Your holiday dinner is covered with this round-up of 35 vegan Thanksgiving recipes.
These plant-based dishes include an enticing array of appetizers, sides, salads, and main dishes.
Plus, tips on how to navigate the social aspects of a vegan holiday!
The leaves have turned red and yellow. The wind outside has a chill in it. And squash is lining up on the grocery store shelves.
You know Thanksgiving can’t be far off.
Here’s a mouthwatering line-up of plant-based recipes to make your meal a festive one.
It features veganized holiday favorites, as well as some new-to-you dishes you’re sure to love.
This vegan Thanksgiving round-up contains everything you’ll need from cocktails and appetizers through the main event.
And remember, there’s no reason to limit yourself to just one day. Enjoy these dishes all season long.
Pin them to your Pinterest board and/or share them on Facebook, so that you can refer back to them!
Cocktails & appetizers
While finishing touches are being made on the main course, it’s fun to have nibbles for noshing. Bring on the cocktails, dips, and finger foods.
Cranberry mimosa
This cranberry mimosa includes just three ingredients.
It’s as festive as it is easy.
Cranberry salsa with cream cheese
Look at that gorgeous vibrant color!
Zesty cranberry salsa with cream cheese is a tangy mixture of sour and sweet.
Serve it with crackers for spreading.
Warmed Castelvetrano olives
You’ve got to love it when an appetizer this easy seems so fancy.
Warmed Castelvetrano olives are sautéed with garlic, fresh thyme, and lemon zest.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
You can also make this one ahead of time!
Olive tapenade
This easy olive tapenade appetizer comes together in only five minutes!
It’s made by throwing olives, capers, lemon juice, EVOO, garlic, and fresh thyme into a food processor.
Just add crackers!
Vegan bacon wrapped dates
Vegan bacon wrapped dates are a simple but satisfying appetizer!
Pitted dates stuffed with vegan cheese or nut butter, wrapped in seitan bacon, and lightly fried.
They’re an easy crowd pleaser.
Salads & side dishes
Thanksgiving foods are often shades of beige. It feels good to balance out the tan with pops of color.
Fall salad
This fall salad with apples, vegan feta cheese, and candied pecans is finished with cider vinaigrette.
A perfect seasonal salad!
Salad with persimmons
Salad with persimmons & delicata squash just screams fall.
It’s loaded with roasted delicata squash, persimmons, pistachios, and caramelized onions.
Easy spinach salad
This easy spinach salad is topped with candied pecans, bell peppers, celery, carrots, and dried cranberries.
Add a splash of balsamic vinaigrette dressing to finish it off.
Vegan wild rice soup
Taste the flavors of fall with this satiating vegan wild rice soup.
It’s filled with seitan chicken, wild rice, carrots, onions, celery, and kale.
So cozy!
Vegan stuffing
Nothing says holidays like vegan stuffing.
This one is packed with carrots, celery, onions, and chestnuts.
(No chestnuts? No problem! You can use browned seitan sausage or walnuts instead.)
Stuffing muffins
For a handheld take on stuffing, make stuffing muffins!
They are packed with celery, carrots, onions, and chestnuts.
Vegan turkey gravy
This turkey-style vegan gravy is perfect at the holidays.
It’s filled with the flavors of herbs de Provence and thyme.
With pantry-friendly ingredients, it’s ready in just 10 minutes!
Chestnut gravy
Velvety cashew gravy with chestnuts is spiced with thyme and rosemary.
Ladle this velvety gravy over mashed potatoes for a festive addition to your holiday dinner.
Plus, it’s gluten-free!
Orange cranberry sauce
Why use canned cranberry sauce when it’s so easy to make your own?
Orange cranberry sauce comes together in a jiffy with fresh cranberries, orange juice, maple syrup, and orange zest.
It has a wonderful balance of tart and sweet.
Cranberry salsa
Cranberry salsa is a fresher take on cranberry sauce.
With cilantro, red bell pepper, onions, garlic, lime juice, orange zest, and orange juice, it really wakes up beige comfort food.
Use the leftovers on sweet potato tacos with black beans!
Apple chutney
Apple chutney is like a chunky apple sauce with the warming flavors of curry, ginger, and cinnamon.
It can be eaten warm or cold straight out of the refrigerator.
It plays together beautifully with a vegan holiday roast!
Mashed potatoes
Is it even Thanksgiving without a pile of fluffy mashed potatoes?
Serve them with or without the peel for extra texture & nutrients.
Roasted Brussels sprouts with apples
Roasted Brussels sprouts are at their best when they’re cooked with apples, caramelized onions, and a smattering of pistachios.
Sweet apple and crunchy pistachios wipe away any bitterness from the sprouts.
Broccolini with kale
Add some color to your holiday plate with this broccolini recipe.
Broccolini is sautéed with garlic & kale for an easy vegan and gluten-free side dish.
Red wine mushrooms
Everything is better with garlic and red wine.
These red wine mushrooms are positively loaded with umami.
Lemony potatoes
Another potato dish? Why not?
These flavorful lemony potatoes are made with garlic, lemon juice, broth, and oregano.
So vibrant & robust!
Roasted cauliflower
This easy roasted cauliflower side dish can be made in the oven or the air fryer.
With a squeeze of lemon juice and pinch of salt, it lets the toasty flavor of cauliflower really shine.
Roasted delicata squash
Roasted delicata squash is the essence of fall.
It’s a simple side dish, because you can leave the skin on.
It’s dotted with flavorful dried rosemary.
Loaded vegan baked potato soup
You can’t have too many potatoes on Thanksgiving.
This creamy vegan baked potato soup is topped with seitan bacon, non-dairy cheese, and green onions.
Collard greens
Succulent collard greens fall apart in the mouth.
It’s one of those rare side dishes that’s only more inviting if it sits on the stove for a while.
Roasted cabbage
Roasted cabbage gets beautifully toasty around the edges.
Cut it into smaller pieces for the best ratio of caramelized crust to buttery soft.
Main dishes
Here are several tantalizing centerpiece options for your Thanksgiving dinner table.
Vegan chicken pot pie
For something cozy and hearty, vegan pot pie makes a great main course.
It’s filled with carrots, onions, celery, peas, and chicken-style seitan. Then it’s bundled up in a creamy cashew sauce.
Bonus: This pot pie uses store-bought frozen pie crust for extra convenience factor!
To make this a gluten-free option, replace the seitan with beans, and use a gluten-free pie crust.
Mini pot pie
Continuing with the pot pie theme, these bean and vegetable pot pies are personal-sized.
Equal parts cute & delicious.
The recipe includes making your own flaky top crust.
Vegan fried chicken
Before you went vegan, if the drumstick was your preferred main course, then look no further.
This vegan fried chicken is speared on a bamboo skewer, breaded, and fried.
It even has a crispy “skin!”
Polenta stacks
With a crisp layer of polenta, cashew cream, and barbecued delicata squash, eye catching fried polenta stacks are layered with flavors and textures.
By using pre-made polenta in a tube, this dish comes together easily.
Thanksgiving kebabs
Thanksgiving skewers have all of your favorite holiday flavors – on a stick.
With deconstructed stuffing, potatoes, lemony seitan, and sweet potatoes with marshmallows, you hit all of the classics.
Roasted cauliflower steaks
Let cauliflower have a chance to shine.
Eye-catching cauliflower steaks are topped with garlicky cilantro chimichurri.
Vegan arancini
Vegan arancini isn’t your typical Thanksgiving entree.
However, these Italian rice balls are cozy, crisp, and dramatic.
Break into the crackling crust of the outside, and you’re treated with creamy mushrooms, seitan, and cashew sauce with rice.
Bonus: It’s made using leftover vegan risotto.
And it can be made in the air fryer or oven!
Baked tofu
Dotted with rosemary and lemon, baked tofu is a weeknight-friendly dish also makes a lovely holiday main course.
Thanksgiving sandwich
Of course, the best part of Thanksgiving may be the leftovers!
Deliciously re-purpose them in this Thanksgiving sandwich with avocado.
(Make the most of your holiday dinner with these 18 Thanksgiving leftovers recipes!)
More Thanksgiving resources
Finally, I always say that with veganism, the food is the easy part. It’s navigating social situations that can be tricky.
If this will be your first vegan Thanksgiving, here are some helpful resources as we move into the holiday season.
- 12 tips for surviving your first vegan Thanksgiving
- When people won’t eat your food because it’s vegan
- How to deal with vegan jokes at your expense
- Going vegan: Making new food traditions
- My wish for the turkeys
Content updated October 26, 2022. Originally posted November 14, 2015.
Bianca
This is such an awesome list, Cadry! Thanks for posting this. My mom handles all the cooking, mostly. But I usually throw in a dish or two. I may pick something from this list.
Dale
One of these days I’m going to join someone for a Thanksgiving. I’m really curious to see what the experience is really like.
ADI
Perfect! My friend was looking for some vegan suggestions. I’ll send her the link to this. ~.o
Cadry
Terrific, thanks!
Eva @ Four Leaf Clover
I needed vegan Thanksgiving ideas so thank you so much for sharing so many of them!! I’m attending my husband’s family Thanksgiving for the first time this year and I’ll be the only vegan there so I’ve gotta bring something reeeeally good, haha!