As a personal chef, a request I receive often is to prepare something for a client's holiday vegetarian or vegan guest. It can really throw a host or hostess who is used to preparing a traditional holiday meal with all the trimmings for a loop!
A vegetarian or vegan guest at a holiday get-together is often the odd man or woman out--and they feel like it, too. However, many people are giving up meat for health and environmental reasons these days so a non-meat eater at Thanksgiving, Christmas or other holiday gatherings is becoming more commonplace these days. For some, it's religious.
Make your vegetarian or vegan guest feel welcome with something from this delicious collection of 75 Amazing Appetizers, Sides, Mains and Desserts to Serve a Vegetarian or Vegan Guest This Holiday Season. This collection of meatless recipes is so good, your carnivorous guests are sure to enjoy them all, too!
Keep in mind that vegetarian and vegan are not the same thing:
- A vegan abstains from ALL animal products and proteins. Many of these recipes can be adapted to a vegan lifestyle by substituting plant-based products.
- A vegetarian may abstain from animal proteins but may also consume eggs and dairy. Things like chicken broth are NOT considered vegetarian.
Show your thoughtfulness by checking with your guest or guests on what they will or won't eat and make them feel welcome at your holiday gathering.
Be sure to check out my Pinterest board for all things Vegetarian and Vegan!
Appetizers
Start the party off with these lovely appetizers even carnivores will love!
Sweet potato rounds with herbed ricotta is a healthy holiday appetizer or side dish.
Lemon Parmesan Stuffed Artichoke Bottoms is the ultimate spring-inspired appetizer! Besides being delicious, they're super simple and can be made well ahead of your get-together.
White Bean Artichoke Spread with Rosemary Sea Salt Flatbread Chips is an easy and elegant appetizer that's perfect for entertaining or wholesome snack any time of day!
Skillet Salt-Roasted Baby Potatoes with Sour Cream Horseradish Sauce makes a fun side dish or party appetizer! Salt-roasting makes the skins super crispy, the interior beautifully creamy and it's the perfect cooking method for baby or "peewee" potatoes.
Goat Cheese Stuffed Artichoke Bottoms are easy, impressive and so delicious! Best of all, they can be made well in advance! Soon to become your favorite hot appetizer!
Spinach Artichoke Squares are a delicious low-carb spin on classic spinach artichoke dip!
Sides, Salads and Soups
These lovely salads, side dishes and soups are the perfect accompaniment to a delicious meal!
Warm Butternut Squash and Quinoa Salad with Candied Pecans is perfect for when you need a seasonal gluten-free side dish for the holidays that can be served room temperature.
Filled with warm curry flavors and loaded with seasonal veggies, this Curried Quinoa Salad with Cranberries is perfect for a quick meal, side or holiday brunches. It's gluten-free, vegan, can be served both warm or cold and also made in advance.
Roasted Beet Salad with Walnuts, Goat Cheese and Honey Balsamic Dressing is a classic, elegant salad perfect for any occasion!
Quinoa and Kale Salad with Red Grapes, Walnuts and Lemon Honey Dressing is a delicious way to enjoy these popular superfoods! It keeps for several days so it's perfect for meal prep and lunches for a busy week.
Autumn Panzanella with sweet butternut squash, Brussels sprouts and spicy arugula makes a lovely light fall dinner, side salad or the perfect accompaniment for soup!
This shaved Brussels sprout salad recipe is festive, healthy, and loaded with superfoods kale, pomegranate, and apples. It’s the perfect combo of sweet and savory with TONS of texture in every bite!
Warm Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpea Salad is Italian-inspired and makes a hearty vegetarian main course salad or the perfect side dish for grilled meat, poultry or seafood.
This delicious Wheat Berry Salad is packed with healthy roasted vegetables and yummy fall flavors … perfect for Thanksgiving or any autumn or winter meal!
Fig Arugula Salad With Maple Vinaigrette is truly a showstopper salad. Stunning colors and delicious flavors make it a perfect side dish for holiday dinners and entertaining.
Traditional Vegan Stuffing for the Holidays is crispy on the top, warm and cozy on the inside and studded with apples, cranberries and walnuts.
Elegant enough for guests, Scandinavian-inspired Roasted Hasselback Beets with Dill Dressing will become your new favorite way to enjoy beets!
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Brown Butter and Almonds is a lovely, low-stress side dish you're going to love!
Lemon Parmesan Crusted Brussels Sprouts are not just roasted, but crusted--crusted with Parmesan cheese and a spark of lemon! Brussels sprouts don't get any better than this!
Sriracha Sweet Chili Roasted Brussels Sprouts are a little bit spicy, a little bit sweet and a whole lot wonderful!
This Hasselback Butternut Squash is an easy butternut squash recipe with a handful of ingredients, little hands-on time, and results in a striking side dish.
Curry Roasted Carrots with Honey Browned Butter is an easy side dish that's sure to add some color and flavor to your life!
Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with Mustard Caper Brown Butter takes cauliflower to another level. Cauliflower is beautiful in so many ways, but when roasted and drizzled with this Mustard Caper Brown Butter, it skyrockets to elegant and dramatic!
Everything Bagel Spice Whole Roasted Cauliflower is an elegant, dramatic and healthful vegetable side dish that's over-the-top with flavor!
Brined Whole Roasted Tandoori Cauliflower is flavorful throughout! Brining gets the flavor started, then it's roasted with Indian-inspired spices!
Roasted Cauliflower with Black Olive Pangrattato is how to take roasted cauliflower to another level! The topping has salty kalamata olives, lemon zest, chili flakes and crispy breadcrumbs for a delicious rustic Italian side dish!
Southern Cheesy Corn Pudding is a beloved traditional holiday and pot-luck dinner side-dish in the South!
I Can’t Believe It’s Vegan Green Bean Casserole, is a secretly healthy holiday green bean casserole.
Thai Sweet Chili Green Beans will rock your vegetable world! You’ll love this new way to enjoy green beans that’s a little spicy and a whole lot delicious!
This Oven Roasted Root Vegetables Recipe is loaded with plenty of delicious root veggies and fresh herbs.
Jeannie's Sweet Potato Souffle is lush and luxurious and the ultimate sweet potato souffle perfect for your holiday table!
This 21-Day Fix Sweet Potato Casserole is a healthy and delicious holiday side dish recipe, made with clean ingredients and butternut squash for some extra veggie power.
It has just the right amount of sweetness, an irresistibly creamy flavor, and a delicious crisp cinnamon pecan streusel topping.
Sweet Potato Galette with Pecan Streusel Topping is the classic sweet potato casserole enveloped in pastry!
A lightened up sweet potato casserole with big flavor!
Celery Root Puree is creamy, dreamy and an elegant lower-carb alternative to mashed potatoes!
Cauliflower White Bean Puree is the perfect stand-in for decadent mashed potatoes! Cream cheese makes it creamy while white beans add that touch of thickening and body you crave in a mashed potato substitute while keeping it low-carb!
Anything goes with this Vegetable Mash! Not only does it add a lot of extra vitamins, but flavor and color too.
Rosemary Garlic Crushed Potatoes with Lemon Chive Aioli is a beautiful side dish with country French elegance! Buttery Yukon Gold Potatoes are cooked, crushed, then brushed with herb-infused olive oil and baked again for the ultimate "twice-baked" potato!
Spinach Parmesan Ranch Twice Baked Potatoes with Parmesan Crumb Topping are pillows of potato perfection!
Perfect Roasted Potato Wedges are an easy side dish that will impress everyone!
Butternut Squash Soup with Thyme and Taleggio is an elegant, rich and creamy soup that's perfect to serve this fall and winter!
Spicy Indonesian Vegan Carrot Almond Soup is healthful, exotic yet easy and creamy without the cream. It's the perfect starter for any meal or a light meal in itself!
Creamy White Bean, Rutabaga and Roasted Garlic Soup with Quinoa Parmesan Crisps makes a lovely light winter supper, lunch or elegant starter. Best of all, this rich and creamy soup is actually quite healthy!
The Best Vegetarian Gravy has fresh mushrooms, garlic, and onion that's packed full of flavor and simple to make. Everyone will love it!
This delicious vegan mushroom gravy rich, hearty, and packed with umami. It’s the best vegetarian/vegan gravy!
The Main Dish
Your vegetarian or vegan guest is sure to love any of these hearty main courses!
Roasted Cauliflower and Barley Pilaf is a beautiful fall-inspired side dish that's perfect with fish, poultry, roasted meats or as a vegetarian main dish!
Lemony Quinoa with Butternut Squash, Almonds and Parmesan Cheese rocks with flavor and makes the perfect autumn side dish or vegetarian main dish.
Zucchini Ricotta Fritters are a delicious way to use zucchini and make a great appetizer, snack or vegetarian entree. They're super-crispy on the outside and creamy and luscious on the inside!
Cauliflower and Sweet Potatoes in Roasted Red Pepper Mole is a hearty, lively Mexican-inspired vegan dish with complex flavors!
Butternut Squash, Leek and Goat Cheese Galette is simple, savory and elegant! It's a lovely start to a fall dinner or as part of a light supper with a soup or salad!
Cheesy Brown Rice and Greens Casserole is a delicious, hearty, vegetarian casserole that’s also super flexible! Use any kind of grain such as quinoa, barley or lentils and any type of leafy green.
Spicy Roasted Vegetable and Black Bean Ragout with Polenta is a hearty and versatile vegetarian dish that satisfies on many levels with late summer vegetables, sweet potatoes and black beans over creamy, comforting cheesy polenta.
Southwestern Lentil and Brown Rice Bake is cheesy, delicious meatless comfort food even a carnivore will love and is super easy to prepare! Simply combine everything in a baking dish, pop it in the oven and let it bake away while you do other things.
Barley Risotto Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms are a meatless meal even a carnivore will love! No meat, but a meaty, hearty texture and flavor!
Brown Rice Cheddar Kale Casserole is perfect meatless comfort food that's also super versatile! Vary the grains and vary the greens!
Southwestern Squash, Corn and Poblano Casserole is a spicy and delicious twist on a classic squash casserole with corn and earthy, slightly smoky poblano peppers!
A classic French ratatouille recipe that is vegan, gluten-free but has lots of flavor.
This delicious and spectacular vegan gluten-free Ratatouille will be a star of any table. Healthy, flavorful, impressive looking and comforting dish.
A roasted vegetable pie, made extra easy with (vegan) puff pastry is a great holiday main dish! With pumpkin, cauliflower, and parsnip, it’s a seasonal dish that can be made any day of the week.
Vegan Mushroom Pot Pies are comforting, extra-delicious and super-easy to make!
Creamy Vegan Butternut Pasta Bake is vegan comfort food to the max with butternut squash, garlic, smoked paprika pureed into a velvety sauce that smothers al dente whole wheat penne.
The British classic gets a vegetarian makeover with mushrooms and cauliflower. The result is a delicious low-carb dish that the whole family will love!
This easy Vegan Lentil Loaf is packed with veggies and plant-based protein..
This recipe is vegetarian, but there is a simple way to make this stuffed squash vegan as well.
Impress your guests with this gorgeous Vegan Wellington! The filling is meaty, satisfying and ever-so-tasty! It’s surprisingly easy to make too!
Zucchini, Yellow Squash and Quinoa Casserole is a delicious way to use a summer bounty of zucchini and yellow squash either as a side dish or hearty meatless meal! With a delightfully creamy texture, the goodness and protein of quinoa, the crunchy topping, it's worth turning your oven on for!
Chard-Stuffed Acorn Squash with Za'atar and Tahini Drizzle
Chard-Stuffed Acorn Squash with Za'atar and Tahini Drizzle is packed with flavor and easy to make!
Thanksgiving Stuffed Acorn Squash is made with farro, chickpeas, kale and cranberries for a hearty vegetarian meal!
Acorn squash is perfect for filling with all sorts of delicious things! Quinoa, Feta and Pistachio-Stuffed Acorn Squash is a show-stopping autumn side dish or vegetarian entree.
The easiest ever, best and creamiest Instant Pot Mushroom Risotto is just a few ingredients and minimal effort away.
Desserts
Last but not least, a sweet ending to a delicious meal!
Chocolate Avocado Mousse is so simple to prepare you won't believe it! Best of all, sinfully rich and healthful peacefully coexist in this Paleo-friendly and refined sugar-free dessert!
Spiced Red Wine Poached Pears with Vanilla Mascarpone Whipped Cream is a sexy, holiday dessert that will have everyone talking!
Chocolate Vegan No-Bake Pie is creamy, perfectly sweet, low-fat and best of all, requires no cooking!
Made with an orange-infused, buttery, flaky crust and topped with a creamy pumpkin-spiced filling, this recipe is sure to please the crowd during the holiday season.
Prajakta Sukhatme says
This is such a useful collection for upcoming holiday season. Lovely roundup and thank you for including ours 🙂
Carol says
Thanks so much, Prajakta! Thanks for your lovely recipe!
Dannii says
So many amazing recipes to try. Thanks for much for including ours.
Carol says
Thanks for sharing your recipe and you're very welcome!
Sandi says
What an amazing collection of new vegan and vegetarian recipes to try...it all looks amazing!
Carol says
Thanks so much, Sandi! Hope you enjoy!
Dawn - Girl Heart Food says
So much deliciousness! Lots of options for the upcoming holiday season...the only problem is deciding which ones to start with 😉 Thanks so much for including my roasted root veggies!
Carol says
Thanks, Dawn! I LOVE roasted root vegetables so was happy to share!