How To Have a Plant-Based Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is such a special time in our home. We love cooking together all morning, then spending the early afternoon playing outside together as a family. We then come in and enjoy our dinner together and cuddle on the sofa with our dessert to watch Grumpy Old Men, which is the movie we watch every Thanksgiving.

When we decided to go plant based, I knew it was going to be a challenge to remake this beloved holiday of ours and all our favorite foods. But what I quickly discovered is that the majority of our favorite Thanksgiving dishes were already plant based or could easily be made plant based.

The Main Players

In our house, the main Thanksgiving players are Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, Rolls, Stuffing, and gravy. For dessert we love all the pies….apple, pecan, and pumpkin.

I found that simple swaps easily made these plant based and I took it a step further to clean them up and make them even healthier to help me maintain my 70 lb weight loss, and my husband his 50 lb weight loss.

*If you want to learn more about how to lose weight on a plant based diet, check out this blog.

Tofu For Turkey?

This is where things can get a little dicey. My husband LOVED his turkey at Thanksgiving so he was not overly excited at the thought of a tofurkey. I do not like tofu and have no experience working with it so I wasn’t about to try and make a tofurkey for the first time ever on such an important holiday. So, I actually grabbed a vegan “turkey” roll from Trader Joe’s and my husband and extended family loved it!!!

Still, I like to march to the beat of my own drum so every year I also offer my Stuffed Acorn Squash and Sweet Potato and Mushroom Gnocchi as another main course option.

Here is a look at our Thanksgiving spread. I make sure all our family’s favorites make an appearance and I keep the main course simple. What I love most is how easy and quickly everything comes together. Dessert is of course present and I always make some healthier takes on traditional treats for those of us attempting to maintain our waistlines throughout the decadent holiday season.

The Sides

The Main Course

Stuffed Acorn Squash
Sweet Potato and Mushroom Gnocchi
Vegan Turkey Roll (Store Bought)

The Desserts

The Drinks

Pass The Pie

When it comes to dessert, we like our options! We like to have a little of everything to top off the night. I make a traditional apple pie (plant based of course) and then I make my cleaned up versions of the rest which hit the spot just as much and the richer, more decadent desserts. I like to make them bite sized so we can have an assortment and enjoy them all.

The Leftover Sammy!!

Everyone always says that the leftovers from Thanksgiving day taste even better….and I would have to agree! We love our leftovers and our favorite way to enjoy them is by combining them into the “Thanksgiving Leftovers Sammy”! This is delicious and simple to pull together. And if i’m honest….I enjoy this sammy multiple times a week until Christmas.