Vegan Recipes For Christmas

A vegan Christmas used to mean substituting the bird for a "tofurkey" and piling vegetables onto your plate, but there are so many delicious vegan recipes out there, even the carnivores will enjoy eating them!

We've compiled the best vegan Christmas recipes to take you from breakfast to your nightcap, and every sneaky cookie in between!

Vegan Christmas Brunch

Christmas morning can be hectic between opening presents and wrapping paper flying everywhere, trying to put batteries in and assemble kid's toys, and maybe even beginning to prepare for guests coming over for Christmas dinner. So you'll want to make sure your brunch is relatively simple and doesn't take up too much of your time.

Luckily these cinnamon rolls take only 25 minutes to bake and a lot of the preparation can be done on its own while you're busy enjoying Christmas morning (ie. waiting for the yeast to rise).

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

• 1 packet 2 1/4 teaspoon dry active yeast
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 6 tablespoon dairy-free butter
• 1 1/4 cup almond milk
• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the filling:

• 2 tablespoon dairy-free butter melted
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

For the glaze:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-3 tablespoon almond milk

Instructions

Combine yeast and sugar in a bowl, then slowly add warm water while stirring. Allow 10 minutes for the yeast to activate.

Melt the butter and milk together on the stove, without it coming to a boil, then set aside.

Mix flour and salt together. Combine the butter mixture and yeast mixture. Then combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and knead for a few minutes with your hands.

Grease a separate bowl with some coconut oil and place your dough in it, covering with plastic wrap, and leave the dough to rise for an hour while you enjoy Christmas morning activities!

When the hour has passed, preheat the oven to 350°. Sprinkle some flour on a flat surface and roll out your dough to a rectangular shape. Brush melted butter over the dough leaving about a one-inch border.

To make your filling, combine cinnamon and brown sugar. Spoon the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the melted butter and then roll it up tightly. With a sharp knife, cut the log every one and a half inches or so, and place the rolls in a greased baking pan, then cover and let them sit for another thirty minutes to make them extra fluffy!

After this, you can bake them for twenty minutes, and whip up the glaze. To do this simply mix all the ingredients in a bowl with an electric mixer. You can brush the top of your cinnamon buns with the glaze after they've cooled for five minutes.

Vegan Christmas Drinks

Aside from getting your hands on some vegan eggnog from the store, you can impress all your guests, vegan and otherwise, with these classic cranberry mimosas. It's so simple to make, you'll still be able to whip them up even after you've had a few! All it takes is adding a few fresh cranberries to the bottom of a flute and then one to two tablespoons of cranberry cocktail. You can also try adding a teaspoon of our cranberry orange and vodka jelly to your drink. We recommend using this as cranberry juice does tend to be quite tart. Then simply fill the rest of the glass with champagne and drink up!

Vegan Christmas Appetizers

Appetizers are great to pop into your mouth while mingling and serving them can buy you a little extra time to finish preparations for your vegan Christmas dinner. They'll also get your guests excited for what's to come! We also make serving your vegan guests easy with our charcuterie line of vegan-friendly jams and jellies. Whatever you’re serving on your appetizer tray, or whether you’re putting together a vegan charcuterie board, our spiced apply whisky jelly or spicy ice wine jelly pair perfectly with anything. Our cranberry orange and vodka jelly also hold the perfect vegan Christmas flavours!

The recipe below is so fast and easy to make and comes across as totally gourmet.

Vegan Mushroom Crostini

Ingredients

• One large French baguette

Tip: Before adding your mushroom mixture and vegan cheese to your crostini, try spreading some of our savoury mushroom basil sauce on first. It makes for a perfect base.

For the mushroom mixture:

• 10 finely diced shiitake mushrooms
• 10 finely diced white button mushrooms
• 10 finely diced cremini mushrooms
• 5 minced cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp white cooking wine
• 1/2 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp pine nuts
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the vegan ricotta "cheese":

• 1 block extra-firm tofu
• 3-4 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 medium garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt

Instructions

Start by preparing the ricotta "cheese". Combine tofu, lemon juice, oil, yeast, garlic and salt in a food processor and blend for about half a minute. It should be thick but creamy.

For the mushroom topping, heat oil in a pan on medium heat and add the garlic. Add all the mushrooms and sauté until all water has evaporated.

Add your seasonings and then the wine and stir frequently.

Next throw in your rosemary, parsley and pine nuts and cook for another couple of minutes, still stirring often.

Set the mixture aside while you prepare your baguette. Preheat the oven to 350°, then slice the bread thinly.

Allow it to become just slightly toasted on both sides before cooling.

Spread your ricotta "cheese" on every slice, and then top with the mushroom mixture. Remember everything should be at room temperature when you assemble it!

Vegan Christmas Dinner

A lot of the traditional food on the Christmas menu is either already vegan friendly or a few simple tweaks can turn it into a vegan version. For example, mashed potatoes, sweet potato dishes, Brussels sprouts, roast potatoes, pumpkin pie, red cabbage, butternut squash and mulled wine all tend to be safe for vegans as long as you use milk alternatives (almond or soy milk for the potatoes) and don't put any bacon in your Brussels sprouts!

As the main course for your Christmas table, you could opt for a vegan mushroom wellington, but usually, for a Christmas feast, the ultimate comfort food is a roast dinner. Thankfully, a vegan nut roast will satisfy even the meat eaters' appetite as it is packed with festive flavours. Don't forget to whip up some vegan stuffing and roasted garlic sweet potatoes along with it.

Vegan Nut Roast

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups mixed nuts
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 2 finely chopped celery stalks
• 1 trimmed and sliced leek
• 2 coarsely grated carrots
• 2 crushed garlic cloves
• 4 tbsp cashew butter
• 1 1/4 cup cooked chestnuts in pieces
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• small bunch fresh of finely chopped fresh parsley zest of one lemon
• 4 tbsp milk alternative
• 1 tsp sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Grind all the nuts and the vegetable stock cube in the food processor.

Preheat the oven to 400° and grease your loaf pan or line with baking paper.

Heat oil in a large pan and add celery, leek, onion and carrots until softened, then add the garlic.

Combine the cooked vegetable mixture with the cashew nut butter in a bowl. Add the chopped nuts, chestnuts, parsley, milk alternative, cranberries, salt and pepper and mix with a spoon or your hands.

Transfer the mixture into your loaf pan and press it down firmly. Cover it with tin foil and bake for thirty minutes, then another twenty minutes with the foil removed.

Allow it to cool for five minutes or so before you loosen it from the sides of the tin with a knife. Slice it up and display front and centre in your festive feast, with a side of vegan gravy!

Note: Did you know that our savoury mushroom basil sauce can actually double as the perfect vegan gravy? It’s dairy-free, gluten-free, and absolutely delicious with any dish!

Vegan Christmas Desserts

As Christmas Day comes to an end, we hope you are able to reflect on your holiday gathering and that it has been filled with joy and lots of delicious recipes for food the whole family can enjoy.

One thing that often keeps non-vegan from adapting to a plant-based diet is that they think they will struggle during the holiday season or they will be an inconvenience, but it's so easy to make the perfect vegan Christmas dinner, that really shouldn't stop anyone.

Dessert is no exception. With cheese and milk alternatives available in many stores, making delicious vegan hot chocolate, coconut cream pie, or even vegan cheesecake for your Christmas party is entirely possible and will be a hit with everyone.

From all of us to all of you, we hope you have a Merry Christmas, and that your hearts and bellies are full this holiday season!