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My Favorite Vegan Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes #veganrecipes #veganthanksgiving
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May 3, 2024
If you don't know what side dishes to make for your vegan Thanksgiving, this is the video for you! Here I've got three of my favorite Thanksgiving side dish recipes for you all in one video. If you're looking for my Thanksgiving dinner recipes video, it's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI_YBQsA88I Cranberry Crostini: https://www.stephsunshine.com/vegan-life/cranberry-cashew-goat-cheese-crostini/ Loaded Baked Potato: https://www.stephsunshine.com/vegan-life/tex-mex-vegan-baked-potato/ Pumpkin and Carrot Soup: https://www.stephsunshine.com/vegan-life/carrot-pumpkin-soup/ Get all my vegan Thanksgiving recipes here: https://www.stephsunshine.com/vegan-life/vegan-thanksgiving-recipes-menu Get all my vegan Christmas recipes here: https://www.stephsunshine.com/vegan-life/best-vegan-christmas-recipes Follow me on the socials (FB, IG, Pinterest, TikTok) @msstephsunshine 0:00 Intro 0:33 Cranberry Crostini 4:11 Loaded Baked Potato 11:07 Pumpkin and Carrot Soup
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hello again! With Thanksgiving coming up very soon, I wanted to compile all of my best holiday
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recipes, and this video is all about the vegan appetizers and sides. In my last video, I gave
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you four of my favorite Thanksgiving dinner recipes, so if you missed that, make sure you
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check it out. All of the recipes that are mentioned in this video are also on my website, so I will
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post links in the description below if you want to follow along. There will also be some time
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stamps down there in case you want to skip to a particular recipe. All right, so our first recipe
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is cranberry crostini, which is made with cashew cheese, cranberry sauce, and walnut. This one is
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super easy, and you can also make extra of the cranberry sauce to serve with dinner
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but I personally never want to overlook the appetizers on Thanksgiving because I think it's
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always great to have something to snack on while dinner's still being prepared. So let's go to that
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recipe now. So the first thing we're going to do is make that cranberry sauce. I'm going to start by
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dicing one and a half cups of onion and mincing two cloves of garlic. Then I'm going to melt three
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tablespoons of vegan butter in a large saute pan over medium heat, and I'm going to add my onion
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and let it cook for about 15 minutes, stirring every so often. After about 15 minutes, the onion
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should be turning just a little bit brown. At that point, I want to add my garlic and let it cook for
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another five minutes. If your cranberry sauce starts getting too dry at any point, you can add
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a splash of water to keep it from drying out. Now I'm going to turn the heat down to medium low
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and I'll just give it a few minutes for the pan to cool off. If you don't let it cool, your cranberry
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juice might evaporate as soon as it hits the pan. So once it's cooled, then I'm going to add three-eighths
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of a cup, or that's also six tablespoons each, of cranberry juice and brown sugar. Make sure you're
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using pure cranberry juice here and not cranberry juice cocktail. So I'm just going to stir that up
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a bit until the sugar is dissolved. Now I'm going to add three-quarters of a teaspoon of red wine
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vinegar and one and a quarter cups of fresh cranberries. I'll turn the heat back to medium
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just until the juices start to boil, and then I'll turn it down to simmer for about 15 minutes
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The cranberries should start getting soft before the 15 minutes is up. At that point, I'm going to
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use my potato masher to mash them up. I want to end up with a jelly-like consistency for my cranberry
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sauce, so if it's too thick, I'll add some water. If it's too thin, I'll let it cook a little bit
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longer. Keep in mind though that it will thicken up as it cools, so don't overcook it. The cranberry
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sauce is almost done. I'm just going to add a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon and an eighth of a
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teaspoon of salt. Mix it up and then set it aside. Now let's get to the crostini making. I just have
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a regular baguette here, and I am going to slice it diagonally. Anywhere from half an inch to
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three quarters of an inch thick is perfect for crostini. Now I'm going to spray the slices on
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both sides with olive oil and then place them in a single layer on a baking sheet. I'll put them
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under the low broiler for two minutes and then turn them over and broil the other side for another
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two minutes. All that's left to do now is the assembly. So I am going to take some cashew
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cheese. I have Miyoko's cream cheese here. You can also use treeline cashew cheese. That's a
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really good one if you want to use that. So I will spread some cashew cheese on top and then top that
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with a spoonful of cranberry sauce. Now at this point, if you want to put some fresh parsley or
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thyme on top, you can do that. I like walnuts on mine, so I'm going to use those. And we are done
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I love this contrast between the creamy cashew cheese and the acidity of the cranberry sauce. It
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all just goes together so perfectly. Okay, so our next recipe is a loaded baked potato recipe. There
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are a ton of ways to make a loaded baked potato, but mine has a little bit of a Tex-Mex vibe with
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tomatoes, black pepper, and a little bit of salt. So I'm going to use a little bit of black pepper
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and a little bit of a Tex-Mex vibe with tomatoes, black beans, corn, jalapenos, and some vegan cheese
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It is so delicious. I highly recommend that you try this recipe. So the first thing we need to do
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is bake the potatoes. I'm preheating my oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and then I'm washing four
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medium-sized russet potatoes and using a fork to poke holes in them. When you're choosing your
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potatoes, try to find four that are similar in size and evenly shaped so that you'll have a nice
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looking potato that won't roll over on your plate. Next, I'm going to coat the potatoes with some
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spray oil. I'm using olive oil spray, but choose whatever oil you like. And then I'll sprinkle some
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salt on the skins. If you're not going to eat the skins, you don't need to add salt. It's just there
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for flavor. And I know some people like to wrap their potatoes in foil to bake them. I actually
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tested baking them with and without foil and there was no discernible difference between the two
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So since the results were basically the same, I didn't use foil. And these are going to go in the
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oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, I'm taking them out, flipping them to the other side
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and I'll put them back in for another 30 minutes more to finish baking. When they're finally done
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I will just use some oven mitts to press on the corners here to make sure that they're
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actually done. They should be a little soft when you press on them. And I'm going to set those
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aside to let them cool until they can be handled, which is about 20 minutes. And in the meantime
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I will make my black bean and veggie topping. So to my bowl here, I'm going to add a quarter cup
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of chopped Roma tomato, half a cup of black beans, a quarter cup of frozen corn kernels
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and one chopped jalapeno. And then I'll mix that all well. I sometimes add about a tablespoon of
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chopped cilantro as well, but it didn't look very fresh in the store, so I skipped it this time
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And now I'm going to season this with some salt and pepper to taste and mix it up well again
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All right, my potatoes are cool enough now, so I'm going to start slicing off the tops
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I'm cutting the top quarter or so off the potato lengthwise just to create an opening on the top
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Some people prefer to cut the potatoes in half, and you could do that as well
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but you might need some more toppings since you're going to have eight halves instead of four
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mostly whole potatoes. Next, I'm going to scoop the flesh out of the potatoes and into a large
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bowl. I'm leaving about a quarter of an inch border around the skin to make sure it holds
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its shape and doesn't break or fall apart. And we're left with these lovely shells
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which will hold our potato filling in our toppings. So now I'm going to add a quarter
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cup of vegan butter to my potato flesh bowl along with a quarter cup of vegan sour cream
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I'm using Kite Hill, which is my favorite, and then I'm adding a teaspoon of salt and
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half a teaspoon of black pepper as well. And I'll just mash that all up together
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It's really up to you how smooth or chunky you want to make it. Just make sure that everything
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gets mixed up well. And as you can see, I started off with a fork but quickly needed to switch over
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to a potato masher to get everything really well combined. So the last thing I'll add to the
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filling is three-eighths of a cup of vegan cheese. I usually use Miyoko's cheddar shreds, but I could
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not find them and I saw that Chow had a Mexican cheese blend, so I decided to try that and see how
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it compares. And I'm just gently folding the shreds into the filling to get them distributed throughout
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All right, now I'm just putting all this filling back into the shells. Since you're putting more
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stuff in than you took out, the shells are going to be really full. So I try to really pack the
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filling in there so that there's still room for the toppings. And when it's full, then I just use
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the back of the spoon to create a well at the center to hold the toppings in place
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Next, I'm going to put some vegan cheese on top of the potatoes, but I'm going to melt it on the
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stove first so that it gets a lot meltier than it can get in the oven. Is meltier a word? I don't
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think so, but let's go with it. It can take a few minutes for the cheese to melt, so be patient and
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just keep stirring it the whole time. It'll typically start to melt all at once and turn
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into a stretchy ball. I didn't really know what to expect from this cheese since I never used it
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before, but it melted okay. It's a little more blob-like than the Miyoko's or the Vi-Life, but
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it's usable. Once it melts, you have to work fast to spread it on top of the potatoes before it cools
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too much. So just take a spoon and spread it from side to side so it looks all stretchy and yummy
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Then I'm going to put my beans and veggies on top of that, and I'll use the back of my spoon again
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to really press this stuff down into the well so it stays in place
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Now these will go back onto the baking tray and into the oven for another 15 minutes to warm up
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You're probably going to have some extra black beans and veggies left over, so I like to pile
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them on top of the potato tops and eat them as a snack while I'm waiting for the potatoes to finish
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You could also make a salsa with it. Just add some lime juice, agave, and hot sauce
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and use it as a dip for chips or whatever you like. All right, these are almost ready now. I'm
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just going to add a dollop of my Kite Hill sour cream to the tops. You should wait to do this
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until right before you're ready to serve them because the sour cream can start to melt if you
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leave it on there for too long. And then I will sprinkle some chopped green onions on top, or you
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could use chives here too, and they're ready to be served. All right, let's see how these turned out
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Mmm, yep, delicious as usual. As far as my verdict on the chow Mexican cheese, it was fine if it's
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all you can get, but the Miyoko's has more flavor and melted better. And I would choose Violife over
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the chow as well. Of the three, the chow is my third choice. But the potatoes are still super
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flavorful. There's a little bit of crunchiness from the veggies that pairs so nicely with the
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smooth potato filling. Try them out, I'm sure you will love them. And finally, if you are a soup
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person, you are going to love this pumpkin and carrot soup. It is so flavorful with ginger
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cinnamon, and nutmeg, and then it has cashew cream for a super rich texture. So let's get right into
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the ingredients for that recipe. Okay, so the first thing we're going to need is five and a half
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cups of low sodium vegetable broth, and then we need 21 ounces of pumpkin cubes, which is about
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the amount you're going to get from a two pound pumpkin. This could be a pie pumpkin, it could be
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a butternut squash. This here is actually a Taiwanese pumpkin, so whatever pumpkin you have
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works. And to prepare this, you're going to want to cut it in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds
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slice off the skin, and then cut it into cubes. You're also going to need one and a half pounds
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of peeled and chopped carrots. This is the weight of the carrots after peeling, not before. And one
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teaspoon of ginger root, peeled and grated. Three quarters of a cup of cashews, and you're going to
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want to pre-soak these in hot water for 10 minutes. Just make sure that you measure before you soak
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the cashews because you can see these have expanded, and this is more than three quarters
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of a cup right now. And finally, three quarters of a cup of water, and then for seasoning, we've got
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one teaspoon of cinnamon, half a teaspoon of ground nutmeg, half a teaspoon of red pepper flakes, and
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salt and pepper to taste. Okay, so I've got my soup pot here, and I am just adding in my vegetable
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broth over medium heat, and then I'm just going to add in my seasonings, not including the salt and
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pepper, and whisk it up a bit. If you cannot eat spicy things, you can leave out the red pepper
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flakes. The soup is still delicious without it. Okay, so next I'm going to add in my carrot, pumpkin
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and ginger, and then I'm going to bring it to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and let it simmer
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for 30 minutes. All right, so while my veggies are getting nice and soft over here, I am going to
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blend up my cashews and water into a cashew cream, which is the key to taking the soup to the next
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level of creaminess. All right, well, my veggies have been cooking for 30 minutes now, so they are
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nice and soft, and that means we're actually almost done. This mixture of broth and veggies needs to
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get blended up, so if you have an immersion blender, you could use that. I'm actually going to transfer
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this mixture over to my blender. My blender isn't large enough to do it in one batch, so I am going
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to need to do it in two batches. If that's the case for you, don't worry too much about how much
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pumpkin and carrot and broth, the proportions that you're getting in the blender. If it's different
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from one batch to the other, it's not a big deal because it's just going to get mixed up back
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together anyway. All right, so we're just going to blend that up until it's nice and smooth. Also, the
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soup is hot, so you don't want to completely seal off your blender. Make sure that you take off that
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center cap before you close up your blender. You can put a paper towel over it to make sure that
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nothing splatters out, and then we will mix both of those batches back together in the pot. All
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right, so we've already got a pretty nice soup texture, but let's make it ultra creamy. Let's add
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that cashew cream. I have measured out one cup of the cashew cream, and I'm going to mix that right
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in. At this point, you could also add your salt and pepper to taste. I couldn't get low sodium
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vegetable broth here in Taiwan, so I'm going to skip the salt and actually just add some pepper
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here. Remember, it is a big soup, so you'll probably want to add more than you think. Just
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make sure that you're tasting it as you add it. So that's it. The only thing left to do is serve it
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If you didn't notice, I still do have a little bit of cashew cream left over, so I'm going to put the
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soup in the bowl, and then I'm going to spoon some of this cashew cream right on top of the soup in
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a little swirl pattern, and then I'm going to top it with some pumpkin seeds and red pepper flakes
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So
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what I love about this soup is the flavors of the ginger and pumpkin and carrot all just complement
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each other so nicely, and then you've got that cinnamon and nutmeg in there too, and the cashew
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cream, this creaminess, it's just a cherry on top. All right, well that's it for this one. I really
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hope this has been helpful if you're looking for some sides to complete your vegan Thanksgiving
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dinner table. I do still have one more video coming up with Thanksgiving desserts, so make
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sure you subscribe to catch that video. Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you in the next one
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