How To Have an Easy Vegan Thanksgiving

Last year was my first vegan Thanksgiving. And fortunately, my mom was so wonderful enough to go all-out for me, Mitchell, and my vegetarian sister Bri. She made us a full spread of vegan goodies.

This year, it’s unlikely we’ll be able to make it home for Thanksgiving. And we won’t necessarily want to make everything from scratch if we make a dinner of our own.

Maybe your family doesn’t know how to make their traditional meals veganized. Or maybe you just want to bring a few dishes to your meat-eating relative’s party.

Here’s a compiled list of amazing products and recipes to make your vegan Thanksgiving easy and delicious.

The Vegan Dinner

Vegan Green Bean Casserole

There’s plenty of recipes out there that use coconut milk for the cream of mushroom soup, but if you’re lazy like me and don’t want to make it completely from scratch, here’s a great cream of mushroom soup mix that’s completely dairy free. This recipe is based off the casserole from Mccormick.com.

• 1 packet of cream of mushroom soup mix prepared
• 3/4 cup of plant-based milk
• 2 cans of green beans
• 1 can of bean sprouts
• 1 1/3 cup of Crispy Fried onions (most are vegan!)
• Salt and pepper to taste

All you have to do is mix everything except the crispy onions and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Then add the crispy onions on top and bake for five more minutes.

Vegan Dinner Rolls

I don’t know about you, but yeast dinner rolls are one of my favorite parts about Thanksgiving. Luckily, there are quite a few of the frozen brands that are vegan.

We usually put two in one muffin tin so they look like butt rolls. But they’re perfect to split apart and slather with some vegan butter.

Vegan Thanksgiving Roast

Most vegans have come to the consensus that the Gardein Holiday Roast is the best alternative to turkey for Thanksgiving. I’ve tried a couple from Field Roast, but this one was definitely my favorite. It reminded me of a Thanksgiving-themed frozen Cordon Bleu, which used to be one of my favorite things in the world.

Vegan Pies!

There are tons of pie crusts that are ready-to-bake and also vegan. All you have to do is fill it with canned pie filling of your choice. Of course, there’s also recipes to make vegan pumpkin pie out there. But if you’re lazy like me, this is as good as it gets.

My mom’s pie crust actually uses Crisco which is vegetable shortening, so all of her pies are vegan already which is amazing. I haven’t mastered the art of the pie making yet, so I think I’ll stick to pre-made.

Vegan Mac and Cheese

This mac and cheese is great baked, and it’s super creamy. If you want to make something from scratch, all you have to do is make a rue from vegan butter and flour, add cooked macaroni noodles and your shredded vegan cheese of choice. Then you can bake it at 350 degrees with some breadcrumbs on top.

Check out this recipe and swap out the ingredients for vegan ones for a fantastic baked mac and cheese!

Vegan Mashed Potatoes

Sure you can boil potatoes and mash them yourself, but why not make it easier? All you have to do is add your plant-based milk and butter of choice and boom. Mashed potato paradise.

Vegan Mushroom Gravy

You can’t have mashed potatoes without gravy! Last year we made some vegan gravy from some fancy mushrooms, but it did take quite a while. To save time, there’s plenty of vegan gravy options. But you can also make this simple recipe below. It was inspired by Cookingwithcurls.com.

• 2 Tbs of unsalted vegan butter or oil
• 2 Tbs of all-purpose flour
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1-2 tsp of Better Than Bouillon No Beef powder

Instructions: melt the butter over low heat, add flour and whisk, simmer for 2 minutes, add stock and seasoning, continue stirring until thickened. Make sure not to boil!

A lot of stuffing mixes have hidden milk or egg ingredients or just a lot of garbage. I really like this one in particular because it has a lot of interesting fun ingredients that are both healthy and vegan. Just bake and eat!

Vegan Corn Casserole

You may have already thought corn casserole was vegan (someone at one of our Thanksgivings definitely did). But just because it has a vegetable in the name doesn’t mean it’s vegan. But don’t worry! Making vegan corn casserole is one of the easiest ones out there. And it only has 5 ingredients. This receipt was inspired by the non-vegan recipe found at tastesoflizzyt.com

• 1 box of VEGETARIAN Jiffy cornbread mix (it’s vegan, don’t worry)
• 1 can of creamed corn (it’s non-dairy)
• 1 can of plain corn
• 1 cup of vegan sour cream or yogurt (like Toffuti)
• 1/2 cup of applesauce or vegan butter

All you have to do is mix all those ingredients, put it in a 8×8 pan, and bake at 350 degrees for around 45 minutes.

The Thanksgiving Experience

Of course, one of the most difficult parts of Thanksgiving can be family. While my parents were cool with a vegan Thanksgiving (even though they still ate turkey), when we went to other Thanksgiving dinners, it was usually a little more awkward or meat-oriented. Of course, right? That’s pretty much the norm.

But here are a few tips for vegans at Thanksgiving.

• Try bringing one or more dishes to gatherings
• Don’t make a big deal about them eating your food or their food
• Try not to get offended by their comments
• Be prepared to answer questions
• Be thankful for your family — even if they’re not vegan!

More Vegan Blog Posts

How To Go And Stay Vegan

11 of the Best Vegan Junk Foods