A More Compassionate Sunday Roast Dinner

Hosting a vegan roast dinner doesn’t have to be complicated or bland. With the right mix of flavours and details, you can put together a meal everyone loves, from long-time vegans to meat-eaters at the table.

Vegan Wellington (Crumbs & Caramel) is a roasted butternut squash with cranberry wild rice, balsamic-cooked mushrooms, onions, herbs and garlic in flaky pastry.

Keep nuts away from children and people with swallowing difficulties. Keep recipes away from pets due to onion, garlic, faux meats, fresh dough. Read more on food safety for people & pets.

Just bin onion, garlic and leek scraps (acids could harm compost creatures).

A good vegan gravy brings all the elements together. Use ingredients like miso paste (not for pregnancy/nursing due to being unpasteurised), tamari or soy sauce, mushrooms, onions and vegetable broth. Let it simmer so it thickens and reaches full flavour.

Roast Your Veggies Right

Use a mix of root vegetables like roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips and sweet potatoes. Toss them in olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh herbs before roasting until crispy and browned. Spread out the veggies on the pan so they roast evenly instead of steaming.

Don’t Forget the Stuffing

Vegan stuffing doesn’t need meat or dairy to stand out. Try bread cubes with sautéed onions, garlic, celery, dried cranberries and walnuts mixed with fresh sage and thyme. For richer flavour, use vegetable stock instead of water.

Horseradish or apple sauce are popular, prepare these ahead, to let flavours build. Bring to room temperature, before serving.

Where to Buy Good Vegan Roasts

Planty offers a vegan roast dinner delivered to your door, made with sage and walnut stuffed ‘chicken roast’ served with glazed carrots and parsnips, white cabbage and port wine gravy.

Thank Goodness Luxury Nut Roast is made with nuts, veggies, lentils, quinoa and herbs.

Recycle packaging at supermarket bag bins, if kerbside does not recycle. 

Morrisons Offers Vegan Roast Dinners

Alongside many pubs that serve vegan roast dinners, supermarket chain Morrisons now offers affordable roast dinners in its restaurants. The pumpkin, mushroom & cranberry roast is served  with vegan gravy, seasonal veggies, stuffing and roast potatoes.

How to Make (vegan) Yorkshire Puddings

Yorkshire puddings are up there with one of England’s favourite foods. There are not many people who would not eat a plate of Yorkshire puddings on their own, not just with a veggie roast dinner! They are not the quickest recipe to make, but pretty simple once you get the hang of it. And who says you can’t enjoy Yorkshire puddings on any day of the week, not just Sunday!

These 5-ingredient vegan Yorkshire Puddings (Gaz Oakley) are the ultimate standby recipe, for when you fancy a snack or delicious side with your veggie Sunday roast. All you need is soy milk, self-raising flour, sea salt and baking powder, plus a little vegetable oil for greasing.

Preheat your oven, then add a little oil  to each Yorkshire pudding tin, then pour the batter in heated oil and cook for 15 minutes.

Read our post on zero waste baking tools.

Avoid Yorkshire puddings for young children and people with swallowing difficulties (keep fresh dough away from children and pets). Don’t give leftovers to pets, garden birds or wildfowl, due to salt and fat (which can smear on feathers, affecting waterproofing and insulation).

It’s good to make vegan Yorkshire puddings, as these are from factory-farmed eggs and other animal ingredients. And most versions on sale are made with factory-farmed ingredients, and packed in plastic (there are a few plant-based alternatives listed below).

But let’s learn to make one of England’s most traditional foods, updated for health and compassion. You won’t regret it! Vegan Yorkshire puddings are cholesterol-free, so much healthier. Serve with vegan gravy.

Tips for Perfect Vegan Yorkshire Puddings

• Your oven must be very hot, to create enough steam to puff the batter, and crisp the outside. Avoid opening the oven door while baking, as this can cause the puddings to sink.
• The oil in each mould must be smoking hot, before you add the batter.
• Resting the batter for at least 20 minutes before baking, helps to hydrate the flour, and make your puddings puffy!
• Cool Yorkshire puddings on a wire rack, if not serving immediately. This will help to avoid them going soggy.

Homemade (vegan) Toad-in-The-Hole

This is also a traditional dish, ideal for a main meal or a snack. This toad-in-the-hole recipe (The Veg Space) uses ready-made vegan sausages in the batter, along with sliced onions. Once baked, serve with steamed greens and vegan gravy.

Where to Buy Good Vegan Yorkshire Puddings

Mabel’s offer a fine line of vegan Yorkshire puddings, all free of palm oil. You can order in bulk and freeze what you don’t need, and this company also can offer wholesale to shops. The range includes giant Yorkshire puddings and vegan toad-in-the-hole.

Recycle packaging at supermarket bag bins, if your kerbside doesn’t recycle.

Ella’s Instant Yorkshire Pudding Mix hails from Yorkshire and is sold in a brown paper bag. Also in a gluten-free version, and available in several flavours including garlic, chive and cheese, or a combination. Just follow the instructions, adding oat milk, soya milk and a little oil.

These mixes are made in a vegan kitchen, with 20p from each sale going to animal rescue charity. Again these are available wholesale to shops and restaurants.

Goose-Friendly Vegan Roast Potato Recipes

Simple Herb Roast Potatoes (I Love Vegan)

Roast potatoes are up there with everyone’s favourite side dish or snack. Most of us would gladly eat a plate of roast potatoes on their own, especially with sea salt and pepper. They do take a while to bake in the oven (if you’re worried about time or energy bills, there is a pan-fried version below).

But do take the effort to learn how to roast your own potatoes. You don’t need goose or duck fat, using rapeseed oil gives better results, and supports local farmers. (below). And home-baked roasties are tastier and cheaper than plastic-wrapped supermarket frozen roasties.

Can Everyone Eat Roast Potatoes?

Most people can, although of course you may wish to limit oil and salt. Avoid feeding roasties to young children or those at risk of choking.

Avoid feeding leftovers to pets, garden birds or wildlife (due to salt and fat – which smears feathers, affecting waterproofing and insulation).

Which Are The Best Roasting Potatoes?

Maris Piper are the best potatoes for roasting, due to their fluffy dry texture and ability to soak up flavours. Other good choices are King Edward and Desiree (these give a lovely colour).

Roast potatoes are actually a dish from the Americas, but ever since they arrived on English shores a few centuries ago, they have never been off the table!

How to Prepare Potatoes for Roasting

No-Oil Roast Potatoes (This Savoury Vegan) use Italian seasoning and spices

Get a good peeler (from a kitchen shop). It will last you a lifetime, and make peeling fun, not a chore. You can then use it for peeling root veggies, and also gather more potato from under the skin, to avoid food waste.

If flavouring roast spuds with garlic, onion or lemon, bin the scraps to break down naturally. This is because unless you know how to expertly balance greens and browns, excessive acids could harm compost creatures.

Why Rapeseed Oil is Best

Please no duck or goose fat, these beautiful birds have enough welfare issues already. Rapeseed oil comes from those bright yellow flowers that you see in farmers’ fields. Find a local brand in farm shops, or if you can’t find it, sub with sunflower or light (not extra-virgin) olive oil that has a milder taste.

Rapeseed oil has a higher smoke point than olive oil, which is best reserved for salad dressings. Rapeseed and sunflower oils have a neutral taste, ideal to add garlic or herbs.

A Basic Roast Potato Recipe

It’s best to ‘eyeball’ ingredients for basic savoury recipes, to avoid waste. Aim for around 2 medium potatoes per person.

• Peel and chop your spuds, then rinse under cold water and soak for 30 minutes.
• Bring to the boil in a pan of cold salted water, and simmer for 8 minutes until par-boiled. Drain and return to the pan, and shake for 10 seconds (this roughs the edges, for a crispy finish).
• Pour rapeseed oil (a tablespoon or two per person) in a roasting pan, and place in a pre-heated oven for 5 minutes. You then add the potatoes with tongs or a slotted spoon into the hot oil.
• Sprinkle over some sea salt (with optional smashed garlic cloves and fresh rosemary or thyme – not dried as it will burn). Roast for 25 minutes, turn each potato over, then roast for another 20 minutes.
• Serve hot, seasoned with more sea salt, if wished. If your potatoes are soggy, you need to set your oven temperature higher. Also be sure to space potatoes on the tray (for a big batch, simply use two trays).

What To Do with Leftover Cooking Oil

Never pour cooking oil down the drain, as it will clog your sink and sewers. For small amounts of oil, wrap in kitchen paper roll and bin.

If you have lots of leftover oil (say you cook for a large family or work in a restaurant or hotel, then invest in a cooking oil recycling container, to empty at local recycling banks (or arrange collection).

Worried About Cost of Oven Cooking?

If you are worried about energy bills (or you don’t have an oven or are short on time), you can make pan-fried potatoes. Popular in Germany and Greece, you just chop the potatoes smaller, then cook them in a little oil in a frying pan. Again you can add flavours like chopped onion or garlic.

These pan-fried potatoes (Earth Blokes) only take 10 minutes from start to finish. You simply mix your rapeseed (or olive) oil with chopped potatoes and onions, and salt, garlic powder and optional Cajun spice. Then cook over a pan on medium heat until cooked. Yukon Gold or Desiree floury potatoes work best, but any blend will do.

Tasty Roast Dinners at Vegan Pubs!

The Spread Eagle, Homerton, London

There’s nothing more traditional in England than a roast dinner at pub. But modern concerns over factory-farms, the plant-based revolution and concerns over environment and allergies and health, mean that a few pubs are now following a trend, in offering deliciously hearty vegan roast dinners. With roasties and gravy, so don’t worry!

Allergies are well-catered for. Just be aware that some roasts contain tasty miso (but this is unpasteurised, so not for pregnancy/nursing or weak immune systems). Read more on food safety for people and pets.

Vegan-Friendly Pubs (for Sunday Roasts!)

The Roundhill (Brighton) is a very popular city pub, with a safe inclusive space for all, and weekly rotating menus in line with seasonal ingredients.

The Spread Eagle is London’s first fully vegan pub. Expect a centrepiece such as seitan or a nut roast, seasonal greens, and crisp roasties that stand up to rich gravy. The setting is in East London is lively yet warm, and booking is wise, as peak slots fill fast, especially on Sunday.

. Located in Homerton High Street, this sustainable eaterie offers vegan ales along with meals like Pie & Mash and of course a traditional Sunday roast including slow roast ‘celeriac crackling’.

The Gardener’s Arms (Oxford) offers good vegan food, not necessarily all Sunday roasts, but various options like a Mixed Cup & Wild Mushroom pie, cooked in sage and red wine gravy, with fries and fresh seasonal veggies.

The Walnut Tree (Suffolk) again goes beyond the traditional pub lunch. Try the chickpea ‘crab cakes’ with homemade tartare sauce, or the warm halloumi salad. On Sundays, go for the roasted mushroom Wellington, with with a white wine sauces, roasties and veg. Or you could order take-out – Sunday gourmet pizza or a Sicilian veggie stew roasted in vermouth and herbs.

The Punter (Oxford) is a laidback riverside garden pub, displaying local art. The menu here is more international – sweet potato and black bean burgers with kimchi, kaffir lime and fries. Or a tofu red curry. Finished with a selection of tasty puddings: apple tarte tatin or chocolate mousse cake.

The World’s First Plant-Based Steakhouse!

The Queen Inn (in Wales) not only went plant-based a few years back, but has recently been voted the best-rated vegan restaurant in Europe, and one of the top five in the world! This family-owned business dates back a long time.

But rather than continue the tradition of serving up meat, it has instead decided to offer plant-based alternatives like realistic redefined steaks, ‘battered fish and chips’, vegan crab cakes and cauliflower steaks! The food is so good that people travel from Scotland to taste these meals!

This pub is both beautiful and welcoming (even visiting dogs get water bowls and blankets to sit on). The pub decided to go plant-based during Veganuary and it was so successful, so far using the vegan calculator, the pub landlords reckons their alternative menu has saved:

• Over 40,000 animal lives
• Over 350,000 kilos of carbon dioxide
• Over 165 million litres of water
• Over 350,000 square metres of forest
• Over 812,000 kilos of grain

What Makes a Vegan Roast Dinner?

Nut roasts are obviously one option. But times have moved on. Chefs now make roasts using tempeh or lentils, and offer all the usual favourites like roast parsnips and mashed peppered swedes, along with vegan mash and roast spuds. All served with vegan gravy.

A few pubs (like the Queen Inn, above) are using lab-grown meats. These are not as bad as they sound, they are ‘real meats’ but without animal cruelty or environmental issues:

For instance, one brand (Mission Barns) recently took (without harm) one sample culture from Dawn the pig, then cultivated it in a lab, to mimic her body. Then it added sugar, proteins and vitamins. The sample is then ‘fattened’ in the cultivator. After two weeks, it’s combined with plant-proteins to make ‘pig meat’.

Meanwhile, Dawn continues to roam free with her friends, at her home at an animal sanctuary. The company says she is happily unaware that her cells could feed millions of people, and save millions of her fellow pigs!

Recipe Ideas to Use Leftover Swede

This carrot swede mash (The Veg Space) is super simple to make, and makes a nice change from white potatoes. Swede is a very tasty vegetable. This is an ideal recipe to use up leftover swede, if you’ve roasted some for Sunday lunch.

Before cooking, read up on food safety for people & pets (nutmeg often served with swede is unsafe near animal friends). Don’t feed salted/buttered mash to pets, garden birds or wildfowl.

A Brief History of Swede

Swede (Americans call it ‘rutabaga’) likely originated in Scandinavia or Russia several centuries ago. Related to turnip and cabbage, it’s grown to withstand cooler climates, and became popular in the 18th century, as it stores well in winter.

Good in soups and stews, swede is also popular in Sweden and Germany, where it’s mashed, roasted or added to winter casseroles. Packed with nutrition (fibre, vitamin C, B vitamins and potassium), it’s also low in calories (just 50 calories in one cup).

So if you have a sweet tooth, get to know swede, as a big bowl of swede mash will satisfy a sweet tooth, and do you lots of good!

Tips to Use Leftover Swede

• Add cooked swede to soups, for a lovely creamy texture.
• Diced swede holds its shape during cooking, so good to add to veggie casseroles and stews.
• Swede roasts nicely alongside carrots and parsnips, developing caramelised flavours.
• Stir into a veggie curry with chickpeas, for a lovely sweet flavour.

Vegan Swede Mash Cakes

Stir 1 chopped onion or spring onion into 2 cups of leftover swede mesh, add 2 tablespoons of oat flour and season well. Mix in 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil or vegan butter (Flora has no palm oil) and form into patties. Fry 4 minutes each side, and serve with a fresh green salad and tangy vegan yoghurt dip.

Creamy Vegan Swede and Carrot Soup

Fry chopped onion and garlic in oil until soft, then add chopped leftover swede and carrots. Pour in some good veggie stock and simmer for 15 minutes, then use a hand blender to smooth. Stir in 100ml of oat cream, and season to taste. Serve with crusty bread.

How to Buy and Store Swede

• Store in a cool dark place (or your fridge’s veggie drawer).
• Keep swede whole and unpeeled (don’t wash), to slow moisture loss.
• Store cut swede in silicone food bags, to stop it drying out.
• Use within 1 or 2 weeks for best texture and flavour.

Supermarket ‘Greenwashing’ for ‘Cheap Winter Vegetables’

Recently, the big supermarkets have all got involved in offering ‘cheap winter deals’ for Clubcard and Nectar card holders, with deals on swede, parsnip, carrots and potatoes. You can now buy a nice bunch of tasty root veggies for just 15p.

Sounds good? For a start, if this is cheaper than what’s offered at farmers’ markets (the supermarkets are covering the price by selling high-priced junk food) that will price your local farmer out of business.

And secondly, British Growers CEO Jack Ward says ‘Is that really a cause for celebration? if I can buy it for 15p at Christmas, why is it 65p the rest of the year? Deep discounting comes at a cost’.

Recipe Ideas to Use Leftover Parsnips

Parsnips are often a favourite (root) vegetable for many. Naturally sweet, they are delicious roasted with a veggie Sunday dinner, make wonderful soup and also good in cakes!

Parsnip Curry with Lentils (The Veg Space) is super-affordable, and only needs a few ingredients. It’s made with ginger, garlic and spice paste. Serve with rice and green beans or broccoli. Leftovers are good for lunch.

Parsnips are high in vitamin K, so check medication. Keep alliums and nutmeg (often used in parsnip recipes) away from pets.

As acids in excess could harm compost creatures, just bin alliums (onion family) if using in these recipes. Parsnip flowers look similar to water hemlock (England’s most toxic plant to many creatures).

Related to carrots and parsley, their sweetness (they used to be used instead of sugar for cakes and desserts) is due to a long growing season, when starch turns to sugar after the first frost. They are high in fibre, vitamins and potassium.

Native to Eurasia, parsnips were the staple food in the USA, before being replaced by potatoes in the 1800s. Let’s look at delicious ways to use up these wonderful vegetables, if you have a glut leftover from the farm shop or farmers’ market:

How to Choose and Store Parsnips

Choose small to medium parsnips that are firm to the touch. Once bought, you can store them in the fridge for a couple of weeks, in an airtight container. Remove the green tops (leaving an inch of the stem) to help them last longer.

Just before use, scrub parsnips with a vegetable brush under cold running water. Use immediately, to avoid them going brown.

No-Recipe Ideas to Use Leftover Parsnips

Here are a few easy ways to use up leftover parsnips, without having to use a recipe:

• Roast them in rapeseed oil, sea salt and herbs (thyme or rosemary) until tender and the sugar has caramelised. If wished, drizzle over a little maple syrup, near the end of cooking time.
• Add to mixed root veggie stews or soups.
• Boil until soft, then mash with vegan butter and cream (or veggie stock) for a creamy side dish.
• Slice into thin chunks, then bake or air-fry to make parsnip chips.
• Use a mandoline (with a finger guard) to slice parsnips, then layer them with sliced potatoes, vegan cream and cheese, then bake for a gratin.
• Sub vegan carrot cake recipes with parsnips instead.

Simple Vegan Parsnip Recipes

Curried Parsnip Soup (The Veg Space) is made with roasted garlic for extra flavour, and you can add as few or many spices as you like, depending on your preference.

Vegan Parmesan Roasted Parsnips (Madeline Olivia) roast parsnips in oil, flavoured with rosemary, salt and pepper. Then serves with a homemade vegan Parmesan cheese.

Parsnip Cake with Hazelnuts (The Veg Space) is an update of a popular Victorian tea time treat. Served with a vegan cream cheese icing, you can sub the hazelnuts with walnuts or pecans, if preferred.

Pour a Jug of Homemade Vegan Gravy

Broke Bank Vegan

Everyone likes a nice jug of gravy on their vegan mashed potatoes, roast spuds or veggie roast dinner. But conventional gravy is of course made with meat juice, and most store-bought brands are made with either factory-farmed meats or palm oil or both. Also read our post on homemade vegan broth and stock.

Read up on food safety for people and pets (many foods including mushrooms, onion, garlic and spices are unsafe near animal friends). It’s best to just bin allium scraps (onion, garlic, leeks, shallots, chives) as like tomato/citrus/rhubarb scraps, acids could harm compost creatures. 

For tinned ingredients, pop lids inside cans (or pop ring-pulls back over holes) to avoid wildlife getting trapped).

The secret of good gravy is ‘umami’ (using cheesy-tasting nutritional yeast or miso (not for pregnancy/nursing or weak immune systems, as it’s unpasteurised). Soy sauce (or tamari) is also often used, to dark the colour and enrich the flavour. Recycle packaging at supermarket bag bins, if your kerbside does not recycle.

Make Your Own No-Recipe Gravy

Madeleine Olivia

If you want to have a got at making an ‘eyeball’ gravy (measuring ingredients as you see fit), this gravy is ready in under 30 minutes.

Dice some onion and mince some garlic, then warm your veggie stock. Heat up some vegan butter (Flora has no palm oil) in a pan on medium heat, then add your onion with a pinch of salt. Cook for around 10 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for another minute, don’t let it brown or it will become bitter.

Then sprinkle in enough flour to make a paste, cook until the ‘raw flour taste’ has gone. Don’t overcook and add a little oil, if the mix gets too dry. Then build your flavour with tomato puree, nutritional yeast, and optional herbs.

Then slowly start whisking in your warm stock, until it thickens. Repeat until all the stock is used up, season to taste and simmer for 10 minutes until thick and glossy. It will thicken as it cools. If you have used a bay leaf, remember to remove it before serving!

If your gravy is lumpy, you are adding the stock too quickly. In a pinch, use a hand blender to smooth your gravy, then try slower next time!

Make Your Own Vegetable Stock (no palm oil)

This veggie stock recipe (Simple Vegan Blog) is a good one to master, as it forms the base for many stews and meals, and usually is the base for good vegan gravy.

You only need 9 ingredients, and this is a great recipe to use up scraps, so it’s a zero-waste affordable recipe too. In a sealed container, leftovers will keep for a few days in the fridge. You can also freeze it in batches, just be sure to cool first, place in a sealed silicone container and thaw in the fridge a day or two before use.

The base ingredients are just:

• Garlic and onion
• Mushrooms
• Carrots
• Leek
• Water!
• Bay leaves
• Sea salt