A vegan wellington is a surprisingly simple recipe that will make a holiday meal special. Make your wellington easy with puff pastry and fill it with vegan beef, tofu, lentils, mushrooms, caramelized onions, or any combination of any of them. A wellington is beautiful, flaky, satisfying, delicious, and sure to be a crowd-pleaser!
Why make a vegan wellington
They make holiday meals feel fancy and special! This will be my 21st holiday season as a vegan. I've made numerous versions of wellingtons over the years and they never disappoint.
Wellington is one of my favorite things to make for a holiday meal since it's fairly easy to make considering how decorative it looks. It's also a great alternative to something like a vegan turkey or vegan ham as your main dish since it can easily be made gluten-free by simply using a gluten-free puff pastry. Best of all, you can fill it with layers of whatever you like to suit your taste or dietary needs.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Puff Pastry - this can be found in the frozen section of most major grocery stores near the pie crusts. Schar's also makes a gluten-free puff pastry that is amazingly close to the gluten type! If you are feeling ambitious, you can also make your own puff pastry. This is a great tutorial on how to make it yourself. You can simply swap out butter for vegan butter. You can also make a gluten-free puff pastry with this recipe from GF Jules.
- Onions - about 2 large sweet onions for making a layer of caramelized onions.
- Portabella Mushrooms - for making mushroom bacon. You can use any type of mushrooms that you like, but I prefer portabella since they are large enough to use like strips of bacon. You can also use tempeh bacon, rice paper vegan bacon, or store-bought vegan bacon alternatives.
- Olive Oil - to saute the onions and mushrooms in. You can use any neutral flavored oil that you want.
- Protein filling of your choice - you can choose between extra firm tofu mixed with seasonings, vegan ground beef like beyond meat, or Impossible burgers. You can also fill it with other vegan protein mixtures like the filling for my lentil loaf or vegan meatballs.
How to make a vegan wellington
Make the parts of the wellington
- Take your puff pastry out of the freezer and let it warm up for about 45 minutes.
- While the pastry is warming up, peel and slice 2 onions into long thin pieces and toss them into a frying pan with 2 tbsp of olive oil and a 1/4 tsp. salt. Cook the onions on low, stirring occasionally for 30-40 minutes until they turn a light brown color and get sweet.
- Slice a large portabella mushroom into thin slices and fry in 1 tbsp of neutral-flavored oil. Sprinkle with salt and liquid smoke and cook for about 7-8 minutes on each side until thoroughly cooked.
Make the tofu filling (or other fillings of choice)
- Crumble drained, pressed, extra firm, or high protein tofu into a food processor and add vegan broth, poultry seasoning, soy sauce, nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper into a food processor and blend until combined.
- If not using the tofu method, use 12 oz. of vegan ground beef, or see further instructions in the variation section of this post.
How to assemble a tofu wellington
- Once you have prepped all of your ingredients be sure to preheat your oven to 400° F. (You need it to go into a preheated hot oven to get a great puffy rise!)
- Place 1 rectangle of pastry puff on a cookie sheet that has edges.
- Add a layer of caramelized onions down the center of the pastry puff leaving about three inches on both sides and about 1/2 inch on the top and bottom.
- Layer the portabella mushroom bacon (or other vegan bacon) on top of the onions, overlapping the slices of mushrooms a little.
- Top with a layer of seasoned tofu (or vegan beef, lentil loaf mixture, or vegan meatball mixture) about 3 inches wide covering the onions and mushrooms, and about 1 1/2 inches high.
- Cut diagonal lines in the puff pasty starting at the bottom corners at a 45-degree angle. Cut another line every inch until you reach 1/2 inch from the top.
- Fold the top and the bottom triangles of the pastry in and on top of the filling. Then fold the strips over each other alternating each side starting at the top and working down to form a woven braided look.
- Brush your wellington with a little vegan butter or aquafaba (the liquid from a can of chickpeas) to give it a little shine.
- Bake the wellington at 400° F for 35 minutes or until the pastry has puffed up and become golden brown.
- Allow cooling for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Pro Tips
- Be sure to let your puff pastry to warm up and soften before assembling your wellington.
- You can layer onions, mushrooms, vegetables, tofu, or meat substitute of your choice, but don't fill it more than about 3 inches wide and 2 1/2 inches high.
- Use a cookie sheet that has edges on the side. Some of the juices from the wellington will leak out and drip off the sheet without edges.
Variations
Vegan "Beef" Wellington - Use 12 oz. of a vegan beef substitute like Beyond Beef or Impossible Burger. The 12 oz packages that come unformed are perfect for this, but you can also use 6 pre-formed hamburgers, let them thaw, and roll them into a cylinder shape. (Don't use the frozen crumbles, they will not stick together as well to form your "meat.") You can also make your own beef wellington filling by making my meaty vegan meatball recipe and rolling the whole batch into a cylinder shape.
Lentil Wellington - For a soy-free, plant-based wellington, a lentil mixture is a great option. Simply cut my lentil loaf recipe in half and use it as the meaty layer in your wellington. The lentils and rice in this are seasoned to perfection and will give you a great texture when baked.
Mushroom Wellington - Simply double the amount of caramelized onions cooking a total of 4 onions. Saute 3 sliced portabella mushrooms in 2 tbsps of olive oil and sprinkled with salt. Layer the onions followed by 3 layers of sliced portabella mushrooms.
Decorating your wellington
Feel free to wrap the pastry puff any way that you want. Braid strips over the top as I did, or if you want to keep it really simple, you can just wrap the puff pastry around the center ingredients, seal it at one edge, and then use a knife to cut designs in it. Puff pastry usually comes with 2 pieces of dough, so you can cut shapes in the 2nd extra sheet of pastry with a cookie cutter. Simply place the decorative pieces onto the top of the wellington with a little water to make them stick.
Classic holiday sides to go with your wellington
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Caramelized onions, vegan bacon, and a vegan protein wrapped up in a flaky puff pastry.
- 1 sheet puff pastry
- 2 tablespoons light olive oil
- 1 portabella mushroom
- 1 1/2 tablespoons light olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke (hickory flavored)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 14 oz block extra firm tofu (or high protein tofu) drained and pressed well
- 1/3 cup vegan broth chicken-style or vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce (or tamari or liquid aminos for gluten-free)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 tablespoon aquafaba (aka liquid from a can of chickpea or other beans) You can also use vegan butter. (optional)
-
Take your puff pastry out of the freezer and let it warm up for about 45 minutes.
-
While the pastry is warming, peel and slice 2 onions into long thin pieces and toss them into a frying pan with 2 tbsp of olive oil and a 1/4 tsp. salt. Cook the onions uncovered on low, stirring occasionally for 30-40 minutes until they turn a light brown color and get sweet. (Add a sprinkle of water to the onions as they are cooking if they start to look dry.)
-
Slice a large portabella mushroom into thin slices and fry in 1 tbsp of neutral-flavored oil. sprinkle with salt and liquid smoke and cook for about 7-8 minutes on each side until thoroughly cooked.
-
Crumble drained, pressed, extra firm, or high protein tofu into a food processor and add vegan broth, poultry seasoning, nutritional yeast, soy sauce, salt, and pepper into a food processor and blend until combined.
-
(If not using the tofu method, use 12 oz. of vegan ground beef, or see further instructions in the variation section of this post.)
-
Once you have prepped all of your ingredients be sure to preheat your oven to 400° F. (You need it to go into a preheated hot oven to get a great puffy rise!)
-
Place 1 rectangle of pastry puff on a cookie sheet that has edges.
-
Add a layer of caramelized onions down the center of the pastry puff leaving about 3 inches (7.5 cm) on both sides and about 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) on the top and bottom.
-
Layer the portabella mushroom bacon (or other vegan bacon if you choose) on top of the onions overlapping the slices of mushrooms a little.
-
Top with a layer of seasoned tofu (or vegan beef, lentil loaf mixture, or vegan meatball mixture) about 3 inches (7.5 cm) wide covering the onions and mushrooms, and about 1 1/2 inches (3.75 cm) high.
-
Cut diagonal lines in the puff pasty starting at the bottom corners at a 45-degree angle. Cut another line every inch until you reach 1/2 inch from the top.
-
Fold the top and the bottom triangles of the pastry in and on top of the filling. Then fold the strips over each other alternating each side starting at the top and working down to form a woven braided look.
-
Brush your wellington with a little vegan butter or aquafaba (the liquid from a can of chickpeas) to give it a little shine.
-
Bake the wellington at 400° F for 35 minutes or until the pastry has puffed up and become golden brown.
-
Allow cooling for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
- Be sure to let your puff pastry to warm up and soften before assembling your wellington.
- You can layer onions, mushrooms, vegetables, tofu, or meat substitute of your choice, but don't fill it more than about 3 inches wide and 2 1/2 inches high.
- Use a cookie sheet that has edges on the side. Some of the juices from the wellington will leak out and drip off the sheet without edges.
Variations:
Vegan "Beef" Wellington - Use 12 oz. of a vegan beef substitute like Beyond Beef or Impossible Burger. The 12 oz packages that come unformed are perfect for this, but you can also use 6 pre-formed hamburgers, let them thaw, and roll them into a cylinder shape. (Don't use the frozen crumbles, they will not stick together as well to form your "meat.") You can also make your own beef wellington filling by making my meaty vegan meatball recipe and rolling the whole batch into a cylinder shape.
Lentil Wellington - For a soy-free, plant-based wellington, a lentil mixture is a great option. Simply cut my lentil loaf recipe in half and use it as the meaty layer in your wellington. The lentils and rice in this are seasoned to perfection and will give you a great texture when baked.
Mushroom Wellington - Simply double the amount of caramelized onions cooking a total of 4 onions. Saute 3 sliced portabella mushrooms in 2 tbsps of olive oil and sprinkled with salt. Layer the onions followed by 3 layers of sliced portabella mushrooms.
