Dreena Burton’s savory vegan holiday torte makes a beautiful and delicious centerpiece for your next Thanksgiving feast. Flecked with cranberries, herbs, and pumpkin seeds, it’s a souped-up vegan loaf reimagined in torte form that’s packed full of everything you love about holiday stuffing—no turkey required. Brown rice, oats, and chickpeas form the hearty base, which includes mouthwatering sautéed onions, white wine, and poultry seasonings. Chopped apples add bursts of juicy sweetness to each bite and celebrate the season’s best produce. Brushing the torte with a layer of vegan Worcestershire sauce infuses savory flavor into every nook and cranny as it bakes in the oven. Serve each slice with a side of cranberry relish or vegan gravy, and watch how quickly your loved ones gobble it up!
For more vegan Thanksgiving mains, check out these tasty ideas:
- Harvest Vegetable Casserole with Lentils and Gravy
- Pumpkin Risotto Frittata with Mushrooms
- Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with Creamed Spinach
- Or take a look at our full collection of plant-based Thanksgiving recipes
By Dreena Burton ,
Ingredients
- 1½ cups ½-inch diced apples
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1½ cups chopped onions
- ¼ cup dry white wine or water
- 2 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 15-oz. cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained (3 cups)
- 3 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons for topping
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- 2½ cups cooked brown rice
- 1 cup rolled oats
- ¾ cup toasted pumpkin seeds, plus 2 tablespoons for topping
- 2 to 3 tablespoons dried cranberries or sliced fresh cranberries, for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. In a small bowl toss apples with lemon juice.
- In a large skillet cook onions, wine, garlic, poultry seasoning, ¼ teaspoon of the salt, and a few grinds of pepper over medium 10 minutes or until onions soften and turn golden, stirring occasionally and adding water, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time, as needed to prevent sticking and to loosen any browned bits in bottom of skillet.
- Transfer onion mixture to a food processor. Add chickpeas, 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, the tahini, and the remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Process until mixture is fairly smooth. Add rice, oats, and ¾ cup pumpkin seeds; pulse to combine. Scrape sides of food processor; process just until mixture reaches a fairly uniform consistency but still has some texture. (Don’t overprocess or the rice will become sticky.) Remove blade from food processor. Stir in apples.
- Transfer mixture to a 9- or 10-inch nonstick springform pan. Use a spatula to smooth out the mixture, lightly pressing to evenly distribute. Spread the remaining 1 to 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce over surface of mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds and the cranberries (if using).
- Bake 30 minutes or until torte is slightly firm and top is lightly browned. Let stand 10 minutes. Release pan’s outer ring. Cut torte into wedges.
can I leave out the tahini? or substitute?
I do not like recipes that call for a particular seasoning. What spices could I use in place of “poultry seasoning?” Often seasoned mixes come with extra salt or may not be gluten free.
What can I substitute for the tahini?
I had my doubts Ms about this once I mixed it up but it was really quite good. Would have been easier if I had a bigger food processor.
Hi Karen,
We are all prepped and ready to go in our kitchen right NOW and I thought I’d come over to this page to look at the final product’s photo. I paused to look over the comments and found yours… GREATLY helpful! Thanks so much for adding your experience to this. I’ve marked the “stir in apples” line so that it stands out better to us. Glad to know it turned out okay for you, as well. 🙂
The flavor of this is really nice. I agree with some commenters that the instruction to “stir in apples” at the end of step 3 should be moved to it’s own line. Even though I had prepped the apples & read the recipe in advance, in the confusion of cooking multiple dishes at once for Thanksgiving, I forgot to stir in the apples. I baked them separately with a little cinnamon, and used them as a compote instead. The torte was delicious even without the apples–I was worried that losing the moisture & sweetness of the apples would lead to a dried out, murky flavored loaf, but it didn’t! I used dried cranberries instead of sliced fresh, and I would not do that again, as the dried cranberries didn’t stick and rolled off the loaf as I was slicing. Sliced fresh cranberries would likely bake into the loaf a little better. I ate a couple slices of this as a nighttime snack post-Thanksgiving linner, and it was even better the second time. I’m looking forward to continuing to eat the leftovers!
@Lesley I have not vetted this, but I bet you could probably make the torte ahead and freeze it before baking (or even make it a couple days ahead and tightly wrap it “raw” and keep in the fridge (I’m probably going to try this way). WFPB burger dough is better after a night in the fridge, and it’s probably similar? Thaw in the fridge overnight (not on the counter for food safety) and bake.
Which apples would work best in this torte?
I think that a tart apple would work best in this recipe. I am a total apple nerd and a good quality apple won’t let you down. I love organic Granny Smith apples for this type of use, but others such as a Stayman-Winesap or similar would work well. I’d avoid soft flesh apples and ones like Honeycrisp or other sweet apples. Gala and Braeburn are very generic, general-use apples, but not my preference. Just from my own experience with apples, I am not affiliated with FOK.
Hi, Can this dish be frozen as I have a lot of guests staying over the holidays and it would be nice to pull something out of the freezer. Thanks
Hi Lesley,
Yes, we think this would freeze well.
This was delicious and turned out great! I will post a warning though – you need a very large food processor to fit everything in! I have an 8 cup processor and I had to process this recipe in batches!
This sounds scrumptious! However, I’m cooking for someone who doesn’t like to mix sweet and savoury in the same dish. Would you recommend eggplant/mushroom/zucchini, in lieu of the apples? (Open to all other suggestions.) Thank you!
Hi Ellen,
Thank you for pointing out the mistake! The ingredient list has been updated with the correct amount of onions. We hope you enjoy the recipe!
Making it for the holidays again- goes perfect with the 5 min cranberry compote
Can this be made a couple of days ahead and reheated?
What do we do with the apple?
See step three 😉
Thank you, this looks amazing! Do you have any tips for making it ahead of time?
One and a half cup of chopped onions
Hello! I have no idea what the questions are referring to, because it’s in the ingredients list and in the instructions when to use the onions and the apples.
Please re-read the recipe and have a blessed day!
I am wondering what to do with the 1 1/2 cups of diced apples?
Step 3, last sentence says to stir in apples.
I think it would be helpful if step 3 was split into 3 steps. It’s easy to overlook a step when you’re in cooking mode. I’m pretty sure they do this to say look you can do this in 3-4 easy steps, but really it’s like 7-8 steps.
This is delicious.
I looked on her website and it says 1-1/2 cups diced onion
How many onions?
The amount and kind of onions is not listed in the ingredients list?
There is something WRONG with this recipe!! There are NO onions listed in the ingredients, but both the descriptive lead-in and the directions mention onions. How many diced onions should I use to make this recipe?? I want to make it.
Onions are not on the ingredient list. What is the amount?
Onions are in the directions but not in the ingredient list. How many onions please? This looks really yummy!
The onions are in the ingredients list. (But maybe they fixed it since you wrote your review.)