“The key to a good vegetarian Christmas meal is not being too pushed on the whole ‘traditional’ side of the holiday.”
Veronica Kubat, final year engineering student in TUD, says it’s easy to find festive alternatives around silly season.
Kubat and her family annually enjoy a vegetarian pate, made with mixed vegetables, beans and chickpeas. The pate is baked on a tray in the oven and can be eaten straight away or later.
“Everyone has their turkey and ham and I have my pate.” said Kubat.
“It’s great for Christmas because it has a meaty feel to it. Especially at Christmas time, you don’t want to be just eating potatoes, you want a full, proper meal like everyone else.”
Other alternatives Kubat enjoys is vegetarian lasagne or pasta bake. She says there are tons of delicious and easy to make dishes if you’re not too focused on having a typically traditional Christmas dinner.
Veggie burgers or meatballs are available in almost every supermarket, however Kubat recommends you make them yourself.
“I like to try and make them myself, I feel a bit better when I make my own food, and it’s super easy to make. If you have beans or chickpeas or vegetables you can just blend them together and make little patties that can be fried on the pan or grilled in the oven.”
BBC ‘Good Food’ also list a number of popular vegetarian recipes for Christmas dinner, including nut roast, vegetarian wellington with beetroot, mushrooms and butternut squash, and beetroot and onion tarte tatin.
Hannah Connolly, 21, plans to make her own nut roast this year for Christmas Day.
“They have them in Aldi, the frozen kind, but I want to try and make my own this year.”
Connolly is using a recipe from Waitrose called ‘Mushroom and Chestnut Wellington” that her family has made in previous years and she “highly recommends.”
Having a vegetarian Christmas dinner is very easy to do and since wine is vegetarian, you’ll have something nice to wash it down with.
There are so many recipes out there to try, and now you have two more to add to your list!