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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
The roast was the star of our holiday potluck dinner yesterday. I’m a longtime vegan cook but I could easily say that anyone, any skill level, could make this roast. It is delicious and so much lighter than a seitan based roast. I filled it with roasted mushrooms, leeks and an apple. Everyone loved it and several of the guests are also going to make it for holiday gatherings. Thank you!
So happy it worked out!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I made this for Thanksgiving last week, it was (is) awesome!
My non-vegan GF said it was better than her turkey dinner.
awesome! thanks so much for your kind comment! that’s high praise!
I made this for Thanksgiving and served to my meat-eating family. They loved it and had seconds! Thank you, Vegan Richa!
yay! thank you!
I made this for our Thanksgiving this year, and it was SO good!! Even some of the non-vegans, who had a big juicy ham and a turkey breast to feed on, ate this roast! I made it a day ahead, and glazed and finished it on Thanksgiving day. The texture is delightful and it holds together well. Tastes delicious. I definitely plan to make this again!!
glad you enjoyed!
Absolutely the perfect holiday roast. Flavors spot-on and I love how the glaze makes a slightly crisp exterior. Meat-eating husband thought that this was far better than the traditional meat laden Thanksgiving plate. I’ll definitely be preparing again. So yummy!
yay! thank you!
I made this with gluten free herb stuffing and beyond Italian sausage inside. I also added a cranberry relish at the last minute before I rolled it as the stuffing was a little dry. It’s perfect sweet savory with the glaze and cranberry relish inside to balance the Italian beyond sausage. So good.
awesome!
If I don’t need to be gluten free can I use regular flour instead of rice flour?
Yes use all purpose flour
This sounds amazing! Has anyone tried using Pumfu instead of tofu?
I haven’t, but it should work
It looks so good!! Can you share a recipe for the vegan gravy? That would be so awesome!!
https://fettabbau-trim.today/instant-pot-vegan-mushroom-gravy-oilfree/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Just made the two rolls I doubled the recipe but had to add a bit more dry ingredients it was a bit too sticky to roll and I had to improvise on a few things but it turned out thus far lol. Can I freeze the roll uncooked then cook it later at Christmas?
Cook for 15 mins then freeze and bake when needed