Everyone Needs Some Thanksgiving Dishes for the Vegans
Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday, a time to gather with friends and family and share a meal. There’s no reason that vegans and turkey lovers and everybody in-between can’t enjoy a spread of food. Serve these plant-based dishes, and everyone will be able to have a sample of something delicious. Vegan Thanksgiving is meant to be shared. Dinner conversation is up to you!
Stuffed Sweet Potatoes and Cranberry Chutney Will Wow Everyone
We are all looking for the crowd-pleaser dishes, especially when we are serving a big group of people. Whether your crowd are a bunch of dedicated vegans, or your hard-core turkey loving family, I promise that these dishes will be popular. Stuffed Sweet Potatoes take a simple, traditional stuffing, made with whole wheat bread and fresh sage, and pile in lots of chopped pecans, making it hearty enough to serve as a plant based main course. The chutney is gingery, sweet and tangy, and everyone needs a spoonful to take bites of between all the bites of soft and savory foods on the Thanksgiving plate. It’s also got the magic of ginger, which helps with digestion and aids your immunity, so it is a good thing to eat with the epic Vegan Thansgiving meal.
Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes (But Don’t Call Them That!)
I know, you’re loud and proud about your vegan lifestyle. But let everybody take a bite before you tell them. Studies show that labeling foods as “healthy” or any kind of diet-style gives people a preconceived notion that they will taste bad. Their minds will find something objectionable in the flavors and textures, because they are on high alert. Just call them Stuffed Sweet Potatoes and Cranberry Chutney. Let people know after they have already enjoyed them. Vegan Thanksgiving is delicious!
Thanksgiving Dishes to Add to Your Repertoire
I’ve posted so many delicious Thanksgiving dishes over the years, I’m collecting a few of them here, just click on the links to get the recipes.
Pomegranate-Glazed Roasted Vegetables with Pistachios
New to the line-up this year are these recipes, for individual serving-sized sweet potatoes, stuffed with a bread stuffing and a generous amount of pecans, and a Cranberry Chutney I’ve been perfecting for years. It really works, every time.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Cranberry Chutney
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup crystallized ginger
- 1 large orange zested and juiced
- 1/2 teaspoon black mustard seed
- 3 cups fresh cranberries washed
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Finely chop the crystallized ginger, reserve. Zest and juice the orange, reserve.
- In a 2 quart pot, place the mustard seeds and swirl over high heat. When the seeds turn grey and start to pop, add the cranberries, orange juice, maple, ginger, cinnamon, pepper flakes, turmeric and salt and stir.
- Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer, stirring frequently. When thick, take off the heat and let cool. Serve at room temperature. Keeps, tightly covered, for up to two weeks.
Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 pounds small sweet potatoes scrubbed
- 2 tablespoons "butter"
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 rib celery
- 1 medium carrot chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh sage leaves chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups cubed whole wheat bread
- 1/2 cup vegetable stock
- 1 cup chopped pecans, plus halves for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a sheet pan with parchment and place the sweet potatoes on it. Use a paring knife to score the skin lengthwise along the top of the sweet potatoes. Roast for about 30-40 minutes, until a paring knife inserted in one of the slashes meets no resistance. Let cool slightly.
- While the sweet potatoes bake, place the "butter" in a large saute pan and melt over medium-high heat. Add the onions and celery and saute for about 10 minutes, let it get golden.
- Add the sage, salt, pepper, pecans and bread cubes and stir, then add the vegetable stock and stir until the bread is moistened.
- Open the sweet potatoes and scoop out the flesh, leaving behind enough to create a case. Coarsely chop the flesh and add to the bread mixture.
- Carefully stuff the sweet potato skins, mounding the stuffing and patting it to make a nice even shape. Place in a casserole and decorate with pecan halves
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, then serve.
