By Jaycub Giebler/
At a glance
Vegan turkey is a wheat-gluten roast, sometimes mixed with tofu or beans and seasoned with sage and thyme. The table below compares store-bought roasts using each brand’s own size, serving, and protein figures. The recipe under that is a homemade chickpea-seitan roast and a mushroom gravy. Both are adapted from published sources. This page has no star rating.
- Prep
- 25 minutes
- Cook
- 2 hours 15 minutes
- Total
- about 2 hours 40 minutes
- Servings
- 8
- Key swap
- Vital wheat gluten and chickpeas stand in for turkey. Mushroom gravy stands in for pan drippings.
The dough amounts follow Nora Cooks’ vegan turkey roast: a drained 15-ounce can of chickpeas, 3/4 cup broth, 1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten, and a sage, thyme, and rosemary blend. My Quiet Kitchen weighs 1 1/2 cups of vital wheat gluten at 190 grams, which is the weight used here. The oven schedule follows My Quiet Kitchen’s wrapped-roast method (350°F until the center is firm, about 190–195°F). The baste is a smaller batch of the olive oil, soy sauce, and sage baste Tofurky prints for its own roast. The gravy is a mushroom pan sauce in the same family as the porcini gravy Field Roast describes with its stuffed roast. The steps below are rewritten from those sources. This combination has not been cooked for this page.
Store-bought vegan turkey roasts
Protein and size below are copied from the source named in each row. Protein per 100 grams is this page’s division of the label’s protein by the label’s gram weight, so different serving sizes can be compared. It is not a new lab test. Prices are included only when the brand prints one. Nobody at MPLS Vegan tasted these roasts for this table, so it is not a flavor ranking.
| Brand | Package | Label serving | Protein | Per 100 g | Price | Allergens |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Herbivorous ButcherStuffed Turkey Roast, inside the 2026 Stuffed Turkey Feast | 2.5 lb roast | 3 oz (87 g); the matching panel says 13 servings | 23 g | 26.4 g | $80 local-pickup bundle, or $125 shipping bundle. Not a roast-only price. | Wheat and soy, on the feast page |
| Field RoastCelebration Roast, 16 oz, as listed by Whole Foods Market | 16 oz | 3 oz (85 g); 5 servings | 22 g | 25.9 g | Not printed on fieldroast.com | Whole Foods marks the listing vegan. Field Roast’s own roast pages say wheat. |
| TofurkyPlant-Based Roast with wild rice stuffing | 26 oz, on the March 15, 2023 manufacturer sheet | 147 g (1/5 roast); 5 servings | 34 g | 23.1 g | Not printed on tofurky.com | Wheat and soy |
| GardeinPlant-Based Turk’y Roast with gravy | 35.2 oz (998 g) | 199 g (1/5 of the roast with gravy); label says 5 servings | 19 g | 9.5 g | Not printed on gardein.com | Wheat and soy, from the ingredient list on retailer pages |
The Herbivorous Butcher feast page stacks a nutrition panel for every item in the bundle and does not title each panel. The 13-serving, 3 oz panel is the one whose weight matches a 2.5 lb roast (13 × 87 g = 1,131 g). Confirm it on the package. The brand says individual roasts will be sold closer to Thanksgiving; until then the roast is only in the Feast bundle. Local pickup for the feast is November 20–25, 2026. Shipping dates are November 9 or November 16, 2026, which are ship dates, not delivery dates. Tofurky’s current holiday page confirms the roast is vegan and prints ingredients and the oven method, but it does not print the nutrition panel; the 34 g figure is from Tofurky’s own food-service sheet dated March 15, 2023. A Kroger listing checked the same day as this page showed 33 g protein for a 26 oz roast, so the box in the store wins if the two differ. Gardein’s SmartLabel (updated by Gardein on September 20, 2023) says 19 g protein and about 5 servings. Gardein’s product page says the roast “serves up to 8.” Those two claims do not match; use the label. Gardein’s serving includes gravy, so its protein per 100 g is not roast-only. Field Roast’s website lists a stuffed Celebration Roast with porcini gravy and a Sage & Garlic roast, and neither page prints ounces or a nutrition panel. The 16 oz row is the Whole Foods Market listing read on October 29, 2026, not a figure copied from fieldroast.com. Whole Foods does not say whether that 16 oz box is the sage roast or another Celebration Roast.
Ingredients
Roast
| Amount and ingredient |
|---|
| 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed |
| 3/4 cup vegetable broth |
| 2 tablespoons olive oil |
| 1/4 cup nutritional yeast |
| 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce |
| 1 teaspoon dried sage |
| 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme |
| 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary |
| 1 teaspoon onion powder |
| 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder |
| 1 1/2 cups (190 grams) vital wheat gluten |
Baste
| Amount and ingredient |
|---|
| 1 tablespoon olive oil |
| 1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce |
| 1/2 teaspoon dried sage |
Mushroom gravy
| Amount and ingredient |
|---|
| 1 tablespoon olive oil |
| 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced |
| 1 small yellow onion, diced |
| 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour |
| 2 cups vegetable broth |
| 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce |
| 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme |
| Black pepper |
Steps
Mix the dough
- Add the drained chickpeas, 3/4 cup broth, 2 tablespoons olive oil, nutritional yeast, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, sage, thyme, rosemary, onion powder, and garlic powder to a food processor. Blend until the mixture is smooth.
- Scrape it into a bowl. Add the vital wheat gluten. Stir, then knead with your hands about 10 turns, until the dough holds together and looks smooth. Stop there. Seitan gets tough if you keep kneading it the way you would knead bread.
- Shape the dough into a plump oval loaf.
Bake
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Set the loaf on a sheet of parchment larger than the loaf, wrap the parchment around it, then wrap the package tightly in heavy foil so steam stays in.
- Set the package in a baking dish. Bake 1 hour. Flip the package and bake another 45 minutes. The center should feel firm. If you use a thermometer, My Quiet Kitchen’s doneness check for this style of roast is 190–195°F in the center. If the center still feels soft, bake another 10–15 minutes.
- Leave the roast wrapped for 10 minutes before you baste it.
Baste and brown
- Stir the baste ingredients together. Unwrap the roast, brush the baste over the surface, and return it to the 350°F oven, uncovered, for 10–15 minutes, until the outside dries and browns in spots. The center is already cooked. This step is only for color.
Make the gravy
- Start the gravy while the roast finishes. Warm 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and onion. Cook until the mushrooms have released their liquid and the onion is soft, about 8 minutes.
- Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir for 1 minute. Whisk in the 2 cups of broth a little at a time, then the remaining soy sauce and thyme. Simmer until the gravy coats a spoon, about 5 minutes. Season with black pepper.
- Slice the roast with a serrated knife and serve it with the gravy. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours.
Substitutions
| Instead of | Use | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Chickpeas | Drained white beans or pinto beans | Nora Cooks names this swap for the same style of loaf. |
| Soy sauce | Tamari | Tamari does not make the roast gluten-free. Vital wheat gluten is still the base. |
| Olive oil in the baste | Another vegetable oil | Tofurky’s baste note says olive oil or another vegetable oil. |
| Vegetable broth | Water plus a vegetarian bouillon paste | Nora Cooks uses a no-chicken bouillon in the dough. |
| All-purpose flour in the gravy | A gluten-free flour blend, for the gravy only | This changes the gravy. It does not make the roast gluten-free. |
| Vital wheat gluten | No substitute in this recipe | Nora Cooks and My Quiet Kitchen both treat vital wheat gluten as the ingredient that makes the loaf sliceable. Without it, this is a different dish. |
Protein estimate
USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy, FDC 168147, lists vital wheat gluten at 75.2 grams of protein per 100 grams. This roast uses 190 grams of it. 190 × 0.752 = 142.9 grams of protein from the wheat gluten in the whole loaf, or about 18 grams per serving across 8 servings. That estimate does not include the chickpeas, broth, oil, or gravy, and it is not a laboratory analysis of the finished roast. Cup weights vary by brand. The 190 gram weight is My Quiet Kitchen’s published weight for 1 1/2 cups, not a weighed test of the flour in your canister. Calories are omitted because a partial calorie guess would read like a nutrition label.
Where to eat it in Minneapolis
These are Twin Cities places for a vegan Thanksgiving, not restaurants serving this exact roast. Hours and holiday pre-orders change. The Thanksgiving guide tracks what each restaurant has announced. Catering options are collected on best vegan catering.
The Herbivorous Butcher
Northeast Minneapolis · 100% Vegan
The Northeast shop sells the stuffed vegan roast in its 2026 Thanksgiving feast. That is the local place to buy a roast. It is a butcher counter with sandwiches, not a Thanksgiving dining room.
J. Selby's
Cathedral Hill · 100% Vegan
Fully vegan restaurant in Cathedral Hill, St. Paul. The Thanksgiving guide had not seen published Thanksgiving Day hours as of October 20, 2026. Call before you go. This is not a claim that they serve this roast.
Reverie Cafe + Bar
Powderhorn · 100% Vegan
Fully vegan cafe and bar in Powderhorn. Holiday takeout had not been announced as of October 20, 2026. The menu is not this recipe.
Lulu EthioVegan
Elliot Park · 100% Vegan
Fully vegan Ethiopian restaurant that links catering on its own site. Ask about holiday lead times. The catering menu is not a turkey roast.
FAQ
What is vegan turkey made of?
The homemade roast on this page is vital wheat gluten, blended chickpeas, vegetable broth, olive oil, nutritional yeast, soy sauce, and dried sage, thyme, and rosemary. Store-bought roasts in the table are also built on wheat protein. Tofurky adds tofu. Gardein uses soy protein and a rice stuffing. The Herbivorous Butcher’s stuffed roast lists vital wheat gluten and a bread stuffing. Read the package if you avoid soy or wheat.
Which store-bought vegan turkey has the most protein?
Per labeled serving, Tofurky’s March 2023 manufacturer sheet is the highest in this table, at 34 grams per 147 gram serving. Per 100 grams, the Herbivorous Butcher panel that matches the 2.5 pound roast is higher, at about 26.4 grams, because the servings are different sizes. Gardein’s 19 grams includes the gravy. This is a label comparison, not a taste ranking.
How do you make vegan gravy without turkey drippings?
Cook sliced mushrooms and onion in oil, stir in flour, then whisk in vegetable broth, soy sauce, and thyme until it thickens. The gravy in this recipe is that pan sauce. Field Roast’s stuffed roast is sold with a porcini and shiitake gravy mix; this page does not copy that mix.
Can I make the vegan turkey ahead of Thanksgiving?
Nora Cooks says a finished roast can be refrigerated one to two days, then warmed in foil at 350°F for 20 to 30 minutes. My Quiet Kitchen says the texture is better the next day and reheats a covered roast at 375°F for 20 to 30 minutes. Those instructions are theirs, for their recipes. This page has not compared the two reheats. Cool the roast and refrigerate it within 2 hours, which is the FDA’s leftover rule. Do not leave it on the counter overnight.
Where can I get a vegan Thanksgiving meal in Minneapolis?
For a roast to cook at home, The Herbivorous Butcher in Northeast is taking 2026 Thanksgiving feast pre-orders. For a restaurant meal or catering, start with the Thanksgiving guide, which tracks who has actually announced hours. As of that guide’s October 20, 2026 update, dine-in Thanksgiving hours were still unannounced at the fully vegan restaurants it lists. Lulu EthioVegan and Lutunji’s Palate both link catering on their sites. See the vegan catering collection for the wider list.
Is this vegan turkey gluten-free?
No. Vital wheat gluten is the structure of the homemade roast, and the store-bought roasts in the table also contain wheat. A gluten-free tamari swap does not change that.
Are all turkey-style roasts vegan?
No. Vegan means no meat, egg, dairy, or honey. The four products in the table are labeled vegan by the brand or, for the 16-ounce Field Roast, by the Whole Foods listing. Other turkey-style roasts list egg or milk in the allergen line. Read that line before you buy.
Sources
Read October 29, 2026, unless a source names an older document. Labels change. The package in your hand is the authority.
- Nora Cooks, Vegan Turkey Roast (dough amounts, bean swap, make-ahead reheat)
- My Quiet Kitchen, Vegan Turkey Roast (190 gram cup weight, 350°F wrapped bake, 190–195°F doneness, next-day reheat)
- Tofurky, Plant-Based Roast & Wild Rice Stuffing (vegan claim, ingredients, oven method, baste)
- Tofurky food-service sheet, Turk’y Roast, version 031523 (26 oz, 147 g serving, 34 g protein)
- The Herbivorous Butcher, Stuffed Turkey Feast 2026, local pickup ($80, 2.5 lb roast, pickup window, nutrition panels)
- The Herbivorous Butcher, Stuffed Turkey Feast 2026, shipping ($125, ship dates, roast-only note)
- Gardein, Plant-Based Turk’y Roast (product page; “serves up to 8”)
- Gardein SmartLabel, Plant-Based Turk’y Roast, UPC 842234007154 (35.2 oz, 19 g protein, updated September 20, 2023)
- Whole Foods Market, Field Roast Celebration Roast, 16 ounce (vegan listing, 22 g protein)
- Field Roast, Celebration Roast (stuffed roast and porcini gravy; no nutrition panel on the page)
- Field Roast, Sage & Garlic Plant-Based Celebration Roast (ingredients; no nutrition panel on the page)
- USDA FoodData Central, vital wheat gluten, FDC 168147 (75.2 g protein per 100 g)
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Safe Food Handling (refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours)