Thanksgiving in Canada is here, and opportunities to break away from the traditional turkey dinner are widely available. Trying to live an eco-friendlier and humane lifestyle doesn’t need to be put on hold for thanksgiving traditions like these. In fact, this holiday should exemplify the attitudes and morals that it stands for. Thanksgiving is a holiday to be grateful for what we have, to be kind to others. Giving thanks to the world and those that occupy it shouldn’t be celebrated by taking the lives of others, or impact the environment in such an extreme way. Instead, try some of these vegan thanksgiving ideas that I know your whole family will enjoy. These tips and recipes will help you continue to celebrate these holidays with your family, in an all-around kinder way,
- Vegan thanksgiving ideas for turkey alternatives
- Keeping your thanksgiving side dishes vegan
- Vegan thanksgiving desserts
Vegan Thanksgiving Ideas for Turkey Alternatives
To start this post off, I’d like to provide you with some alternatives to the main course, turkey! This is the traditional animal used for consumption in the North American Thanksgiving holiday, and even Christmas. In fact, Wild turkeys were hunted and consumed for thanksgiving as far back as the 1600s. As our population has drastically increased in North America since then, turkeys have become one of the species that is being exploited within animal agriculture for people to have their traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
In 2017, Americans alone consumed 45 million turkeys for thanksgiving. In order to fill the demand for turkeys on holidays like these, turkeys are grown in overcrowded and disease-filled factory farms, and never see the light of day. Not to mention, the carbon footprint of growing, slaughtering, and cooking a turkey for dinner is approximately 55 kg of Co2 equivalents per 5 kg bird. If we multiply that by 45 million, that is 2.5 billion kg’s of CO2 equivalents, just for one meal nationwide. For me, sitting down for one meal with my family isn’t worth the environmental damage.
My top picks for vegan turkey alternatives
So what’s the alternative? It’s simple, reduce your CO2 footprint for Thanksgiving by having some vegan turkey alternatives. For me, I must choose gluten-free options, but there are many turkey alternatives you can buy that are awesome (but are not gluten-free), which I have listed for you to check out.
Vegan (non-gluten free) turkey alternatives
Vegetarian Plus- whole vegan Turkey
If you’re gluten-free like me, here are my top picks for vegan main courses at thanksgiving:
Whole roasted cauliflower with turmeric tahini sauce and pistachios
This is a great way to keep it simple and enjoy a vegetable as the main course. Personally, I think stepping outside of the traditional Thanksgiving flavours is a way to keep it fun and new. This cauliflower recipe is great with the exotic spices in the dish and is incredibly easy to make.
I love mushrooms, and this recipe is so great for creating a main dish that is earthy, and rich with umami flavours. You can make this with normal (non-gluten-free) puff pastry, but for me, I go gluten-free and vegan. This recipe goes great with mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, and some fresh roasted fall vegetables.
This recipe is super simple and also customizable. I like to use my own traditional stuffing recipe and just stuff the acorn squash with it. All the traditional thanksgiving flavours are in this dish, and of course, it goes great with vegan gravy and mashed potatoes.
Keep Your Side dishes Vegan
What comes to mind for me, for traditional side dishes, are brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, gravy, and fall roast vegetables. If we look at each of these dishes they are all essentially vegan, except for the gravy. But unfortunately, most of these dishes are prepared with dairy products or even meat products like bacon. There are some great vegan substitutes to prepare these dishes without any loss in flavour.
Mashed potatoes are simple to keep vegan, just substitute the butter and milk out for your favourite vegan alternative. You can also use olive oil and a little sprinkle of nutritional yeast for some extra cheesy flavour. Dishes like brussel sprouts and roasted vegetables can be prepared with olive oil as well. Keep the dairy out by substituting some vegan parmesan cheese, nutritional yeast, or even vegan bacon bits. Stuffing is super easy to make vegan. Most stuffing recipes are naturally vegan except for the fact that they are cooked inside the carcass of the animal. Just prepare your stuffing as usual, and cook in a casserole dish. Lastly, and most importantly is the gravy. Here is my own personal recipe that I make all the time, it is vegan using mushrooms, and gluten-free!
vegan gluten-free mushroom gravy
Ingredients
- 2 cups mixed mushrooms
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp pepper
- 1 clove garlic chopped
- 1 medium shallot
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon
- 2 cups vegan mushroom broth (gluten free)
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 tbsp soy sauce (gluten free)
- 1/4 cup water mixed with 3 tbsp rice flour
- 1/4 cup cococut milk/cream
Instructions
- Chop up your mixed mushrooms, this can be whatever size you prefer. I like to leave them pretty course to keep the mushroom texture in the gravy.
- Add the olive oil, garlic and shallot to a non-stick pan and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Add in the mixed mushrooms, and saute until tender
- Add in chopped taragon, and dry white wine and boil for 3 minutes
- Add in stock, and water rice flour mixture. Bring to a boil while whisking mixture, cook until gravy becomes a thick and coats spoon
- Add in soy sauce, and coconut milk/cream, whisk to mix.
- Add in pepper and salt if needed/to taste
Vegan thanksgiving ideas for Desserts
Just as turkey is a tradition for thanksgiving, so are some desserts like pumpkin pie, cheesecake, and pecan pie. These recipes are pretty easy to make vegan, and just require some alternatives to the dairy products used in them. Toppings like whipped cream or even ice cream are super simple to make vegan. You can buy prepared vegan coconut whipped cream which is incredible to add to a vegan spanish coffee, or to top your pumpkin pie with. Try these easy and vegan desserts for your thanksgiving, they will be a crowd pleaser!
My top picks for vegan ( and gluten-free) thanksgiving dessert recipes:
Pumpkin pie– vegan and gluten-free
Pecan pie– vegan and gluten-free
Blueberry cheesecake– vegan and gluten-free
Make Your Thanksgiving Vegan
We don’t have to give up our traditions because we want to live a more humane and eco-friendly lifestyle. In fact, giving thanks should be done without harming any other creatures. Turkey’s, and all other animals, have the right to live their lives in happiness, and without the cruel suffering they must endure at Thanksgiving. There are so many vegan alternatives to turkey, that even look and taste like the real thing. Make your desserts vegan, it’s easy and so simple. This Thanksgiving, try to celebrate it vegan and even give the gift of thanks by adopting a rescued turkey and supporting your local farm sanctuary. Remember giving thanks for what we have should involve giving back, not taking more or causing harm.
Brittany Goldhawke
Brittany Goldhawke has a B.Sc. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of British Columbia. She worked in research with yeast for over 5 years, for environmental, food, and beverage purposes. Brittany also has extensive experience in winemaking and has a WSET level 3 certification in Wine. Brittany likes to write about microbes and their benefits to the environment, sustainable living, and of course eco-friendly wine and food products.