This Vegan Butternut Squash Wellington uses squash, mushrooms, chestnuts and cranberries all encased in puff pastry for the perfect festive centrepiece. Get the recipe below.
Vegan roast dinners
I love a roast dinner as much as the next person. The sides are definitely a highlight - roast potatoes, vegan cauliflower cheese, fresh steamed veggies and more. But, the centrepiece has to be special too.
For vegans people often serve up a nut roast (which I do love) but sometimes it is nice to have something different. A wellington is a classic roast dinner centrepiece which is a bit more exciting than just another store bought nut roast.
This wellington is stuffed with roasted butternut squash and a mushroom, chestnut and cranberry duxelles. It's all encased in vegan puff pastry which is easier than you might think!
For the full range of Christmas dinner recipes from starters and sides to the main centrepiece and desserts, check out my post on the Ultimate Vegan Christmas Dinner.
Vegan puff pastry
You have two options when it comes to the puff pastry for this recipe: (1) purchase an "accidentally vegan" ready rolled puff pastry or (2) make your own!
Either option is good and I'll admit that 9 times out of 10 I opt for the store bought option. If you do want to make your own then check out my recipe for homemade vegan puff pastry. It's not as hard as you think but it is time consuming so not something to do if you're in a rush.
Decorate your Vegan Butternut Squash Wellington
The traditional way to decorate a wellington is a simple crisscross pattern cut on top. This allows the steam to escape.
If you want a more highly decorative wellington then you can cut out shapes like autumn leaves from the leftover pastry. I think this gives it an extra special touch. Especially if you're serving it up for a special occasion like Thanksgiving or Christmas
The recipe
Vegan Butternut Squash Wellington
Ingredients
- 1 large butternut squash or two small butternut squashes
- salt & pepper to taste
- 4 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 banana shallots finely diced
- 400 g chestnut mushrooms diced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 8 sprigs thyme leaves removed
- 4 sprigs rosemary leaves removed and finely chopped
- 4 leaves sage cut into thin ribbons
- 75 g ready roasted chestnuts roughly chopped
- 100 g dried cranberries re-hydrated in boiling water then drained and roughly chopped
- 4 tablespoon soy milk for glazing
- 2 sheets vegan puff pastry these usually come in 320 g packets
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 C / 400 F / gas mark 6.
- To prepare a large butternut squash: Cut the butternut squash at the base of the neck, before the more bulbous section where the seeds are. You can use the bulbous section another day so wrap up and place back in your fridge. Peel the remaining squash and cut in half lengthwise.To prepare two small butternut squashes: Cut off the necks and wrap up the bulbous part of them to use another day. Peel the necks then cut in half so that you are left with four discs.
- Transfer the butternut squash to a baking tray and drizzle with 2 tablespoon olive oil then season with salt and pepper.
- Roast the butternut squash for 30 minutes or until tender.
- In the meantime, in a large frying pan, heat a little oil over a medium heat. Add the diced shallots and fry for 5 minutes or until just becoming translucent.
- Add a 2 tablespoon of olive oil to a frying pan on a medium heat.
- Add the shallots to the pan and fry for 5-8 minutes until just translucent.
- Next add both mushrooms and garlic to the frying pan and fry for 10-15 mins until the water from the mushrooms has evaporated.
- Add the herbs and season to taste then fry for another 5 minutes.
- Transfer half of the mushroom mixture to a food processor and pulse until it is more like a paste.
- Add back to the rest of the mushrooms along with the chopped chestnuts and cranberries.
- Leave this to cool completely before assembling.
- In this time your butternut squash should have roasted. Remove from the oven and also leave to cool slightly.
- To assemble the wellington, lay out the first sheet of pastry onto a baking tray that has been lined with baking paper.
- Spoon roughly ⅔rds of the mushroom mixture down the centre of the puff pastry, as long and wide as your butternut squash.
- Lay the butternut squash on top and then spoon the rest of the mushroom mixture around the butternut squash.
- Lay the second sheet of puff pastry over the butternut squash.
- Press down the edges to seal the pastry.
- Trim off any excess and use these for decoration.
- Make a series of cuts on top of the wellington to let any steam and moisture escape.
- Brush the wellington with soy milk.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 35-45 minutes (still at 200 C / 400 F / gas mark 6) or until the pastry is golden brown.
- Serve with your favourite roast dinner sides.
Nutrition
More vegan roast dinner ideas
Enjoy!
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