7 Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes
You don’t need to live in the USA to prepare a lavish spread of decadent roasts, rich sauces, and comforting sides for Thanksgiving 2025. And you certainly don’t need to pile your table with animal bodies and secretions to do so either. These vegan Thanksgiving recipes prove that anyone, anywhere, can enjoy a cruelty-free spread for the big day – and you won’t sacrifice any taste in the process.
Thanksgiving 2025 falls on Thursday, 27 November this year – so it’s now officially time to start planning your vegan feast. Here are some of our favourite recipes to create the meat-free Thanksgiving spread of your dreams.
Why Choose a Vegan Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving may be fun for humans, but it can cause immense suffering for turkeys and other animals.
If you’re planning a Thanksgiving in the UK, you should know that around 175 million birds are killed in the November / December period in the country. On factory farms, turkeys and chickens are kept in cramped, dark sheds and spend their lives suffering in pain with broken bones, wounds, and other injuries before being strung up and having their throats cut at the slaughterhouse.
Traditional Thanksgiving dishes like creamy casseroles and mac and cheese can easily be made without using milk from animals. Just like humans, cows must give birth to produce milk. On dairy farms, workers forcibly impregnate cows year after year and take their babies away so their milk can be sold. When the cows’ bodies are worn out and the milk dries up, they’re sent to the slaughterhouse.
Create a Vegan Spread This Thanksgiving
To create a plant-based Thanksgiving, choose vegan roast recipes for traditional dishes like turkey, casserole, and gravy. Many recipes for classic Thanksgiving dishes – like Brussels sprouts, apple pie, and mashed potatoes – are often vegan as standard. Others may require a few simple adaptations to make them cruelty-free. For classics like pumpkin pie and pecan pie, it’s often as simple as replacing the non-vegan ingredients with dairy-free butter or vegan eggs. Love a cheese board? Check out these fantastic plant-based cheeses.
You can also choose some of PETA’s seven favourite vegan Thanksgiving recipes below to add to your spread. Dig in and enjoy!
Seitan Roast Stuffed with Mushrooms and Mixed Nuts
Does the idea of making an entire vegan roast from scratch make you want to run from the kitchen screaming? Well, this tasty, beautiful, and shockingly easy seitan roast is about to change your mind. Seitan is a plant-based meat made from vital wheat gluten, a protein-packed flour. You can buy it from online retailers like Amazon, or head to Holland and Barrett or Tesco. For this recipe, you simply combine it with ingredients like nutritional yeast, garlic powder, paprika, turmeric, and nutmeg. You then knead it, stuff it, pop it in the oven for a bit, and voila! You have a delicious vegan roast with absolutely zero animal parts involved.
Find the seitan roast recipe here.
Vegan Wellington
This vegetable-packed Wellington from Michelin-starred chef Alexis Gauthier is a showstopper of a main that would stand proudly at any holiday dinner. Featuring a colourful mix of carrots, beetroot, mushrooms, and mixed herbs, all complemented by soya protein for extra texture. Maple syrup adds an autumnal flavour to the Wellington, making it a must-have at any Thanksgiving feast.
Find the vegan Wellington recipe here.
Boozy Braised Red Cabbage
No roast is complete without a rich red cabbage side dish, and this boozy version is a wonderful addition to your vegan Thanksgiving recipes lineup. All you’ll need is red cabbage, mixed spice, sultanas, red onions, apple, red wine and a little bit of vegetable oil (plus some salt and pepper). This recipe has all the makings of a classic that can be enjoyed throughout the entire holiday season.
Find the red cabbage recipe here.
Chestnut and Mushroom Pie
Give your vegan Thanksgiving a British twist with a good old-fashioned pie. It couldn’t be simpler to make a rich, decadent, comforting pie with all plant-based ingredients – as this chestnut and mushroom recipe proves. In addition to a mix of mushrooms, onions, garlic, spinach, and chestnuts, you’ll need a few essential cupboard staples, such as stock powder, mixed herbs, and olive oil, as well as some red wine for added richness. Pro tip: many pre-rolled puff pastry brands you’ll find in the supermarket are vegan as standard, so no need to make your own from scratch. Make sure to always check the label before buying.
Find the chestnut and mushroom pie recipe here.
Red Wine Gravy
No roast is complete without a rich gravy, and no gravy should ever contain liquidised animal parts. This aromatic gravy is packed full of flavour from shallots, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, and – of course – red wine. While not all wines are vegan-friendly, all Marks and Spencer own-brand wine is vegan, and other supermarkets like Sainsbury’s clearly label their vegan wines.
Find the red wine gravy recipe here.
Cheesy Roast Parsnip Gratin
This Moorish, cheesy roast parsnip gratin proves just how delicious and versatile vegan cheese can be, and it’s sure to impress everyone at the dinner table.
Find the cheesy roast parsnip gratin recipe here.
Butternut Squash Macaroni Cheese
Mac and cheese is a long-time favourite on Thanksgiving tables, and this version doesn’t disappoint. Soaked cashews, nutritional yeast, and butternut squash are among the secret ingredients that are all blended together to create this delicious creamy sauce.
Find the vegan mac and cheese recipe here.
Plan a Vegan Holiday Season
There are so many diverse vegan foods and dishes you can try throughout the holiday season – here’s how to enjoy a cruelty-free Christmas.
Feel festive this December with these dairy-free and cruelty-free advent calendars.
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