Incredible Vegan Christmas Turkey Recipe | High Protein Vegan Recipes

I’ve made my fair share of vegan Christmas turkey recipes over the years and I think I’ve finally come up with the perfect one. This vegan Christmas turkey recipe is made with vital wheat gluten and tofu to give it a meaty texture that’s also high in protein. Seasoned carefully to replicate the subtle flavour of turkey, it’s perfect for Christmas or any other time of year! It makes great sandwiches, and since this recipe serves 6-8, there should be plenty of left overs to enjoy.

This vegan Christmas turkey recipe is perfect because it only uses commonly found ingredients that you might have already, and it takes less time to cook than a real turkey. It also doesn’t involve any kneading, as the blender or food processor will do all of that for you. It couldn’t be easier!

For the actual “turkey” dough, you will need extra firm tofu, vital wheat gluten, sage and onion stuffing mix, tahini, vegan chicken stock, red onion, olive oil, garlic, nutritional yeast and some seasonings – sage, onion powder, salt and pepper.

The “turkey” will cook in the oven in a braising liquid made with vegan chicken stock, hendersons relish, onion powder and dried or fresh sage.

Vital Wheat Gluten	This forms the main substance of the vegan christmas turkey recipe. It’s the isolated protein from wheat flour and has a very meaty texture. It has a whopping 75 g protein per 100 g and that’s why it’s one of my favourite plant based protein sources.
Extra Firm Tofu	Tofu helps to tenderise the turkey a little – without any additions, vital wheat gluten on its own can be a little tough or rubbery. The tofu is there to lighten the turkey up, in both texture and colour! I highly recommend using the extra extra firm tofu, the kind that comes vacuum sealed. If you use the kind packed in water you will not need to add as much water to your dough (details in recipe)
Nutritional Yeast	Nutritional yeast helps to balance out the texture a bit more, too as well as adding a delicious savoury umami flavour. Nutritional yeast also contains vitamin B12 making it a great addition for vegans.
Sage and Onion Stuffing Mix	By this I’m referring to those pre-made mixes you get at the supermarket that you would add hot water to. In this recipe the mix is ground up and used to season the turkey as well as improve the texture even more.
Vegan Chicken Stock	OXO now sell a vegan chicken stock in most supermarkets making this once difficult-to-find ingredient much more accessable. You can use any vegan chicken stock you have available, though.
Dried sage and Onion Powder	Dried sage and onion powder are added as final seasonings to this recipe – less is more when it comes to recreating meaty flavours in my opinion. I wanted this vegan christmas turkey recipe to taste like turkey and not overly herby.
Tahini and Olive Oil	Both are added due to their fat content. Turkey is a low-fat meat typically so we don’t need to add lots of fat to replicate it. Some is needed though, to stop the vegan turkey from drying out too much. This also helps it stay delicious for days to come.
Red Onion and Garlic	Some fresh onion and garlic are added to boost the flavour of this vegan turkey, I find it’s best to dice both up quite finely even though we’re using a food processor. We don’t want any chunks of garlic or onion in the final product.
Hendersons Relish	This is used in the braising liquid to add a bit of colour to the outside of the vegan turkey. It also helps to neutralise any flavour you might pick up from the gluten and tofu (in the same way that adding vinegar would do)

Substitutions

I don’t recommend making any substitutions for this vegan Christmas turkey recipe, Seitan dough is typically very sensitive to changes and everything in the recipe has an important function.

You can use any vegan chicken stock you usually use, I used OXO in this recipe but I’ve also used Massel (here on Amazon) in the past and that worked really well, too.

If you are unable to find Hendersons Relish you can use vegan Worcestershire sauce instead, but as a Sheffielder I urge you to try Hendersons relish if you can! It’s naturally vegan (unlike Worcestershire!) and very tasty.

This recipe is really easy and for a seitan recipe is relatively hands-off as there is no kneading needed.

Add all of the seitan ingredients to a food processor, except for the vital wheat gluten (I used my Ninja blender as it has blades that span the container) – firm tofu, red onion, garlic, ground sage and onion stuffing mix, nutritional yeast, tahini, olive oil, sage, onion powder, dried vegan chicken stock and water and blend. Add the water 1/4 cup at a time. You might need to scrape down the sides as you go along until you get a nice smooth paste. The consistency at this point should be similar to hummus.

Next, add the vital wheat gluten. Continue to blend on low until a dough ball starts to form in the blender/food processor. The consistency of the dough should be similar to play-dough – malleable and smooth. If your dough is too wet, you can sprinke in more gluten until it reaches the desired consistency. If it’s too dry, add more water slowly, allowing time for the food processor to fully incorporate everything together.

Empty the dough onto a clean work surface and mold it into a rough turkey shape. You can use a chop stick to create the line down the middle. If you’re making this for deli-slices, just form the dough into an even log. Cover with some cling film and leave the dough to rest for 30 minutes. This allows the gluten to develop.

While the dough rests, preheat the oven to 170 degrees C and prepare the braising liquid. To a baking dish, add hot water, vegan chicken stock, hendersons relish, onion powder and either a few fresh sage leaves or dried sage.

When the dough has finished resting, place it into the braising liquid. It should be mostly covered by the liquid with just some of the turkey poking out of the top.

Put in the oven and cook for a full 1 hour 30 minutes. At the 30 minute mark, remove from the oven and flip the turkey upside down so that the previously exposed part is now underneath. Do this again at 1 hour so the turkey will finish cooking the “right” way up.

Let the vegan christmas turkey rest for 30 minutes – 1 hour before serving.

For leftovers, store whole or sliced in an air-tight glass container. It should keep for 3-5 days in the fridge for perfect turkey sandwiches!

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