How To Make A Vegan Christmas Dinner

Considering having a vegan Christmas dinner this year? It has never been easier to enjoy a festive feast that aligns with your ethical standards.

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Thanks to all the seasonal, plant-based recipes and vegan products that are now on the market, keeping your Christmas drinks, starters, mains and desserts cruelty free is simple and tasty.

Sitting down to a vegan Christmas dinner makes a lot of sense.

If you want to keep up with the spirit of the season, going for some plant-based options is a simple way to do something sustainable for the planet and its inhabitants.

We’ve put together a list of mouth-watering vegan Christmas dinner recipes that are guaranteed to impress all of your friends and family.

What type of recipes feature on this vegan Christmas dinner menu?

How To Make A Vegan Christmas Dinner: Recipes, Ideas And Simple Swaps

Does the word ‘vegan’ still mean lettuce and stodgy lentils to you or the people you cook for at Christmas? Read on.

The plant-based options here will wow and satisfy even the most devoted meat lovers and stalwart traditionalists.

Simple and delicious, they mean you won’t miss out on flavour or indulgence this Christmas.

Whether you decide to go the whole hog (excuse the pun), just incorporate one course, or even swap a single meat or dairy item for a Christmas vegan alternative, it will make a difference.

If you want to go for minimal effort and keep things traditional there are all kinds of realistic vegan meat alternatives out there.

That being said, if you’re up for branching out and being a little more adventurous, we have some more creative vegan Christmas dinner ideas too.

Vegan Christmas Appetisers

Family and friends arrive, the mingling commences, you need to pass around vegan Christmas food in the form of tasty appetisers to snack on before you sit down to the main event.

Nuts are a great, easy festive vegan option.

Roasting them with your favourite Christmassy herbs and spices makes for an extremely simple crowd pleaser.

Veggie Desserts have a recipe for Rosemary Maple Spiced Roasted Nuts you could draw on. It has a brilliant balance of spicy, sweet, salty and savoury flavours.

If your oven is already full of vegan Christmas dishes, you might not have the space to roast your own nuts.

Don’t worry, Liberation Nuts have got you covered.

Pass around a selection of their Chilli & Lime Cashews with Peanuts and Roasted Corn. They’re palm oil free and have a lovely Christmassy zing to them.

You could go for some vegan ‘not pigs’ in blankets, using these amazing veggie cocktail sausages from Gosh!

There are plenty of vegan bacon, or ‘faken’, brands out there to wrap your ‘not bangers’ in.

If you’d rather skip the ‘faken’, marinated slivers of carrot or aubergine work really well too.

You can make your ‘not pigs’ even tastier by serving them with a delicious vegan dip.

Beautiful carrot, tomato and cardamom Christmas chutney by veggie/ vegan food blogger Jagruti’s Cooking Odyssey will really set off the saltiness. Get the recipe here.

Image Gosh!

Vegan Christmas Cocktails

To keep the boozy beverages simple, pick from the huge selection of vegan wine and bubbly that is available in all supermarkets.

Check out Ethical Consumer’s rundown of the best ethical and vegan wines here.

If you’re after something a bit more homemade, a sustainable Christmas cocktail is a great option. Check out these festive vegan recipes.

The Paloma is refreshing, festive and won’t weigh you down too much before dinner. Find the recipe here.

Want to bypass the booze as well as the animal products? A Not A Gin is the way to go. Sea Arch will give you a sober but superior G&T experience.

Now that everyone has a buzz (or a ‘not buzz’) on, it’s time to sit down to vegan Christmas dinner.

Take a look at these other Christmas plastic free essentials if you want to incorporate some zero waste place settings and Christmas crackers into your sustainable supper as well.

Vegan Christmas Starters

Kick off your plant-based Christmas dinner with a bowl of light yet warm and wintery soup as a stater.

Find the full recipe for this Golden Cauliflower And Almond Soup here. It is taken from Seasonal Soups, the cookbook from soup-obsessed greengrocer, Fraser Reid.

So simple to make and so hearty, it has just the right amount of turmeric and almond to give it a delicious peppery nut flavour.

If you’d rather go for something a little more gourmet and a little less effort, Jamie Oliver’s Baby Artichoke Bruschetta is a good bet.

It is in the ‘super easy’ category and only requires a bit of chopping, frying, toasting and plating!

The creamy texture of chargrilled artichokes and crunch of toast are a guaranteed vegan victory.

Image Kathryn Ratrray

Vegan Christmas Dinner Main Courses

And now for the main event. Vegan or not, Christmas dinner revolves around the main course, which revolves around a standout centrepiece.

If you want to remain as close to the meaty traditions as possible then Tofurkey is the perfect plant-based swap.

There are so many brands to pick from now, so have a look in your local supermarket or order one from Natural Grocery.

Dressing up your Tofurkey is an opportunity to go to town with the Christmas spices, marinades and flavours.

Country Living have some great vegan Christmas roast ideas, like Balsamic Caramelised Onion Or Slow Cooker Maple Herb Tofurky.

If you wanted to branch out and embrace the power of veg or step away from shop-bought meat alternatives, here are some alternatives you can try:

Vegan Christmas Side Dishes

Roasted veg is another non-negotiable Christmas dinner delight, and happily, it comes fully vegan.

If you need a little guidance, you can’t go too wrong with lightly crushed cloves of garlic, plenty of olive oil, generous seasoning and ample rosemary sprigs.

Don’t hold back on decadence and luxury. It’s Christmas, after all!

If you would prefer something lighter and a little more unusual, maybe it’s time to give Brussel sprouts a vegan rebrand in a vegan salad.

Vegan Christmas Sauces

The classic Christmas dinner sauces are very vegan friendly too.

Cranberry relish is naturally plant-based, and traditional bread sauce can easily be made vegan by swapping out the dairy for plant milk.

Oatly have some great creamy options, their barista version is especially indulgent. Check that the bread you are using does not contain milk as well.

Vegan Gravy

The centrepiece gets all the limelight on the Christmas dinner table, but it is nothing without the sauces and trimmings.

Gravy is a must at Christmas, and this vegan gravy from the Minimalist Baker is a winner.

Compared to non-vegan versions, it does not require any meat juices or fats to make it thick and flavourful.

Porcini mushrooms and fresh herbs give it a meaty, deep, rich and savoury taste that is the perfect accompaniment for your potatoes.

Vegan Christmas Desserts

You have to have some Christmas pudding on the 25th, whether you have room for it or not.

If you love the process and the craft of making your own dense, full-bodied pudding, then you will not be deprived this plant-based year.

Whether you always work from your grandmother’s tried and tested recipe, or you look just do a quick google and opt for the first recipe you see, any version of this dessert can be veganised nowadays.

The ingredients that tend not to be vegan in a traditional Christmas pudding are suet, some alcohol, eggs and honey.

There are now excellent vegan substitutes for all these products, which will go totally undetected in amongst all the fruit spices and booze.

You can find vegan suets in plenty of UK supermarkets, including Waitrose. It is specially designed for puddings and pies.

When it comes to liquor, it’s always best to check labels and online to see whether and what it has been filtered through.

Going for the ever more popular unfiltered options is the best way to keep things plant-based. Vegan Food and Living have a guide to vegan spirits. You can read it here.

For a sticky sweetener, you can easily swap honey for agave or maple syrup and if you want to stick to the recipe, vegan honey now exists.

There is more than likely enough sugar in the pudding to make it stick together and glisten, without any eggs.

Still, if you want to play it safe then try a simple flax or chia alternative. Flax has a nice nutty flavour that will go well with the other ingredients.

Does that all sound like a total festive faff? Lillypuds have a great selection of vegan Christmas puddings!

But what about the Brandy Butter?

The Vegan Society have a three-ingredient recipe that could not be more straightforward.

You don’t want to make anything and keep off the booze then try Jude’s amazing vegan ice cream and some Alpro vegan custard instead.

Keen for more Christmas dessert inspiration? Check out these recipes:

Vegan Cheeseboard for Christmas

To round off your evening and your vegan Christmas sustainable style, a dairy-free cheese board is the way to go.

Why not combine your grapes and fancy crackers with one of Kinda Co’s Vegan Cheeses?

They have some sensational selections to help your Port go down, which include the likes of Spirulina Blue and Aged Macadamia Truffle.