How to Glaze a Vegan Roast

There are a lot of good vegan roasts on the market these days: Tofurkey, Gardein, Field Roast, among others. They’re a nice option. But I think all of them can benefit from a little dressing up. This glaze is one that I’ve used on multiple brands as well as on homemade seitan roasts. It adds a little flavor and some color. I also like to roast some veggies along with the glazed roast to round out the meal.

A Gardein roast with cranberry glaze

Glaze for Vegan Roasts

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp jellied cranberry sauce or preserves

2 Tbsp maple syrup

1 Tbsp oil

2 tsp soy sauce

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp onion powder

dash of cinnamon

¼ tsp dried thyme or mixed herbs (optional)

Directions:

Cranberry glaze

Whisk all ingredients together until smooth.

To apply to the roast: Bake roast as usual until the last half hour, and then brush top and sides of roast with ½ of glaze. Bake 15 minutes, then brush with rest of glaze and bake 15 minutes more.

Applying the second layer of glaze

Roasting veggies:  I think surrounding the roast with some nice roasted veggies is really festive and appetizing. It doesn’t have to be to elaborate, either: you can bake them at the same time as the roast, in the same pan even. The trick is evaluating baking time compared to the roast, and deciding whether to add the veggies at the same time or partway through. In general, root veggies such as potatoes and carrots can take the whole hour-plus baking time unscathed, but more delicate veggies may scorch slightly and should be added during the last 20-35 minutes. If you’d like to keep things simple and don’t mind a little char, you can live dangerously and just add everything at once—most of them will be okay, particularly if the pan is covered at least some of the time. The veggies should be cut up in large pieces, tossed with a couple tablespoons of oil and some seasonings—I like to use some salt, lemon pepper, rosemary, and thyme—and arranged, cut side down if possible, around the roast. Stir and turn them a few times during the baking time.

Prepping veggies for roasting

Variations:

The cranberry sauce can be replaced with any flavor jelly, jam or preserves. Marmalade is particularly good. You could also experiment with other liquid sweetener in place of the maple syrup such as molasses, agave or sugar free pancake syrup.

Other herbs and spices could be used as well--some cayenne would make for a spicy version.

All dressed up and ready to go

Well, I hope everyone has a nice holiday! For more Thanksgiving ideas, try the Thanksgiving, pie and holiday tags.