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This Traditional Vegan Stuffing will be the centerpiece of your Holiday table! It’s crispy on top, warm and cozy on the inside, and studded with apples, cranberries and walnuts!
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Traditional Vegan Stuffing
Stuffing is right up there with mashed potatoes for me in terms of holiday meal importance. I really love stuffing! I mean, let’s be honest. What’s not to love? It’s crispy bread on top, warm and cozy on the inside, and studded with apples, cranberries and walnuts! A plate of stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole and we can call Thanksgiving done! Oh, and my dad’s Cranberry Orange Relish. That’s it. It’s all I need for a really delicious Thanksgiving meal. No need to fuss over a “main course” when all of the sides are so darn good!
Holiday Traditions
Growing up, my family formed a lot of holiday traditions. We didn’t really have any extended family, so my mom worked hard to create our own family traditions, many of them centering around special holiday foods. My Grandma Henrietta’s bourbon balls, Grandpa Joel’s Ham Hocks and Beans, my Aunt Betty’s Apple Pie, and my Mom’s Sugar and Spice Cookies have all become synonymous with Christmas, New Years, Thanksgiving, and Valentine’s Day. Another food tradition in our family is our stuffing. And I say “our” because we’ve all contributed to it—it’s really evolved over the years. It used to be my Grandma Henrietta’s recipe (my mom’s mom). My dad took over my grandma’s recipe, and added his own twist to it.
What I remember most is him popping us up onto the counter and putting us on toaster duty while we watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. We would toast sliced sandwich bread to add to the bags of store bought stuffing croutons he used in his recipe. I’ve now put my own spin on it, with the addition of apples and cranberries, and I like to use day old bakery bread in mine.
Simple, Easy to Find Ingredients
For my first vegan Thanksgiving, 8 years ago, I looked high and low for vegan cream of mushroom soup so that my dad could veganize his stuffing for me. I didn’t really know what I was doing, or what I was looking for, and I’m pretty sure I just checked regular Campbell’s soup ingredients. But there is a vegan mushroom soup now, like the one pictured by Imagine Foods. And if you don’t happen to find it, you could always use vegetable stock. The other ingredients in this Traditional Vegan Stuffing are really simple—day old bakery bread, celery, onion, apples, dried cranberries, and toasted walnuts (see notes below for a nut free suggestion).
Poultry Seasoning Is Vegan?
Don’t be fooled by the name! Poultry seasoning is totally vegan! It’s just dried herbs like sage, onion, thyme, and marjoram. One whiff of the bottle and you will instantly be transported to Thanksgiving Day! It smells so good—exactly what Thanksgiving should smell like. It’s the key ingredient in making a traditional stuffing!
More Holiday Recipes You Will Love
- Cranberry Orange Relish
- Vegan Red Wine Gravy
- Easy Vegan Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts
- Aunt Betty’s Vegan Apple Pie
- Stuffed Squash with Curried Lentils
- Maple Lime Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- Vegan Green Bean Casserole
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes with Fried Onions and Bacon
- Dairy Free Onion Gravy for the Holidays
- Pumpkin Chocolate Cake with Ginger
Stuffing Variations
This recipe makes a really traditional vegan stuffing. But there are lots of variations you can try!
- Stuffing with a kick—sauté soyrizo with the onion, omit apples and cranberries
- Nut Free Stuffing—sub pumpkin seeds for the walnuts
- Protein Packed Stuffing—add diced vegan sausages like Field Roast apple sage in with the onions and celery when sautéing
- Savory Stuffing—omit the apples and cranberries, and instead use diced mushrooms
Let’s Make Traditional Vegan Stuffing!
Are you hungry? Let’s make Traditional Vegan Stuffing! I hope your family loves it as much as mine does. Leave me a note in the comments below!
Traditional Vegan Stuffing
This Traditional Vegan Stuffing will be the centerpiece of your Holiday table! It's crispy on top, warm and cozy on the inside, and studded with apples, cranberries and walnuts!
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Holidays, Thanksgiving
Servings: 10 people
Author: Sarah
Ingredients
- 1 large loaf of day old bakery bread (just over 1 pound in weight—mine was 17 ounces)
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion diced
- 4 stalks celery chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 granny smith apple
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
- 3/4 cup walnuts
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 2 cups vegan mushroom soup (I like Imagine Foods)
- 2 cups water
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350º.
Cut the bread into 1 inch cubes. Spread onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
While the bread is toasting, add the olive oil to a large pot over medium heat.
Add the onion and celery and begin to sauté.
Add the garlic and mix well.
Add the apple and parsley, stirring well after each addition, and give the apples a minute to cook.
Add the salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning and stir again.
Add the walnuts and cranberries, and stir again.
Add the toasted bread cubes to the pot. Pour the mushroom soup and water over the mixture. It will seem like a lot of liquid. Continue to stir over medium heat until the liquid is absorbed, and the bread has incorporated with the rest of the ingredients.
Transfer the entire mixture into a rectangular baking dish (about 8 x 12"). Cover tightly with foil. Bake for 15 minutes covered. Then remove the foil and continue to bake for another 15 minutes, or until top is slightly crispy and golden brown. *see notes
Serve and enjoy!
Notes
*Stuffing is a perfect dish for a day of holiday baking. It's very flexible with it's baking temperature. 350º is great, but it can safely cook at 400° if you have another dish in the oven—just keep an eye on it!
