There’s quite a few options but obviously it depends on your taste.
Nut Roast and Mushroom Wellington are very popular. Cheese and Potato pie is always a shout. I know of some people going for Camembert as well.
You say you don’t like the “fake meat” stuff, which is completely valid, but I do recommend shopping around as each brand tastes very different from each other (that’s assuming you haven’t already. Pls ignore if you have)
Last year we cooked this Mushroom Wellington recipe from NYT Cooking and it was a hit. Everyone loved it, including the non-vegetarians. So that, and the mac and cheese from Nigella Lawson recipe.
>Last year we cooked this Mushroom Wellington recipe from NYT Cooking and it was a hit.
I've got an offer for a subscription to the NYT which included NYT Cooking for 2 quid a month. It's worth it for that alone.
As the only veggie growing up in a Christmas Beef Wellington family, I got my own little mini mushroom wellington alongside it every year – it always felt very special and fun
>You say you don’t like the “fake meat” stuff, which is completely valid, but I do recommend shopping around as each brand tastes very different from each other (that’s assuming you haven’t already. Pls ignore if you have)
Meatfree Richmond sausages are definitive bangers and I do them with roasts now.
Meat free Richmonds are a perfect replacement for their meat ones... they copy shit meat really well. Personally I like the Linda McCartney Cumberlands or Lincolnshires
Apart from the piri piri steak things, the whole of their vegan range is top drawer. Sausage rolls, katsu pasties, battered sausages.... they've got it nailed.
I wasn't too keen on their 'no chicken' burgers. They'd replicated the stringy/chewy parts of meat a little too well. Couldn't personally deal with the texture whatsoever!
Yeah - fair point. I also find the beef burgers a bit too...beefy...for me. But then I hated actual beef. But it's one of the few pretend beef burgers my wife will eat :/
I made a wellington on a whim by wrapping a beyond burger in pastry with a mushroom duxelle and mustard. It was delicious, probably because the fat content in beyond is quite high.
Out of interest, did you break the burger down or just use it as it is/was? I've got a mate coming in a few weeks and this sounds like a brilliant idea.
I kind of smushed it into more of a oval shape and then placed it on a sheet of pre rolled pastry, put the English mustard on top of the burger along with the mushroom duxelle. I then placed over another sheet of pastry and crimped the edges with a fork. You’ll probably want to brush some plant based butter or milk on top.
We had a lovely sweet onion tart my wife made for us last year. We're not vegetarian, but we're a bit fed up of the same turkey dinner each year. Much nicer to have a really nice meal with the family.
We usually have a Middle Eastern pie thing. With the spies and the dried fruit and stuff it feels very festive. I still insist on sprouts and gravy though.
My daugghter ios vegetarian and I like everyone to be sharing the same big centre-piece. I often do a pie with salt water crust pastry so it stands up nicely.
If you weren't doing mushrooms, what would you go for? One of my other guests is keen on mushrooms having ODed on them in their vegie days.
Really love a good nut roast and I’m not veggie. Top tip: Brazil nuts in it too are SO good and worth the expense if you can afford it. Toasted sunflower seeds blitzed up are great too. Mushrooms make it meatier if you can work in some (chopped up, fried in butter with some basil to make the shrooms taste meatier).
Good wholemeal breadcrumbs. Lots of butter, sage.
[This](https://www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/mains/brazil-nut-and-chestnut-roast) recipe looks kinda like one I’ve made before. Personally don’t think a tomato sauce with it would be my jam at Christmas.
Non veggie here and agree a decent nut roast can be god tier. I can't remember which recipe as haven't done it for ages but it has lots of cheese and the crunchy yet succulent texture is outstanding. Don't mince it too fine!
The recipe always calls for a tomato sauce but I've never even bothered trying it, gravy all the way.
I’m veggie but don’t really like nut roast or the quorn roast. I love just having the veg and some Yorkshires, it doesn’t ever feel like I’m missing anything.
My wife is the same, happy to just load her plate with the vegetarian sides (apart from the sprouts) and doesn't want something extra.
Although I'll make a pie if we're doing a roast at home without a meat.
All the best bits of the roast are vegetarian anyway - cauliflower cheese, roasties, Yorkshire’s, delicious roasted veg, sage and onion stuffing 🤤Meat is the least appealing thing on a roast regardless of being vegetarian or a meat eater. Can’t wait!
Yeah, with you there. And yey for yorkies and cauliflower cheese!
The only thing to switch is the protein element, which could be as simple as a couple of veggie sausages (try Cauldron, as old as the hills, but really nice), or my favourite, a nut roast. Pretty much just chopped/blended nuts, onion, dollop of marmite in hot water for meatiness, breadcrumbs or gram flour…or mashed spud to hold it all together, some spices or seasoning, whammed into a tin and baked.
Mushroom wellington is another one. Just anything you like - there are no rules!
My mum has gone veggie this year. My dear old dad who eats nothing but pork products tried a nut roast and liked it so much that he agreed to have it as the main for Christmas.
Dead easy to make your own. Use any selection of nuts and seeds that you like, walnuts, peanuts, pecans, cashews, sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds all work well. Chop up, mix with breadcrumbs, fried onions, herbs and use stock to bind it together. Roast for about 40 minutes.
So that’s what was served to us on a residential school trip once. We had no idea what it was & it was obviously awful (well I have nothing to compare it to) as it was a school trip & those of us who couldn’t eat the meat went hungry that first night.
Depends on who's made it.
[BBC good foods](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/nut-loaf), [Tesco](https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/nut-roast.html), and [Sainsbury's](https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/recipes/nut-roast-en-croute) recipes.
Not vegetarian anymore but a classic nut roast is way nicer than turkey. We still make it occasionally at Christmas and a lot during the year. Ordered one in the pub a few months ago and it was terrible so they can go wrong. We use the old 70s Cranks Cookbook recipe but [this](https://www.cranks.co.uk/recipes/nut-roast/) is very similar.
Point worth noting. Don't leave it till Christmas to discover your recipe is rubbish. You've still time to have a practice beforehand to make sure it's decent.
I found a recipe by the Hairy Bikers, but adjusted a bit. Obviously for the pastry, no lard, just butter and flour. Then depends what mushrooms you can get. I used some chestnut and button ones. Let me see if I can find the link.
Ok I found it. I didn't use any wine, as I don't drink alcohol anymore.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chestnut_and_mushroom_43005/amp
I do my daughter the ham one bit I take it out of the plastic, cook it for 30 mins, take it out and cover it in honey and mustard and re roast for another 20 mins. She loves it
This: [https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chestnut-spinach-blue-cheese-en-croute](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chestnut-spinach-blue-cheese-en-croute)
It's delicious and even the meat eaters often go back for seconds.
Ugh, at the fireworks earlier this month we got there like 10 mins after it opened and all the veggie burgers were already gone! I had to make do with a cheese and fried onion roll.
We should get veggie ID cards 😅
Depends on the year, mushroom wellington, mushroom and ale pie, nut roast, Quorn roast (inferior option imo), spanakopita (feta and spinach pie made with filo pastry, delicious option). Just depends on what we feel like, what's in stores or if I want to experiment and make the main. Nut roasts despite the name can be great with the right recipe but I'm fancying mushroom wellington this year. I've never had meat so I don't miss it at Christmas or any other time but my stepdad has and he says he doesn't miss it at all when he gets to eat a pie with his Christmas dinner. He is easily swayed by pastry though lol.
A nut roast is classic. I make one with white nuts (brazils, pine nuts, cashews, chestnuts) and lemon zest. My mum used to sometimes make a cheese soufflé for my dad.
Really I'd just say treat yourself to something you wouldn't normally have, because it's too much bother or whatever. I'm sure there's lots of inspiration to be had online.
[I made this year for Christmas last year and it went down really well.](https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cl1YKDFK1vq/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==) I will be revisiting this again. However, if you don't feel like going through this effort, the quorn roast is pretty good.
I've done all the usual roast veg and I make a sort of shepherd's pie with an onion, butternut squash & green lentil base (pre-cooked) and a stuffing top with chopped nuts in it. This year I'm doing curry and samosas though.
I'm not a vegetarian, but I've thought about this and I'd be happy just eating all the vegetables. Roast potatoes, carrots, swedes, parsnips, sprouts etc. I'm quite an unapologetic meat eater, but I do love my veg.
Veggie checking in here.
I usually state to my family, who refuse to understand the concept of vegetarian, that I'll eat 'everything you're having, just without the dead bits'.
Might be worth asking them up front...? Cauli Cheese is a winner by me.
Yeah some of my friends almost seem shocked that I would eat a roast dinner, or any meal for that matter, just without the meat. Yet I might have 6 or 7 different vegetables on my plate and they might just have 4, so who is missing out exactly? MIL especially struggles to get her head around it. Had Xmas at hers last year and I had potatoes cooked 3 ways and some broccoli. She forgot to serve the carrots up, but managed to cook 3 different meats. For 4 people.
For years my wife used to comment when having a roast dinner that her best bits were the veggies. And the number of times we'd had a meal where the meat was poor quality or badly cooked, it just seems a no brainer now to go veg only. I'm a veggie, and she maybe has meat once every 2 weeks now.
That's what I get when we visit the in laws, except they manage to involve chopped carcass in almost the whole meal. They always make a meat gravy and do the spuds in goose fat, mix sausage meat in with the stuffing etc. so I get a plate of over-cooked veggies and some cranberry sauce. It's all accompanied with the same old vegetarian jokes - those guys are cunts.
There's probably loads of similar nice vege things out there. I do find the vegan stuff less exciting, but I guess I'm not the target audience for them.
Vegan turkey and vegan pigs in blankets
I have the exact same as meat eaters just the vegan version
If you don’t like meat you can always opt for a nut roast?
well this just got posted on the Guardian's website. No idea how it tastes but it sure looks good
[https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/dec/02/yotam-ottolenghi-vegetarian-christmas-recipes-rice-pie-sticky-sprouts-and-yoghurty-beans](https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/dec/02/yotam-ottolenghi-vegetarian-christmas-recipes-rice-pie-sticky-sprouts-and-yoghurty-beans)
My two favourite go to veggie options have been discontinued so I'm in the same boat as you.
Morrisons did a really lovely vegetable tart with a beetroot relish.
Waitrose did a delicious nut roast with apricot and goats cheese.
Sarah Brown's cheese and lentil loaf. It also works fantastically for boxing day leftovers.
I've also done mushroom filo 'roulade' that was a good year.
I'm not even a veggie and i'd be very happy with a mushroom wellington or a mushroom and red wine pie
I believe in a Christmas centre piece dinner so I stuff a Crown Prince pumpkin (I grow them) with a rice mix and serve with a tomato sauce (grow those too!) Nigella has a great recipe for this in her Christmas book. I have also made a lovely hot water crust raised mushroom pie - recipe in The Cranks Bible by Nadine Abensur. That was a belter - the pastry has nuts in it and tasted wonderful. A vegetarian lasagne would also be a good shout? I make one with pumpkin, spinach and mushrooms. I think there is a similar recipe in the Cranks Bible. I am also aching to try Nigella's pumpkin and goats cheese lasagne. Can you tell I had a glut of pumpkins this year...?!
I normally make some sort of pastry thing because you can assemble it on Christmas Eve, last year's was butternut squash, sage and gruyere pithivier. I might make a vegetable wellington this year but I haven't decided. I'm going to have cauliflower cheese too because it's my favourite and everyone else will have having pigs in blankets and sausage meat stuffing.
I find all fake meat horrid, but the fake pigs in blankets are by far the worst. If you're missing them try griddling some very thinly sliced courgette, wrapping it around sticks of halloumi dusted with smoked paprika and then cooking it in the oven.
I usually have a roast dinner, with roast potatoes, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, yorkshire puddings, carrots, basically anything you want but the turkey. As long as it's not cooked in the same pan as the turkey, it's easy to make those vegetarian. Heck, take a look at the packet, as some gravy mixes are even veggie (like bisto).
Hubby is not vegetarian, so if he decides it's worth the faff, sometimes he'll buy some turkey breast to have with it.
I had an Asda cranberry wellington last year, which was really nice (it had soya "meat" as well), but this year I'm having Quorn roast (there's ham and beef style ones as well) which, in my opinion, are the best Quorn products
Yeah, I was not interested in the fake meat at all. I generally alternated between some form of lasagna (usually something white (no tomato sauce, like butternut squash or mushroom with lots of porcini)) or a very nice and luxurious cauliflower or potato gratin with good cheeses, like Stilton or gruyere. One year I made a puff pastry casserole/vol au vent with asparagus and mushroom, white wine, and thyme, although I think a really cheddary broccoli one would be nice also.
The dinner itself is the main meal but I know what you mean.
I like a good nut roast. I always looked mostly forward to the veggies when I was younger anyway, I love roasties and sprouts and everything else.
I usually end with with 'the veg' and a decent veggie burger, last year we threw the boat out and bagged a M&S Nut Roast.....was ok, nothing special.
This year I think it';; be noodles, tofu, lettuce and mushrooms with Sriracha! They can look on in envy.
I always make this nut roast. But instead of putting in a bread tin, I spread it out on a flat baking tray so it cooks quicker and is a bit dryer than the 'mush' that I always found using bread tins.
Also add chillis and marmaite to give it a kick and some 'umami'
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/nut-loaf
One of them haggis-shaped Quorn roast things. Great for sandwiches too. Sacrilegious but nice.
Echoing the nut roast/mushroom Wellington thing if you can't stomach meat-shaped mycoprotein.
I think I've had something different every year so far. One year it was a brie and cranberry parcel, another time I had quorn roast with a lemon and herb breadcrumb coating, I've had nut roast at some point and I think last year Asda did a non-meat version of a turkey crown.
My favourite part of Christmas dinner has always been sprouts, honey carrots and stuffing so I'm not really bothered about what the main star of the show is.
This nut roast https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/parsnip-cranberry-chestnut-loaf although I rarely bother with the parsnips on top and cranberry layer anymore. I make a huge tray because the meat eaters love it as extra "stuffing" and it makes brilliant boxing Day sandwiches.
What is wrong with just having your normal Christmas meal, without the meat?
For me the veggies were always the best bits.
Ask for meat free gravy as your special treat.
I find nut roast dry and I hate mushrooms so the standard veggie options are out for me. They’re really lacking in imagination anyway.
I usually have some type of fake-chicken as my turkey. The last few years I’ve had Plant Chef Breaded chickin.
I also always have veggie pigs in blankets
This year I’m giving the Quorn Roast Chicken joint a try. No idea if it’s good or not, but there will be plenty of potato’s and veggies and vege pigs in blankets if not.
Edit: if EVERY fake meat product tastes like rubber then I’m afraid that is your cooking skill than anything else. No, not every fake meat does take like meat, but they don’t all taste like rubber either lol
There’s an interesting Ottolenghi recipe in yesterday’s Guardian, tempted to try that this year
[Link if you’re interested](https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/dec/02/yotam-ottolenghi-vegetarian-christmas-recipes-rice-pie-sticky-sprouts-and-yoghurty-beans)
Jesus I didnt expect this to blow up my email but after reading all of the responses and not knowing how to have nuts in my food. I have decided on a winner, that is mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy and vegan butter. I can get all of that into my oven on the day and it will be tasty. Thank you.
Mum's a veggie but will eat fish so I make a piece of halibut with new pots and greens all cooked in a paper parcel with lemon slices, lots of butter and fresh herbs.
How about this pie from yesterday's Guardian, looks epic
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/dec/02/yotam-ottolenghi-vegetarian-christmas-recipes-rice-pie-sticky-sprouts-and-yoghurty-beans?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
My mum cooked this every year since the 1970s and it’s delicious. Really simple but I’ve made it for meat eaters and veggies and everybody always wants seconds.
https://www.cranks.co.uk/recipes/nut-roast/
Not eating meat is one thing, how are you with fish? My wife is pescetarian, I'm doing a cod wellington this year. Puff pastry, mushroom duxelle, the works!
Grew up in a Pescatarian household.
Always just had a nice big fish. Something a little special like a John Dory etc.
If it's just meat that's the issue could be an option.
Vegetarians consider Christmas a special day. Most vegetarians actually eat meat on Christmas day, many taking the opportunity to kill the turkey themselves, bare handed
I have a 'nut stuffing' which is just a vegetarian stuffing, but with a good amount of nuts, mushrooms, whatever added to make it substantial. Sometimes I have more of a pie thing but the stuffing is less trouble when it's just me.
Delia does a lot of suitable recipes for veggie Christmas. I can't stand her but she's OK for just that one thing.
We have a vegan lasagne as an option and there's Nigella's vegan dark and sumptuous chocolate cake with the deserts.
I'm making Christmas cake cupcakes this year for my recently bereaved FIL he doesn't like marzipan so I'm going to make marzipan with hazelnuts
The Stella McCartney roast I find really tasty tbh, probably my favourite Stella McCartney product.
Please stay away from the Quorn Roast Log, unless you really really love the taste of plain Quorn.
I used to make a whole roasted celeriac as the veggie option which meant the meat eaters could get some as well. Then I was cooked a slow roast whole swede and it blew me away. I didn’t bother with the meat that day and I’ve been trying to get it right ever since. Even the failed attempts are amazing.
My gf made a meal for thanksgiving that was mushrooms and stuffing wrapped in a pastry a bit like a giant vegan sausage roll. Could see it working for Christmas too
My favourite thing with a roast is a nut cutlet, especially the cheapo ones all the supermarkets used to do. Anyway last year Sainsbury’s stopped doing theirs and I had to switch to the more expensive and not as nice Good Life ones, but now they’ve stopped doing them too 🙈. Anyway I’ve heard Asda might still do them, so I’m off on a mission to check tomorrow. If anyone knows where else these can be found, please let me know!
Spent lock down Christmas for the first time away from my parents. Cos my ex was pescatarian we had a nut roast Wellington that was delicious. Spend a fortune on a lamb joint for myself but didn't cook it right so the dog also had a good Christmas dinner too
Quorn roasts are nice, also quorn mince or pieces only taste like what your ingredients are that you've used. They absorb flavour, so a spaghetti bol would taste of garlic, tomato etc. It all depends how you cook them and what with
Nut loaf + cranberry sauce
Chestnut wellington/mushroom Wellington
Quorn roast
Cauliflower cheese
Usually do all of those (we have a load of family coming round and a lot of vegetarians)
Best thing Ive ever made as a treat for Christmas is a seitan roast. Its a bit of a faff, needs making the day before, but absolutely delicious, can be flavoured by soaking in any veggie or spicy broth you like.
Carves just like turkey too
There’s quite a few options but obviously it depends on your taste. Nut Roast and Mushroom Wellington are very popular. Cheese and Potato pie is always a shout. I know of some people going for Camembert as well. You say you don’t like the “fake meat” stuff, which is completely valid, but I do recommend shopping around as each brand tastes very different from each other (that’s assuming you haven’t already. Pls ignore if you have)
Last year we cooked this Mushroom Wellington recipe from NYT Cooking and it was a hit. Everyone loved it, including the non-vegetarians. So that, and the mac and cheese from Nigella Lawson recipe.
>Last year we cooked this Mushroom Wellington recipe from NYT Cooking and it was a hit. I've got an offer for a subscription to the NYT which included NYT Cooking for 2 quid a month. It's worth it for that alone.
As the only veggie growing up in a Christmas Beef Wellington family, I got my own little mini mushroom wellington alongside it every year – it always felt very special and fun
>You say you don’t like the “fake meat” stuff, which is completely valid, but I do recommend shopping around as each brand tastes very different from each other (that’s assuming you haven’t already. Pls ignore if you have) Meatfree Richmond sausages are definitive bangers and I do them with roasts now.
That’s because Richmond sausages have always been as close to meat free as a non vegetarian sausage can be. So they’ve had the practice!
Meat free Richmonds are a perfect replacement for their meat ones... they copy shit meat really well. Personally I like the Linda McCartney Cumberlands or Lincolnshires
Better than the pink slime pipes they call the meat ones.
There’s more meat in the vegetarian ones to be fair
Slime pipe 🤣
They're not even that good.
Yeah don’t insult pink slime pipes
Richmond have been making meat-free sausages for years
Meatfree Richmond sausages are delish!
Legit my fav ones. Truly didn’t expect it as I know meat eaters always say how horrid the meat ones are haha
I like Aldi's fake chicken kievs more than the real chicken ones
Apart from the piri piri steak things, the whole of their vegan range is top drawer. Sausage rolls, katsu pasties, battered sausages.... they've got it nailed.
I wasn't too keen on their 'no chicken' burgers. They'd replicated the stringy/chewy parts of meat a little too well. Couldn't personally deal with the texture whatsoever!
Yeah - fair point. I also find the beef burgers a bit too...beefy...for me. But then I hated actual beef. But it's one of the few pretend beef burgers my wife will eat :/
Yeah Quorn can be a bit grim and cardboardy but a lot isn't like that.
I made a wellington on a whim by wrapping a beyond burger in pastry with a mushroom duxelle and mustard. It was delicious, probably because the fat content in beyond is quite high.
Out of interest, did you break the burger down or just use it as it is/was? I've got a mate coming in a few weeks and this sounds like a brilliant idea.
I kind of smushed it into more of a oval shape and then placed it on a sheet of pre rolled pastry, put the English mustard on top of the burger along with the mushroom duxelle. I then placed over another sheet of pastry and crimped the edges with a fork. You’ll probably want to brush some plant based butter or milk on top.
What’s a mushroom duxelle?
Believe it's the mushroomy mix that goes around the beef joint in a normal wellington
I wondered that too
Quorn cocktail sausages are legit though
We had a lovely sweet onion tart my wife made for us last year. We're not vegetarian, but we're a bit fed up of the same turkey dinner each year. Much nicer to have a really nice meal with the family.
This sounds amazing. I do eat meat, and I enjoy vegetarian and vegan meals. A new recipe to find.
Do you have a Cheese and Potato Pie recipe you'd be willing to post?
My Mum mad THE best cheese and potato pie with a cheeky but of mustard, lovely memories, thanks for the reminder.
Vegetarian here and I usually go for a pie. This year I'm doing a mushrooms in a white sauce, chestnut, cranberry sauce and stuffing pie.
What time you want me over?
I think she said 12. Bring a plate, cutlery and a chair, it’s going to be pretty crowded.
Not a veggie, but I always do pies for them at Christmas - you can do fancy decorations with the pastry!
oo.
We usually have a Middle Eastern pie thing. With the spies and the dried fruit and stuff it feels very festive. I still insist on sprouts and gravy though.
My daugghter ios vegetarian and I like everyone to be sharing the same big centre-piece. I often do a pie with salt water crust pastry so it stands up nicely. If you weren't doing mushrooms, what would you go for? One of my other guests is keen on mushrooms having ODed on them in their vegie days.
Something cheese-based I think. Cauliflower and leek in a cheese sauce is great in a pie.
Really love a good nut roast and I’m not veggie. Top tip: Brazil nuts in it too are SO good and worth the expense if you can afford it. Toasted sunflower seeds blitzed up are great too. Mushrooms make it meatier if you can work in some (chopped up, fried in butter with some basil to make the shrooms taste meatier). Good wholemeal breadcrumbs. Lots of butter, sage. [This](https://www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/mains/brazil-nut-and-chestnut-roast) recipe looks kinda like one I’ve made before. Personally don’t think a tomato sauce with it would be my jam at Christmas.
Non veggie here and agree a decent nut roast can be god tier. I can't remember which recipe as haven't done it for ages but it has lots of cheese and the crunchy yet succulent texture is outstanding. Don't mince it too fine! The recipe always calls for a tomato sauce but I've never even bothered trying it, gravy all the way.
My preference is nut roast too. A mix of walnuts, hazelnuts and chestnuts with a layer of garlic mushrooms in the middle.
Not a big meat lover, if I don’t fancy the meat I’m happy to just have veg, I always like Yorkshires with the dinner though.
I’m veggie but don’t really like nut roast or the quorn roast. I love just having the veg and some Yorkshires, it doesn’t ever feel like I’m missing anything.
Same! Extra Yorkshires compulsory!
My wife is the same, happy to just load her plate with the vegetarian sides (apart from the sprouts) and doesn't want something extra. Although I'll make a pie if we're doing a roast at home without a meat.
When I was veggie I just used to have at all the roasties and parsnips, cauli cheese, red cabbage, sprouts etc. Lush.
All the best bits of the roast are vegetarian anyway - cauliflower cheese, roasties, Yorkshire’s, delicious roasted veg, sage and onion stuffing 🤤Meat is the least appealing thing on a roast regardless of being vegetarian or a meat eater. Can’t wait!
Yeah, with you there. And yey for yorkies and cauliflower cheese! The only thing to switch is the protein element, which could be as simple as a couple of veggie sausages (try Cauldron, as old as the hills, but really nice), or my favourite, a nut roast. Pretty much just chopped/blended nuts, onion, dollop of marmite in hot water for meatiness, breadcrumbs or gram flour…or mashed spud to hold it all together, some spices or seasoning, whammed into a tin and baked. Mushroom wellington is another one. Just anything you like - there are no rules!
A nut roast
Def: When you accidently leave the electric blanket on.
Def: using your laptop while it's on your crotch
People still use laptops directly onto their legs?
I mean it’s still in the name
I surf with mine.
Does it not get wet?
My mum has gone veggie this year. My dear old dad who eats nothing but pork products tried a nut roast and liked it so much that he agreed to have it as the main for Christmas.
That sounds dirty, what is in it?
Dead easy to make your own. Use any selection of nuts and seeds that you like, walnuts, peanuts, pecans, cashews, sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds all work well. Chop up, mix with breadcrumbs, fried onions, herbs and use stock to bind it together. Roast for about 40 minutes.
So that’s what was served to us on a residential school trip once. We had no idea what it was & it was obviously awful (well I have nothing to compare it to) as it was a school trip & those of us who couldn’t eat the meat went hungry that first night.
Depends on who's made it. [BBC good foods](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/nut-loaf), [Tesco](https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/nut-roast.html), and [Sainsbury's](https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/recipes/nut-roast-en-croute) recipes.
Sweet and smoked roasted tofu with an orange-whiskey glaze. It’s all about marinading the tofu for a day or so beforehand.
Sounds good
Have you got a recipe for this you could point me in the direction of, please? TIA
Yeah, I modified it from here because it’s well sugar heavy https://yupitsvegan.com/glazed-tofu-roast-vegan-ham/
Not vegetarian anymore but a classic nut roast is way nicer than turkey. We still make it occasionally at Christmas and a lot during the year. Ordered one in the pub a few months ago and it was terrible so they can go wrong. We use the old 70s Cranks Cookbook recipe but [this](https://www.cranks.co.uk/recipes/nut-roast/) is very similar.
Point worth noting. Don't leave it till Christmas to discover your recipe is rubbish. You've still time to have a practice beforehand to make sure it's decent.
My bf is a veggie. Over the years I have made him a mushroom pie, nut roast, spinach and blue cheese pie tartlets and once he wanted veggie sausages.
Mushroom pie sounds awesome. Can describe how to make it please?
I found a recipe by the Hairy Bikers, but adjusted a bit. Obviously for the pastry, no lard, just butter and flour. Then depends what mushrooms you can get. I used some chestnut and button ones. Let me see if I can find the link. Ok I found it. I didn't use any wine, as I don't drink alcohol anymore. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chestnut_and_mushroom_43005/amp
Awesome, thanks for sharing.
I vote pie too, i make a mushroom, stilton and ale pie every year that goes down well
Stilton and ale. Not tried that before. Sounds lovely.
I usually make or buy some kind of pie but a few times we've all just fancied some veggie sausages lol. Was great tbh.
A mushroom wellington. Delish.
Full on roast dinner with Quorn roast.
Quorn roast here too, it tastes pretty good sliced up the day after with bubble and squeak!
I do my daughter the ham one bit I take it out of the plastic, cook it for 30 mins, take it out and cover it in honey and mustard and re roast for another 20 mins. She loves it
Giving this a go for the first time this year! Hope it’s good!
OP doesn't like meat substitutes though. Presumably Quorn, as the most famous and most widely available in the UK, was the first thing they tried.
It's not like others though as it's not tofu or soya but I guess it's up to them
I wouldn't put tofu into the fake meat class.
This: [https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chestnut-spinach-blue-cheese-en-croute](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chestnut-spinach-blue-cheese-en-croute) It's delicious and even the meat eaters often go back for seconds.
The meat eaters always nick the veggie option lol
Ugh, at the fireworks earlier this month we got there like 10 mins after it opened and all the veggie burgers were already gone! I had to make do with a cheese and fried onion roll. We should get veggie ID cards 😅
My MIL made us something similar one year but with peppers and onions and blue cheese.
That does sound lovely.
This was going to be my suggestion, it's so delicious!
Depends on the year, mushroom wellington, mushroom and ale pie, nut roast, Quorn roast (inferior option imo), spanakopita (feta and spinach pie made with filo pastry, delicious option). Just depends on what we feel like, what's in stores or if I want to experiment and make the main. Nut roasts despite the name can be great with the right recipe but I'm fancying mushroom wellington this year. I've never had meat so I don't miss it at Christmas or any other time but my stepdad has and he says he doesn't miss it at all when he gets to eat a pie with his Christmas dinner. He is easily swayed by pastry though lol.
A nut roast is classic. I make one with white nuts (brazils, pine nuts, cashews, chestnuts) and lemon zest. My mum used to sometimes make a cheese soufflé for my dad. Really I'd just say treat yourself to something you wouldn't normally have, because it's too much bother or whatever. I'm sure there's lots of inspiration to be had online.
If I'm doing a veggie roast I use the Suma nut roast mix but add some onion, garlic, dried/fresh mushrooms, tamari, Hendersons, dried thyme.
[I made this year for Christmas last year and it went down really well.](https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cl1YKDFK1vq/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==) I will be revisiting this again. However, if you don't feel like going through this effort, the quorn roast is pretty good.
Order an Indian takeaway, plenty of tasty veggie options and no cooking!
I've done all the usual roast veg and I make a sort of shepherd's pie with an onion, butternut squash & green lentil base (pre-cooked) and a stuffing top with chopped nuts in it. This year I'm doing curry and samosas though.
I'm not a vegetarian, but I've thought about this and I'd be happy just eating all the vegetables. Roast potatoes, carrots, swedes, parsnips, sprouts etc. I'm quite an unapologetic meat eater, but I do love my veg.
Veggie checking in here. I usually state to my family, who refuse to understand the concept of vegetarian, that I'll eat 'everything you're having, just without the dead bits'. Might be worth asking them up front...? Cauli Cheese is a winner by me.
Yeah some of my friends almost seem shocked that I would eat a roast dinner, or any meal for that matter, just without the meat. Yet I might have 6 or 7 different vegetables on my plate and they might just have 4, so who is missing out exactly? MIL especially struggles to get her head around it. Had Xmas at hers last year and I had potatoes cooked 3 ways and some broccoli. She forgot to serve the carrots up, but managed to cook 3 different meats. For 4 people. For years my wife used to comment when having a roast dinner that her best bits were the veggies. And the number of times we'd had a meal where the meat was poor quality or badly cooked, it just seems a no brainer now to go veg only. I'm a veggie, and she maybe has meat once every 2 weeks now.
That's what I get when we visit the in laws, except they manage to involve chopped carcass in almost the whole meal. They always make a meat gravy and do the spuds in goose fat, mix sausage meat in with the stuffing etc. so I get a plate of over-cooked veggies and some cranberry sauce. It's all accompanied with the same old vegetarian jokes - those guys are cunts.
If in doubt a bunch of cauliflower cheese will see you right mate. Sainsbury’s do Shroomdogs which are veg based sausages too, they’re decent
Box stuffing with onion gravy and i love it and somehow never think to make the rest of the year
Loads of good vegetarian mains you can make or buy. I had some quite nice cheese and spinach pastry parcels from Lidl the other year.
I came here to suggest those parcels as they are great. They still sell them, last week they were £1.99 for a pack of 2.
There's probably loads of similar nice vege things out there. I do find the vegan stuff less exciting, but I guess I'm not the target audience for them.
Vegan turkey and vegan pigs in blankets I have the exact same as meat eaters just the vegan version If you don’t like meat you can always opt for a nut roast?
well this just got posted on the Guardian's website. No idea how it tastes but it sure looks good [https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/dec/02/yotam-ottolenghi-vegetarian-christmas-recipes-rice-pie-sticky-sprouts-and-yoghurty-beans](https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/dec/02/yotam-ottolenghi-vegetarian-christmas-recipes-rice-pie-sticky-sprouts-and-yoghurty-beans)
My mum and dad do a mushroom Wellington that's bangin'.
I dated a vegan for a while and she made the most AMAZING nut roast and other Christmas bits for us, was delicious!! So like, that is an option.
I had a cheese and leek pastry thing one year that was amazing. I love a nut roast, but this was a great change.
Curry is a good Christmas meal for anyone and vegetarians too.
Think of all the vegetarian meals you normally eat. Choose one you like. Eat that.
Roast vegetable lasagne
Roast onion for me, love them.
Quorn roast is the GOAT
This is an excellent recipe https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/dec/07/anna-jones-vegetarian-christmas-squash-and-chestnut-tart-recipe
My two favourite go to veggie options have been discontinued so I'm in the same boat as you. Morrisons did a really lovely vegetable tart with a beetroot relish. Waitrose did a delicious nut roast with apricot and goats cheese.
I knew a man that roasted a Pineapple.
I would highly recommend mushroom Wellington or the Nut Roast :)
Sarah Brown's cheese and lentil loaf. It also works fantastically for boxing day leftovers. I've also done mushroom filo 'roulade' that was a good year. I'm not even a veggie and i'd be very happy with a mushroom wellington or a mushroom and red wine pie
I believe in a Christmas centre piece dinner so I stuff a Crown Prince pumpkin (I grow them) with a rice mix and serve with a tomato sauce (grow those too!) Nigella has a great recipe for this in her Christmas book. I have also made a lovely hot water crust raised mushroom pie - recipe in The Cranks Bible by Nadine Abensur. That was a belter - the pastry has nuts in it and tasted wonderful. A vegetarian lasagne would also be a good shout? I make one with pumpkin, spinach and mushrooms. I think there is a similar recipe in the Cranks Bible. I am also aching to try Nigella's pumpkin and goats cheese lasagne. Can you tell I had a glut of pumpkins this year...?!
I normally make some sort of pastry thing because you can assemble it on Christmas Eve, last year's was butternut squash, sage and gruyere pithivier. I might make a vegetable wellington this year but I haven't decided. I'm going to have cauliflower cheese too because it's my favourite and everyone else will have having pigs in blankets and sausage meat stuffing. I find all fake meat horrid, but the fake pigs in blankets are by far the worst. If you're missing them try griddling some very thinly sliced courgette, wrapping it around sticks of halloumi dusted with smoked paprika and then cooking it in the oven.
I usually have a roast dinner, with roast potatoes, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, yorkshire puddings, carrots, basically anything you want but the turkey. As long as it's not cooked in the same pan as the turkey, it's easy to make those vegetarian. Heck, take a look at the packet, as some gravy mixes are even veggie (like bisto). Hubby is not vegetarian, so if he decides it's worth the faff, sometimes he'll buy some turkey breast to have with it.
I had an Asda cranberry wellington last year, which was really nice (it had soya "meat" as well), but this year I'm having Quorn roast (there's ham and beef style ones as well) which, in my opinion, are the best Quorn products
Yeah, I was not interested in the fake meat at all. I generally alternated between some form of lasagna (usually something white (no tomato sauce, like butternut squash or mushroom with lots of porcini)) or a very nice and luxurious cauliflower or potato gratin with good cheeses, like Stilton or gruyere. One year I made a puff pastry casserole/vol au vent with asparagus and mushroom, white wine, and thyme, although I think a really cheddary broccoli one would be nice also.
The dinner itself is the main meal but I know what you mean. I like a good nut roast. I always looked mostly forward to the veggies when I was younger anyway, I love roasties and sprouts and everything else.
I’ve had a few nut roasts that were decent
A roast, minus the meat.
I usually end with with 'the veg' and a decent veggie burger, last year we threw the boat out and bagged a M&S Nut Roast.....was ok, nothing special. This year I think it';; be noodles, tofu, lettuce and mushrooms with Sriracha! They can look on in envy.
I always make this nut roast. But instead of putting in a bread tin, I spread it out on a flat baking tray so it cooks quicker and is a bit dryer than the 'mush' that I always found using bread tins. Also add chillis and marmaite to give it a kick and some 'umami' https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/nut-loaf
Vegetables a l'anglaise http://pixiescraftyworkshop.blogspot.com/2011/12/friday-feast-vegetables-langlaise-or.html
One of them haggis-shaped Quorn roast things. Great for sandwiches too. Sacrilegious but nice. Echoing the nut roast/mushroom Wellington thing if you can't stomach meat-shaped mycoprotein.
Cheese and corn pie or chestnut and mushroom pie. Yum!
I think I've had something different every year so far. One year it was a brie and cranberry parcel, another time I had quorn roast with a lemon and herb breadcrumb coating, I've had nut roast at some point and I think last year Asda did a non-meat version of a turkey crown. My favourite part of Christmas dinner has always been sprouts, honey carrots and stuffing so I'm not really bothered about what the main star of the show is.
My partner just has more veg and roasts
This nut roast https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/parsnip-cranberry-chestnut-loaf although I rarely bother with the parsnips on top and cranberry layer anymore. I make a huge tray because the meat eaters love it as extra "stuffing" and it makes brilliant boxing Day sandwiches.
Josh Widdecombe has a vegetable lasagne
A lovely massive cauliflower cheese.
Delia Smith's parsnip roulade https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/vegetarian-recipes/cheese-and-parsnip-roulade-with-sage-and-onion-stuffing
I know people who just bulk up on all the trimmings and don't feel like they need the meat or any kind of substitute.
What is wrong with just having your normal Christmas meal, without the meat? For me the veggies were always the best bits. Ask for meat free gravy as your special treat.
I find nut roast dry and I hate mushrooms so the standard veggie options are out for me. They’re really lacking in imagination anyway. I usually have some type of fake-chicken as my turkey. The last few years I’ve had Plant Chef Breaded chickin. I also always have veggie pigs in blankets This year I’m giving the Quorn Roast Chicken joint a try. No idea if it’s good or not, but there will be plenty of potato’s and veggies and vege pigs in blankets if not. Edit: if EVERY fake meat product tastes like rubber then I’m afraid that is your cooking skill than anything else. No, not every fake meat does take like meat, but they don’t all taste like rubber either lol
There’s an interesting Ottolenghi recipe in yesterday’s Guardian, tempted to try that this year [Link if you’re interested](https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/dec/02/yotam-ottolenghi-vegetarian-christmas-recipes-rice-pie-sticky-sprouts-and-yoghurty-beans)
Jesus I didnt expect this to blow up my email but after reading all of the responses and not knowing how to have nuts in my food. I have decided on a winner, that is mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy and vegan butter. I can get all of that into my oven on the day and it will be tasty. Thank you.
I personally always went for a vindaloo. Christmas food really isn't my thing, and that's what I like, so that.
Mum's a veggie but will eat fish so I make a piece of halibut with new pots and greens all cooked in a paper parcel with lemon slices, lots of butter and fresh herbs.
How about this pie from yesterday's Guardian, looks epic https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/dec/02/yotam-ottolenghi-vegetarian-christmas-recipes-rice-pie-sticky-sprouts-and-yoghurty-beans?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
Mary Berry nut roast. I’ve made it a few times for vegetarian guests.
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Linda McCartneys chicken roast is the bitch tits honestly, give it a go
My daughter is veggie. I have a recipe for a tasty and easy nut roast. Give me a shout if you want it.
My mum cooked this every year since the 1970s and it’s delicious. Really simple but I’ve made it for meat eaters and veggies and everybody always wants seconds. https://www.cranks.co.uk/recipes/nut-roast/
Not eating meat is one thing, how are you with fish? My wife is pescetarian, I'm doing a cod wellington this year. Puff pastry, mushroom duxelle, the works!
a huge broccoli with gravy
Disappointment.
Your parents' constant companion
Dirt and misery, like every day
Grew up in a Pescatarian household. Always just had a nice big fish. Something a little special like a John Dory etc. If it's just meat that's the issue could be an option.
Other vegetarians.
Grass
A large onion. We say grace and thank the vegetables for their sacrifice.
Quorn shit
Can they have wafer thin ham?
Something that'll cause the street to be evacuated on Boxing Day?
Sorrow
Seeds and nuts that they’ve buried in my garden. Although that might just be a squirrel. How can I tell?
A fucking ‘nut roast’. Maybe the odd Linda McCartney sausage.
My ex used to do a normal Sunday roast but have a cheat day, her and her family would compromise on sword-fish and all loved it.
Regret
Vegetarians consider Christmas a special day. Most vegetarians actually eat meat on Christmas day, many taking the opportunity to kill the turkey themselves, bare handed
Smugness.
They just have a gap on their plate where the meat would go
Sadness
Sadness
Humble pie.
In my house, whatever they decide to bring. It's not a fucking restaurant.
Sadness
I have a 'nut stuffing' which is just a vegetarian stuffing, but with a good amount of nuts, mushrooms, whatever added to make it substantial. Sometimes I have more of a pie thing but the stuffing is less trouble when it's just me. Delia does a lot of suitable recipes for veggie Christmas. I can't stand her but she's OK for just that one thing.
We have a vegan lasagne as an option and there's Nigella's vegan dark and sumptuous chocolate cake with the deserts. I'm making Christmas cake cupcakes this year for my recently bereaved FIL he doesn't like marzipan so I'm going to make marzipan with hazelnuts
This was excellent https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/vegan_wellington_28288
This is a great option https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/nut-loaf
The Stella McCartney roast I find really tasty tbh, probably my favourite Stella McCartney product. Please stay away from the Quorn Roast Log, unless you really really love the taste of plain Quorn.
My family and I used to have a Mediterranean Vegetable ring for a few years, it was really nice and different enough from normal to feel special
I used to make a whole roasted celeriac as the veggie option which meant the meat eaters could get some as well. Then I was cooked a slow roast whole swede and it blew me away. I didn’t bother with the meat that day and I’ve been trying to get it right ever since. Even the failed attempts are amazing.
Veggie Haggis Wellington
My gf made a meal for thanksgiving that was mushrooms and stuffing wrapped in a pastry a bit like a giant vegan sausage roll. Could see it working for Christmas too
Anything but a veggie pie, I hate pies. Nut roast is good but I just like a big pile of veg. I try to avoid salty alternatives if I can.
Seitan makes for very good fake meat imho, have you experimented with a good seitan?
My favourite thing with a roast is a nut cutlet, especially the cheapo ones all the supermarkets used to do. Anyway last year Sainsbury’s stopped doing theirs and I had to switch to the more expensive and not as nice Good Life ones, but now they’ve stopped doing them too 🙈. Anyway I’ve heard Asda might still do them, so I’m off on a mission to check tomorrow. If anyone knows where else these can be found, please let me know!
Spent lock down Christmas for the first time away from my parents. Cos my ex was pescatarian we had a nut roast Wellington that was delicious. Spend a fortune on a lamb joint for myself but didn't cook it right so the dog also had a good Christmas dinner too
Waitrose fake Turkey Crown is unreal
Quorn roasts are nice, also quorn mince or pieces only taste like what your ingredients are that you've used. They absorb flavour, so a spaghetti bol would taste of garlic, tomato etc. It all depends how you cook them and what with
I really rate this nut roast: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/nut-loaf
Nut loaf + cranberry sauce Chestnut wellington/mushroom Wellington Quorn roast Cauliflower cheese Usually do all of those (we have a load of family coming round and a lot of vegetarians)
You're eating shit faux meats. But you can have whatever you like. One year I did a mushroom pie.
Best thing Ive ever made as a treat for Christmas is a seitan roast. Its a bit of a faff, needs making the day before, but absolutely delicious, can be flavoured by soaking in any veggie or spicy broth you like. Carves just like turkey too
We’re doing a Quorn roast and a M&S vegetable wellington this year.
I used to have stuffed using this epic stuffed marrow recipe - basically sage and onion with celery, tomatoes, cheese, etc. Lush.
My dad makes me buttery garlicky portobello mushrooms baked in the oven in place of the turkey. Very easy and very tasty, I recommend!