Easy Vegetarian Christmas Stuffing

This moist and delicious vegetarian Christmas stuffing has all the fabulous flavours of the festive season but is meat free and lighter than your normal stuffing recipes.

Why you’ll love this recipe

• This meat-free stuffing recipe is light and full of flavour so not so heavy with all the other goodies on your festive plate.
• Cheap and cheerful – vegetarian staffing is bread based so far cheaper than the sausage meat usually used in traditional stuffing.
• Versatility – you can use this vegetarian stuffing mix in stuffed veggies like peppers and tomatoes as well as a side with your Christmas dinner.

While I love all things Christmas and Christmas dinner especially I like to ring the changes and this vegetarian Christmas stuffing recipe is my alternative to the usual heavy sausage meat stuffing.

I have adapted this recipe slightly from my original meat-free festive stuffing recipe in my book So Easy Christmas.

Ingredients for vegetarian Chrstmas stuffing

There aren’t a great many ingredients in this meat-free stuffing recipe and most are just store cupboard basics you’ll probably have hanging round the kitchen already.

Bread – this is the base for your veggie stuffing mix instead of traditional sausage meat. I just use a day old small baguette. You can use any bread you like really but remember that a heavy dense bread will lead to a heavier stuffing and one of the great features of this stuffing is it’s lightness.

The base – shallots (or an onion if you haven’t got any shallots to hand), garlic and celery. These give you the flavour base to build your vegetarian stuffing.

Herbs – stuffing is all about the herbs. I’ve used the old classics of parsley, rosemary, sage and thyme. I have used fresh herbs but if you haven’t got fresh then by all means use dried herbs but use half the quantities.

Liquids – you’ll need some liquid in there to soak up the bread and I’ve used an egg, dry white wine and vegetable stock.

Lemon – the zest of a lemon gives your vegetarian stuffing mix a great lift in the flavour department and a fresh zinginess.

The complete list of ingredients and full instructions for making this recipe can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.

How to make meat-free stuffing

This is such a simple stuffing recipe and so easy to pull together.

First you want to rip up your bread into small pieces and toast it in the oven till nice and crispy but not burnt.

While you are doing this you can be sauteing the garlic, shallots and celery in a pan along with some butter till tender.

Pro Tip

While it would seem easier to just use breadcrumbs to make this veggie Christmas stuffing that would make for a mushy sort of stuffing. The torn up bread gives great texture to this stuffing so better than using breadcrumbs.

Now tip the cooked veggies and toasted bread into a nice big bowl and add your other ingredients including the wine.

Add the stock a bit at a time and keep squishing so the liquid is all soaked up.

Get your hands in there and squish your vegetarian Christmas stuffing mix together with your fingers to make sure everything is really well combined and make sure you add your salt and pepper too.

Don’t be tempted to use a food processor as you will end up with a mushy mess, use your hands.

Once you have thoroughly mixed your vegetarian Christmas stuffing pack it lightly into a roasting tin and cover with foil. Pop this into a preheated oven for about 20 minutes.

It can go into the oven alongside your other veggies etc while you are cooking your Christmas dinner.

Remove the foil and bake for a further 15 minutes to crisp up the top of your Christmas stuffing.

How many does this serve

I would say this veggie Christmas stuffing recipe will serve 4 people as part of a Christmas dinner and that is giving a good portion of stuffing to each plate.

Storage

Your meat-free stuffing can be made ahead of time and stored in a covered container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Remember to reheat till piping hot before serving.

You can freeze this vegetarian stiffing for up to 3 months in a freezer-proof container.

How to serve vegetarian Christmas stuffing

Okay so I have gone a wee bit over the top with the presentation of this stuffing by putting it on the Christmas lunch table in the shape of a traditional Christmas putting but I just couldn’t resist it.

This is super easy to do. Simply pack the cooked veggie stuffing into a bowl and paack it in hard. Then place a small serving plate on top of the bowl and flip it over. Gently lift the bowl and you should have the perfect Christmas pudding stuffing!

You can use this simple vegetarian stuffing mixture to fill peppers, tomatoes, mini pumpkins and other veggies.

Using leftovers

This vegetarian Christmas stuffing is great served as a breakfast dish next day with a fried egg done in one pan to save on washing up!

Looking for more side dishes for your Christmas dinner this year? Then check these out before you go;

Super easy bread sauce

Vichy glazed carrots with Scotch whisky

Homemade cranberry sauce

Brussels sprouts with chorizo and rosemary

Wanting even more festive inspiration? Then go to my Christmas Recipes section for loads of great ideas.

Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter too of course.