Food Holidays & Occasions Thanksgiving 28 Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes for a Plant-Based Feast Autumnal apples, beets, squash, and sweet potatoes shine in these recipes for vegan Thanksgiving salads, sides, entrées, and desserts. By Food & Wine Editors Food & Wine Editors This is collaborative content from Food & Wine's team of experts, including staff, recipe developers, chefs, and contributors. Many of our galleries curate recipes or guides from a variety of sources which we credit throughout the content and at each link. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on October 17, 2023 Trending Videos Photo: Photo: Victor Protasio / Food Stylist Torie Cox / Prop Stylist Claire Spollen Seasonal vegetables like squash, beets, and mushrooms are key to making vegan-friendly dishes that are festive for Thanksgiving. Add quinoa, nuts, and beans (like chickpeas or lentils) to create satisfying entrées that everyone at the table will want to try. From an inventive creamless creamed corn with mushrooms and lemon to delicious plant-based pimiento cheese and flambéed apple pie, these are our best vegan Thanksgiving recipes to feast on. 01 of 28 Roasted Beet Salad with Horseradish-Cashew Cream Photo by Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Audrey Davis Using a variety of beets, such as red, golden, or Chioggia, adds stunning color to this vibrant salad. The beets are cut into wedges and then roasted with garlic and fresh rosemary, which intensifies their earthy sweetness. Nutty and crunchy, the flax, chia, and poppy seed crisps stand in for croutons; soaked and pureed cashews serve as the creamy base of the vegan horseradish sauce that ties the salad together. Get the Recipe 02 of 28 Vegan Pimiento Cheese Photo by Antonis Achilleos / Food Styling by Ruth Blackburn / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen Pimiento cheese is an iconic snack in the South, and beloved all over. For this vegan version, sweet pimientos stud a creamy and savory base made with extra-firm tofu. The pickle brine and apple cider vinegar lend an acidic brightness to the mixture, while nutritional yeast and miso provide deep umami notes that keep you coming back for more. Get the Recipe 03 of 28 Owamni Sweet Potatoes with Maple-Chile Crisp Heami Lee / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christine Keely Maple sugar lends complex sweetness to chef Sean Sherman's mouthwatering chile crisp, which he drizzles over roasted sweet potatoes. Seek out the freshest sweet potatoes you can find; roasting time varies with variety and size. Get the Recipe 04 of 28 Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Onions with Mushroom Lardons David Malosh A duo of alliums — shallots and pearl onions — become irresistibly sweet when roasted, making them a great match for slightly bitter brussels sprouts. Bacon, the usual star in recipes like this, is replaced with lardons made from king oyster mushrooms for a satisfying side dish that everyone will enjoy. Get the Recipe 05 of 28 Wild Rice with Mushrooms, Cranberries, and Chestnuts Marcus Nilsson With just enough cranberries in each bite to balance out the earthiness in the rice blend and mushrooms, this rice salad can be served warm or at room temperature. Sub the chicken broth with vegetable broth to make it completely plant-based. Get the Recipe 06 of 28 Persimmons, Pomegranate, and Purslane with Pepitas Victor Protasio Suzanne Goin, the chef at the famed Lucques in Los Angeles, marked 20 years of business in 2018 with a dinner that celebrated her now-classic blend of French cuisine and California produce. Goin refers to this salad as “The 4 Ps” and thinks of it as a persimmon salad with an arugula garnish, rather than the other way around. Get the Recipe 07 of 28 Roasted Spiced Cranberry Pie Photo: Victor Protasio / Food Stylist Torie Cox / Prop Stylist Claire Spollen Tart cranberries are roasted with lemongrass and gochugaru (Korean chile flakes) to give this vibrant pie its fruity and fragrant kick. It's pictured here with a meringue crust, but you can use your favorite vegan crust instead. Get the Recipe 08 of 28 Tempered Curry-Ginger Sweet Potatoes Antonis Achilleos "Tempering is one of the most valuable tenets of Sri Lankan cooking I learned from my mother," writes chef Sam Fore. "Whole spices, like cumin and mustard seeds, get a quick swirl in hot oil, toasting them just enough to impart big flavor in minimal time. These tempered sweet potatoes illustrate how transformative the technique is." Get the Recipe 09 of 28 Skillet Apple-Ginger Crisp Antonis Achilleos Cookbook author Susan Spungen's apple crisp gets a zingy, bright flavor from candied ginger in the topping, and it's pretty easy to riff on — swap in different apples if you don't have Granny Smith, or try it with pears. To make it vegan, you'll need to use plant-based butter and serve it with nondairy ice cream. Get the Recipe 10 of 28 Apple Flambé Pie Photo: Victor Protasio / Food Stylist Torie Cox /Prop Stylist Claire Spollen Apple cider joins forces with fresh and dried apples in this stovetop apple pie filling. The pie is topped with flaming apple brandy just before serving. Get the Recipe 11 of 28 Nutty Baklava Pie Photo: Victor Protasio / Food Stylist Torie Cox / Prop Stylist Claire Spollen This pie combines the best aspects of pecan pie and baklava. It's topped with crispy phyllo bursts for a bit of festive flair. Get the Recipe 12 of 28 Miznon's Whole Roasted Cauliflower Greg DuPree In 2018, Food & Wine named this recipe one of our 40 best: The cauliflower served at Miznon in New York City calls for the best quality ingredients, each essential for creating the dish. Fresh cauliflower with tight, closed florets surrounded by a crown of crisp leaves; sel gris (coarse gray sea salt), which packs a mineral flavor in each of its crunchy grains; and spicy, fruity extra-virgin olive oil. Get the Recipe 13 of 28 Enmoladas de Calabaza Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Dickey / Prop Styling by Lydia Pursell Enmoladas are essentially enchiladas given the mole treatment, and this recipe is the ultimate version. Lightly fried tortillas are generously stuffed with tender strands of spaghetti squash and then covered in a concentrated kabocha squash mole. The mole is seasoned with dried chiles and five-spice powder, which lend a delicate smokiness to the savory sauce. Swap out the crema for coconut yogurt to keep the dish vegan. Get the Recipe 14 of 28 Roasted Beets and Charred Green Beans Eva Kolenko Top Chef winner Kristen Kish pairs roasted beets and cast-iron-charred haricots verts with vinegar and hearty herbs (oregano and thyme) to make this salad. It's an homage to the jarred pickled beets and green bean salad she ate as a kid. Get the Recipe 15 of 28 Roasted Carrot and Red Quinoa Salad © Eric Wolfinger Flavors of cumin, coriander, and cardamom along with cranberries and lemon zest punch up this plant-based salad, while toasted walnuts and quinoa provide ample amounts of protein. Get the Recipe 16 of 28 Gluten-Free Winter Squash Gnocchi © Anya Kassoff These gnocchi are fun and easy to make. Expect a subtly sweet squash flavor with hints of fresh sage, complete with a delightful pillowy texture. No need for eggs here; squash puree and nutritious buckwheat flour partner well together, allowing for just the right soft structure. The gnocchi are gluten-free and can be vegan if coconut oil or vegan butter are substituted for the ghee. Get the Recipe 17 of 28 Quinoa Salad with Sweet Potatoes and Apples © Christina Holmes This delicious plant-based fall salad is a great meal-in-one; it makes an ideal vegan option at the Thanksgiving table. Get the Recipe 18 of 28 Curried Spaghetti Squash and Chickpea Toasts © David Malosh Spaghetti squash gets its name because once it's cooked, you can use a fork to pull the flesh into long, thin strands. Chef Jonathon Sawyer makes his own curry and cooks his own chickpeas for this vegetarian dish, but our simplified recipe calls for store-bought curry paste and canned chickpeas. Get the Recipe 19 of 28 Creamless Creamed Corn with Mushrooms and Lemon © Frances Janisch "My granny taught me that when corn is very fresh, the juices are naturally creamy," chef Kevin Gillespie says. "I took that as the gospel." He grates half of the corn here to make a luxurious puree that thickens without cream. Kevin's tip: Scraping corn cobs with the dull side of a knife removes the juices. Get the Recipe 20 of 28 Mixed Mushroom Ragout © David Malosh Chef Stephanie Izard's rich, chunky mushroom ragout is great on everything from polenta to pasta. Use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock for a terrific vegan sauce. Get the Recipe 21 of 28 Warm Lentil and Root Vegetable Salad with Coconut Tzatziki © Michael Turek Hearty root vegetables and lentils make this warm salad from Sakara Life the perfect vegan main dish. It's paired with a pleasantly sweet and tangy coconut yogurt tzatziki to round it all out. Get the Recipe 22 of 28 Pumpkin Soup with Fideos © Christina Holmes This soup is based on a Sephardic (Spanish-Jewish) recipe. Though the dish is vegetarian, cooking the pumpkin with cinnamon and cloves gives the broth an “implied meatiness,” says chef Michael Solomonov. Toasted fideos (noodles) help thicken the soup and make it even more substantial. Get the Recipe 23 of 28 Roasted Kabocha with Maple Syrup and Ginger John Kernick Cookbook author Melissa Clark likes giving slices of roasted winter squash a little wake-up, so she roasts them with maple syrup, olive oil, fresh ginger, and thyme. It’s a simple idea, but the combination of flavors highlights the squash in the best possible way. Get the Recipe 24 of 28 Roasted Delicata Squash with Quinoa Salad © John Kernick To create a terrific vegetable-based main course, chef and television personality Michael Symon tosses quinoa with arugula, apple, raisins, and fresh herbs, and then spoons the salad into a halved baked squash. Get the Recipe 25 of 28 Maple Root Vegetable Stir-Fry with Sesame © Con Poulos In Korea, cooks typically create stir-fries with just one kind of vegetable — lotus root, say, or potatoes. Chef David Chang decided to break with tradition and stir-fry an assortment of vegetables, including Jerusalem artichokes and parsnips. Get the Recipe 26 of 28 Porcini and Pecan Pâté © Sabra Krock Proving that vegetables can be as satisfying as meat, chef Sean Baker serves this mushroom pâté on the vegan "charcuterie" plate at his Berkeley restaurant, Gather. Get the Recipe 27 of 28 Haricots Verts and White Beans with Shallot Vinaigrette © Fredrika Stjärne At Thanksgiving, it's always great to have a couple of dishes that don't have to go in the oven. This combination of creamy white beans and slightly crunchy haricots verts makes an interesting textural mix, and it's sturdy enough to stand at room temperature for several hours. Get the Recipe 28 of 28 Pear, Pear, Pear © Maura McEvoy Chef Jeremiah Tower's light, palate-cleansing triple-pear dessert calls for poached pears, pear sorbet, and a drizzle of pear syrup. Get the Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! 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