Ultimate Vegan Christmas Dinner Recipes

Thanksgiving and Christmas are those special holidays when we really want the food to be not only delicious but also beautiful. Whether cooking for the immediate family or for social gatherings, the pressure to impress is real, especially when you’re plant-based.

That is why I want to share this list of Ultimate Vegan Christmas Dinner Recipes to make the holidays a bit merrier.

Before the Thanksgiving holiday a few years ago, I was putting my menu together and wanted to really come up with a beautiful food display. We had no less than three family gatherings to attend and, though my husband and I aren’t the only plant-based eaters, we are definitely the minority.

Sometimes when people know you’re vegan, they expect that the dishes you’ll contribute to the social or family gathering are likely going to be a salad and fruit tray. As a plant-based nutrition educator with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, I love to break that myth all to pieces.

Vegan Christmas Dinner Recipes

The following is the amazing Thanksgiving dinner I made that year, and the food was a show-stopper at functions I attended.

So, if you are looking for the very best vegan Christmas dinner recipes, look no further! I’m going to show you what I made and even include a list of other options after each entree.

Main Dishes I Prepared 

• Mushroom Seitan Roast with potatoes, carrots, onions
• 10-Minute Brown Gravy
• Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Broccoli Salad
• Chocolate Sweet Potato Cake with Frosting

Dinner Centerpiece

The ‘centerpiece’ is where so many of us feel stuck for the holidays. We’ve been so accustomed to having a big turkey or ham in the middle of the table, it seems like something is missing if a very large object isn’t occupying that middle space.

Normally, I don’t feel this way at all. If the table is full of food, who cares what’s in the center? However, if you just really want to make a big impression, this Mushroom Seitan Roast from Susan at Fat-Free Vegan will fill that center spot in a large and impressive way.

When I first saw it on Susan’s page, I thought it was such a beautiful display but worried that the recipe would be very detailed and require a ton of ingredients. I am happy to say that I was very wrong because it’s not a difficult recipe at all.

How to make mushroom seitan roast

You simply have to mix the dry ingredients like vital wheat gluten and oats, and spices in a large bowl and add diced mushrooms.

Vital wheat gluten is similar to normal wheat flour but is made by hydrating the wheat flour to activate the gluten (the main protein in wheat), and then processing it to remove everything but the gluten.

In a blender combine soy sauce, garlic, and spices and blend until smooth.

Next comes the fun part, in my opinion. It’s combining the dry ingredients, mushrooms, and blender mixture in a very large bowl to knead together into a ball like this.

Then shape it into a loaf, and wrap it in parchment paper, followed by foil. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, turn it over to bake another 25 minutes, and it’s done. Click photos to see the full recipe on FatFreeVegan.

One thing I did that Susan didn’t have in her recipe was that I added diced potatoes, onions, and baby carrots to the dish. To do this, I steamed the vegetables in a steaming basket on my stove.

I couldn’t figure out a feasible way to cook the veggies with the roast, but that’s okay because they were just as delicious once covered with the brown gravy over this loaf. So savory!

UPDATE: Recently (2020), I came up with my own Perfect Vegan Roast with roasted veggies that turned out fabulous.

10-Minute Vegan Brown Gravy

I decided to use brown gravy with this vegan dinner roast and vegetables, rather than the lighter-colored gravy recipe Susan used with hers.

This is such a simple gravy recipe to make and it’s amazing served over mashed potatoes, pasta, biscuits, and on everything else you can think of.

It tastes like the stuff I grew up eating on mashed potatoes as a kid, but it happens to be vegan and has zero artery-clogging saturated animal fat.

Ingredients in easy vegan gravy

• vegetable stock
• soy sauce
• vegan Worcestershire sauce
• cornstarch or another thickener
• maple syrup
• spices

Preparing this gravy is one of the easiest things you’ll ever do. The whole thing is finished in under 10-minutes. The full recipe for 10-Minute Vegan Brown Gravy.

• Mix all the ingredients, except the thickener and water, in a saucepan and allow to simmer for about 5-minutes.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the thickener and water.
• After the 5-minutes of simmering, simply whisk the thickener into the pot with the other ingredients to desired thickness, and you’re done.

Once the gravy is thickened, simply pour it over the finished vegan roast and cooked vegetables to serve a beautiful holiday dinner.

Other great vegan dinner recipes | Centerpieces

• Perfect Vegan Roast (NEW)
• No-Meat Loaf
• Lentil Shepherd Pie

Holiday Side Dishes

The vegan side dishes served for our holiday meal were Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Broccoli Salad. There are many other delicious holiday side dish options as well, and I will list some of my favorites below.

I frequently share these mashed potatoes with friends and relatives, and they don’t even realize that they have a fraction of the fat without butter and traditional mayonnaise.

That’s because I use my own Low-Fat Eggless Mayo that requires only 5 ingredients and a blender. The mayo is the secret ingredient in these potatoes.

Broccoli Salad is an easy no-cooking-required dish that I love. When I’m making other big dishes, I like to keep some of the sides very simple, and this is a perfect recipe for that.

Other great vegan holiday side dishes include:

• Broccoli and Rice Casserole
• Stuffed Acorn Squash
• Stuffed Bell Peppers
• Stuffed Mushrooms
• Country Potato Salad
• Four Bean Salad

Vegan Christmas Desserts

For a perfect end to a Christmas dinner, a delicious dessert is a must, and this Chocolate Sweet Potato Cake will not disappoint.

I wish I could tell you that this masterpiece is my recipe but, alas, it is not. It comes from Dreena Burton and happens to be my favorite chocolate cake of all time.

It is surprisingly easy to make, and you never taste sweet potatoes even though they are the main ingredient in both the cake and the icing.

Simply beat the cooked sweet potatoes with a hand mixer and combine in other ingredients for the cake. Bake and allow to cool while making the frosting.

I use a silicone baking dish so that the cake is completely oil-free. This is the one that I love and use.

Next, combine more sweet potatoes, cocoa powder, sugar, almond nut butter, vanilla, and plant milk in a blender to make the icing. It really is as simple as that!

Once the cake has cooled, add frosting and even a few strawberries as I did, if you like. No one will ever know this cake is vegan or has sweet potatoes in it, I promise!

Other Christmas desserts to try:

• 33 Vegan Holiday Desserts
• Chocolate Crock Pot Lava Cake
• Hot Fudge Cake
• No-Bake Chocolate Pie
• Heavenly Tootsie Rolls
• Glazed Carrot Cake

For more awesome holiday desserts, check out these 50 Amazing Vegan Christmas Cookies.

Holiday Vegan Breakfast Brunch Casserole

Oh, and if you will be attending any breakfast or brunch gatherings, try this amazing Vegan Breakfast Hash Brown Casserole. It is fantastic!

I hope some of these recipes become favorites for your family and that you are able to WOW family and friends at the social gatherings you’ll be attending this year.

Round-up list of links to dishes I prepared

All recipes can be found by clicking photos above as well.

• Mushroom Seitan Roast (I added potatoes, carrots, and onions)
• 10-Minute Brown Gravy
• Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Broccoli Salad
• Chocolate Sweet Potato Cake with Frosting

Also, be sure to check out our Holiday Recipes page for more great recipe ideas!

These 46 Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes can provide even more holiday cooking inspiration.

Merry Christmas everyone!

For those of you new to the whole food plant-based lifestyle, we’ve created a FREE 7-Day Plant-Based Menu Planner to help you get started!

*Originally published December 2018.