Holiday Vegetarian Recipes

If you’re hosting a family or friends holiday meal, it is likely you’ll have at least one person attending who is a vegetarian. Perhaps your entire family has decided to forego meat, but you don’t want visiting holiday attendees to feel slighted when they don’t find a large roasted fowl at the center of the table. You can prepare a hearty, satisfying and festive vegetarian holiday meal without the use of meat or meat products. 

Concentrate on Hearty Dishes

Part of the problem with having a vegetarian meal is that you don’t want it to feel like you’re serving a lot of side dishes for the holiday. Prepare main dish recipes to counter that trend, such as a hearty shepherd’s pie. Saute vegetarian crumbles (they can be found in most grocer’s freezer sections) with onions and beef-flavored onion soup.  Oddly, most beef-flavored dry soup packets have no beef in them.  Check the ingredients list to make sure.  Once you’ve infused the vegetarian crumbles with flavoring, add mixed vegetables such as diced carrots and peas. Spread the mixture into a sprayed baking pan, and cover with mashed potatoes. Bake the dish at 375 degrees until cooked through and the peaks of the potatoes are browned.

If you insist on having a holiday recipe resembling turkey, stores such as Whole Foods will often carry vegan "turkey" roasts, made of tofu or other soy and grain products. Or, you can check your grocer’s freezer department for a product called Quorn, which is becoming increasingly popular for its close resemblance in taste to poultry. Make a hearty vegetarian Quorn casserole recipe for the holiday meal by dicing pieces of Quorn (either breaded or unbreaded will suffice, depending on the texture you would like) and mixing them with chopped broccoli, diced potatoes cheese, sour cream and a can of cream of broccoli or mushroom soup. Sprinkle some cheese on the top and bake at 400 degrees until it is warmed through and the cheese is melted.

Choose Traditional Side Dishes

Now that you have tasty, hearty vegetarian main dish recipes for your holiday meal, add to the smells and flavors of the holiday by creating traditional and delicious side dishes. Mash sweet potatoes with butter, and add a dash of apple cider for delicious fall flavor. Roast root vegetables such as carrots, turnips, beets and potatoes with a drizzle of olive oil and fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme. 

Make a vegetarian stuffing by mixing three cups of bread crumbs with 1/2 cup melted butter, two small diced onions, a few pinches of marjoram and thyme, chopped parsley and mushrooms, and a little vegetable stock, and bake it at 375 degrees until it firms up.

Don’t Forget Desserts and Drinks

Aside from hearty main dishes and traditional side dish recipes, desserts and holiday drinks are naturally vegetarian. Guests who see a table groaning with beautiful pumpkin or cherry pies, cranberry and orange zest salad, and a crock pot full of mulled wine or spiced cider won’t even remember there was no turkey or ham vying for their attention. 

Your holiday meal will be a hit if you concentrate on delicious, filling dishes full of the smells and spices of your traditions.