This Christmassy butternut roast is the ultimate vegan & vegetarian Christmas dinner. Jam-packed with festive flavours , it can be made ahead and reheated on the big day, so no last minute rush!
What to eat as ‘the main event’ for Christmas Dinner can be an annual dilemma, trying to find something suitably festive, with a bit of wow-factor, that the turkey-eaters won’t scoff at.
We’ve tried all sorts of recipes over the years – moroccan-spiced filo affairs, nutty patties, mushroomy wellingtons, aubergine stacks, chestnutty bites which were fondly nicknamed ‘reindeer poo’…. the list goes on. I often wonder if I will stumble upon a veggie option so good it will become an annual event, just like turkey? It would certainly take some of the frantic last-minute rush out of trying to decide what to make, and sometimes things we eat only once a year can feel like such a treat – like pancake day. But I don’t think I’ve found that special dish just yet.
This got me thinking about what makes the “ultimate vegetarian & vegan Christmas Dinner”. It was really interesting to read your feedback on my roundups of Vegan Sunday Lunch Recipes and Vegetarian Sunday Lunch Recipes a few months ago – what people think does and doesn’t go with gravy and roast potatoes, whether you want something very quick and easy to throw together, or to spend a while in the kitchen making something really special you wouldn’t usually have for a weeknight supper.
What makes a ‘perfect’ vegan or vegetarian Christmas Dinner?
I think Veggie Christmas Dinners should:
Be full of festive flavours and ingredients
I’ve seen all sorts of veggie options on over-priced Christmas lunch menus from local hotels and restaurants, including recently ‘Penne with a tomato and Mediterranean vegetable sauce‘, and ‘Asparagus and sun-dried tomato risotto‘. These are not Christmassy!! Delicious, I’m sure, but I’m pretty sure December isn’t asparagus season, and tomatoes and Mediterranean vegetables just aren’t festive. Give me cranberries, walnuts, nutmeg, port, rosemary and sage any day.
Create some theatre at the table
So the turkey turns up at the table to oohs and ahhs, and is ceremoniously carved, whilst you plate up your sorry looking nut roast to pitying looks from around the table…. sound familiar? This Christmas, make some drama with your veggie option too – make it extra-tall, decorate your pie with pastry holly leaves, slice it at the table, add plenty of colourful and festive ingredients so it looks and smells amazing too.
Avoid all the veg you will be eating with it
I’ve had some really tasty spiced winter root vegetable pies as the main event for Christmas dinner, but realised that I was eating potato, parsnip and carrot in a pastry crust, with potato, parsnip and carrot next to it as side dishes. Don’t overdo the root veg at Christmas!
Similarly, if something isn’t going to work well being slathered in oniony gravy, I don’t want it on my plate for Christmas Dinner! Remember this centrepiece is going to be sitting alongside potatoes, sprouts, carrots, parsnips, red cabbage and lots of gravy.
Indulgent, but not too heavy!
Christmas lunch should definitely be a time of indulgence… a bit too much bubbly, just one more roast potato, and an extra slice of pudding. It’s great to have some naughty-but-nice ingredients in a festive main course, but if your Christmas dinner is anything like ours with nibbles, substantial starters, every vegetable known to man with oodles of gravy and three different sauces, followed by homemade pudding and custard then a totally overblown main course option is a pretty high-risk strategy!
Relatively simple to make-ahead – you will have enough to do!
I’m a great believer that everyone should enjoy Christmas Day from start to finish, including whoever is doing the cooking. Getting as much prep out of the way in the days beforehand means maximum champagne-sipping. present-unwrapping, charades-playing enjoyment for everyone on the big day itself. So choosing a veggie option that can sit happily in the fridge for a day or two then simply be re-heated 10-15 minutes beforehand is a very good idea.
Taking all these into account, here’s a festive little idea for you which I cooked this week for our Christmas celebration with my husband’s family. It went down very well indeed, and certainly looks and smells Christmassy!
Make-ahead Vegetarian Christmas Dinner
Storing your Festive Butternut Roast
This Festive Butternut Roast can be made a few days ahead, wrapped in foil and kept in the fridge, then just reheated in the oven for 10-15 minutes before serving.
Reader Testimonials
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “My partner made this veggie option for me for xmas dinner and it was sooo amazing I’m having it again this year. It was delicious!” Natalie
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “I *highly recommend* this stuffed butternut squash. It’s hearty, easy, and has all of those festive flavors! Thanks for this awesome recipe 👍🏼 I used dates instead of cranberries and added sage for extra flava flaves!” @thehealthycamper
And if you have tried this recipe, please do leave a star rating and comment below which is so helpful for other readers wanting to try the recipe. 👇🏼
Vegan in 15 Cookbook
There are plenty of similarly quick and easy recipes in my new book, ‘Vegan in 15‘*.
Hop over to Amazon for a look. Thanks for your support!
*Affiliate links
Vegetarian Christmas Dinner Menu
For a full vegetarian or vegan Christmas Dinner Menu, how about trying:
- Starter
- Main
- Festive Butternut Roast
- Garlic & Rosemary Roast Potatoes
- Orange & Maple Carrots
- Ginger & Sesame Brussels Sprouts
- Dessert
- Teatime
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I love hearing from you! Do send me pictures of your very own festive butternut roast on:
tagging me @thevegspace or using the hashtag #thevegspace to show me how you got on!
And if you have tried this recipe, please do leave a star rating and comment below which is so helpful for other readers wanting to try the recipe. 👇🏼
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Festive Butternut Roast
Ingredients
- 1 large butternut squash
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 red onion
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and crushed or finely chopped
- 100 g puy lentils
- 70 g frozen or fresh cranberries
- 2 stalks fresh rosemary leaves stripped and finely chopped
- 2 stalks fresh thyme leaves stripped
- 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 75 ml red wine
- 250 ml vegetable stock
- 80 g fresh spinach finely chopped
- 50 g pistachios roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
- Slice the butternut squash in half lengthways, and scoop out and discard the seeds. Brush or spray with a little oil, then bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes until the flesh is tender enough to scoop out with a spoon. Remove from the oven and set aside until cool enough to handle.
- Meanwhile, in a large saucepan or frying pan with a lid, heat the olive oil and add the onion and garlic. Cook over a gentle heat for 5 minutes until softened.
- Add the lentils, cranberries, rosemary and thyme leaves, nutmeg, red wine and vegetable stock, bring to the boil, then cover and lower to a gentle simmer. Cook for 30 minutes or until the lentils are tender, (but still have a little bite to them). NB you may need to add a little more water near the end of cooking time if the lentils have soaked up all the liquid – keep an eye on them and stir regularly.
- Take one half of the butternut squash and scoop out most of the flesh with a spoon, leaving a little all the way around so that the squash holds its shape. Be careful not to tear the skin if possible, (though the occasional hole won't be disastrous!).
- Add the squash flesh to the pan of lentils, and mash it into the mixture with a fork. Repeat with the other squash half. Taste the mixture, and add salt as necessary.
- Stir the spinach and pistachios into the lentil mixture, and mix well to combine, then spoon the mixture into both halves of the squash until it is level, there may be a little left over, but keep this aside to serve separately – don't over-fill or you will lose the nice, neat circular shape of your roast.
- Place one half on top of the other, then tie with string every 3-4 centimetres.
- Return to the oven for 10 minutes until piping hot throughout.
Nutrition
For more Vegan and Vegetarian Christmas dinner ideas from blogging friends, take a look at:
- Lentil Roast with Gravy from Wallflower Kitchen
- Chestnut and Cashew Nut Roast from Thinly Spread
- Vegan Haggis Stuffed Peppers from Planet Veggie
Claire @foodiequine says
This looks absolutely stunning and I bet it tastes great too. Such beautiful styling and photographs.
Deborah ShireGardener says
Looks amazing and is stuffed full of my favourite things! It has already sparked a few spin off ideas now, such as stuffing the squash with some of my nut roast mix {which is demanded by the carnivores every year}
I guess my card crafting twine will be fine for tying it together.
Diana says
This looks amazing! I love lentils and squash. And it looks beautiful too 🙂
Jemma @ Celery and Cupcakes says
This looks amazing and such a genius idea too! 🙂
Jo says
This is an inspiring Christmas Day recipe for my daughter and I, who until this year have always had meat. It looks impressively different from what we’d normally have for Sunday lunch!
Nadia's Healthy Kitchen says
Love this idea! Looks absolutely amazing and full of goodness 😀 yum!!
Johanna @ Green Gourmet Giraffe says
In response to your question, will we ever find a special festive dish to make every year, I have been making the same nut roast for christmas dinner for over 2 decades. It is one of my simplest nut roast recipes. I can make it quickly the day before when in full festive swing and though it probably lacks theatre, a couple of small slices go a long way with all the trimmings and vegies but I also love it because it leaves me with lots of leftovers when others just eat meat leftovers – and slices up wonderfully for leftover sandwiches which are often all we want after christmas dinner. Anyway I enjoyed your post (even out of season) and love the theatre of the string tying up the pumpkin – looks like an impressive centre of the meal
NM says
Lovely dish – dinner-party-worthy for Australian winters. And so adaptable to whatever you have on hand – I added mushrooms, nuts, feta, didn’t have any spinach, delicious.
thevegspace says
Ah thanks, that’s great to hear!
Barbara says
I tried it just now. Will have to extend the cooking time for the lentils to 45 minutes and the initial butternut squash cook time to an hour. I cooked the squash for 35 minutes to start with and it was still hard. I kept sticking it in for 10 minutes at a time until it had been cooking for 55 minutes.
Everything was still a bit too firm when we had it for dinner. Overall a great recipe in terms of the ingredients. Just needs a ton more cooking time.
thevegspace says
Hi Barbara, sorry to hear that yours took so long to cook. I make this quite a lot and those cooking times have always worked out fine, I wonder if yours was cooking at a lower temperature? Anyway I hope it tasted good at the end of it! Kate x
Jean Heath says
That is Christmas Lunch sorted – thanks for the recipe and it looks good.
thevegspace says
Glad to hear it and let me know how it goes!! Kate x
Georgia Longton says
This recipe looks fantastic. I was wondering what you would consider as a possible substitute for the red wine since our family lives in a neighborhood where alcohol is forbidden. Thanks!
thevegspace says
Hi Georgia, Just vegetable stock or even water would be absolutely fine! X
Anna C says
Silly question (cooking rookie here): does the skin stay on? Do you eat around it?
Looks great, I ‘m planning on making it for Christmas dinner.
thevegspace says
Hi Anna, yes the skin stays on – lots of people eat it, it is perfectly edible once cooked, but if you prefer you can eat around it. Its a good idea to leave it on otherwise it might not hold its shape during cooking.
Laura says
I completely agree with you on the usual veggie Christmas dinner issues. This looks like an incredible veggie alternative for me this year… a few questions:
1. How far in advance can I make this? Would 23rd still be ok for Christmas day?
2. How do you serve it?? Do you just slice it up?
3. I’m the only veggie at the table so this will definitely be going to left overs, how well does it keep once it’s been fully cooked? Am I best to keep it whole and slice as needed? Or slice it up / take it apart and put in a tuppaware?
Very excited to try this!!
Thanks,
Laura
Laree Weeks says
Hi! I’m making this for Christmas dinner this year and I’m curious about an ingredient substitution. I don’t eat lentils since being pregnant with my daughter. The smell makes me absolutely sick. I was thinking of switching them out with chickpeas. Would I blend these up a little before cooking everything together? Any help would be appreciated. This sounds delicious!
thevegspace says
Hi Laree, yes I think that would work really well, but they wouldn’t need anywhere near the same cooking time or they would turn to mush, so just keep tasting and checking, and remember they cook again in the oven so better slightly undercooked if anything.
John A. says
Hi, I’m wondering how this dish might pair with a vegan sauce or gravy? Do you find the dish needs a saucey accompaniment or do the combined liquids and stuffing keep the dish from feeling too dry?
I was thinking the squash and cranberry/rosemary might play off well with a sage gravy (veganized, home made brown butter). Any recommendations or suggestions?
Can’t wait to try the dish itself!
Thanks.
Kate Ford says
I love serving this with gravy mostly because all the accompaniments (roast potatoes, sprouts, carrots etc) are so good swimming in a thick gravy! I serve a really traditional gravy – if you have time, the Jamie Oliver Vegan Gravy recipe is fabulous, but if not a lot of bisto granules are vegan – check the labels. Enjoy!
Laura says
I would like to make this for some friends, but now Christmas has passed there are no fresh cranberries , would any other fruit work that is seasonal?
I cooked this at Christmas it was fantastic.
Thanks
Kate Ford says
Oh so glad you enjoyed it. You could just leave them out altogether, or use some dried fruit like sultanas or dried cranberries, but maybe use less than the recipe says for fresh as they will be quite sweet. Let me know how it goes! Kate x
Natalie Ebsworth says
My partner made this veggie option for me for xmas dinner and it was sooo amazing im having it again this year. It was delicious!
Helen says
This is so beautiful! It’s really a fantastic centrepiece for a special dinner at any winter feast – not just Xmas 🙂
Shashi says
Gorgeous presentation on this dish! Just gorgeous! And I love your ‘stuffing” too! I’d love to dig into this on Christmas – thanks for the inspiration!
Laura says
This really is the ultimate vegan holiday dish. It looks so pretty and it’s special. Slicing it at the table is a definite must.
Kechi says
Just wow! This dish is so creative and just phenomenal. I would never have thought to cook butternut squash this way!. Thanks so much for sharing this nutritious Christmasy recipe. I will want to make it!
Eva says
I work at a ski resort so both Christmas Eve and Day are busy days at work for me. Any recipe that requires no more than 15 minutes to prepare but still delivers the wow factor when I finally make it home to my hungry family is an absolute winner. Thank you, thank you!