Name: Quick Vegetarian Christmas Stuffing
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 6 people
Ingredients: 270 g vegetarian sausages (chopped); 50 g soft bread (broken into small pieces); 40 ml cider; 1 medium apple; 50 g dried cranberries; 70 g chestnuts (chopped); 1 medium/large onion (finely chopped); 1 tsp dried sage; 1/4 tsp onion granules; 40 g cheese (mature cheddar or other strong cheese, coarsely grated); 6 tbsp olive oil; Sea salt and pepper to taste

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This quick vegetarian Christmas stuffing is made using sage and onion, apple, cranberries, chestnuts and a fair amount of quality vegetarian sausages, which add flavour, substance as well as healthy protein.

This quick and easy vegetarian Christmas stuffing is made using classic festive flavours, such as sage and cranberries. It does contain some bread, but the main ingredient in this stuffing recipe are vegetarian sausages. Good quality vegetarian sausages are delicious on their own but also make a great addition to stews, casseroles as well as stuffing.

For this recipe I chose ones with lots of herbs in them. They add loads of flavour without the fat that sausage meat (the ‘meaty’ kind!) would usually contribute. So all the other ingredients are simply added to further enhance the flavour and give this stuffing more of a Christmassy character.

Making your own stuffing is very simple yet quite rewarding, as you can create lots of flavour combinations in an incredibly short time. This is true for both meat as well as vegetarian stuffing recipes. There is nothing to it and it only needs half an hour in the oven. In this recipe I used the tried and tested sage-and-onion combination because despite my strong experimental tendencies I do believe that some things are best left unchanged. Sage and onion stuffing just goes so well with my Christmas turkey!

Equipment you’ll need

Kitchen scales/measuring cup
Cutting board, knife, vegetable peeler and grater
Blender, large bowl and large spoon
Medium casserole dish

How to make quick and easy vegetarian stuffing: step-by-step

1.Start by frying the onion in 2 tablespoons oil for 2-3 minutes, then add the cider, fruit, seasoning and continue cooking for 5 more minutes.

Chopped apple, cranberries, onions and spices in skillet with red spatula ti the right.

2. Blitz the sausages, bread and 1/3 of the onion mixture briefly until the stuffing becomes sticky, but is still quite lumpy.

Chopped sausage, cranberries, apple and bread pieces in blender.

3. Stir in the cheese and chestnuts and combine thoroughly.

Chopped chestnuts, grated cheese and sausage mixture in large metal bowl with spoon.

4. Transfer the stuffing into a small casserole dish, arrange loosely so it has a rugged appearance (it will crisp up better), drizzle with a little oil and bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes.

5. Remove from the oven and serve.

Top down view of baked vegetarian stuffing in white oval dish with red-and-white checkered cloth to the right.

Top tips

Use good quality vegetarian sausages.
You can use either soft bread or bun, white or whole wheat.
Blitz the ingredients for a few seconds only, until they start coming together so that the stuffing is not overblended and pasty.
Arrange the stuffing in the baking dish loosely, without smoothing out the top so that it has a bit of a rugged appearance which will crisp up nicely in the oven.
Best served immediately.
Freeze raw stuffing in the baking dish and bake from frozen.

Consistency and texture of vegetarian Christmas stuffing

If you are wondering about the texture of this healthy vegetarian stuffing, it’s quite ‘meaty‘, with lots of moisture in it (remember there is apple as well as apple cider in it), and a bit of crunch from the chestnuts. I added a bit of cheese as it’s a great binding ingredient. It also adds extra flavour and, due to its high fat content, helps to keep this vegetarian stuffing moist.

As this is my final Christmas recipe I would like to wish everyone a happy, peaceful and delicious Christmas!

I’ll be back in a few days with a Christmas leftovers recipe (we are all bound to have some:)

Vegetarian festive dinner ideas

This easy vegetarian stuffing would go really well with my stuffed butternut squash with quinoa and mushrooms. You could enjoy these with some classic low sugar cranberry sauce, or this cranberry beetroot chutney.

Your hot veg dishes might include roasted brussel sprouts with cranberries and chestnuts recipe or easy honey roasted carrots with miso. Why not also try this classic braised red cabbage with a twist!

And for a ‘sweet’ finish try my non-traditional Dairy Free Easy Fruit Cake and these gorgeous, slightly boozy Vegan Dark Chocolate Truffles with Chestnuts.

More stuffing recipe ideas

KEEP IN TOUCH!

Have you made this healthy vegetarian stuffing? I’d love to know how it turned out for you. Let me know in the comments below, thanks!

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