Vegan & Vegetarian Thanksgiving options

On Thanksgiving, turkey, ham, duck, and other meats tend to be the main dish of the meal. For someone who is vegetarian or vegan, this can be a problem. Someone who is vegetarian or vegan might be stuck with eating just the side dishes, and even many of those may not align with their dietary needs or preferences. Although many typical Thanksgiving foods are made of meat or other animal products, there are many other foods that aren’t made of animal products that are often eaten on Thanksgiving.

Tofu Turkey

Tofu turkey is most likely the dish that comes to mind when you think of vegan Thanksgiving foods. According to a recipe by Caitlin Shoemaker on From My Bowl, tofu turkey is made with extra-firm tofu, tamari, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, neutral oil, garlic, poultry seasoning, vegan bouillon, chickpea flour, and stuffing. The tofu is blended with the tamari, garlic, tomato paste, oil, poultry seasoning, bouillon, and chickpea flour. The chickpea flour binds everything together, eliminating the need for eggs. This mixture is put into a pan and the stuffing is placed inside of it. More of the mixture is placed on top of the stuffing. After the stuffing is fully covered in the  mixture, the tofu turkey is baked and then basted in balsamic vinegar. The tamari, garlic, tomato paste, oil, poultry seasoning, and vegan bouillon give the tofu a turkey-like flavor, which makes tofu turkey a great substitute for actual turkey.  

Mushroom Gravy

Something that you can find on many Thanksgiving dishes is gravy. Gravy is usually made with the juices or flavorings of different meats, like beef or chicken. Instead of using animal products to make gravy, you can use other ingredients as substitutes.

A recipe by Jeanine Donofrio from Love and Lemons uses mushrooms, shallots, garlic, tamari or soy sauce, rosemary, thyme, all-purpose flour, vegetable stock, extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt, and black pepper. The flour is used to thicken the gravy and the olive oil is used to add richness. 

The umami flavor of the mushrooms substitutes for the flavor of meat in regular gravy recipes. This makes mushroom gravy great for someone who is vegan but has family members or friends who like the taste of regular gravy. 

You can also make this recipe gluten free. To do this, you can use tamari instead of soy sauce and replace the flour with a little bit of cornstarch. 

Vegan Garlic Knots

Most Thanksgiving dinners include some sort of roll or biscuit. One of the most popular options (other than traditional dinner rolls) is garlic knots. Garlic knots are rolls that are knot-shaped and topped with butter and garlic. 

According to another recipe by Jeanine Donofrio on From My Bowl, you can easily make adjustments to garlic knots to make them vegan. This recipe uses all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour, active dry yeast or instant yeast, sugar or maple syrup, warm water, extra-virgin olive oil, and salt. 

To top the garlic knots, you can add grated garlic and olive oil. You can also add herbs or red pepper flakes for more flavor.

This dish is one that can appeal to anyone, whether they are vegan or not.

Vegetable Pot Pie (contains dairy)

Pot pies are usually filled with meat, but you can also make pot pies that are filled with different vegetables. A recipe by Heidi Swanson from 101 Cookbooks calls for vegetables like potatoes, carrots, an onion, celery, garlic, and peas. Vegetable pot pies are very customizable, so you can experiment with different vegetables and flavors for the filling until you find a combination that you enjoy. Also included in the filling are mushrooms, thyme, chives, and lemon zest. 

A veg forward Thanksgiving

The vegetables are cooked with salt and olive oil. Vegetable broth, all-purpose flour, and heavy cream (coconut milk can be used as a substitute) are combined with the other ingredients to create a thick mixture.

For the pie crust, you can make your own or buy it from the store. Before baking the pie, you can brush butter and sprinkle lemon zest on your pie dish. 

This dish is very versatile overall, as you can use different combinations of vegetables and flavors and either buy a pie crust from a store or make it yourself.