A rich and boozy recipe for homemade vegan mincemeat to take your mince pies to the next level! Customise to your own taste with many variation ideas.
🍴 Why you will love this recipe
Homemade mincemeat is such a lovely thing to make at Christmas - either for baking mince pies or to give as a gift from the kitchen in pretty jars.
This recipe is very easy - the only cooking required is baking the apples in a dish until the flesh collapes, then the remaining ingredients are just combined in a large bowl.
You can customise the recipe to your own taste - how about adding puréed beetroot for a bright pink twist, or swapping the mixed fruit for dried cranberries, figs and apricots for a different flavour?
Bake your own mince pies using my easy shortcrust vegan pastry recipe for great results.
Jump to:
📝 What you need
Ingredients
Dried Mixed Fruit This is the easiest way to get a good mix of fruit and mixed peel.
Vegetable Suet is now widely available in supermarkets and is almost always vegan, just check the label to be sure.
Brandy A boozy mincemeat gives a really luxurious flavour to mince pies and always proves they are homemade! I've used brandy, sherry and amaretto before with great results, but if you don't want to use alcohol you could swap in apple or orange juice instead.
👩🏽🍳 How to make your Vegan Mincemeat
For a full, printable recipe with ingredients and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of this page 👇🏼 .
Core the apples and place in a baking dish. Bake for up to 1 hour, then scoop the flesh into a large mixing bowl.
Finely chop the hazelnuts then add all the remaining ingredients to the bowl.
Cover and leave overnight, then spoon into sterilised jars and store until required.
👩🏽🍳 Variations
There are all sorts of ways to customise your vegan mincemeat. How about:
- Make it pink Blitz two small cooked beetroots in a blender or food processor and stir through the mincemeat. The bright pink mincemeat looks incredible in cooked mince pies!
- Change the fruit Use your own combination of dried fruits rather than an ordinary mixed bag. How about combining dried cranberries, figs and apricots?
- Change the nuts The mincemeat takes on a different texture and flavour with different nuts. How about switching the hazelnuts for walnuts, pistachios or chopped almonds, or a mixture of those?
🔪 Top Tips & FAQs
Keep an eye on the apples in the oven. They can suddenly collapse as soon as the flesh is cooked through.
For a great texture, don't chop the hazelnuts too finely. It is lovely to come across a big nutty crunch in your mince pie!
Mincemeat can keep for a few years as long as jars are properly sterilised, it is covered with wax discs and properly sealed, and kept in a cool, dark place.
For instructions on how to properly sterilise jars see this video from the BBC on how to sterilise jars.
Have a look at my Vegan Mince Pies recipe for full instructions using vegan cream cheese in the pastry for a beautiful texture. Or my Vegan Shortcrust Pastry recipe has all sorts of flavour variations for a twist on the classic pastry - how about almond, vanilla or even chocolate pastry?!
Most ready-made mincemeat is vegan, but always check the ingredients on the label to be sure.
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🍽 If you liked that...
.... you might also enjoy these vegan recipes from The Veg Space:
📖 Recipe
Vegan Mincemeat
Ingredients
- 2 bramley apples
- 70 g hazelnuts
- 500 g dried mixed fruit
- 250 g vegetable suet
- 400 g light brown sugar
- zest and juice of 2 lemons
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 100 ml amaretto, brandy, sherry or orange juice, (check your choice is vegan)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan) / 400°F / Gas Mark 6.
- Core the apples (but don't peel them). Place them in a baking dish then bake for up to 1 hour until the flesh is soft and bursting out of the skins.
- Scoop the apple flesh into a large mixing bowl and discard the skins.
- Chop the hazelnuts finely and add to the bowl.
- Add all the remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover the bowl and leave overnight.
- Decant into sterilised jars until required.
ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Free 4-Week Vegan Meal Plan
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For more quick and easy vegan recipes take a look at my latest book Vegan in 15.
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I've heard of mince pie before but the thought of meat in a pie was never really appealing to me. This vegan version is much more my taste!
Wow it has two of my favorite ingredients in it. Looks so good. I love all the flavors and your tips are really helpful.
What a unique way of making mincemeat! I've never had it vegan either. I'll need to try this version!
So delicious! Thank you for sharing this vegan mincemeat recipe! I added apricots to mine and it was delish!
What a great twist for a mincemeat pie. Love that it has hazelnuts in it. They have a nice flavor.
Not only is this a glorious colour, I imagine it tastes wonderful too. I am so keen to try this and love how quick it is to prepare!
Such a great idea to add beetroot! And I can't wait for you book 🙂
Wow such a cool colour. Very festive.
What a totally unique recipe! I have never seen or would have thought of something like this but it looks amazing. Pinned!