Gone are the days when plonking a turkey down on the Christmas table was good enough for guests (even if it was served with all the trimmings…).
With more people than ever turning to plant-based food as a welcome alternative to meat – whether for health or environmental reasons, or indeed both – hosts with the most are increasingly cooking up vegan food that’s just as delicious as its carnivorous counterparts for friends and family.
In fact, according to the Tesco Christmas Report 2021, almost half (41 per cent) of hosts catered individually for guests with dietary requirements last year – including veggie and gluten-free – and it’s a trend that’s set to continue as we ensure our loved ones can celebrate at Christmas without compromise.
Good news, then, that vegan Christmas food has come on leaps and bounds in recent years – not just in terms of choice, from starters and the main event to desserts and party fare – but also when it comes to taste and texture (the latter proving to be particularly tricky in the past for development chefs looking to recreate the same crunch or chew of meat).
One sticking point? Most brands are still equating their innovative products to meat with names such as ‘no turkey’ or similar. Often, vegan produce stands up to seasonal flavours on its own merit (after all, veggie sides are usually the best bit about Christmas Day), rather than having to be sold in the shadow of its equivalent.
Fay Hasnip, plant-based product developer at Tesco, says: “As well as expanding our plant-based ranges, we’ve been focusing on the quality of the products, and are using pioneering plant-based technology, including wheat, pea and soya protein, to replicate the tastes and textures that people love at Christmas. Having an accessible price point on plant-based products is also front-of-mind, meaning that hosts aren’t having to pay a premium for plant-based alternatives.”
Just in time to help you get-ahead this Christmas – which, crucially, spreads the cost and reduces waste – we’ve rounded-up the best vegan Christmas ranges to hit the shelves this season. From the big supermarkets to the independent shops, we’ve got plant-based party people covered, while hosts can breathe a welcome sigh of relief.
Come one, come all!
Please note: not all seasonal products are available until closer to Christmas, so if not, keep checking back for availability.
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Tesco
Price: ££
Alternative centrepieces. Trimmings with a twist. Dairy-free desserts. Nobody does dietary requirements quite like Tesco. Its line of Wicked Kitchen products – a signature vegan range created by pioneering chef Derek Sarno – continues to impress this Christmas.
There’s the launch of the new Maple & Bourbon No-Gammon Joint, made from wheat, pea and soya protein (and costing just £1.66 per head), as well as the No-Beef Wellington comprising seasoned wheat and soya coated with a roasted garlic, herb and mushroom duxelles and wrapped in a flaky lattice pastry (it’s even more economical at £1.25 per serve).
Offering the same ‘ta-dah!’ moment as a roasted joint served up in the centre of the table, they’re proof that plant-based foods aren’t what they used to be, both in terms of taste and looks.
Buy now, Tesco
Sainsbury’s
Price: ££
The Turkey Style Crown and No Gammon with Blood Orange Glaze – both part of the tried-and-trusted Taste the Difference range – are hotly-anticipated this Christmas at Sainsbury’s. As you’d guess from their names, both were created to mimic the look and taste of meat down to a tee, while being seriously cheaper than a carnivorous centrepiece, too (just £7 each). From the same line comes their Quadruple Chocolate No-Cheesecake featuring layer upon layer of chocolatey flavour with a crunchy cookie base and a dark chocolate top. Three of the best to stick in your trolley.
Buy now, Sainsbury’s
Morrisons
Price: ££
Trusted British supermarket Morrisons has been seriously hard at work this year with a Santa’s sackful of new vegan food to add to its already wide range. Stand-outs from sweet and savoury include the Best Vegan Chocolate and Salted Caramel Cheesecake – with velvety-smooth chocolate sauce and chewy chocolate brownie topped with caramel mousse and a crunchy cocoa crumb – and the Best Christmas No Prawn Toast featuring tender jackfruit on a crunchy baguette sprinkled with sesame seeds. A twist on everyone’s favourite takeaway and perfect for a party
Buy now, Morrisons
Asda
Price: £
There are no less than 61 Vegan Society-approved products in the plant-based Christmas range from Asda this year. But with so much choice, it can be hard to know where to start. The best, hands-down, are the Plant Based Breaded Vegan Brie with Sweet Chilli Relish – perfect for dipping into on the sofa during Twixmas – and the Extra Special Vegan Chocolate Bauble. Hand-moulded and filled with vegan chocolate mousse, cookie crumb and caramel sauce, it looks and tastes the part, and we’d put money on guests not even noticing the difference.
Buy now, Asda
Waitrose
Price: ££
Even to the most die-hard carnivore, Waitrose certainly know how to make plant-based tickle the tastebuds, from the crisp pastry and fragrant filling of their Vegan Mini No Beef Empanadas to the earthy flavours and creamy topping of their Vegan Layered Mushroom Parfait and the oozy deliciousness and chilli kick of their Vegan Melting Chilli Bake. All three make for moreish mouthfuls that will go down a storm as part of a buffet this Boxing Day.
The jewel in the crown, though, is the featured Vegan Jewelled Roast with Fruity Centre: a mushroom-based centrepiece with sweet, caramelised onions, chestnuts and a clove-spiced apricot centre. At just £6, and serving four people, it’s a bargainous beauty for the big day.
Tell only who you must…
Buy now, Waitrose
Co-op
Price: £
Co-op famously make everything convenient with a winning combination of hyper-local stores and high-quality food offering. Christmas is no exception this year, with vegans well catered for as usual, whether it’s plant-based Mince Pies encased in sugar-dusted shortcrust pastry and filled with raisins, mixed peel and spices, or GRO Pigs in Blankets wrapped in marinated rashers made from wheat gluten and coconut milk. Their premium ingredients may come at a higher price than budget supermarkets, but these are worth every penny.
Buy now, Co-op
Marks & Spencer
Price: £££
This isn’t just any Christmas vegan food… oh, you know the rest! Good old Marks & Sparks know how to throw the kind of party where nobody’s left out in the cold. This year, they’re certainly not holding back, with a range of new plant-based heroes added to their already star-studded line-up.
The Reindeer Bao Buns jump on the Taiwanese food trend and are as cute-as-a-button, while Santa’s Cookie Pot is like Gü on speed with depth of flavour and Instagrammable aesthetics.
Elsewhere, their signature Plant Kitchen range delivers all the deliciousness for an alternative centrepiece, whether in a Stuffed Vegan Turkey Joint or a Roast Butternut Squash Pie.
Buy now, M&S
Aldi
Price: £
‘Picky-bits’ – that very British phenomenon – are arguably the best bit about a Christmas. Plate after plate of moreish morsels circulated at parties. Luckily, Aldi have a fine line in vegan finger good, meaning everyone’s invited. Their Plant Menu range runs the gamut from No Chicken, No Pork and No Fish Bites to Cauliflower Popcorn and No Pigs in Blankets – none of which will blow the budget.
Buy now, Aldi
Selfridges
Price: £££
Oh, Selfridges: you never disappoint – particularly when it comes to plant-based products that are plundered from their food hall. This year, their Festive Pigs in Blankets Nuts – yes, you heard right – is set to be a cult favourite in storecupboards across the country with a Christmassy selection of peanuts, cashews and almonds expertly roasted in Dorset with sugar and a vegan-friendly bacon seasoning.
Elsewhere, their Vegan Chocolate Fruit & Nut Fudge – part of its Project Earth edit of products deemed better for people and the planet – is handmade in Kent; and their Classic Vegan Panettone is a vegan spin on the seasonal favourite sourced from Verona.
Buy now, Selfridges
Harvey Nichols
Price: £££
While Harvey Nicks don’t do a vegan range per se, they do offer bits and pieces to help serve-up a plant-based brekkie for guests over the holidays, including its own-brand Christmas Blend Ground Coffee, Christmas Teabags and Cheery Cherry Jam.
With smart packaging and vegan credentials, they’re just the kind of thing to stock in your cupboard so it looks like you’ve thought of everyone on Christmas morning, or indeed for those plant-based neighbours who insist on dropping round unannounced. In short: last-minute life-savers.
Buy now, Harvey Nichols
Abel & Cole
Price: £££
Organic food delivery brand Abel & Cole serve up a huge range of vegan (and veggie) fare for Christmas. But it’s their Festive Moments Vegan Christmas Hamper that we’ve got our sights on containing oils and vinegars for a meat-fee charcuterie board and sweet treats for Santa (or yourself) on Christmas Eve. Otherwise, fork out for the Vegan Christmas Feast Box, filled with everything you need to create an Indian-inspired banquet in the form of a golden chickpea and cauliflower biryani centrepiece. A talking-point on any table.
Buy now, Abel & Cole
Amazon
Price: £
Amazon has become as much of a go-to for groceries as it has everything else you could ever possibly need delivered to your doorstep, and their plant-based heroes certainly don’t disappoint, covering everything from rashers to burgers and prepared meals. There’s plenty in the pipeline when it comes to seasonal specials, too, including a decent No-Turkey Joint – with chestnut and cranberry stuffing – and a No-Turkey Sandwich, a riot of flavour and texture. More will be added over the coming months.
Buy now, Amazon
Daylesford Organic
Price: £££
A local for the likes of David Beckham and Jeremy Clarkson – though not Jack Savoretti, who criticised their steep prices in a recent interview – Daylesford has become as synonymous with the Cotswolds as Hunter wellies and Kate Moss. Its premises in Moreton-in-Marsh might just be the poshest on the planet, complete with farm shop, restaurants, homeware and even a spa, so it’s hardly surprising that their vegan offering is suitably middle-class.
While the Organic Vegan Christmas Pudding is oh-so delicious – richly flavoured and densely packed – our pick for the festivities is the Plant Power Vegan Hamper, either as a gift for a loved one or indeed yourself.
The £235 price tag isn’t to be sniffed at, but it’s proof that you get what you pay for, filled with premium vegan goodies including plant-based sauces, gut-loving ferments and protein-rich storecupboard essentials. You know, the kind of things you didn’t know you needed, until now.
Better still, the good folk at the farm plant a tree for every hamper sold, which we can certainly get on-board with.
Buy now, Daylesford
Booths
Price: ££
Upmarket grocery store Booths – described by many as the ‘Waitrose of the north’ – goes all-out at Christmas with quality food that’s sourced locally and packed with flavour.
In fact, its covetable Christmas catalogue, sometimes covered in velvet (what cost-of-living crisis?), flies off the shelves as soon it lands and has become something of a collectible (I ask my Lancashire-based mother-in-law to join the queue for a copy every year). But I digress.
This year, Booths have teamed up with Parsnipship – which makes veggie and vegan food for farmer’s markets and festivals – to create two exclusive products: a Mushroom and Peanut Roast and a Moroccan Cashew and Walnut Roast. They’re both as delicious as they are nutritious – serving two to three, no less – and look pretty as a picture on the plate.
Buy now, Booths
Borough Market
Price: ££
Available exclusively online, the Vegan Festive Treats Hamper is a compilation of Borough Market’s greatest stalls, from a fig cake with lavender from Taste Croatia and fennel-seeded crackers via Free From Bakehouse to rose and pistachio nut butter courtesy of Butternut of London. Better still, everything comes pleasingly packaged in a jute bag with an eco-friendly twist, while you can choose to throw a vegan wine into the mix as an added extra. Really: why wouldn’t you?
Buy now, Good Sixty
Carluccio’s
Price: ££
While beloved Antonio may be long gone, his eponymous brand is still going as strong as ever, both at restaurants across the country and in a range of deli products online.
Featuring ingredients sourced from artisan suppliers and packaged in a vibrant geometric design, Il Dolce di Natale Vegano is their plant-based taken on a traditional panettone, the sweet bread from Milan that’s become synonymous with the season. This is filled with candied orange peel and sultanas for a perfectly-wrapped treat to slip under the tree (just don’t let the dog at it!).
Buy now, Carluccio’s
Sacla
Price: £
Sacla, purveyors of all things authentically Italian, source their panettone from artisan bakers across Italy. And this – its Vegan Panettone – is handmade by the Vergani family on the Amalfi Coast. Whether enjoyed with a cappuccino in the morning or a glass of Champers in the afternoon, their plant-based spin on the seasonal staple is near-perfection: light, fluffy and tangy. Tear, share and dunk, safe in the knowledge that all ingredients are certified vegan, meaning it’s been lovingly made in a kitchen completely free of non-vegan products.
Buy now £16.00, Sacla
Hampers.com
Price: ££
This is a real treat for the senses: a bottle of mulled wine surrounded by perfectly-spiced mince pies, decadent truffles, salted caramel gourmet popcorn and handmade chocolate fudge. Everything’s vegan and elegantly presented on a reusable bamboo tray, making the selection perfect as a pressie, and its £49 price tag makes it cracking value, too.
Buy now £49.00, Hampers.com
Divine Chocolate
Price: ££
From Divine Chocolate to Tony’s Chocolonely, there’s been a spike in decent chocolate brands doing good while creating delicious bars, and it’s not a moment too soon.
The former prides itself on being palm oil-free, Fairtrade and all-natural, while being co-owned by cocoa farmers, meaning every bar purchased directly redistributes wealth to the people who make it.
The Luxury Vegan Advent Calendar – featuring an elegant design and containing 70 per cent dark chocolate hearts – is a scrumptious way to show your support.
Buy now, Divine Chocolate
NOMO Chocolate
Price: £
There’s no FOMO with NOMO – which means, as you might have guessed, ‘no missing out’ – thanks to their lipsmacking line of vegan and free-from chocolate. New for the season are the Cookie Dough Filled Choc Drops and the Chocolate Orange Reindeer – flavours those with allergies or who follow a plant-based diet usually miss out on – while their two advent calendars (Gooey Caramel Celebration in a triangular golden box is our pick) have been given fresh designs for Christmas. Everything is free from dairy, gluten, eggs and nuts.
Buy now, NOMO Chocolate
