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My very first vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner - traditional and classic "must-have" side dishes (total of 7 delicious vegetarian sides) with vegan breaded turkey-less stuffed roast from Trader Joe's!

Vegetarian thanksgiving dinner plate - green bean, cranberry sauce, vegan turkey, mac and cheese, mashed potato, stuffing, and roasted broccoli and cauliflower

Hello! How was your Thanksgiving? Mine was FANTASTIC!!!

I love Thanksgiving dinner food. So I was little worried that I’d miss out on one of my favorite meal of the year when I decided to become a vegetarian. I mean, seriously, what is the point of Thanksgiving dinner without turkey?!!

What I didn’t realize is that turkey was never the star of the meal. It was always the yummy side dishes that made Thanksgiving dinner shine! Plus, since my dinner was vegetarian not vegan/plant-based, I didn’t really have to make much adjustments. The only adjustment was to use homemade chicken flavor bouillon powder in the place of chicken stock to make my stuffing and gravy. That’s it!!

Sauteed green bean, vegan turkey, and roasted broccoli and cauliflower on a plate with side of cranberry sauce and red wine in the background

When it comes to turkey, my original plan was to bake a small turkey breast for my husband. But when he saw that I picked up Trader Joe's vegan breaded turkey-less stuffed roast, he said he'd try that with me. Bless his heart for being such a supportive husband.

As far as the taste goes, husband did not hate the vegan turkey-less roast. By the way, my husband really dislike the taste of fake/mock meat. I personally liked the taste and the stuffing it came inside the roast was seasoned well. So overall, the turkey-less roast was a success!

Cranberry apple sauce, sweet potato casserole, mashed garlic potato, and stuffing

What I made for vegetarian Thanksgiving sides:

Sautéed green beans with garlic - A quick sautéed of minced garlic and green beans with olive oil. I seasoned with salt and pepper.
Homemade cranberry apple sauce - I used this recipe. I bought only 8 ounces of fresh cranberry so I scaled down the recipe significantly. I also added one small size apple (finely diced).
Vegan breaded turkey-less stuffed roast from Trader Joe's.
Garlic Mashed potato - your classic mashed potato. What makes a garlic mashed potato you asked? I added 2 cloves of smashed peeled garlic when I boil my potato and mashed them together. I used almond milk, butter, and salt.
Roasted broccoli and cauliflower - I simply roasted those veggies at 400F for 15 minutes. I dressed with with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Sweet potato casserole - this is the recipe that I loosely followed. I scaled down the recipe and I didn't have to use butter and half and half to mash my sweet potato since it was pretty moist. I also didn't use orange zest (or juice) and ground ginger.
Gravy for turkey-less roast and mashed potato - I made a roux using butter and flour. Added soy milk and seasoned with vegan chicken flavor bouillon powder.
Grandma's classic stuffing - this is how my grandma taught me how to make stuffing. Stuffing is one of my favorite side and her recipe is vegetarian friendly so this made me very happy!

Picture of vegetarian stuffing in the baking pan

Grandma's Thanksgiving Stuffing

Print Recipe

Vegetarian friendly Thanksgiving stuffing. It's made with celery, carrots, onion, bread, veggie stock, eggs, and classic herbs.

Author: George
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 70 min
Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Yield: 8 to 10 servings 1x
Category: Side Dish
Method: Bake
Cuisine: American
Diet: Vegetarian

Ingredients

Scale

1 loaf of bread (of your choice)
2 small carrots, finely diced
5 stalks of celery, finely diced
1 medium size onion, finely diced
4 tablespoons butter
2 cups of veggie stock (or 2 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of vegan chicken flavor bouillon powder)
2 eggs
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon dried sage
salt and pepper to taste

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Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F.
Cut the bread into 1 inch cubes and spread them onto a baking sheet (I used two baking sheets). Bake the bread cubes for 10 minutes and take it out of the oven. Stir them around and bake for additional 8-10 minutes until they are crispy.
On a large size skillet, add the butter and finely diced vegetable. Sauté them until onion is translucent, about 7-10 minutes.
In a large bowl, add toasted bread cubes and sautéed vegetable. Add all the dried herbs and 2 cups of stock. Mix well until everything is well incorporated. Add 2 eggs and mix again.
Oil or butter the large baking pan (13x9 inches) and transfer the stuffing mixture. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

Notes

This is a great time to use up all the stale and dry bread.
You can use veggie stock or make your own chicken flavor vegan stock like I did. Grandma always used chicken stock so this vegan chicken flavor stock was a perfect replacement.

Keywords: vegetarian stuffing, stuffing, classic stuffing

I’m very thankful that my vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner was such a success. My husband and I both agreed that we do not miss the turkey and we would be perfectly fine having our Thanksgiving dinner like this (vegetarian style) for the rest of our lives. Hope yours was as delicious and joyful as mine.

Happy eating, friends.