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These vegan Thanksgiving recipes are even more delicious than the traditional mains, sides, and desserts, and will please everyone around the table!
Who said Thanksgiving needs to be about turkey? Turns out, some of the tastiest holiday recipes can be plant based and vegan. Alex and I have been eating primarily plant based for years, and at first holidays like Thanksgiving were hard to manage. “What do I even make for you?” our family would ask. But they soon learned: vegan recipes can be delicious and celebratory, too!
So here are our very favorite vegan Thanksgiving recipes that celebrate the produce of the season, from butternut squash to pumpkin. We hope you’re love them as much as we do!
Our top vegan Thanksgiving recipes
This lentil loaf is the perfect vegan Thanksgiving dinner recipe! It's a deliciously satisfying meatloaf without the meat made with lentils, nuts, and seasonings, then brushed with a tangy glaze.
This vegan shepherd’s pie is another great Thanksgiving main dish recipe! Imagine: a creamy gravy filled with tender vegetables, lentils and scented with fennel and sage, then a fluffy layer of mashed potatoes, topped with fresh rosemary.
Stuffed squash is the perfect vegan Thanksgiving recipe! This one features tender roasted acorn squash that's stuffed with a hearty quinoa and herb stuffing. It's flecked with leeks, walnuts, fresh sage, and fresh thyme.
Next up in our vegan Thanksgiving recipes: vegan pot pie! It's the perfect main dish to impress all your guests. This one features a crispy pastry crust made with coconut oil and sage. And inside, a gooey mix of sweet potatoes, carrots, white beans and shallot all covered in a thick savory gravy.
This stuffing recipe takes everything that's great about a classic Thanksgiving stuffing recipe, and makes it 100% plant based! This one features cubes of rustic artisan bread as the base. Then it's flavored with onion, leeks, and fresh sage and parsley.
A hot oven makes magic with just about every vegetable; here it turns green beans into a tender, caramelized version of themselves. Add a spritz of lemon juice and a sprinkle of toasted almonds, and it’s an easy yet gourmet side dish that's perfect for a vegan Thanksgiving.
Roasting onions in a hot oven mellows their flavor until its deeply caramelized and sweet. Pair that with a hint of balsamic vinegar and herbaceous fresh thyme. Those simple flavors make an effortless side dish that goes with almost anything.
This recipe results in the most colorful sheet pans that will please even the most veggie-wary eaters. They’re healthy, plant based, vegetarian and gluten-free, and even better: delicious! It makes two sheet pans and takes only 30 minutes to roast. You can roast ahead and then reheat before serving.
We’ve always been partial to a crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside potato. These are our favorite oven roasted red potatoes, baked until crispy with garlic powder, then showered with fresh herbs. A perfect vegan Thanksgiving recipe!
Fluffy, dreamy vegan mashed potatoes are hard to make without the help of cream, butter and cheese. But these vegan mashed potatoes are light, fluffy, and satisfying and at the same time 100% plant based. Yukon gold potatoes have a creamy, buttery texture: add a combo of olive oil and coconut oil for big flavor.
Don't forget the gravy! This brown gravy is vegan and seriously tasty. Pour it on all sorts of Thanksgiving recipes and prepare to be amazed! The secrets: soy sauce and fennel seed, which add a meaty and savory undertone.
Also try: Vegan Mushroom Gravy
This vegan butternut squash soup is full of big flavor, featuring squash and carrots for a sweet body. There's no need for cream in this one: the vegetables are perfectly creamy on their own. If you have an Instant Pot, try our Easy Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup for easy prep.
These are the best roasted sweet potatoes, diced and mixed with a hint of garlic powder, salt and olive oil. Bake them in a very hot oven until they're caramelized, and they're the perfect Thanksgiving side.
These vegan roasted vegetables are made especially for Thanksgiving! Here sweet potatoes and carrots are roasted with garlic and a bit of rosemary. They've got a beautiful sweet flavor, and make the kitchen smell amazing.
These vegan biscuits are perfectly flaky, with that beautiful layered look and luscious buttery flavor! Even better, they come together in just 30 minutes. As a Thanksgiving side dish, make a double recipe to feed a crowd.
Everything about this vegan Thanksgiving side dish is perfection! It's beautiful to look at and tasty, featuring hot pink roasted apples, golden cauliflower, and purple roasted red onion. It's topped with contrasting feathery fresh dill for herbaceous flair.
So many Thanksgiving side dishes are easily vegan: like this simple roasted butternut squash! Combine cubed squash with olive oil and salt and pepper, and roast it in a very hot oven until it's lightly browned and tender. It's sweet candy goodness!
Ever had a massaged kale salad? Massaging kale makes the leaves more tender and sweet, removing all the bitterness you might imagine is in raw kale. Top it with crunchy apples, tart pomegranate seeds, and a zesty vinaigrette, and it's pretty darn perfect.
Another great vegan Thanksgiving recipe: delicata squash! This variety of squash is tender and sweet, and the skin is edible: no peeling required! This makes it quick and easy to roast: and it makes lovely half-moon shapes.
This vegan pumpkin bread is perfectly moist and flavored with just the right amount of pumpkin spice. Serve it as an appetizer or side. Or an even better idea, serve a vegan Thanksgiving dessert recipe: topped with vegan vanilla ice cream and vegan caramel sauce.
No one would guess that this pie is fully made of plants because it’s so satisfying. A flaky, golden crust encloses a filling that’s so full of cozy spiced flavor, you won’t want the bite to end.
Another tasty vegan Thanksgiving dessert recipe: rustic apple crumble! This crumble recipe is seriously tasty: the gooey apple filling is flavored with fresh ginger and spices, and the topping is perfectly crumbly. This version is also gluten-free: it's made with almond flour for even more crunch.
This pumpkin mousse is basically pumpkin pie filling made into a light and fluffy vegan mousse. It;s fully vegan and plant based using coconut milk. Best of all, it’s light, airy, and filled with comforting pumpkin spices. It's the perfect vegan Thanksgiving recipe!
Last up in our vegan Thanksgiving recipes: pumpkin oatmeal cookies! These are tender and perfectly spiced, and taste just like an oatmeal cream pie (but pumpkin flavored!). It's drizzled with our easy powdered sugar icing for a little flair. Enjoy!
And finally, one of our favorite vegan Thanksgiving recipes: vegan pumpkin pie! This pie is so full of pumpkin-spiced sweetness and the flavors are so delightfully elevated, no one will guess it’s plant-based! The filling comes out creamy and flavorful: like a larger than life version of your grandma’s pie. We make this every year instead of the classic version!
More Thanksgiving recipes
We hope you enjoy these vegan Thanksgiving recipes! If you’re looking for more ideas, here are some resources for Thanksgiving planning! We’ve also go some additional vegan and plant-based guides for your everyday recipe needs:
- 20 Top Thanksgiving Cocktails
- 55 Best Thanksgiving Recipes
- 15 Thanksgiving Desserts to Wow Everyone
- 10 Thanksgiving Salad Recipes
- Instant Pot Thanksgiving Recipes (for if you have a pressure cooker!)
- 20 Healthy Thanksgiving Side Dishes
- 10 Top Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes
- 28 Day Plant Based Diet Meal Plan
- Plant Based Diet for Beginners
- Guide to Plant Based Protein
- How to Go Vegan: Guide & Recipes
Thanksgiving Lentil Loaf (Vegan)
This vegan lentil loaf recipe is a deliciously satisfying meatloaf without the meat! It’s made with lentils, nuts, and seasonings, then brushed with a tangy glaze. Our vegetarian meatloaf is so popular, we had to create a plant based variation—and this one is just as tasty!
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Yield: 10 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Thanksgiving
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried green lentils, sorted and rinsed (or 2 ½ cups cooked)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 1 ½ cups whole walnuts
- ½ cup whole cashews (see Notes)
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 large cloves garlic, minced
- 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms (aka cremini), cleaned and finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon each dried thyme, dried sage, garlic powder, smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
- ¼ cup mayonnaise or vegan mayo
- 1 ½ tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 ½ tablespoons full-sodium soy sauce or tamari
- 1 cup plain panko (or gluten-free panko)
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Glaze
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons barbeque sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- In a medium saucepan, add 2 ½ cups water, the lentils, and ½ teaspoon of the kosher salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed and the lentils are tender, about 15 minutes.
- Place the walnuts and cashews on a baking sheet and toast for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Allow to cool.
- Meanwhile, prepare the onion, garlic, mushrooms and parsley as noted in the ingredients list.
- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and the thyme, sage, garlic powder and smoked paprika. Cook for about 5 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the cooked lentils.
- In the large food processor (see Notes), add the nuts and pulse 3 to 4 times until roughly chopped. Add the onion and mushroom mixture, parsley, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, soy sauce, panko, and several grinds of black pepper to the bowl. Pulse 3 to 4 times until the mixture comes together: it should be mostly finely ground but still have a textured consistency (don’t fully puree it).
- Grease a 9 x 5″ aluminum bread pan, then add parchment paper cut so that it fits the width and extends on both long sides, to easily remove the loaf once it’s baked.
- Bake the loaf for 30 minutes. While it’s baking, mix together the ketchup and barbecue sauce for the glaze. Add the glaze (reserving a little for later). Bake 30 minutes more (for a total of 1 hour), then remove from the oven. If desired, you can brush on some of the reserved glaze.
- Allow the loaf to cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes, then lift it out of the pan with the parchment paper. Slice into pieces and serve warm. Leftovers can be stored for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. It’s good cold, warm, or room temperature. If reheating, warm gently on the stovetop or in a 375°F oven until it is warm but not hot.
Notes
The cashews can be salted or unsalted, raw or roasted.
Make ahead notes: You can make the entire loaf the night before and refrigerate. Allow to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.
Don’t have a food processor? Finely chop the nuts and vegetables with a knife, then mix all ingredients together in a bowl. You may need to bring together the dough by squeezing it with your fingers until it holds together into a cohesive texture.
