I’ve gone all fancy pants with my presentation (I just can’t help myself!) but you can just as easily make it in a regular roasting tin.
I thought a Christmas tree shaped nut roast would be nice and dramatic at the table and silence all the naysayers who say that vegan food looks boring! Just cast your eyes over this beauty…
I am an unashamed ambassador for the Christmas nut roast, nothing goes as well with the roast potatoes, gravy, veg and all the trimmings for me.
I’m more than happy to fill my tummy with more exotic dishes over the festive season but Christmas Day itself requires a traditional vegan Christmas dinner!
How to Make a Festive Vegan Cashew Nut Roast
Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients and instructions, it really is a very simple nut roast which packs a big punch of flavour.
Once you’ve gathered your ingredients together the making is very easy and that list of instructions is only long because I made the shape complicated!
You can just bung it all in one tin and you’re good to go but why wouldn’t you make it into a Christmas tree shape if you can?!
If you want to make a tree I used 1x 18cm (7″) 1x 14cm (5″) and 1x 9cm (3″) Brioche Tins (or one 900g/2lb loaf tin).
Tips and Tricks
- If you are making nut roast in a fancy tin do make sure you grease it thoroughly so your cooked roast slides out easily when it’s done.
- A disc of non stick baking parchment in the base helps with nut roast extraction!
- Keep an eye on your roast during baking. if it is browning too quickly on top, cover it with a disc or baking parchment or foil.
How to Freeze Cashew Nut Roast
The beauty of this vegan cashew nut roast is that it can be made in advance and frozen.
- When I’m making a roast in a shaped tin to freeze I line the tin with cling film, spoon in the roast mixture, wrap the cling film over the top and freeze it in the tin. Once frozen I take them out of the tin and wrap well in foil before putting them back into the freezer until needed.
- When you come to cook this one defrost it overnight, carefully remove the cling film and foil, pop the roasts on a baking tray, cover with the foil and roast according to the instructions in my recipe.
Serving Up A Vegan Christmas Centrepiece
A Traditional Vegan Christmas
I served this cashew nut roast up to my lot with roast potatoes, parsnips and sprouts, some delicious vegan gravy and a selection of steamed seasonal vegetables. It serves 6 people generously. If you have any left overs it is great in a sandwich with some chutney for a Christmas night supper, washed down with a nice glass of red wine.
An Alternative Vegan Christmas!
Cashew nut roast is a versatile beast. Why not skip the spuds and gravy and opt for a selection of salads, chutneys and dips? Make the whole lot in advance and have a Christmas Day free from the kitchen! Try my:
For More Vegan Christmas Roast Inspiration Check Out
- My richly flavoured Chestnut and Cashew Nut Roast
- My Easy Lentil Loaf
- This dramatic Celebration Nut Roast
- A Virtual Vegan’s pretty Mushroom and Lentil Loaf with Cranberries
- Tinned Tomato’s Mushroom, Lentil and Nut Wellington.
Looking for More Vegan Christmas Recipes? Try My:
Carrot and Cashew Nut Roast
Equipment
- 1x 18cm (7") 1x 14cm (5") and 1x 9cm (3") Brioche Tins (or one 900g/2lb loaf tin)
Ingredients
- vegan butter for greasing
- 450 g carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
- 225 g cashew nuts, ground
- 125 g breadcrumbs
- 1 tbsp stock (use some of the carrot cooking water) or water
- 1/2 tsp dried sage
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp dried marjoram
- 1/4 tsp dried rosemary
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp tahini (sesame paste)
- 1 tsp Marmite yeast extract
- 1 tbsp soya sauce
- fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme and parsley work well) and fresh cranberries plus a Christmas star to decorate (all optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180C/350F
- Thoroughly grease your brioche tins or your loaf pan.
- Boil or steam the carrots until soft, drain and mash.
- Fry the onion gently in the oil until soft, add the garlic and fry gently for a further minute.
- Mix together with all the other ingredients and spoon into your prepared tin/s. Push it into all the corners and level the tops.
- Cover with foil and roast in your preheated oven. If you are presenting your roast as a Christmas tree follow these timings:*Remove foil from small roast after 30 minutes and roast it for another 10 mins. Remove from oven and cool in the tin for 10 minutes before carefully turning out.*Remove foil from medium roast when you take the small one out. Roast for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in the tin for 10 minutes before carefully turning out.*Remove foil from large roast when you take the medium roast out. Roast for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in the tin for 10 minutes before carefully turning out.
- Place the large roast on your serving plate with the medium one on top of it and the little one perched atop the whole construction!
- If you are cooking your roast in one tin cover it with foil and bake in your preheated oven for 1 hour, remove the foil and roast for a further 10 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out.
- Serve hot or at room temperature, decorated with sprigs of thyme or rosemary, maybe a cranberry or two!
Notes
Nutrition
Pin my Vegan Cashew Nut Roast for Later!
I always love a good nut roast and am glad there are so many people like you sharing them nowadays – this is such a gorgeous idea for presenting a nut roast – now I want some of those brioche pans!
Oh me too Johanna – I sometimes entertain the idea of an ‘alternative’ Christmas dinner but I always come back to a nut roast, it just goes so well with everything else! I love a shaped pan – food which provides a feast for the eyes as well as the tastebuds is always a hit here!
This is outstanding, Chris. The shape, the styling, the ingredients (I am a fan of Marmite in nut roast too) and your write up. Hope you don’t mind, but I’m linking to it in today’s recipe post. Too good not to. 🙂 Pinned, tweeted and FB’d as well x
Thank you so much Kelly, that’s so kind of you! You’ve made me very smiley indeed! x
I’m not a veggie, or a vegan, but tending more and more in that direction for all sorts of reasons: environment, health, animal welfare, and TASTE! And your recipes are tempting enough to convert anyone, even a convinced carnivore like my husband. This is my first visit to your site and am doing your nut roast for our Christmas dinner – it looks by far the nicest of all the recipes I have researched.
Thank you so much for popping by and for leaving such a lovely comment! I do hope I can help you along your journey and that you enjoy your Christmas dinner!
Brilliant, so well received- thank you
I’m absolutely delighted, thank you so much for taking the time to comment! Happy Christmas to you and yours!
This looks great and delicious! Can’t wait to try it. Just one thing I am not sure I know 5*yeast(flake kind) but was is Marmite yeast extract? I will look into all your recipes, and let my vegetarian daughter have a taste of all these yummy meals.
Thanks for sharing
Hi Linda, Marmite is a savoury spread brand here in the UK. If you can’t get it you can sub it with miso or nutritional yeast. Hope that helps and thank you for your lovely comment! Chris X
Hi Linda Martel! I was looking over vegan recipes for my son-in-law who is vegan and a granddaughter who is vegetarian and spotted your name. My name is Linda Martellaro, married to a Sicilian.
This recipe looks enticing and I hope to make it for Christmas.
Hi Chris, this looks delicious! Just wondering about the cashews. Do we need to blitz them first? I haven’t noticed grounded cashews in supermarkets here in New Zealand.
Yes, you do! Or pop them in a plastic bag and bash them with a rolling pin – they don’t need to be ground to flour just crumbs.
That is worth buying (and making space to store) three new tins. It does look amazing.
I’ve made a pine nut terrine before for Christmas Dinner and Mushroom Wellington, but this also looks really tasty!
It is, it is! The tins come in useful for so many things, it’s an investment 😉 Pine nuts are divine, that sounds delish!
Hi
I can’t remember how I found you but anable to sleep Ive spent an age looking through your recipes, this roast look a perfect for this time of year, many thanks for the inspiration ?
Hi Terri and welcome, I’m so glad you found me! I do hope you managed to get some sleep in the end. I’m particularly fond of this roast, thank you! Chris x
I was wondering if this roast could be wrapped in pastry ‘Wellington Style ‘ for presentation?
Hi Leanne, yes, it absolutely can 🙂 x
Thankyou Chris, would I wrap in pastry at the point where you would put it into tins to cook for one hour. Would it be too long a cooking time for pastry which is usually around 35 minutes? Would this be enough cooking time for the Ingush?
Yes, pop it in the pastry, wrap it up, brush with a little plant milk and roast for 35 minutes. Leave to rest for about 10 minutes before serving. Happy Christmas! X
Sounds amazing. Could you suggest something other than marmite? Thank you
Any yeast extract will do or a spoonful of miso. If you can get hold of vecon (vegetable stock paste) or something similar that works too. I hope that helps! X
Hi! I’ve just found your blog, and gone through so many recipes my head is spinning. All look so delicious! I’m just wondering (and maybe it’s written above and I’ve missed it) but what are the diameters of your three brioche tins? Thanks 🙂
Hi Cleona, thank you! The tin measurements are in the recipe card but I’ve added them to the main body of the post now for some clarity! Mine measure 1x 18cm (7″) 1x 14cm (5″) and 1x 9cm (3″) Brioche Tins (or one 900g/2lb loaf tin) I hope that helps! Chris x
I made this yesterday and it was divine!! Thank you so much!
What a beautiful beautiful presentation I absolutely love this… Very clever of you! Thank you for a lovely recipe.
Is there a printable version please
If you scroll to the end of the post there is a printable recipe card.
Just curious-could almond flour sub in for the bread crumbs?
I’ve never tried it for this one but ave used it in other roasts – I think it would work – you just need to press the mixture together in your hand and if it holds its shape, you should be good to go!
Made this for Christmas dinner, just for me, as the only plant-based eater. (Leftovers were all for me too, yipee!) I used a regular loaf pan lined with parchment and the bottom came out so browned and delicious!
Discovered your website by finding this recipe, and I proceeded to make the Cornish Fairings that night as well. Yum!
As someone from across the Atlantic, and one who appreciates English culture and language, I’m enthralled with your recipe descriptions.
Have a wonderful day! 🙂
Only nut recipe I use, and it is worth investing in the various size flan dishes – I make it every year. Fab!
Ah, that’s brilliant to hear! Thanks so much Steph! x
This looks amazing and I would love to recreate it! Unfortunately I can not find these brioche tins. Could you possibly share where I can find them?
Hi Nancy, I bought mine in a local independent kitchen shop but they are readily available on Amazon if you can’t find them. Just search ‘Brioche Tins’ and up they pop! I hope that’s helpful. Chris x
So pretty! Could you please tell me if the cashews should be raw or roasted? Thank you!
Hi Rhonda, raw cashews for this recipe! x
Hi Chris,
This recipe sounds AmaZing–I just have one question. We don’t have Marmite yeast extract, but we do have nutritional yeast flakes. Would you suggest substituting yeast flakes & if so, how much? Can’t wait to try this special veggie-nut roast recipe! Thank you for sharing it with us!! Merry Christmas!!
You could use yeast flakes, yes but it isn’t a direct swap for Marmite because Marmite has such a big flavour. I think it would also need a bit of a boost with a splash of soy sauce or a spoonful of an alternative stock paste. Merry Christmas to you too! x
Delicious! It baked it as a loaf and served it with mushroom gravy. It was easy to make and held together pretty well, but next time I make it I’ll cut the recipe in half (there’s only 2 of us) and might add a flax “egg”.
This is my go to recipe as its super simple to make. I swap carrots for butternut squash and leave the cashews slightly chunky. Love it!