This parsnip, chestnut and sage vegan Christmas nut roast is the perfect centrepiece for your vegetarian or vegan Christmas dinner. It’s like a classic nut roast but better – and using a ring shaped tin makes it look really festive.
If you haven’t used chia seeds before you’ll find that they make a great egg substitute. This is the first time I’ve used them and I couldn’t believe the results. I have been put off buying them because they are really expensive in the supermarket but I saw a big bag for £1.99 in my local health food shop so I picked it up and started to experiment. To make them into an egg replacer you need to grind them. I found it easiest to either grind these in my pestle and mortar (although this is fairly labour intensive) or in a tall jug with a hand held stick blender rather than the food processor because they are so small. A spice grinder would probably do the job beautifully but I don’t have one. Once ground you simply add water and you have a sticky, gloopy mixture that is a perfect egg replacer.
This goes perfectly with my Christmas red cabbage recipe, these maple balsamic roasted carrots and parsnips and these roast Brussels sprouts with chestnuts and cranberries.
More vegan and vegetarian Christmas dinner ideas.
Here’s how to make parsnip, chestnut and sage vegan Christmas nut roast:
The key to a good nut roast is making sure that it binds together well. Many nut roast recipes use eggs but in my vegan Christmas nut roast I’ve used chia eggs instead. Ground chia seeds mixed with water creates a gloopy paste that might sound weird but is a wonderful vegan ingredient. Along with the mashed parsnip and the ground almonds there’s plenty here to keep this delicious vegan Christmas nut roast together.
Parsnip, chestnut and sage vegan Christmas nut roast
Ingredients
- 400 g parsnips
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
- 6 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic crushed
- 6 sage leaves chopped
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 180 g cooked chestnuts crumbled or chopped
- 125 g ground almonds
- Small handful of flat leaf parsley chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the topping (optional)
- 1 tsp olive oil
- chopped sage leaves
- 40 g wholemeal breadcrumbs
- 20 g oats
Instructions
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Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (fan)/200°C/gas mark 6. Grease a 20cm ring tin or plain savarin mould. (You could use a standard loaf tin but you may need to adjust the cooking time.)
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Peel and chop your parsnips and steam (or boil) them until soft. Mash.
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While the parsnips are cooking grind your chia seeds to a powder in a spice grinder or a pestle and mortar. Add the 6 tbsp water and stir until you have a gloopy paste that's a bit like glue. Set aside.
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Heat your olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the onions until soft stirring often. Add the garlic, sage and nutmeg and continue cooking for a moment or two.
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Stir through the remaining ingredients, including your chia paste and parsnips. Warm through and season with salt and pepper to taste.
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Transfer to your prepared tin and bake for 20 minutes. After 10 minutes check and cover with foil if it's getting too brown.
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Allow to cool in the tin for five minutes then pop a plate over the top, carefully invert and the wreath should slide out. If it's a little stubborn turn it back over, run a knife around the sides and try again.
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If making the oaty topping, just before serving heat the olive oil in a small frying pan, add the sage leaves and fry until going crispy. Add the breadcrumbs and oats and stir well. Cook for a couple of minutes then sprinkle over the top.
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Serve with roast potatoes, veggies and a vegan onion gravy.
If you like this you might like these 15 best vegan cookbooks (over on my vegan food blog cookveggielicious.com) or these cooking gifts for kids. You might also like one of my other Christmas recipes such as these nut free coconut snowballs, healthy gingerbread blondies, these apple and mincemeat pinwheels or this carrot Christmas loaf cake.
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Oh this is just so pretty and it sounds like would taste fabulous. I have experimented a little with chia seeds – I enjoyed making raw jam in the summer, but haven’t tried them as an egg replacer yet, I’ll have to give that a go! Eb x
Jam is next on my list – the kids eat so much of the stuff it would be great to have a healthier version X
Sounds and looks delicious.What a great way to present it too.x
Thanks Jenny!
I love that you’ve presented it as a reath Mandy, it really does make it look more festive. Last week I triedI grinding down some chai seeds with a pestle & mortar, but as you say it’s pretty labour intensive so I gave in!! For some reason I didn’t bother with the stick blender (we haven’t got a spice grinder either) so I’ll have to revisit that.Angela x
Yes it’s a pain isn’t it. I have a mini food processor but it didn’t do anything – the stick blender worked a treat!
Oh Mandy this looks and sounds so delicious! I love nut roast so know this would go down a treat! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Thanks – I’m really pleased with this recipe!
I need to make this this Christmas!! It looks delicious!
Hi Sus – I’d love to hear what you think if you give it a go!
I love this recipe for a festive and vegetarian option! How lovely! I am pinning it to my "Vegetarian Recipes" board on Pinterest. Thanks so much + Happy Holidays!
Thanks Alix – glad you like it and thanks for pinning!
Hi there , we have just made the mixture for the nut roast and wanted to know if we can leave it in the fridge for a few days and then bake it? Can you freeze the mixture ? Or freeze the nut roast after baking? Thanks!
Hi Melody, it will be fine in the fridge for 1-2 days before baking. I haven’t tried freezing it but I think it would be best to freeze it before baking. Let me know how it goes!
Thanks. so we made it yesterday and want to cook and eat it tomorrow. Think that’ll be ok ?
I think it should be fine as long as you’ve kept it covered in the fridge – I haven’t tested it though!