Vegan stuffing with chestnuts for the holidays

Fun fact: The best time to share a recipe for vegan stuffing with chestnuts is about a week and a half after Thanksgiving.

I’m kidding, of course.

Luckily, even though I’m a latecomer on sharing a vegan stuffing recipe, for most of us, Christmas dinner looks an awful lot like the one we just had at Thanksgiving. So there’s still time to make this vegan stuffing with chestnuts, celery, and carrots before the holiday season passes us by.

(And just wait until you see the Christmas cookie recipe I’m going to share on January 3rd. You are going to go nuts for it.) 😉

Vegan stuffing with chestnuts

When just one carbohydrate dense dish won’t do, add stuffing to the mix. It’s great with gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, and the vegan holiday main dish of your choice.

This stuffing is loaded with celery, onions, and carrots. The vegetables give it variety and a pop of color amongst the beige. Along with savory spices and vegetable broth, it has loads of flavor and nary an animal product in the mix.

I also like to add roasted and peeled chestnuts to the stuffing for added bite.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire

I was reading recently that most of us have never roasted chestnuts, despite how popular Christmas music makes this pastime seem.

Up until 11 years ago, I’d never even tasted them.

While chestnuts make most of us think of crackling Christmas records, it takes me back to my honeymoon.

A couple of months after we got married, David and I traveled around Europe. One of our favorite stops on the trip was our visit to Zürich, Switzerland. Sellers stood outside, roasting chestnuts in big iron pots lined with charcoal.

They’d serve the chestnuts in paper sleeves with two pouches. One pouch held the fresh, warm roasted chestnuts, while the other was empty and ready for discarding shells.

It was so quaint and warming, standing in the brisk air, smelling the nutty chestnuts cooking, and cracking away at the peels as we walked.After we returned home from our honeymoon, I purchased fresh chestnuts at the grocery store once they showed up during the holiday season. (It’s interesting the things you notice once you know what to look for. Somehow before then, I’d never even seen them there.)

I’ve roasted chestnuts several times, but these days, I prefer to go with the kind in vacuum packaging that have already been cooked.

Chestnuts can be wily since they are rounded on one side and flat-ish on the other. Plus, breaking through the tough shell with a knife can be tricky. (If you don’t score them with a knife, they’ll explode in the oven.)

Trader Joe’s sells roasted and peeled chestnuts in the refrigerated section in vacuum packaging, and I’ve seen them elsewhere sold in jars. I’d recommend either of those options for this recipe. Although, if you want to roast & peel your own, go for it! Get directions on how to roast chestnuts here.

No chestnuts where you live? No problem.

If you can’t find chestnuts or they are out of season at the time you’re making this stuffing, no worries. You can simply omit them or add some chopped walnuts instead.

(You may not want the same amount of walnuts, since walnuts have a stronger flavor than chestnuts and are a bit more dense. I’d recommend starting by doing half and working up from there, depending on your preferences.)

Cadry Nelson

Serves 8 to 10

Vegan stuffing with chestnuts

This savory dish will have you wondering why stuffing is only served at the holidays.

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Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon canola oil + more for oiling baking dish
• 1/2 cup sliced celery
• 1/2 cup sliced carrots
• 1 cup chopped yellow onions
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 6.5 ounces cooked and peeled chestnuts, chopped
• 1 pound dried bread cubes*
• 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1 teaspoon salt
• A few grinds of black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 9 x 13 glass baking dish and set aside.
2. Bring a non-stick skillet to a medium heat with a teaspoon of oil. Saute celery, carrots, onions, and garlic for a few minutes, until translucent and fragrant.
3. Add chopped chestnuts to the skillet and cook for a couple minutes more. Turn the heat off and set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl combine bread crumbs with mixture from skillet.
5. In a large measuring cup, combine vegetable broth with dried rosemary, thyme, sage, salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Use a fork or whisk to blend the spices with the broth.
6. Slowly pour the broth into the mixing bowl with bread cubes. Occasionally stir the bread cubes, so that the cubes get evenly coated. You want the cubes to be moistened, but not wet or mushy. There shouldn't be any liquid at the bottom of the bowl. So if it looks like the bread cubes are getting overly wet, stop there. However, if the cubes look too dry after all of the liquid has been poured, add a few more splashes of water or broth.
7. Pour the bread cubes into the oiled baking dish and spread them evenly across it. Cover the dish in aluminum foil and bake for 50 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 10 minutes more uncovered, so that the cubes can get a crispiness to the top.

Notes

*My Co-op has a bakery, and they sell their own bagged dried bread cubes. If your natural grocery store has a bakery, that's a good place to look for vegan dried bread cubes. You can also find them on shelves in boxes. Or make your own by baking bread cubes in a single layer on a baking pan for 10 to 15 minutes at 300 degrees, stopping once or twice to stir. Let them cool before using.

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https://cadryskitchen.com/2017/12/04/vegan-stuffing/