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This holiday season, try my vegan glutenfree holiday roast! It’s made with a mix of protein-rich chickpeas and tofu and comes filled with roasted vegetables and features a sweet and sticky glaze. Vegan, Gluten-free, nut-free!
The holiday season is SO CLOSE and like every year I add a few mains to the blog collection. Try my Vegan Nut roast Meatloaf or my Lentil Quinoa Loaf. Those were highly popular last year.
This year I am going for a glutenfree holiday roast made with chickpeas and tofu! This roast is rich and hearty and comes with a roasted vegetable filling and a sweet maple glaze for that umami. The mix comes together easily in a food processor and is gluten-free, nut-free and lentil-free!
The chickpeas and tofu make a sturdy base. Tofu, chickpeas add volume, tofu makes it chewy a bit like seitan, rice flour and starch act as binders making the dough easy to work with. Make it into a cylinder roll or a stuffed roll. The glaze balances out the flavor so you get rich umami, creamy sweet roasted veg and a well seasoned savory “chickpea roast” all in one bite!
Serve it with my vegan gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce or pick any of the sides I listed at the end of the post!
More mains for the holidays:
- Lentil Quinoa Loaf
- Lentil Shepherd’s Pie
- Chickpea Veggie Loaf
- Shepherd’s Pie with Chickpeas
- Cauliflower Alfredo, Spinach, Artichoke Lasagna
- Easy Vegan Veggie Lasagna
- Grilled Portobello with Garlic Sauce
Vegan Gluten-free Holiday Roast
Ingredients
For the roast:
- 15 Oz can chickpeas, drained , or 1 1/4 cup of cooked chickpeas
- 6 ounces firm tofu , pressed for 10 minutes and cubed
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch or tapioca starch
- 3 tablespoons rice flour or you can also use chickpea flour
- 2 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, or use more of the herbs below
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1/2 teaspoon ground sage
- 1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire sauce, , see subs in notes
For the glaze:
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary or 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary chopped
- 2 teaspoons Vegan Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 1 teaspoon Balsamic Vinegar
for the stuffing
- 1.5 Cups or more Glutenfree stuffing or roasted veggies of choice
Instructions
For the stuffing:
- You can use any stuffing of choice, I use roasted root vegetables. (Fennel, sweet potato, leek, Golden beet chopped into equal size pieces, tossed in oil, salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary in a baking dish and baked until Golden)
For the Roast
- Press the tofu for 10 minutes if you haven't already. Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and process until the mixture is smooth and there aren't any chickpea pieces or tofu pieces there. Process for 30 seconds, then scrape and process again. It will become a pasty dough kind of consistency. If it is too crumbly, add in a tsp or 2 of water/broth and process again. See pictures for consistency.
- Transfer the mixture to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Use a spatula to spread it out into a square or a rectangle about 8 inches in width.
- Add the stuffing of choice and then roll the roast over. Use your parchment to roll as the mixture will be sticky, use parchment to bring the ends of the chickpea mixture together and then seal it using the spatula.
- You can also seal the open ends. I like to leave it open.
- Keep the parchment on the rolled roast and bake at 385 degrees Fahrenheit ( 200 deg C) for 30 minutes. Then remove the roast from the oven. Uncover the roast(if it’s too cracked, just roll it so the bottom I cracked side is top now for the glaze)
- Mix your glaze and brush all over and continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes. Let your roast cool at least 15 minutes before trying to slice. Use a really sharp knife or a serrated knife and slice.
- Serve with mashed potatoes and gravy , cranberry sauce and other holiday fixings of choice.You can make the roast ahead. Bake until ready to glaze and refrigerate. Add the glaze and bake when needed.
Video
Notes
- Vegan Worcestershire sauce: use a mix of tamari sauce, balsamic vinegar, and molasses
- chickpeas : use other white beans
- tofu: this would be tricky to substitute as it helps make the roast chewy. You can use more beans but the roast will be very pasty.
Open parchment, brush the glaze and bake for 20-25 mins if it was in fridge and 30-35 mins if it was frozen. Add extra glaze at 25 mins so it doesn’t dry out.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ingredients:
- the base of this vegan roast is a mix of chickpeas and tofu
- rice flour and cornstarch helps the roast mix to hold together
- my magic blend for this vegan roast is a mix of poultry seasoning, thyme, rosemary, sage and oregano along with onion and garlic powder
- the glaze is a sweet and salty power-blend of maple syrup, balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire Sauce
- filling: you can use any stuffing of choice, I use roasted vegetables
Tips:
- The gluten-free roast will keep well for about 5 days in the fridge when properly stored
- Feel free to add some sunflower seeds to the mix for some crunch
- You can use tapioca starch instead of cornstarch and chickpea flour instead of rice flour
How to make Glutenfree Vegan Roast
Make the roast. Press the tofu for 10 minutes if you haven’t already. Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and process until the mixture is smooth and there aren’t any chickpea pieces or tofu pieces there. It will become a pasty dough kind of consistency. Process in 1 minute batches
Transfer the mixture to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Use a spatula to spread it out into a square or a rectangle about 8 inches in width.
Add the stuffing of choice and then roll the roast over. Use your parchment to bring the ends of the chickpea mixture together and then seal it using the spatula.
You can also seal the open ends. I like to leave it open. Keep the parchment on the rolled roast and bake at 385 degrees Fahrenheit ( 200 deg C) for 30 minutes. Then remove the roast from the oven.
Mix your glaze and brush all over and continue to bake for another 15-25 minutes. Let your roast cool at least 15 minutes before trying to slice. The top skin will crack because of drying faster than the rest of the loaf. But it doesn’t affect the sturdyness of the loaf. Use a really sharp knife or a serrated knife and slice.
Serve with mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce and other holiday fixings of choice.
Sides to serve with this gluten-free holiday roast:
This roast would go really well with Roasted Brussel Sprouts or Kabocha Squash. Mashed Sweet Potatoes or regular Mashed Potatoes would also go excellently. If you’re feeling adventurous, serve this roast with my Indian Mashed Potatoes
Thank you for yet another super recipe! I stuffed mine with leak/onion/chestnut. Perhaps my food processor was too weak/small, but I found I had to add more liquid to get it going. Regardless, it was super yum, and received great approval from my meat-eating friends.
Awesome! Glad you adjusted it and it worked out. A bit of moisture here and there doesn’t change the result. Just make sure that the mixture is not too dry/crumbly dough or not very sticky thin paste. Moisture content in chickpeas and tofus varies
Do you drain the chick peas?
Yes
Anything I can sub for Worcestershire Sauce. Most of it has garlic & I can’t eat garlic, which I love.
Use a mix of soy sauce and molasses
making the holiday roast for the glaze do you add 1.5 cups of veggies to the glaze
No it’s the stuffing. The title for stuffing was missed in ingredient list. Added that.
Do you bake it rolled up in parchment paper then glaze it and bake it more without the parchment wrapped around it?
That’s correct, it should be roasted uncovered after adding the glaze.
This was great!!! Now I’m wondering if you could make some kind of cutlets from the loaf mixture??
go for it!
I was wondering if I can make 2 and freeze 1 for our Christmas or New Years roast- please advise
Yes!
This looks great! Can the oil be left out of the recipe? Or what can I use instead of oil?
you can use stock
I have 4 kids, they all grew up eating, and loving, the tofurky roast for thanksgiving and christmas, it was our tradition. One of my kids has been diagnosed at the beginning of 2021 with celiac disease so that tradition is out, but I’m thinking of using your recipe with a stuffing resembling the Tofurky’s… I think they’ll love it!
I hope they do love it =). let me know & happy holidays !
This was so delicious! My entire family of 7 loved it!! I served it with roasted Brussels sprouts, roasted yellow potatoes, butternut squash and a simple brown gravy. I doubled the recipe, and the only thing I did differently was to use an entire 16 ounce block of tofu instead of the 12 ounces called for. It turned out beautifully with no cracking. I made a simple stuffing for the center out of toasted GF bread, sauteed carrot, onion and celery, a little sage and thyme and moistened it all with “no chicken” broth. It worked out perfectly. This was a trial run for Thanksgiving and this is going to be our go-to roast for the holidays from now on. Thank you for an outstanding GF recipe!!
What a fabulous spread!! So glad it turned out so beautifully!
I saw you said you used 16 oz block of tofu instead of 12 oz, I thought recipe said 6 oz?
Please advise. Thanks
The recipe uses 6 ounces. I hope you enjoy!
Since I am the only person in my family who eats vegan/plant-based, if I test drive this recipe early, can I freeze half to save for the main event? I would stuff with veggies. Thank you!
that would work
I’m planning on stuffing it with a traditional (but GF) bread stuffing. Does the stuffing need to be cooked ahead of time before rolling it into the loaf? Thanks!
yes, at least half or 3/4 cooked through separately