Easy Vegan Stuffing Recipe for Thanksgiving

We have a pretty big (and almost entirely non-vegan!) extended family, and they all descend on our house for Thanksgiving because they love the food we put on the table for them. I would say that’s despite the fact that it’s vegan. But now, after more than a decade of being the family gathering place for Thanksgiving, I am starting to suspect that they are actually coming around to the delicious plant-based holiday menus we cook up.

This vegan stuffing recipe, or my vegan cornbread stuffing, are the natural choices to cram your (optionally baby-shaped) stuffed tofu turkey full of.

It’s everything you want in a stuffing: crispy edges, savory herbs, and a hearty texture that doesn’t come out sad and soggy. Whether you’re a seasoned stuffing maker or a first-timer, this recipe will have you feeling like a pro. Plus, you can customize it with gluten-free bread if that’s your thing, or add your favorite mix-ins like chestnuts, walnuts, or dried cranberries to make it your own. You and your guests are gonna love this one!

🍞 Ingredients for vegan stuffing

Day-Old Bread:

Regular ol’ packaged whole wheat bread, whole grain bread (like Ezekiel bread), or spelt bread are what I usually make this out of. They are cheap, available everywhere, and are usually vegan (though read the ingredients as some use honey in them).

You can also make this stuffing with nicely sourdough bread from a bakery, but try to opt for one that’s kinda soft and fluffy (before it’s dried in the oven). Whatever you do, since you are trying to make this completely vegan, opt for an egg-free bread. So, brioche and different types of bread that contain dairy are obviously off the table.

Stale bread works best as it holds its shape better, but I have also included instructions for drying fresh bread in the oven first if that’s what you have on hand.

Of course, this is an easy gluten-free stuffing recipe because, other than the bread, there's no other gluten going on. So just use your fave GF bread in the recipe and you are good to go. My fave gluten-free bread is the millet-flax bread from Sami’s bakery in Florida. They can ship it to you anywhere in the USA if it’s not available at your local grocery store or health food store.

Vegan Butter:

Vegan butter is essential for giving the veggies that classic country-style flavor and adding richness to the stuffing. If I am out of homemade vegan butter that I teach in my vegan dairy crash course, Earth Balance is my go-to. I am also kinda into the considerably cheaper vegan butter from Trader Joe’s. You can use olive oil as a substitute if you’re looking for a less processed alternative.

Fresh Herbs out the Wazoo:

Thanksgiving and Christmas are NOT the time for you to use tons of dried herbs. You bought whole bunches of fresh herbs for this stuffing and don’t know what to do with the rest? Garnishing your vegan fried chicken, Turkish green beans, vegan mashed potatoes, and all of the other side dishes on your table is 100% the right thing to do.

Cornstarch:

Cornstarch is what normal human beings have laying around in their pantry, but you can totally use arrowroot or tapioca starch instead. I ALWAYS have a ton of tapioca starch on hand because I am always using it in Southeast Asian vegan dessert recipes like Indonesian klepon, Filipino karioka donuts, and my Malaysian martabak recipe.
Anyway, using any one of those starch options helps to create the perfect texture, giving the right body and structure to the stuffing and preventing it from becoming too soggy.

Tamari:

Tamari is a gluten-free soy sauce that adds a deep umami flavor, rounding out the taste of the stuffing. Using this as your soy sauce choice makes it so all you have to do is use GF bread if you want to have all (or just some) of your stuffing gluten-free.
Regular ol' soy sauce, Nama shoyu, or liquid aminos can all be used as a measure-to-measure substitute if that's what you have on hand.

Unsalted Vegetable Stock:

Packaged vegetable broth can vary a lot in its salt content. So to keep the results more predictable, I call for using either homemade or store-bought unsalted stock.

To make it at home, as I do for use in my chicken seitan recipe, just boil together onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and perhaps a couple of bay leaves and a few peppercorns. Once the veggies are pretty lifeless and wilted, strain them out, and you have a nice, cheap, versatile stock to use in this recipe and for the roasted carrot lentil soup with chestnuts that you might want to dish out as a Thanksgiving appetizer.

If you can only get low-sodium or fully salted vegetable stock or want to use a vegan chicken broth, just cut back on the tamari to taste. An easy hack for vegan chicken stock is to use the no-chicken bouillon paste from Better Than Bouillon whisked into some boiling water. But like I said, it has some sodium, so cut back a little on the tamari, ok?

Optional Mix-Ins:

Roasted chestnuts or walnuts are both a no-brainer addition to this classic stuffing recipe for extra yum and texture. Dried cranberries can also be pretty rad, but I only add them if I’m not already doing a few other cranberry-oriented sides and appetizers in addition to the compulsory cranberry sauce. You don’t wanna be a one-trick pony with your menu, right?

📖 How to make vegan stuffing

Nail this easy-as-heck traditional stuffing recipe on your first shot by following these step-by-step photos with helpful tips. Or scroll down to the bottom of this page for the easy-to-print recipe card. You've never had such a yummy Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas dinner!

Step One

2 Live Croutons:

If your bread is fresh and not stale, preheat the oven to 250°F (120°C). Spread the cubed bread on a baking sheet and let it dry out in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the bread and let it cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, crank up the oven to 350°F (175°C).

✅ If you already have old dry bread on hand, you can skip this step.

Step Two

Spa Time for Leeks: 

Rinse the leeks thoroughly to remove surface dirt, then slice them and immerse in a bowl of warm water. Gently massage the leeks to release any hidden grit, then drain and rinse under cold running water until completely clean.

Step Three

Sauté-braham Lincoln:

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and melt the vegan butter. After about 2 minutes, when the butter is hot and bubbling, add the diced onion and sliced leeks. Sauté for 6-7 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions and leeks are golden brown.

Step Four

Stir Crazy:

Throw in the diced celery, minced garlic, sage, parsley, and thyme. Continue sautéing for 2-3 minutes over medium heat until the celery just begins to soften. Remove the pan from the heat.

Step Five

Broth IRA:

In a saucepan, bring 2 cups of vegetable broth to a boil over high heat.

Step Six

Bread Basket Case:

Place the bread cubes in a large bowl and toss them gently with cornstarch. Add the sautéed veggies and herbs, pour in the boiling stock, and then season the mix with tamari and black pepper to taste.

Step Seven

Foil Metal Jacket:

Transfer the stuffing mixture into a casserole dish. Gently mix in your optional chestnuts, walnuts, or cranberries, and cover the dish with foil. Bake it at 350°F (175°C) for 18 minutes, then remove the foil and bake uncovered for an additional 10 minutes.

Step Eight

Herb Your Enthusiasm:

Take your dish of homemade stuffing out of the oven, garnish with pats of vegan butter, fresh parsley, sage leaves, or thyme sprigs, and serve hot.

🥧 Vegan Holiday Menu Ideas

This stuffing might just upstage everything or your holiday table, even the maple-glazed vegan ham, and hoisin and pearl onion roasted seitan chicken. But it can be the perfect thing to fill your stuffed vegan turkey with too.

I like to kick things off with a roasted carrot lentil soup or maybe a butternut squash soup—gotta keep it cozy, right? For sides, why not forget about a sad green bean casserole, and hook it up instead with zeytinyağlı taze fasulye? It's this awesome Turkish green bean dish that my family loves. Or, mess with this Filipino kalabasa recipe—it’s basically kabocha squash and spinach taking a dip in a mellow coconut milk broth. Super tasty, and works well with an autumnal menu.

Of course, the classics are a must: bourbon cranberry sauce, vegan mashed potatoes, which are dripping with either vegan brown gravy, mushroom gravy, or vegan sausage gravy—you know the drill.

And then you have one of this year's most important questions to deal with. Are you gonna serve vegan sweet potato casserole or candied yams this year? Don't mess this up.

Then, finish strong with something sweet: vegan apple pie, vegan pumpkin muffins drizzled in cardamom glaze, vegan sweet potato muffins, or a smooth vegan pumpkin flan. Boom, holiday feast complete!