Easy Mexican Vegan Turkey Roast
Serve this delicious and easy Mexican vegan turkey roast with vegan gravy, vegan cranberry sauce, vegan stuffing, and all your favorite sides for the ultimate holiday roast at your family gatherings. This recipe has a special Mexican touch you’re going to love!
Vegan Turkey Recipe
The holidays season is here, how exciting.
It’s time to bring out your best vegan turkey roast. The one perfect for special occasions. The one to wow your dinner guests, the perfect centerpiece to your holiday feast and dinner table.
Amigos I’m so excited to finally share one of my favorite plant-based roasts that’s void of animal products, but overflowing with a scrumptious festive savory flavor and umami flavor.
This recipe is so crazy easy to make, that even if it’s your first time working with vital wheat gluten, or making a seitan roast, you’ll totally nail it.
I first made this meatless roast a few years back and it’s one I love to make for my vegan Thanksgiving dinner. But it’s not my creation, in fact this recipe is adapted from one of the vegan world’s most respected chefs, Isa Chandra Moskowitz.
My roast is based on her recipe for “Seitan Roast Stuffed With Shiitakes And Leeks“. I loved her use of pinto beans and was inspired to adapt it with a Mexican touch. The results for this Mexican meatless turkey are insanely delicious!
You seriously must give this Mexican vegan turkey roast a try this holiday season.
Mexican Roast Turkey Made Vegan
So of course vegan turkey roasts aren’t a traditional Mexican meal (though there are a lot of traditional regular turkey recipes). I mean mock meat, or vegan meats, aren’t part of the traditional cuisine. But they are being adapted by vegan and vegetarians alike, to create traditional Mexican recipes.
What gives my meatless turkey roast that Mexican touch is the incorporation of some traditionally ingredients.
Pinto beans and chipotle pepper are the Mexican touch that this vegan roast needed.
Ingredients Needed for Mexican Vegan Turkey Roast
The plant-based ingredients for this vegan turkey roast are a bit different than what you normally see here on my blog. But you really shouldn’t have a difficult time finding them either at the regular grocery stores, health food store, or Trader Joe, or Whole Foods, or of course there’s always Amazon too.
- Pinto Beans: For that Mexican touch and to for extra vegan protein and liquid.
- Chipotle Peppers: The canned ones with adobo sauce. We are also using the adobo sauce.
- Seasonings: We’re going to be using vegan poultry seasoning mix. Some fresh garlic too. You could swap it for garlic powder but I prefer the fresh. It’s quite simple.
- Olive Oil: To add a little fat, or you can use vegetable oil or even vegan butter. I wouldn’t recommend a strong tasting fat like coconut oil.
- Soy Sauce: For color and umami flavor.
- Vegetable Broth: To hydrate the ingredients. I use vegetable broth, but if you can get vegan chicken broth use that.
- Nutritional Yeast: Also known as nooch, this magical ingredient helps give vegan food extra protein, vitamins and a cheesy taste. It’s delicious!
- Vital Wheat Gluten: Is a flour that is the protein that’s naturally found in wheat flour. You may also have seen this referred to as wheat meat, seitan, seitan dough…All of which are part of making vegan meats and what gives it that meaty texture.
Variations
Instead of pinto beans you could also add Peruvian or mayocoba beans.
You can add extra seasonings like black pepper if you’d like. Also make sure your poultry seasoning includes garlic and onion powder. It gives it delicious taste.
If you don’t want the heat form the chipotle pepper you could hydrate 2 mild dried guajillo chiles. Blend them with a little water to create a sauce and then mix with the ingredients instead of the chipotles.
Some people like to add a splash of liquid smoke for extra flavor. Feel free to do so. But omit it if you are using the chipotle peppers, since they’re smoky too.
Some people will wrap the roast in hydrated, pliable sheet of rice paper skin to emulate crispy skin.
While we will be baking this roast, there are variations where it’s cooked by steaming. Either in a steamer basket in the Instant Pot or placed directly into broth in a regular pot or the pressure cooker. The advantage with that is that you can use the broth as basting liquid for the vegan roast.
How to Make This Vegan Roast Recipe
You’re going to need a food processor for this recipe. Or a powerful blender will work too.
Also a large mixing bowl, baking or parchment paper, aluminum foil and a small baking or cookie sheet.
- Process the pinto beans, garlic, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, soy sauce and olive oil in a food processor until smooth. You can stop to scrape down the sides if needed.
- In a large bowl combine the vital wheat gluten with the nutritional yeast and poultry seasoning. Mix until well combined.
- Add the wet ingredients of the pinto bean mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
- Start incorporating the vegetable broth little by little until you have a moist dough.
- Knead the dough for a few minutes to make sure it’s evenly hydrated.
- Transfer the dough onto the parchment paper and shape into a long roast shape. Wrap it tightly with the paper. Then place it on top of a piece of aluminum foil and again tightly wrap the loaf.
- Bake the vegan turkey roast in a preheated 350F oven for 60 to 70 minutes. Rotating halfway through.
- If you’d like the last 10 minute you can unwrap and bake to crisp up the outer skin. Otherwise allow to cool slightly before slicing and serving.
What to Serve with Vegan Turkey Roast
You can serve this vegan turkey roast as a main course for a family dinner or for a special occasion like the holidays. I serve it for Thanksgiving and for Christmas I do tamales.
My favorite way to serve this Mexican vegan turkey roast is for Thanksgiving dinner. Below are what I like to serve it with.
- The Easiest Mexican Green Beans | Ejotes a la Mexicana
- Mexican Espagueti Blanco | Espagueti a la Crema (Vegan)
- Mexican Cranberry Sauce Recipe | Made with Piloncillo
- Easy Vegan Mushroom Gravy
- Vegan Stuffing | Mexican Turkey Stuffing Made with Bolillos
All the traditional American side dishes but with a Mexican and Mexican-American touch.
For dessert I’ll do some Easy Guava and Cheese Empanadas, or Vegan Fresas con Crema or Mexican Sweet Potatoes | Camotes Enmielados, or a non-vegan Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie.
Can You Make it Ahead of Time
Yes you can. You can prepare and bake it 1-2 days before your Thanksgiving dinner.
Though you may want to consider making the sides and dessert one or two days before and this vegan turkey roast the day of your dinner. That way it’ll be tender and warm without having to reheat.
It doesn’t really take too much effort and cooking time isn’t long, so it’s totally doable the same day.
How To Reheat Seitan Roast
You can reheat it at 340F for about 10 minutes or until warmed through. I highly suggest basting it with vegetable broth, or vegan chicken broth, before you reheat it and afterwards too.
This is to keep it moist and prevent it from drying out during reheating.
Sliced leftovers you can also reheat in the microwave until warm through.
How to Store Meatless or Vegan Turkey Leftovers
You can store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They’ll stay fresh for about a week to week and a half.
You can also freeze seitan dough, some people like the added chewy texture. I’m not a big fan of it so I tend to make it fresh or a smaller batch to eat up within the week.
Easy Mexican Vegan Turkey Roast
Ingredients
- ¾ cups pinto beans*
- 4 whole garlic cloves minced
- 1 whole whole chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
- 1 Tablespoon adobo sauce from chipotle peppers
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
- 3 Tablespoons soy sauce low sodium
- 2 cups vital wheat gluten flour
- ⅓ cup nutritional yeast
- 2 ¼ teaspoon poultry seasoning unsalted kind
- 1.5 cups vegetable broth
Instructions
- Process the pinto beans, garlic, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, soy sauce and olive oil in a food processor until smooth. You can stop to scrape down the sides if needed.
- In a large bowl combine the vital wheat gluten with the nutritional yeast and poultry seasoning. Mix until well combined.
- Add the wet ingredients of the pinto bean mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
- Start incorporating the vegetable broth little by little until you have a moist dough.
- Knead the dough for a few minutes to make sure it’s evenly hydrated.
- Transfer the dough onto the parchment paper and shape into a long roast shape. Wrap it tightly with the paper. Then place it on top of a piece of aluminum foil and again tightly wrap the loaf.
- Bake the vegan turkey roast in a preheated 350F oven for 60 to 70 minutes. Rotating halfway through.
- If you’d like the last 10 minute you can unwrap and bake to crisp up the outer skin. Otherwise allow to cool slightly before slicing and serving.
Nutrition
Nancy Lopez is a food blogger and author of the cookbook Mexican Tamales Made Meatless. Born in Mexico, raised in the US, and currently living in Southern Mexico, she has followed a meatless diet for almost 10 years. It is her passion and mission to share all she has learned about vegan Mexican cooking and vegetarian Mexican recipes. Mexican Made Meatless is a blog dedicated to preserving the authentic flavors of Mexican cuisine just without the meat. It’s a place to celebrate Mexican culture and all it’s delightfully delicious traditional foods. Read more…
