The UK’s Must-Try Vegan Christmas Food Launches
From freezing temperatures to short days and long nights, it’s easy to get down about winter, so we’ve got some vegan Christmas foods that will put you right in the festive spirit.
Whether you’re hosting a socially distanced ho-ho-holiday vegan dinner to remember, having a night in with your partner, or enjoying a few vegan nibbles during your virtual office party, here’s what’s hit the shelves this year for the perfect merry and compassionate feast:
Pret A Manger
Two new Christmas sandwiches have come to Pret A Manger – did Santa peek at our wish list early? The Vegan Christmas Lunch Hot Roll and Vegan Christmas Lunch Baguette, available at Veggie Pret, are both filled with shredded oyster mushrooms and sage and pumpkin-seed stuffing and topped with vegan sage mayo.
The two new offerings join Pret’s Vegan Christmas Nut Roast sandwich, which is back for another year.
Costa
Costa has released an impressive line-up of vegan Christmas desserts and other products for the festive season, which is great news for us and other animals.
Get your hands on the café’s Vegan Turkee, Cranberry & Stuffing Bloomer Toastie, Vegan Christmas Fruit Cake, Vegan Father Christmas Gingerbread, or Vegan Mince Tart – you won’t regret it.
Starbucks
For the first time ever, Starbucks is offering its famous holiday drinks with vegan whipped topping. The café’s Toffee Nut Latte and Gingerbread Latte can now be made with coconut, oat, soya, or almond milk and served iced or as a Frappuccino topped with vegan whipped cream.
The Christmas vegan food offering includes the Very Merry Vegan Wrap, which is back for a second year. The beetroot wrap is filled with crumbled butternut squash fritters, and roasted red cabbage, and vegan maple-mustard mayonnaise.
Applewood & Ilchester
’Tis the season to be jolly, and nothing makes us happier than a good vegan cheeseboard. Thankfully, the board of your dreams is here: Applewood & Ilchester’s Vegan Festive Cheese Selection.
In the box, you’ll get four dairy-free cheeses, including PETA Award–winning Applewood Vegan, Mexicana Vegan, Ilchester Vegan Melting Mature, and the new Ilchester Vegan Blue. Yes, yes, yes!
Ladurée
For the first time in the UK, the iconic French bakery chain is offering a fully vegan Christmas box, which comes with two macaron flavours: the heavenly Pure Origine Peru and the delectable Coconut Caramel.
Aldi
Give the flesh of tormented turkeys a miss and enjoy Aldi’s vegan turkey roast. It’s made with soya protein and filled with cranberry, apricot, and pumpkin-seed stuffing.
Asda
Asda has an impressive vegan festive range this year, including a Wellington, a mushroom and lentil nut roast, and a turkey-style joint with caramelised-onion stuffing. For sides and snacks, try the spiced apple and orange cocktail sausages, vegetable tempura nests, oriental selection, or sage and onion stuffing balls.
Co-op
The Christmas GRO selection features vegan pigs in blankets, no-duck spring rolls, and cauliflower popcorn with sweet chilli sauce. Choose root vegetables with an orange zest and cranberry sauce encased in puff pastry for your main, and indulge in a sticky toffee pudding to top it off.
Iceland
Iceland offers an array of vegan party food, such as no-chicken samosas, no-duck hoisin spring rolls, vegan sausage rolls, and no-prawn tempura. The luxury festive nut roast and No Bull Wellington make great centrepieces.
Lidl
Lidl’s vegan Christmas range includes two nut roasts with gravy (sage, onion, and hazelnut and lentil, red pepper, and almond) and a mushroom, butternut squash, and cranberry Wellington. Also on offer are pies, tartlets, and a Mexican-style snack selection.
Morrison’s
Morrison’s has pulled out all the stops! Its vegan festive range features tempura no-prawns, beefless Wellington, a vegan cheese and vegetable tart, and meat-free pigs in blankets. For dessert, enjoy a lemon semifreddo or that British classic, trifle. You can also find maple crumble mince pies and lattice mince pies in-store.
Marks & Spencer
This year’s Plant Kitchen festive range includes bite-size vegan chicken kievs, no-chorizo pigs in duvets, and a show-stopping festive wreath with roasted mushrooms and chestnuts. Other delights are a butternut squash, almond, and pecan nut roast; vegan Dauphinoise potatoes; and a chocolate torte. Looking for the perfect gift? The Plant Kitchen festive hamper has truffles, mince pies, Christmas pudding, wine, and more.
Ocado
Ocado has a whopping 300 vegan Christmas items in stock, including pies, nut roasts, and M&S’ Plant Kitchen range. How about something different? Try One Planet Pizza’s Christmas feast – a pizza topped with Tofurky ham, cranberry sauce, Brussels sprouts, and, of course, vegan cheese.
Sainsbury’s
Highlights from Sainsbury’s 2020 festive range include Plant Pioneers vegan fish and chips and no–pork belly bites, both ingeniously made from jackfruit and oyster mushrooms. For a main, there are meat-free turkey parcels wrapped in vegan bacon or a no-beef Wellington. Delicious sides include maple and thyme parsnips and a vegan cheesy cauliflower bake. Try the chocolate and salted caramel star for dessert.
Tesco
Tesco offers meat-free roasting crowns and three other Plant Kitchen seitan roasts. You can even get a ready-made vegan Christmas dinner for two with a plant-based Wellington, roast potatoes, all the trimmings, Christmas pudding, champagne, and Christmas crackers.
Waitrose
Waitrose’s Christmas vegan range features festive filo swirls, crispy filo pastry filled with butternut squash, red pepper, tomatoes, apricots, and raisins. There are also vegan pigs in blankets, tarts, nut roasts, Wellingtons, sausage rolls, sides, breaded cheese melts, and cheese fondue.
Have an Animal-Friendly Christmas!
Whether you want to whip something up at home or bake a ready-made vegan Christmas roast, having a fully vegan feast is just as easy as it is delicious – and we’ve got plenty of ideas to spark inspiration.
It’s not just vegan food that’s readily available – we’ve also got lots of cruelty-free gift ideas for you! Check out our gift guide for inspo:
