A Vegan Christmas Menu: Dinner for Eight, Without the Last-Minute Rush

Christmas dinner should leave you time to sit down with the people you invited. This menu brings together full recipes from the One Bite Vegan archive, with a mushroom centerpiece, vegetable sides and something sweet to finish. Follow the whole plan or choose the dishes that suit your table. I’d rather cook a smaller menu comfortably than spend Christmas juggling every pan in the kitchen.

The menu at a glance

• Starter: Roasted Carrot Bisque
• Main: Roasted Portobello Mushrooms Florentine
• Alternatives: Red Lentil Stew with Portobello Mushrooms or Butternut Squash Risotto
• Sides: Herb Roasted Potatoes, Roasted Squash and Brussels Sprouts or Carrots Braised in Carrot Juice, with Vegan Mushroom Gravy
• Bread: Brown Bread Baked in a Can
• Dessert: Deep Dark Chocolate Truffle Pudding or Vegan Orange Bread

Starter: a small bowl of soup

Roasted Carrot Bisque blends roasted carrots, onion and garlic with vegetable broth and coconut milk. The card gives 15 minutes of preparation and 45 minutes of cooking, for one hour total. Choose the herb variation if you like: the notes suggest basil, thyme or rosemary.

Serve small cups as a first course while the main finishes in the oven.

The main: Portobello Mushrooms Florentine

Roasted Portobello Mushrooms Florentine tops mushroom caps with garlic-sautéed spinach and vegan mozzarella spread. The recipe lists 12 caps for six people and a total time of 20 minutes. The mozzarella spread has its own linked recipe, so make that first.

The mushrooms roast at 450°F, then return to the oven briefly after the toppings go on. The card says to serve immediately, so this is the dish I would finish closest to dinner.

Alternative mains: Red Lentil Stew with Portobello Mushrooms, Roasted Butternut and Lemony Spinach combines red lentils, coconut milk, roasted vegetables and lemon-dressed spinach; its card lists 50 minutes and six servings. Butternut Squash Risotto uses arborio rice, roasted squash and spinach, with 40 minutes total and four servings. Choose one main rather than cooking all three.

Sides: choose for your oven space

For a familiar roast-dinner side, make Herb Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary. The ingredients include potatoes, olive oil, garlic and fresh rosemary. They roast at 375°F for 40–60 minutes, until tender with crisp edges.

Roasted Squash and Brussels Sprouts adds thyme to the vegetables and roasts them in a single layer at 425°F for about 45 minutes, or until done. Its card serves six. This is an alternative to the potatoes if you want to keep the number of oven dishes down.

Carrots Braised in Carrot Juice and Orange Zest uses carrot juice and orange zest; the card lists four servings and 50 minutes total. Its notes explicitly allow a saucepan on the stovetop, which makes this my pick when the oven is reserved for the main.

For gravy, Vegan Mushroom Gravy blends mushrooms, onion, cashews, stock and miso. It lists 15 minutes and ten servings. If you are not using a high-speed blender, the ingredient note calls for soaking the cashews for two hours first.

The oven settings differ: potatoes at 375°F, squash and sprouts at 425°F, and the mushroom main at 450°F. Plan separate oven slots or use two ovens. With one oven, the simplest version of this menu is the mushroom main with stovetop carrots and gravy, plus bread and dessert.

Bread for the table

Vegan Brown Bread Baked in a Can brings together rye flour, wheat flour, cornmeal, molasses and raisins. One recipe makes one loaf and lists six servings. Allow two hours in its water bath at 325°F, then about an hour to cool before removing it from the can. That is an early cooking job, not something to squeeze into the last hour.

Dessert: chocolate or orange

Deep Dark Chocolate Truffle Pudding uses cashews, cocoa, dates and vegan dark chocolate chips, with cashew-vanilla cream to spoon over the top. Read the full instructions before starting: the cashews soak in the refrigerator for 1–4 hours, the cream chills for two hours, and the pudding chills for 4–8 hours or until set. Make it on Christmas Eve so it has plenty of time to set.

If you would rather bake, Vegan Orange Bread includes dates, grated carrots, walnuts, orange zest and juice, cloves and cardamom. Its bake is 45 minutes before the orange slices go on, followed by another 30 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. The instructions also include a half-hour soak for the date mixture.

Make-ahead timeline

Most of the work here is planning and prep, so the cooking on the day stays calm.

The weekend before

• Choose one main, your sides and one dessert. For a one-oven meal, start with the stovetop-carrot version.
• Count guests, read the complete ingredient lists and write one shopping list. Check dietary needs against the actual ingredients.
• Assign each oven dish its own temperature and time slot; reserve the final slot for the mushroom main.

Two to three days before

• Check your serving bowls, sheet pans, blender and dessert cups.
• Buy your ingredients and decide who is bringing what. Check how many batches you need before handing someone a recipe.
• If choosing the brown bread, read the can-and-water-bath method now so you have the equipment ready.

Christmas Eve

• Set the table and lay out serving dishes with the recipe names beside them.
• Measure dry baking ingredients and prepare your written cooking schedule.
• Make the chocolate pudding: soak the cashews (1–4 hours), blend, and let it chill overnight. Make the cashew-vanilla cream too.

Christmas morning

• Bake the brown bread in an early oven slot, leaving its stated hour for cooling after the two-hour bake.
• Make the soup in its own cooking slot. If you chose roast potatoes or squash, make sure their oven slot does not collide with the final main.

The last hour

• Use the stovetop for the carrots if following that option, and make the mushroom gravy. Remember its separate cashew-soaking requirement if your blender needs it.
• Finish the portobello main at its own 450°F setting and serve immediately as the recipe directs.
• Ask someone else to put out the bread, fill the water glasses and bring the serving dishes to the table.

How much to make for eight

Based on the serving counts on each recipe card:

• Portobello main: two six-serving batches give 12 listed servings. That means 24 caps rather than the 12 in one batch.
• Potatoes or carrots: two four-serving batches give eight listed servings. If choosing squash and sprouts instead, two six-serving batches give 12.
• Gravy: one batch lists ten servings.
• Brown bread: two loaves give 12 listed servings.
• Pudding: two batches give eight servings using the card’s four-serving label. The instructions also mention smaller wine-glass or espresso-cup portions; choose the portion size before scaling.
• Alternative mains: two stew batches give 12 listed servings; two risotto batches give eight.

Enjoy the holiday at your own pace

Jen’s How to Stay Healthy Over the Holidays offers a plant-based perspective on the season. Her Whole Food Plant-Based Diet Starter Guide is there if you want help getting started beyond Christmas.

Edible gifts, drinks and leftovers

Bake an extra orange bread to give as a homemade gift, with the recipe tucked in. For more ideas, see our 30 homemade vegan edible gifts.

For something festive to pour, browse our 20 vegan Christmas drinks, and hand that job to a guest.

Leftover roasted vegetables make an easy next-day bowl with a good sauce. Our 3 Easy Vegan Sauces guide turns three make-ahead sauces into a week of dinners.

Want more sweets? Browse our 20 vegan Christmas desserts.

Merry Christmas from our kitchen to yours. Pick the dishes you want to cook, make room at the table, and enjoy the company.