Whether it’s your first year or 20th year of cooking a vegan thanksgiving menu, you always need new ideas. Check out the best vegan thanksgiving recipes for everyone!
Thanksgiving is like the Olympics of creating the best recipes all in one day (or across a few days) and being vegan doesn’t change that. You still want the absolute best vegan thanksgiving recipes to show off to all your family and friends.
But what should those recipes be? What are the best vegan thanksgiving recipes?
Luckily, we’re here to help.
We have a ton of great ideas that will fill your bellies and leave you and everyone who eats your food satisfied and wanting more. They may even say they are shocked that everything is vegan and can’t believe that vegan food can be this good. Yes, we are confident that are recipes will shock those you make them for!
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Watch our Vegan Thanksgiving Menu 2021 Video:
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of vegan Thanksgiving recipes will I find here?
- main dishes
- sides
- appetizers
- breakfasts
- desserts
- and even bread options
What do vegans eat on Thanksgiving?
For starters, vegans eat the same things that everyone else eats. Only, there are no animal products involved in their meals.
A traditional Thanksgiving meal has turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, pumpkin or sweet potato pie, and usually a lot more!
A vegan Thanksgiving menu has all of these things or some variation of them, just made in a way that doesn’t contain animal products, including eggs and dairy.
Can I make these recipes Top 8 Allergen Free?
We answer this is almost every single post we have, but since there are so many here, it’s hard to give one definitive answer.
Most of these recipes can be Top 8 Allergen Free if you follow our steps in each post.
All of the recipes below are vegan, which means they are naturally dairy and egg free if you have those allergies.
We do our best to make our recipes allergen friendly, and describe that in each post.
How do you have a vegan turkey?
This is probably the only thing that we do not currently have a recipe for. But we didn’t want to leave you empty handed if you are set on replacing that. We do have a few main dish ideas below though.
There are many store bought vegan options from companies like Tofurky and Gardein and they can usually start to be found in October as a seasonal item. These typically are made out of wheat gluten, soy, or a combination of both. Check out our vegan turkey roasts review and video!
However, we know that many of you want whole foods plant based options and so for that, we’d check out the alternatives that we listed below.
What should I do if I’m hosting a vegan over?
The best that you can do is be as accommodating as possible. Vegans have come to expect that not everything or even most of what is at a meal is going to be suitable to them; however, that doesn’t mean that you can’t surprise them.
Make simple swaps like using oil or vegan butter in recipes, especially side dishes where butter is the only non-vegan ingredient.
Get more hosting tips here.
Is it wrong to take a meal to someone’s house if I’m the only vegan?
If you don’t host Thanksgiving and you celebrate, then likely you are going somewhere else.
It’s not rude to take over a plate of things you have made ahead of time. Our first vegan Thanksgiving, we made vegan meatballs, mashed potatoes and broccoli. We put it in reusable containers and warmed it up at the host’s house.
Now, if you do this be prepared people will ask questions, but it’s a great time to expose others to veganism.
We did bring a vegan dessert to share and guess what, no one knew it was vegan. But it surely brought joy to the guest with a dairy allergy that was happy to learn there was something they could have. Everyone wins!
The Best Vegan Thanksgiving Menu
No matter what you choose, we hope you have a delicious and fun filled holiday!
Vegan Thanksgiving Breakfasts
Below are 10 ideas for a delicious vegan Thanksgiving breakfast. Don’t see what you want? No worries! Check out more than 4 dozen other vegan breakfast ideas!
Don’t see what you are looking for? We likely have it or a variation? For example, you may not want the pumpkin cinnamon rolls listed above, but we have over 25 different vegan cinnamon roll variations! Make sure you check out all our vegan breakfast ideas!
Vegan Thanksgiving Appetizers
If you have one of those families (whether you host or not) that do holidays ALL day long, then appetizers are a must. Also, if you are one of those families (no judgement) that say dinner is at 4pm, but every year it doesn’t start until at least 6pm, then you also need appetizers. Here’s some of our favorite vegan appetizer recipes!
Vegan Thanksgiving Main Dishes
These Thanksgiving Vegan main dishes are not your typical main dishes if you only usually have a turkey; however, they are vegan plant based options to switch up that we think you will love! PS: New traditions are fun!
Get even more vegan Thanksgiving main course ideas!
If you make this, we suggest, use the cauliflower as like a steak with gravy over it and not necessarily a burger (but have the burger if you want too!)
Vegan Thanksgiving Soups and Chilis
Soups and chilis are a great way to have an option that not only can you prep ahead, but that is filling, and a great addition to any meal. Here’s a few vegan soup ideas for Thanksgiving.
Vegan Thanksgiving Sides
Sides are the best part of any Thanksgiving menu, right? Honestly, you can make a whole meal with just sides and not even worry about a main dish.
Don’t see what you like, check out more than 20 vegan side dish ideas!
Here are some delicious vegan side dishes for Thanksgiving:
Looking for cold side dishes? We have you covered! From potato salad to macaroni salad, broccoli salad to quinoa salad and more! Check out our cold vegan side dishes!
Vegan Thanksgiving Bread Options
Bread is a must on any Thanksgiving menu. You need it to dip in the gravy and just yum, carbs! Here’s some delicious options:
Vegan Thanksgiving Desserts
Dessert is the best part. Thanksgiving is the biggest reason to eat all the desserts without any guilt, so check out some ideas we have below of popular choices, but check out all our vegan dessert ideas if you need more inspiration!
We could go on and on with desserts, so definitely make sure whether it’s cake, cookies or pies, that you check out even more of our vegan dessert recipes!
What’s on your vegan Thanksgiving menu? Leave a comment and let us know which vegan Thanksgiving recipes you’ll be trying!
This post was originally published on 11/17/19 and updated on 9/29/2020, 11/2/2020 and most recently 11/10/2021.
The mac and cheese is to die for!! Your recipes are my saving grace. I can’t have gluten or dairy and was missing some of my fave comfort foods. Thank you so much for sharing, and your photographs are gorgeou!
Thank you so much! We are so happy that you found us and you’re enjoying our recipes