The Best Vegan Stuffing Recipe
on Nov 23, 2022, Updated Apr 06, 2024
This vegan stuffing is absolutely delicious and easy to make! A family favorite side dish for Thanksgiving and the holidays.
This is the best vegan stuffing!
This easy vegan stuffing recipe is the perfect addition to your holiday table. A family favorite that is sure to impress anyone who tries it!
I have served this stuffing to family members who are meat eaters and everyone cannot believe how much flavor it has! I have had so many people ask me for the recipe, so here it is.
It is one of the most delicious vegetarian thanksgiving recipes I have ever made. It is not difficult to make, and the flavor is absolutely incredible!
Ingredients to make vegan stuffing
- bread
- celery
- onion
- carrots
- garlic
- salt and pepper
- ground sage
- thyme
- oregano
- vegan butter
- veggie stock
How to make vegan stuffing for Thanksgiving
This delicious side dish starts off with a base of fresh garlic and onion, carrots, and celery. Fresh vegetables add great texture and flavor to the stuffing. Garlic and onion add a great base of flavor and I use so much of both every Thanksgiving.
Step 1: Add the carrots, onion and celery to a large skillet or dutch oven. Add in the vegan butter, salt and pepper, sage, thyme, oregano.
Step 2: Cook the stuffing vegetables around 10 minutes on medium high heat, until the vegetables start to soften, but are not mushy.
Step 3: Cut your bread into cubes, and place on a baking sheet. Dry roast the cubed bread in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes, until it starts to brown and crisp on the edges.
Check often towards the end to avoid burning. Toasting the bread before adding it to the stuffing keeps it from turning to total mush which is key for a stuffing that is not mushy.
Step 4: Once your bread is done roasting, add it to the skillet along with the vegetable stock. Pour in a little at a time and stir, then repeat.
Step 5: Transfer the stuffing to a large baking dish, then dot the top of the stuffing with vegan butter.
Bake the vegan stuffing for around 30 minutes or so, until the top of the stuffing is golden brown. Serve and enjoy!
Can I make this gluten free?
Yes! To make your stuffing gluten free, all you have to do is use a gluten free bread. I have used this recipe with millet bread and it worked well.
All of the other ingredients are naturally gluten free.
How to prep stuffing ahead of time
Every year I try to prep ahead as much as I can for Thanksgiving before the big day. This saves so much time once I’m ready to make the stuffing.
- Dice the veggies: Chop up the onion, garlic, celery, and carrots and place them all together in a ziploc bag in the refrigerator.
- Cut the bread into cubes: Place into zip loc bags or an airtight container until you are ready to bake it.
- Measure out the spices: measure out all the spices ahead of time and place them in a small bag ready to go.
This stuffing is also delicious reheated which is usually not the case for stuffing that I have had before.
Ever since I first created this recipe, I have made it every single year. I’ve made it for 9 years now and have no desire to even tweak the recipe.
I follow it exactly every year to guarantee it comes out perfect! The spices in this recipe are key and sage really is the star of the dish.
“Just made this recipe for Thanksgiving and it was amazing! Thank you so much, definitely my favorite part of the Thanksgiving feast.” – Chelsea
Last year I served Thanksgiving dinner to my family and everyone raved about the dishes!
How to store vegan stuffing
- Storing: Leftover stuffing can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days
- Reheating: Microwave or warm leftovers in the oven at 350 until heated through
More Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes
- Vegan Mashed Potatoes
- Vegetarian Gravy Recipe (use vegan butter to make it vegan)
- Homemade Cranberry Sauce
- Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Crumble (sub vegan milk and butter to make vegan)
- Cranberry Blueberry Crisp
- Skillet Corn (use vegan butter)
- Vegan Apple Crisp
Vegan Stuffing
Ingredients
- 1 loaf bread, 14-16 slices or around 12 cups of bread cubes
- 1 heart of celery, diced (aroud 5 stalks)
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 10 cloves garlic, finely diced or minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 3 tablespoons ground sage
- 1.5 teaspoons thyme
- 1.5 teaspoons oregano
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups veggie stock
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
- Cut the bread into cubes and place on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven until slightly crunchy, about 10-15 minutes
- Combine the diced celery, onion, carrots, garlic, 2 tablespoons of vegan butter, salt, sage, thyme, oregano, and pepper in a large skillet.
- Cook the veggies over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, around 10 minutes
- Add the toasted bread cubes to the skillet with the vegetables and stir well, then pour in the veggie stock
- Taste to adjust seasonings if necessary
- Grease a 9 by 13 baking dish with vegan butter, then transfer the vegan stuffing mixture into the dish
- Dot the top of the stuffing with 2 tablespoons of vegan butter, cut into small cubes
- Bake the stuffing at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until desired texture (we prefer it more dry, but you could cook less for a more soft stuffing)
we make this every year!
This was amazing!
Hi Joy,
Will this store well? Making it the day before… Also, the 3 tbsps of sage is correct? That amount is much more than the other spices which is why I ask. Thank you!
Hi Erin,
It depends on how you like your stuffing. If you don’t mind texture, then it would be fine to make it ahead. Personally I like mine a little on the dryer side so today I am chopping all of the vegetables and putting them in a container in the fridge so that tomorrow all I have to do is sautee, add spices, and the bread. I think either way you do it would be fine. And yes, the sage is correct, as that is the main flavor 🙂 Enjoy the recipe and Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
We are trying this today.
Enjoy!
Can this be made ahead and frozen?
I wouldn’t recommend freezing as the bread may lose texture. To save time on Thanksgiving you could do the veggie prep ahead and put the chopped veggies, garlic, and onion in a ziploc so that it is ready to go right in the skillet.
Could you put the cooked bread/veggie mixture in your baking pan then wait to cook it? I’m thinking of making this before we leave then popping it in the oven once we get to my family’s for Thanksgiving (1 hour or so drive).
I think that would be your best bet! It may get a little softer this way so if texture is an issue for you that would be the only thing. I do think it would still be delicious though!
We made these tonight and they were delicious. We will be adding them as a regular dish to our Thanksgiving and Christmas tables.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Leslie!
How many people will this recipe serve?
Thanks!
Hello!
This recipe will easily serve 6-8 people as a side dish.
Just made this recipe for Thanksgiving and it was amazing! Thank you so much, definitely my favorite part of the Thanksgiving feast.
So glad to hear you enjoyed it Chelsea!
Hi Joy! Just discovered you while searching for healthy and yummy recipes. So this vegan stuffing recipe Does use ten garlic cloves? I’m just checking on that number before I shop and make it and serve to my Guinea-pig family! Thanks!
Hi Becky!
I do use 10 cloves of garlic in this recipe (it ends up being around one medium head of garlic.) I really love the depth of flavor that it adds to the dish, but I don’t taste any “garlicky-ness” at all. If you think you may not want that much garlic, you could use half as much. I hope you and your family enjoy it! Happy Thanksgiving!
Joy
Thank you Joy! I’m trying several of your recipes for our thanksgiving meal and can’t wait to enjoy them all.
Happy thanksgiving to you and yours!
Becky
Hope you enjoy them as much as we do! Happy Thanksgiving to you as well! 🙂
Joy
Doesn’t say amount of servings it yields. ??
I have to do for 50 people. ???
Hi Iris,
This makes a 9 by 13 casserole dish, so it serves around 8 people. I have updated the recipe to reflect this. Thanks!
Stuffing is one of those Thanksgiving dishes that I hated as a kid too, mushy, soggy bread what’s up with that? But now I totally love it, I think that stupid stuffing in a bag stuff gives it a bad rap. Homemade is definitely the way to go, and your recipe looks so hearty I love those big chunks of bread!
Thanks Natalie!