Meatless Thanksgiving Main Dishes That Your Guests Will Seriously Love

Although Thanksgiving is traditionally rooted in eating turkey and ham, all of the meal's greatest dishes prove to be plant-based, regardless of if you're vegan. Whether you're avoiding the turkey à la Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, if you're catering to more plant-based guests this year, or if you're just trying to do a little somethin'-somethin' for the planet, there are so many amazing vegan Thanksgiving main dishes you can make.

As previously mentioned, even if you aren't vegetarian or vegan, most can agree that turkey-free Thanksgivings are the way to go. That said, we have so many recipes up our sleeves that don't involve the beloved bird.

Mushrooms tend to be our lord and savior, especially during the holidays. They're incredibly savory, flavorful, and make for an excellent meat substitute — which is why we're absolutely obsessed with Feasting At Home's recipe for Vegan Mushroom Wellington. It looks difficult, but in addition to vegan puff pastry, all you'll need is olive oil, mushrooms, onions, garlic, rosemary, salt, sherry wine, balsamic, toasted pecans, pepper, optional truffle oil, and melted coconut oil. Easy peasy.

Ora Organic's Vegan Vegducken is another must-try, that looks deceivingly tricky (even though it's really simple to make). Emulating the classic turducken it stuffs a parsnip into a sweet potato, which is cradled by stuffing, and encased by a butternut squash. It's actually a beautiful sight to see, and your friends and family will be absolutely flabbergasted that it took you less than two hours to put together. That's our favorite kind of creation.

If you really want to include an ode to the bird on the Thanksgiving table, try making TikTok's infamous turkey-shaped bread — it's a fun way to honor turkey without using any animal products.

Gardein offers a plant-based turk'y roast that stuffs a roasted vegan turkey with wild rice, cranberry, and kale. It comes with a rich vegan gravy to keep things moist. It has a surprising amount of protein to help you refuel after that early morning turkey trot, and it's really simple to make — all you need to do is toss it in the oven, and it's done.

Tofurky's Roast Dinner is the OG Thanksgiving staple that every vegan has to try at least once in their lives. It fills a wheat-tofu "roast" with wild rice and bread crumb stuffing. The best part is that it's also easy to make — all you need to do is pour half the baste over the roast, cook it in the oven for an hour and 15 minutes, before uncovering, pouring the rest of the baste on top, and cooking for 10 more minutes.

Grocery chain Trader Joe's has brought back its cult product the Breaded Turkey-less Stuffed Roast just in time for the holiday, which is completely vegan and comes with its own vegan gravy. All you have to do is heat it up, cut it into medallions, and enjoy.

If you live in the Berkeley and Sacramento areas of California, you can order a vegan Thanksgiving dinner from The Butcher's Son for pickup — you don't even have to turn on your oven!

Making a meatless Thanksgiving feast is truly simple — we promise everything you make will be next-level.

This article, originally published on Nov. 8, 2021, has been updated.