Give my delicious festive vegan wreath a go for a seasonal centrepiece that’s sure to be the talk of the table!

It’s much simpler than it looks – my delicious festive vegan wreath is tasty, easy and requires only seven ingredients!

Layered with sweet cranberry sauce, tasty sage and onion stuffing and seasoned vegan ‘turkey’, this recipe is a lovely combination for any vegan Christmas dinner or Sunday roast.

For decoration, I used a star-shaped biscuit cutter to make eight stars from pastry cut-offs – this reduces food waste and makes the wreath super festive.

If you don’t have time to read the recipe now, PIN it or bookmark this page.

christmas-vegan-wreathHow do you make this ‘meaty’ vegan wreath vegan?

Puff pastry:

As you’ll know, traditional puff pastry recipes aren’t vegan. They require butter, but you can easily sub this out for a dairy-free alternative.

There are plenty of benefits to going dairy-free – if you fancy reading more, then check out this article.

When choosing a vegan butter for this kind of baking, then you’ll want to select one that acts very similarly to dairy butter blocks. My current favourites are:

  • Vegan Block by Naturli
  • Flora’s Plant Butter

Both have a lovely flavour and work fantastic in cooking and baking. Also, I believe Stork’s Original Baking Block (not their margarine) is vegan.

As much as I love to get into making pastry, sometimes I want a quick cheat. So, if you’re like me and want a short-cut, then my favourite is pre-made puff pastry sheets. Most supermarket brands these days are accidentally vegan. Jus Rol and many supermarket-own brands are vegan – double-check the label when you’re next shopping.

christmas-vegan-wreathTurkey:

As the world population grows each year, Turkey slaughter goes into overdrive for Christmas. Around 14 million turkeys are killed in the UK each year – 2 million in December alone, and that’s just the UK.

Undercover investigations conducted by Viva exposed the horrendous treatment of Turkeys in three intensive Red Tractor certified farms in the South of England. All of them supply supermarkets across the UK! ‘Shocking scenes of suffering and cruelty with a total disregard for animal welfare’ were observed.

As information like this becomes more common knowledge, it’s no surprise many households have questioned their dietary choices for Christmas 2020, with 40% not eating Turkey and 1 in 10 having a completely meat-free Christmas. Reasons included concerns about the environment (23%), health (22%) and animal welfare (19%).

For this recipe, I have used Sainsbury’s Plant Pioneer’s Roast Chicken Style Pieces which are made of wheat protein and contain over 30g of protein per pack. I fried these off in the pan with some garlic, olive oil, fresh sage and thyme. Other supermarket options which would work well for this cooking method include:

  • Baked firm tofu
  • Iceland’s No Bull Chicken Pieces
  • THIS Isn’t Chicken Plant-Based Chicken Pieces
  • Beyond Chicken Grilled Strips
  • Quorn Vegan Chick’n Tenders
  • Fry Family Foods
    Vivera Plant Chicken Pieces
  • Oumph Chicken
  • Naturli Chick Free

christmas-vegan-wreathThis recipe has featured as part of my Instagram IGTV recipe series, Vegan in Lockdown: Christmas Special. You can watch the series over on Instagram – I released a new episode every week on Monday and Wednesday (6 pm BST) in the lead up to Christmas 2020.

I hope you enjoy my Festive Vegan Wreath with “Turkey”, Cranberry & Stuffing. I’d love it if you could leave me some feedback and a cheeky follow on social.

If you’re already planning your vegan Christmas or need some ideas for a vegan roast dinner, then check out these recipes of mine:

Much love, G x

christmas-vegan-wreath

7-Ingredient Festive Vegan Wreath with “Turkey”, Cranberry & Stuffing

Yield: 4-8
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Additional Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Give my delicious festive vegan wreath a go for a seasonal centrepiece that’s sure to be the talk of the table!

Ingredients

  • 1 sheet of Jus Rol puff pastry
  • 1 pack of Sainsbury's Plant Pioneer Roast Chicken Pieces
  • Fresh thyme and sage, chopped
  • 1 tsp garlic puree
  • Olive oil
  • Cranberry sauce
  • 85g small pack of Paxo sage and onion stuffing

Instructions

    1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
    2. Fry off the vegan meat in fresh thyme and sage, garlic and olive oil on medium heat for 10mins.
    3. Next, prepare your stuffing in a bowl following packet instructions and leave to one side.
    4. Then, you can prep your pastry. TOP TIP: cut the pastry while it's still chilled. Place the pastry on baking paper upon a baking tray. Use a large dinner plate to mark and cut out a large circle with a sharp knife. Save the cut-offs for later.
    5. Then use a smaller plate to *imprint/score* a centre circle in the middle. Then use a sharp knife to cut a 4-way cross (|-/\) or 8-point star within that circle. This will make 8 little 'flaps'.
    6. Around the wreath ring, spoon a generous layer of cranberry sauce, then a layer of 8 mini stuffing patties, then your pan ingredients, and extra cranberry if you fancy.
    7. Then lift each of the 8 centre flaps over to meet the edge of the wreath.
    8. Cut-out 8 stars from the pastry cut-offs and use these to fill the gaps around the wreath.
    9. Sprinkle over fresh thyme, salt, and brush the pastry with a little oil to encourage a nice crisp. Place the wreath in the oven for 25mins until golden.

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