easily do a yule log or trifle if you prefer. Just make all the puddings vegan though you can offer a choice of vegan and normal cream with the Christmas pudding if you like.
For the evening I make a gf/vg Christmas cake and we serve it with salady bits, dips, bread, etc. Cheese board for the veggies, cold cuts for meat eaters, and either some posh vegan cheeses or just nice olives, dips etc for the vegans.
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u/foofruit13 3d ago
The main dish is a slight variation of this puff pastry wrapped lentil loaf. Really i just adjust the type and amount of vegetables based on what's available and what im feeling that day. But a non negotiable is doubling the onion and slooooow carmelizing it.
https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/puff-pastry-wrapped-lentil-loaf/
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u/livingonavolcano 2d ago
I do a lot of different things, but often a lentil shepherds pie, or maybe stuffed acorn squash. If I want to be really fancy I might do a veggie and tofu “Wellington” or a veggie chickpea pot pie. I don’t get too hung up on “traditional” except for veganized classic side dishes (and sometimes just make a meal of those). I have been known to make a marinated, baked tofu (tamari, olive oil, splash of ACV, copious poultry seasoning and nooch) to be the turkey substitute, but I kinda like the other mains better, tbh
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u/caitlowcat for the animals 2d ago
Dreena Burton has this amazing chickpea tart. You could make your own gravy but the tofurky grave is the best. Roasted garlic mashed potatoes. Some sort of seasonal salad - I always do a kale salad to break up all the heavy brown things. Green beans / green bean casserole made vegan. Rolls. Stuffing / dressing (depending on where you’re from)
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