Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate the bounty of the harvest with friends and family. Here are some ideas for a delicious and hearty vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner.
Vegetarian Main Dishes for Thanksgiving
Here are some delicious vegetarian main dishes to try this Thanksgiving.
Shepherd’s Pie is a hearty and filling dish made with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. Some possible filling choices include mushrooms, bell peppers, carrots, corn, spinach, zucchini or green beans. Lentils or tofu can be added to boost the protein content.
Vegetarian lasagna can be prepared in many delicious variations. In addition to classic red sauce lasagna made with vegetables and mozzarella and ricotta cheese, other variations include mushroom lasagna, mushroom goat cheese lasagna, spinach lasagna, and zucchini lasagna. While all of these recipes contain cheese, there are also vegan versions of this popular dish, such as Greek lasagna with artichokes and eggplant, and vegan lasagna with tofu in place of the cheese.
Vegetable gratin is a tasty dish of vegetables, bread crumbs and cheese. It can be made with any combination of vegetables, such as pumpkin, eggplant, broccoli or spinach. Sweet potato gratin with black beans, rice, spinach and coconut milk is a real treat.
For those wanting something a little different for their Thanksgiving main dish, try this zesty cranberry-orange rice pilaf.
Vegetarian Side Dishes for Thanksgiving
There are countless delicious choices for vegetarian side dishes to complement the main course. Potatoes and sweet potatoes are Thanksgiving favorites, and there are dozens of ways to prepare them. Just a few variations are artichoke mashed potatoes, Irish apple potato mash, cheddar cheese mashed potatoes, spicy vegan scalloped potatoes with green chilies, coconut curried sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes with peaches, vegan sweet potatoes with cranberries, and fat free orange sweet potatoes.
Green beans are another popular side dish, and can be prepared in numerous ways, including ginger lime green beans, vegan green beans with walnuts, and herbed green beans with cranberries.
Other vegetable side dishes include vegan creamed spinach, orange maple acorn squash rings, balsamic roasted Brussels sprouts, and butternut squash and apple casserole.
Not having roast turkey doesn’t mean you have to go without gravy for the mashed potatoes. Try this flavorful mushroom gravy along with one of the mashed potato recipes.
Vegetarian Stuffing
If you love stuffing, you can still enjoy it even without the turkey. Vegetarian stuffing makes an excellent side dish on its own, or can be stuffed into a variety of vegetables, such as squash, bell peppers or sweet potatoes. Many varieties of squash work well for stuffing, including butternut, delicata, gold nugget, Hubbard and sweet dumpling.
Vegetarian stuffing options include gluten-free rice and almond stuffing, whole grain quinoa stuffing, and pear hazelnut stuffing.
Vegetarian Desserts
For dessert, there is of course the traditional pumpkin pie, but there are many vegan alternatives, such as vegan pumpkin pie, vegan sweet potato pie, vegan pumpkin custard, vegan pumpkin cheesecake, and even vegan chocolate pumpkin pie.
