The Ultimate Guide to Vegan Thanksgiving Sides 

For some, it’s all in regards to the sides on Thanksgiving. They’re a pure go-to for vegans who need to keep away from the meaty mains, however many vegetable-based facet dishes are usually laced with cream, bacon, and turkey drippings. Rising up on these meals, these animal components turn into custom, and the considered omitting the cream of mushroom soup from the inexperienced bean casserole or making gravy with out animal fats doesn’t even cross our minds, nevertheless it’s time to step outdoors the field. Observe this information to maintain the Thanksgiving flavors you like with out counting on any animal components.

Mac and cheese
The vegan variations of mac and cheese are practically as plentiful because the vary of Thanksgiving facet dishes. Whether or not you go gooey stovetop or baked with a mountain of breadcrumbs, there’s a vegan recipe for your loved ones’s favourite tacky pasta. Somewhat than merely swapping store-bought vegan cheese for dairy cheese, our favourite recipes embrace a fast however selfmade sauce made with cashews and dietary yeast or a mix of carrots and potatoes. As with all recipes you make for friends, do a check run earlier than the large day to make sure the recipe you select is to your liking. 
Do this recipe: Vegan Sweet Potato Mac and Cheese with Shiitake Bacon by Chef Chloe Coscarelli 

Inexperienced bean casserole
Enjoyable truth: this Thanksgiving staple was invented by the Campbell Soup Firm to promote extra cream of mushroom soup (shoutout to Dorcas Reilly, the girl who developed the recipe on the corporate’s behalf). Truly, fairly just a few Thanksgiving sides had been invented as a strategy to propel product gross sales (sure, candy potato casserole!). To copy this creamy, fried-onion-topped dish, blitz up a decadent dairy-free cream sauce with a handful of cashews, mushrooms, shallots, and garlic, then salt and pepper to style. Smother your cooked beans with this umami sauce and bake till bubbly. 
Do this recipe: Vegan Green Bean Casserole by Minimalist Baker

Mashed potatoes
As benign as they sound, there may very well be plenty of surprising dairy merchandise lurking in these fluffy spuds. Whether or not your loved ones recipe depends on milk, butter, bitter cream, parmesan cheese, or a mixture, there’s a one-for-one vegan swap for all of those animal-based components. Use your favourite plant milk, non-dairy butter (see here for a list of our favorites), Observe Your Coronary heart bitter cream, and/or grated vegan parm. Professional tip: begin your potatoes in chilly water, then convey them to a boil. Do that, and also you’ll have perfectly-cooked potatoes each time. 
Do this recipe: Garlic Rosemary Mashed Potatoes by More healthy Steps

Candy potato casserole
Who was the primary to consider topping candy potatoes with marshmallows and never name it dessert? The Angelus Marshmallows firm. The recipe was included in a 1917 booklet to say marshmallows as an on a regular basis ingredient. Whereas we’re unsure a marshmallow a day is the perfect thought health-wise, they’re straightforward to duplicate because of merchandise equivalent to Dandies and Dealer Joe’s’ by chance vegan marshmallows. For a plant-based casserole, mash up roasted candy potatoes with maple syrup, brown sugar, and swap the dairy butter and milk for a plant-based various. Prime with Dandies mini marshmallows and broil till golden.  
Do this recipe: Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole by Chocolate Coated Katie

Gravy 
You want fats to make gravy, and sadly, the gravy most of us grew up with comprises animal fats within the type of butter and turkey drippings. A one-for-one swap doesn’t work with this saucy facet, however strong vegan gravy recipes abound. Our favourite plant-based gravy makes use of a vegan butter and flour roux made “meaty” by mushrooms. Search for a recipe with these components, and make a double batch, as a result of there is no such thing as a such factor as an excessive amount of gravy. 
Do this recipe: Vegan Gravy by Sizzling for Meals

Cranberry sauce
If performed effectively, cranberry sauce can stand alone. The tart, jelly-like sauce is inherently vegan, however there are methods to enhance upon the canned selection. Shortly make your individual cranberry sauce by boiling cranberries, water, a little bit of maple syrup, and orange zest in a pot till thickened. It’s also possible to add very finely diced pear or apples to play with style and textural selection. 
Do this recipe: Cranberry Pear Sauce by Oh She Glows 

Cornbread
The controversy over cornbread doesn’t lie in vegan or animal-based origins, however within the battle over sweetness. Some swear by including sugar whereas others are repulsed by something aside from a strictly savory bread. Luckily, each choices might be veganized. The primary offender in cornbread is egg which might be simply replicated by swapping in a flax egg (one tablespoon floor flax + three tablespoons water = 1 egg) or silken tofu (¼ cup = 1 egg). In case your cornbread recipe makes use of honey, maple syrup might be substituted in a one-to-one ratio. Professional tip: add a little bit of orange zest to the batter for a pleasing citrus kick that pairs exceptionally effectively with cranberry sauce.  
Do this recipe: Vegan Cornbread Stuffing by Jessica within the Kitchen

Scalloped Potatoes
We haven’t performed the mathematics on this, however we’ve got a powerful feeling there could also be extra cream and cheese in scalloped potatoes than precise potatoes. And but, this luxury facet continues to be veganizable. Replicate a cream sauce by mixing soaked (and drained) cashews with a splash of plant milk, garlic, salt, and pepper. Swap the dairy-based cheese for vegan cheese, and begin layering. Professional tip: add a little bit of freshly grated nutmeg to the cream sauce so as to add a depth of taste to this in any other case one-note dish. 
Do this recipe: Vegan Scalloped Potatoes by Make It Dairy-Free

Stuffing (or dressing)
The distinction between stuffing and dressing is solely primarily based on the place you reside. In case you’re from the South or Midwest, it’s doubtless dressing to you. Nevertheless, say “dressing” to somebody from both coast, and so they’ll assume you’re referring to the liquid poured on salad. Let’s simply all conform to name it one factor: scrumptious. To veganize your favourite stuffing recipe, swap in vegetable broth for meat-based broth and use store-bought vegan milk, butter, and meat. JUST liquid egg is our favourite various for the crushed eggs—it supplies simply the best binding and fluffiness. As a substitute of cooking your stuffing inside a carcass, get artistic and bake it in a hollowed-out sugar pie pumpkin or acorn squash. We love edible bakeware!
Do this recipe: Cranberry Sausage Stuffing by I Can You Can Vegan

Brussels sprouts
Omnivores have gotten into an annoying behavior of pairing brussels sprouts with bacon. Show as soon as and for all that Brussels sprouts might be scrumptious with out bacon by giving them a great sear and coating them with a sticky-sweet maple dijon glaze. You may even high the pile with a little bit of coconut or mushroom bacon. Sit again and watch the carnivores pop these tiny cabbage heads like sweet. 
Do this recipe: Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts by Blissful Wholesome Life

Creamed corn
There are a lot of methods to duplicate the creaminess of this dairy-heavy dish, however our favourite mixture is coconut milk and vegan butter. And surprisingly, it doesn’t style like coconut. Observe the recipe beneath to find the key! 
Do this recipe: 5 Minute Vegan Creamed Corn by It Doesn’t Style Like Hen

Creamed spinach
Right here we’ve got one other beloved vegetable doused in cream. Create the identical silky texture with out the ldl cholesterol or cruelty by utilizing selfmade cashew cream (recipe beneath), silken tofu, or coconut cream. Like scalloped potatoes, a touch of freshly grated nutmeg elevates this dish to restaurant-quality. 
Do this recipe: Vegan Creamed Spinach with Biscuit Topping by Vegan Richa

Dinner rolls
Until your loved ones makes brioche or slathers the rolls with dairy butter throughout baking, the normal white dinner roll is by chance vegan. For the butter-slathering crowd, use vegan butter (Miyoko’s European-Model Cultured Vegan Butter with a touch of sea salt is great on this software) and your loved ones will likely be none the wiser. Serve piping scorching with extra butter.
Do this recipe: Simple Vegan Dinner Rolls by Minimalist Baker

Tanya Flink is a Digital Editor at VegNews in addition to a author and health fanatic dwelling in Orange County, CA.