Delicious Vegan Thanksgiving Ideas & Recipes

Thanksgiving can be a challenging holiday when you’re vegan, especially when most traditional Thanksgiving foods are non-vegan. And if you’re catering for vegan or vegetarian dinner guests at Thanksgiving, you’ll need to know what dairy and meat alternatives you can offer your guests.

Even though the traditional turkey and gravy will be off-limits, the “meal of the year” can still be enjoyed by both carnivorous and vegan guests alike.

Vegan Thanksgiving dinner ideas

For a delicious plant-based Thanksgiving dinner that all your guests will enjoy, get inspired with these vegan Thanksgiving dinner ideas:

1. Black bean stuffed sweet potatoes with cashew cream

• Take a few large baked sweet potatoes, cut open and shred the flesh, so the inside is mashed
• Add sautéed red onion, garlic powder, cumin, chili, and black beans on top of sweet potatoes 
• To finish, drizzle over cashew cream sauce, lime juice, and top with cilantro

2. “Cheesy” potato broccoli casserole

• Prepare broccoli and potatoes as normal
• Create a “cheese” sauce by combining cashew milk, olive oil, Dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, and spices and blending until smooth and creamy.
• Combine cooked rice, broccoli, and the vegan cheese sauce, top with the panko breadcrumbs, and bake until crispy and golden.

3. Meat-free lentil loaf

• Saute onion, garlic, mushrooms, celery, carrots, and pepper
• Combine prepared brown lentils, quick oats, wholewheat breadcrumbs, quick oats, flaxseed meal, tomato paste, and barbeque sauce in a food processor. 
• Then add the sauteed vegetables and pulse until the texture is thick and chunky. Bake until cooked, stopping to spread barbeque sauce over the top, and bake for the last 10 minutes uncovered.

4. Maple roasted carrots

• Drizzle halved carrots with olive oil and coriander seeds, then roast until golden.
• Toss hot carrots in maple syrup, then lemon juice, and sprinkle with cilantro.

5. Mushroom & rosemary gravy

• Sauté some onion, stir in cremini mushrooms, thyme, rosemary, and sage, and cook until soft.
• Add flour, vegetable stock, and whisk to combine. Simmer until gravy has thickened and flavors have blended.

6. Vegan thanksgiving stuffing

• Combine cooked rice with 2-day-old wholewheat bread broken into large crumbs
• Add sage, poultry seasoning, celery, and salt. Mix well and let this mixture sit overnight
• On the day of dinner, add toasted pine nuts, green onions, and mushrooms, mix in vegetable stock, and bake until golden for a couple of hours.

7. Vegan grazing platter 

Create a colorful and tasty vegan grazing platter for the table so that your guests can stand and socialize whilst nibbling. Keep it vibrant and exciting by including different flavor and texture combinations. Use a combination of any of the following vegan foods for your platter:

• Artichoke hearts
• Olives
• Vegan Pate or Dip
• Flavored tofu
• Hummus
• Vegan cheese selection
• Breadsticks
• Pistachios or almonds
• Carrots
• Red grapes
• Red, green, or yellow peppers
• Roma tomatoes
• Roasted butternut squash
• Baguette
• Olive tapenade
• Olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar

Grab it now on Instacart:

Core And Rind Cashew Cheesy Sauce - Sharp & Tangy (11 oz)

Melissa's Steamed Lentils - Pre-Cooked (9 oz)

Fresh Carrots (lb)

McCormick® Poultry Seasoning (0.7 oz)

Elianni Pate, Vegan, Organic, Vegetable (4.4 oz)

Pillsbury Dough Sheet, Original, Crescent (8 oz)

Lightlife Tempeh, Smoky Bacon, Plant-Based Superfood (6 oz)

Sliced Almonds, Bulk (1 lb)

Libby's Pumpkin Pure Pumpkin (15 oz)

Ben's Sugar Shack Pure Maple Syrup (12 fl oz)

Organic White Quinoa (16 oz)

Reddi-wip Non Dairy Vegan Whipped Topping Made with Coconut Milk (6 oz)

HumYum Vegan Caramel Sauce (8.5 oz)

8. Vegan pigs in a blanket

• Cut crescent roll dough into triangles and spread the longest side with spread jelly or fruit relish.
• Add a half snack vegan sausage on top and wrap the dough around each one.
• Brush with glaze, bake until golden brown, and serve with your favorite dip—spicy honey mustard is perfect.

9. Vegan mashed potatoes

• Simmer vegan butter and garlic, then add soy milk and chopped parsley.
• Drizzle over the mashed potatoes and stir to combine.

10. Tofurky Roast

• Mix a baste of olive oil, soy sauce, maple syrup, crushed garlic, and herbs, and use half the baste on the Tofurky roast.
• Cover with foil and cook until golden brown. Pour the remaining baste on the Tofurky for the last 10 minutes of cooking time.

11. Vegetable and couscous stuffed squash or zucchini

• Bake the squash or zucchini and brush with a glaze of maple, soy sauce, and vinegar.
• Scoop out flesh from each squash half and mix with couscous and chopped Tempah bacon, mushroom, leeks, and carrots. Top with pecans and thyme.

12. Nut butter Brussel sprouts

• Cook pecans in butter until fragrant and add cooked Brussel sprouts and brown on each side.
• Combine brown sugar, lemon juice, and salt, toss the sprouts to mix.
• Serve sprouts in glaze topped with toasted pecans.

13. Broccolini with toasted almonds

• Steam broccolini until tender and toss gently in lemon juice.
• Cook minced garlic and sliced almonds in vegan butter until golden.
• Serve the almond-garlic butter sauce spooned over the broccolini.

14. Vegan pumpkin spice muffins

• Using a box of spice cake mix, add into a bowl together with a can of pumpkin purée and mix.
• Bake until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, add your own frosting and sprinkle with cinnamon.

15. Pumpkin fudge brownies

• Add chickpeas, pumpkin purée, maple syrup, cocoa powder, oat flour, pumpkin pie spice, and baking powder to a food processor. Process until smooth. 
• Scrape the batter into a baking dish and bake until the top is set.
• Sprinkle chocolate chips over the brownies and bake for another 3 minutes until the chocolate chips are soft. Then spread the chocolate chips into an even layer. 
• Let the brownies completely cool before serving.

16. Vegan pumpkin donuts

• Mix the oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.
• Separately whisk together the cornstarch and water. 
• Whisk the pumpkin purée, coconut sugar, milk, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar, and cornstarch mixture.
• Combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.
• Using a piping bag or a spoon, fill the donut baking tray and bake for 10 minutes or until set.

For the vanilla icing

• Mix the powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla.
• Whisk milk—1tbsp at a time—until smooth.
• Dip the top of each donut into the icing and let cool.

Other vegan Thanksgiving ideas

If you’re set to have dinner late in the day, have a hearty—and maybe slightly indulgent— vegan breakfast. Try some of these vegan Thanksgiving breakfast ideas to start the day:

17. Vegan pumpkin pie overnight oats

• Mix oats, almond milk, chia seed, vanilla extract, spices, and maple syrup until combined.
• Divide into small jars, refrigerate until oats have thickened into a pudding consistency.
• Top with pumpkin purée and pecans.

18. Quinoa apple cinnamon oatmeal

• Boil, then simmer the quinoa together with diced apples until you have a porridge-like consistency.
• Stir in cinnamon and drizzle with honey to serve.

19. Vegan pumpkin spice waffles

• Whisk canned pumpkin puree with coconut oil, soy milk, and sugar until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt on top of the wet ingredients.
• Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ones until just combined and thick, then pour batter into your waffle iron.
• Top with coconut whipped cream and maple syrup.

20. Caramel apple smoothie bowl

• Blend dates with coconut oil, coconut milk, and maple syrup to make a vegan caramel sauce.
• Blend some frozen bananas, coconut milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, and the date caramel sauce until it blends thick.
• Top with sliced apples, cinnamon, and granola.

16 Vegan Thanksgiving Ideas & Recipes

Recipe by InstacartCourse: HolidaysCuisine: VeganDifficulty: Medium

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

1

hour 

Total time

1

hour 

30

minutes

Ingredients

• Black bean stuffed sweet potatoes with cashew cream

• A few large baked sweet potatoes

• Sautéed red onion

• Garlic powder

• Cumin

• Chili

• Black beans

• Cashew cream sauce

• Lime juice

• Cilantro

• “Cheesy” potato broccoli casserole

• Broccoli

• Potatoes

• Cashew milk

• Olive oil

• Dijon mustard

• Nutritional yeast

• Spices

• Panko breadcrumbs

• Meat-free lentil loaf

• Onion

• Garlic

• Mushrooms

• Celery

• Carrots

• Pepper

• Brown lentils

• Quick oats

• Wholewheat breadcrumbs

• Flaxseed meal

• Tomato paste

• Vegan Barbeque sauce

• Maple roasted carrots

• Halved carrots

• Olive oil

• Coriander seeds

• Maple syrup

• Lemon juice

• Cilantro

• Mushroom & rosemary gravy

• Onion

• Cremini mushrooms

• Thyme

• Rosemary

• Sage

• Flour

• Vegetable stock

• Vegan thanksgiving stuffing

• Cooked rice

• Wholewheat bread broken into large crumbs

• Sage

• Seasoning

• Celery

• Salt

• Toasted pine nuts

• Green onions

• Mushrooms

• Vegetable stock

• Vegan grazing platter

• Artichoke hearts

• Olives

• Vegan Pate or Dip

• Flavored tofu

• Hummus

• Vegan cheese selection

• Breadsticks

• Pistachios or almonds

• Carrots

• Red grapes

• Red, green, or yellow peppers

• Roma tomatoes

• Roasted butternut squash

• Baguette

• Olive tapenade

• Olive oil

• Balsamic vinegar

• Vegan pigs in a blanket

• Vegan crescent roll dough

• Jelly or fruit relish

• Vegan sausage

• Dip

• Vegan mashed potatoes

• Potatoes

• Vegan butter

• Garlic

• Soy milk

• Chopped parsley

• Tofurky Roast

• Whole Tofurky

• Olive oil

• Soy sauce

• Maple syrup

• Crushed garlic

• Herbs

• Vegetable and couscous stuffed squash

• Squash

• Maple

• Soy sauce

• Vinegar

• Couscous

• Tempah bacon

• Mushroom

• Leeks

• Carrots

• Pecans

• Thyme

• Nut butter Brussel sprouts

• Pecans

• Vegan butter

• Brussel sprouts

• Brown sugar

• Lemon juice

• Salt

• Sprouts

• Broccolini with toasted almonds

• Broccolini

• Lemon juice

• Garlic

• Sliced almonds

• Vegan butter

• Vegan pumpkin spice muffins

• Vegan spice cake mix

• Pumpkin purée

• Cinnamon

• Pumpkin fudge brownies

• Chickpeas

• Pumpkin purée

• Maple syrup

• Cocoa powder

• Oat flour

• Pumpkin pie spice

• Baking powder

• Vegan chocolate chips

• Vegan pumpkin donuts

• Oat flour

• Baking powder

• Baking soda

• Pumpkin pie spice

• Salt

• Cornstarch

• Water

• Pumpkin purée

• Coconut sugar

• Plant-based milk

• Vanilla extract

• Apple cider vinegar

• Cornstarch mixture

Directions

• Pick your favorite recipe from those listed above.
• Order your ingredients ahead of time through Instacart.
• Enjoy cooking!

Notes

• Download the Instacart app for specific Thanksgiving recipes and shoppable grocery lists.

A happy vegan Thanksgiving

Being with family and friends is important at Thanksgiving, and having quality, fresh food to cater to everyone’s tastes is just as important. Whether your guests are vegetarian, vegan, or meat lovers, you need a Thanksgiving feast to please everyone.

Get all your vegan Thanksgiving food delivered to you when you order groceries through Instacart, and make your Thanksgiving preparations easy by getting same-day, contactless delivery! Or alternatively, consider getting restaurant delivery for last-minute Thanksgiving vegan meals.

Instacart

Author

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