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.
Chia seeds are a great egg substitute
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.
How to grind chia seeds
To make them into an egg replacer you need to grind them. They’ll grind well in a high speed blender. My food processor didn’t do a great job of grinding them in small quantities. Other options include using a pestle and mortar (although this is fairly labour intensive) or in a tall jug with a hand held stick blender.
A spice grinder would also do the job beautifully but sadly I don’t have one. Once ground you simply add water and you have a sticky, gloopy mixture that is a perfect egg replacer.
What to serve with this vegan Christmas nut roast
- Christmas red cabbage
- Maple balsamic roasted carrots and parsnips
- Roast Brussels sprouts with chestnuts and cranberries
- Garlic roasted Brussels sprouts
- 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.
As described above 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
-
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.)
-
Peel and chop your parsnips and steam (or boil) them until soft. Mash.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Stir through the remaining ingredients, including your chia paste and parsnips. Warm through and season with salt and pepper to taste.
-
Transfer to your prepared tin and bake for 20 minutes. After 10 minutes check and cover with foil if it's getting too brown.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
Pin parsnip, chestnut and sage vegan nut roast for later:
Gill Clavey
Made this for Christmas Day and it was absolutely delicious. Had not used chia seeds in this way before and the gloop looked strange but worked well. I didn’t have a savarin tin but used a normal cake tin with a foil/parchment covered empty sweetcorn tin in the middle as I wanted it to look “special”. Because of my complete addiction to garlic mushrooms, I did sneak a layer into the middle of the roast but am not sure I’d bother next time as the roast would have been as good without this. I also found the prepared oat topping in a dish next to the oven later that day…am sure it would have been lovely! Served it with all the usual Christmassy veggies (including roast sprouts – will always roast from now on!) and a caramelised onion and red wine gravy. Will definitely be making this again. And again. Am hoping it will freeze – chia seed paste ok to be frozen?
Mandy Mazliah
Thanks so much Gill – I’m so pleased that you enjoyed the nut roast! I haven’t tried freezing it but I think if you freeze before baking it should be fine.
melody
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!
Mandy Mazliah
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!
Melody
Thanks. so we made it yesterday and want to cook and eat it tomorrow. Think that’ll be ok ?
Mandy Mazliah
I think it should be fine as long as you’ve kept it covered in the fridge – I haven’t tested it though!
Alix @A Hedgehog in the Kitchen
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!
Mandy Mazliah
Thanks Alix – glad you like it and thanks for pinning!
Sus // roughmeasures.com
I need to make this this Christmas!! It looks delicious!
Mandy Mazliah
Hi Sus – I’d love to hear what you think if you give it a go!
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins
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
Mandy Mazliah
Thanks – I’m really pleased with this recipe!
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain
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
Mandy Mazliah
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!
jenny apply to face
Sounds and looks delicious.What a great way to present it too.x
Mandy Mazliah
Thanks Jenny!
Eb Gargano / easypeasyfoodie.com
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
Mandy Mazliah
Jam is next on my list – the kids eat so much of the stuff it would be great to have a healthier version X