How to Cook the Perfect Vegan Roast for Easter (+ printable shopping list)
The daffodils are out, and the first signs of sunshine and mild weather are here! Easter is just aroun d the corner, and I know that cooking a traditional roast dinner can be tricky to master so I’ve created a super easy to follow guide on how to put together your vegan Easter meal.
A key part of getting this right is to read through the recipes and instructions first. So have a good scroll through this post, get all of the recipes open in your tabs and understand how you’re going to be making each part before getting stuck in. Take your time and don’t rush through the steps.
What’s on the menu
Vegan Mushroom Wellington served with Braised Red Cabbage, Ultimate Vegan Roast Potatoes, Maple Roasted Carrots, Best Ever Parsnips and Brussel Sprouts with Walnuts & Cranberries.
For dessert I’ve got my super easy and very popular Nutella Cheesecake.
I’ve also included some extra treats to cook up before hand if you want to start the day with some Vegan Hot Cross Buns or Vegan Easter Chocolate Nests.
To start with you’re going to want to make sure you have everything on the shopping list below. This is enough to serve 4-6, so either half or double the recipe depending on the size of your family. I’ve also created a shopping list that you can either save to your phone or print.
Shopping List
olive oil
salt and pepper
vegan butter
maple syrup
cinnamon
apple cider vinegar
light brown sugar
semolina (or flour)
Soy milk
Sprig of thyme
2 garlic cloves
2 onions
1 leek
Zest of an orange
1 apple
100g spinach
3 Portobello mushrooms
Handful of mushrooms (closed cup or chestnut)
Ready-rolled puff pastry
3 carrots
3 parsnips
1/2 red cabbage
500g brussel sprouts
1kg potatoes (Maris Piper ideally)
Handful of sultanas
Handful of walnuts
Generous handful of pecans
2 handfuls of cranberries
180g bag of roasted chestnuts
optional (nutella cheesecake)
250g lotus biscuits
75g vegan margarine
400g vegan nutella (I used Nature’s Store)
Handful of chopped nuts (almonds or hazelnuts work well)
500g vegan cream cheese
60g icing sugar
If you want to include the Nutella cheesecake dessert then you will need to either make this the night before or the morning of as it requires four hours (or overnight) to cool in the fridge. It’s super easy though and only takes about 15-20 minutes to put together.
Now, you’re going to want to start this around 1-2 hours before you want to serve your Easter lunch or dinner, depending on how quick you are at chopping!
To start with I’d suggest getting all your ingredients out and chop up the vegetables in preparation. That means:
Brussel sprouts: Remove any tough outer leaves and score a cross with a knife on the base of any larger brussel sprouts. Put aside.
Carrots: Chop the carrots into strips.
Potatoes: Peel and cut up in half or into quarters (depending on the size of the potato).
Parsnips: Chop the parsnips into strips.
Wellington: Chop up one onion and thinly slice your leek. Thinly slice the closed cup/chestnut mushrooms, chop 2 garlic cloves, and remove the thyme from its stem. Roughly chop/break a large handful of pecans and crumble up the chestnuts. Add all these chopped vegetables to a bowl. Remove the stalks of the portobello mushrooms and put these in a separate bowl.
Start with the braised red cabbage as this can be cooked for 2-3 hours beforehand. You can always make this earlier on in the day if you want one less thing to worry about.
2 hours to go
Once you’ve got to the stage that either the red cabbage is cooked or it is simmering on a low low heat as per the recipe you can focus on the main event, the mushroom wellington. Similarly the filling can be made in advance if you want to prep, cook and cool ready to be constructed. Follow the instructions for the cooking of the filling which takes about roughly 25 minutes and then leave to cool for up to 30 minutes.
1 hour 10 minutes to go
Once the filling part has been cooked and you’re about ten minutes off the filling being cool enough, you can boil the potatoes. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Bring a pan of water to the boil and simmer the potatoes for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, add the oil and vegan butter (2-3 tbsp rapeseed oil & 2-3 tbsp vegan butter) to a large baking tray. Now get another baking tray for your carrots and parsnips and put 2 tbsp oil and 2 tbsp butter into this second baking tray. Put both trays of butter/oil in the oven for 5-10 minutes.
1 hour to go
While the potatoes are boiling and the oil mix is heating in the oven it’s time to go back to the mushroom wellington. Roll out your puff pastry onto a chopping board and spoon in the mixture from one short end to the other, leaving around an inch of space at each end of the pastry. Pack it down with your hands to start creating a log shape (see video for more detail on how to do this). Pat the mushrooms dry with a kitchen towel to remove any moisture and then place them along the mixture stem side up. Top the mushrooms with the rest of the mixture, patting down again with hands until the mixture is compact and evenly covering everything. *
*Remember to keep an eye on the potatoes at this stage, depending on how long it takes you to roll out the pastry. If they’ve been in for 10 minutes just drain them and leave on the side.
Brush soy milk around the edge of the pastry and then bring each side of the pastry up over the filling, sealing together in the middle (think of it like wrapping a present). Fold the ends up to seal the pastry together, again like a present. Prepare some parchment paper and roll the pastry over onto the paper, so that the seal is on the bottom. Brush the top with soy milk all over and gently score a crisscross pattern with a knife.
45 mins to go
Bake the wellington in the oven for 30-45 minutes (depending on your oven it may take less or more time).
35 mins to go
Now, it’s time to start getting the vegetables in the oven. Drain the potatoes in a colander if you haven’t already, shaking well to fluff up the sides (this makes them nice and crispy).
Sprinkle over 2 tbsp semolina and gentle place in the hot baking tray you were heating in the oven.
Now get your pre-chopped carrots and add to one side of the second roasting tin you heated in the oven earlier. Season and sprinkle over the carrots, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tbsp maple syrup.
Put them in the oven and set a timer for 30 minutes.
25 mins to go
After 5 minutes pop the parsnips into the tray of carrots (hopefully you should have left half the tray free). Put back in the oven.
10 mins to go
When the timer has 10 minutes left check your wellington (remove from the oven if cooked or leave in for up to 15 mins more).
Fill a large pan of water and bring to the boil. Add the brussel sprouts to the pan and simmer for 5-8 minutes until tender. Once tender, add to a bowl. Stir through the butter, add in the cranberries and walnuts. Season with salt and pepper.
Now it’s time to check all of your vegetables and wellington (if not taken out yet) to see if they are ready to come out of the oven.
Serve up your vegetable sides and mushroom wellington. I like to serve mine with a nice vegan gravy. (I have a recipe in my Plant Kitchen Comforts digital Ebook.) but you can just use vegan gravy granules.
DESSERT
If you’d like to follow your vegan Easter roast lunch with a dessert then follow the recipe for my Vegan Nutella Cheesecake. You’ll need to make in the morning or night before as it requires four hours (or overnight) cooling time in the fridge. But it’s super easy, and I always prefer being able to make the dessert ahead of time so I can just concentrate on the main course.
sweet treats
If you want to go to town and add some Easter treats to your day of amazing vegan food, then I’ve also got some great options for the morning to enjoy with a mid morning cuppa tea.
TIP! Got chocolate coming out of your ears? Try my EPIC vegan hot chocolate or the easy 3-ingredient version to use up some of your vegan Easter egg chocolate.
I hope you enjoyed this post, let me know in the comments how you get on with your own vegan Easter lunch.
