17 Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes

First on the list because gravy is the thing a vegetarian Thanksgiving usually gets wrong. Every technique that makes gravy good depends on drippings from a roast, so this one has to build the same depth out of browned mushrooms and soy instead. Get it right and the mashed potatoes and the stuffing both work.

Watch for: Gravy thickens as it cools and will be noticeably stiffer on the table than it looked in the pan. Pull it off the heat looser than you think you want it.

The one starter here that has been through a full rework, and the dish on this list where the fix is a single ingredient. It reads sweet and then flat without acid, which is the reason a restaurant bowl beats a home one made from nearly the same recipe. Serve it in small cups before the table sits down.

Watch for: It tastes sweet and then it just stops. That is missing acid, not missing salt. A squeeze of lemon or a splash of cider vinegar at the end fixes it.

Here because it is the starter that survives a full oven. It runs entirely on the stovetop, which matters on a day when the oven is booked from morning onward, and it takes frozen corn without apology in November.

Watch for: Blending too much of it turns the whole pot into puree. Blend about a third and stir it back in, so there are still whole kernels to bite.

The version people mean when they say sweet potato casserole, and it is on the list because leaving it off would be pretending Thanksgiving is something it is not. It is a dessert that has agreed to sit next to the gravy.

Watch for: Most marshmallows are set with gelatin, so check the bag if the table is vegetarian. The topping also goes from browned to burnt in under a minute under a broiler, so stay with it.

The same dish for the half of the table that thinks marshmallows belong in a bag and not on a vegetable. The streusel does what the marshmallows do, which is give a soft casserole something to crunch against, without the sugar hitting quite as hard.

Watch for: The streusel needs cold butter cut in, not melted. Melted butter turns it into a single sheet of candy instead of crumbs.

On the list because sprouts are the dish most likely to change someone’s mind at the table, and because they are the one green thing here that does not wilt into sadness while everything else finishes. Halved and laid cut side down is the whole technique.

Watch for: A crowded pan steams them instead of roasting them, which is how sprouts got their reputation in the first place. Use two sheets rather than piling one.

Here as the thing you make when the potatoes are already spoken for, or when someone at the table is not eating them. It takes gravy exactly as well as mash does, which is the only test that matters on this particular day.

Watch for: Boiled cauliflower holds water and turns the mash loose. Steam it instead, and let it sit in the colander a few minutes before it goes in the processor.

The color on a table that is otherwise brown, orange and beige, which is worth more than it sounds when a dozen dishes are competing for attention. They also roast at the same temperature as almost everything else here, so they cost no extra oven planning.

Watch for: These are glazed with honey, so this is the one dish on the list that is vegetarian rather than vegan. Maple syrup swaps in one for one.

Mac and cheese earns its place because it is a Thanksgiving staple on a great many American tables, particularly Southern and Black American ones, rather than a modern addition to the day. This version gets there without dairy, which quietly solves one of the harder plates to build.

Watch for: Cashew sauces tighten as they sit and this one will be stiff by the time it reaches the table. Keep some pasta water back and loosen it just before serving.

The only thing here that is better made three days early, which is why it belongs on the list rather than on the shopping list. It is also the acid the rest of the plate needs, sitting between the gravy and the casserole and stopping the whole thing reading as sweet and heavy.

Watch for: It thickens a lot as it cools, so a sauce that looks right in the pan will be closer to jam in the bowl. Take it off the heat while it still looks slightly loose.

On the list for the household doing Thanksgiving for four rather than fourteen, where a whole roast makes no sense and something still has to be the center of the table. It carries a crust, which is most of what a centerpiece needs to do.

Watch for: A wet filling gives you a raw bottom crust. Let the filling cool before the pastry goes on, and bake it on a preheated tray so the base gets direct heat.

The other centerpiece, and the more useful one if the table includes people who want something that eats like a roast dinner. Lentils and mash do the work that meat and mash usually do, and it holds in a low oven while everything else catches up.

Watch for: Mash spread onto a hot filling sinks straight into it. Cool the lentils first, then spread from the edges inward so the topping has something to grip.

The pie the day is actually about, and the hardest one to get right without eggs, which is what earns it the top of the dessert half of this list. A pumpkin custard sets on egg protein, so a vegan version has to rebuild that set out of starch instead.

Watch for: It will still wobble in the middle when it is done, and it firms up as it cools. Baking until the center is set gives you a cracked, dry pie.

Here because they are the only dessert on the list you can hand to someone standing up. Thanksgiving dessert is rarely a sit-down course by the time it arrives, and a tray of bars survives that better than a pie that needs plates and forks.

Watch for: They have to cool completely in the pan before they are cut. Warm bars tear, and the filling runs into the cuts and glues them back together.

On the list for the table that has one person who does not really like pumpkin, which is most tables. It is pecan pie with the sweetness pulled back by chocolate, so it reads as a different dessert rather than a second version of the one beside it.

Watch for: Pecans on top scorch well before the center is done. Cover the pie loosely with foil once the nuts have taken color.

The alternative to pumpkin that nobody argues about, and the one dessert here that can be assembled the night before and baked while the table is being cleared. A pie coming out of the oven is doing work that a pie sitting on the counter is not.

Watch for: Apples release a lot of water and leave the top crust sitting over a gap. Toss them with the sugar and let them drain for twenty minutes, then cook that liquid down and add it back.

Last because it is the dish here that most people have not met. It is a Southern dessert that treats sweet potato the way a cobbler treats peaches, and on a day when two sweet potato dishes are already on the table it is the one that surprises people.

Watch for: Sweet potatoes do not soften in the oven the way fruit does. They need to be par-cooked before the topping goes on, or the cobbler comes out with a finished crust over hard filling.