Vegan Wellington
The flavor of this vegan wellington is out of this world. Beef Wellington, who?! This recipe is nut-free, made without mushrooms, and perfect for a holiday dinner.
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If you have heard of Gordon Ramsay, you probably know about the famous Beef Wellington dish that he serves at his restaurants. Or rather, you probably have memories of him yelling at Hell’s Kitchen contestants about how they totally screwed up the beef wellington. Except he says it with plenty of expletives.
Beef Wellington is essentially a cut of beef, like filet mignon, rolled up in a puff pastry with some seasonings.
I had big, big dreams of making a beef wellington before I went vegan, and I never got around to it. But who says we can’t make a vegan wellington?
Ingredients
The filling is completely nut-free. I noticed that many vegetarian or vegan beef wellington recipes contained walnut or pecans (alongside mushrooms). Instead of nuts, we’ll get that same texture from sunflower seeds and lentils.
- Puff pastry: See the section below.
- Carrots and celery
- Vegan butter or oil
- Lentils
- Vegan Worcestershire sauce
- Seasonings: Vegetable bouillon, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, sage, thyme, black pepper and soy sauce.
- Kale
- Sunflower seeds
- Panko breadcrumbs
- Non-dairy milk
Is Puff Pastry Vegan?
MOST store-bought puff pastry sheets are totally vegan! Just make sure to read the label. My grocery store carries the Pepperidge Farm brand. It comes pre-rolled in a 10×15 sheet which just makes life easier. If you find one that is not pre-rolled, roll it out to about that size if possible.
Tips
The process of making a vegan lentil wellington is much less complicated than I anticipated – we are going to make the filling in one pot, roll it up in puff pastry, and then bake it.
Perhaps the most complicated (but it’s not really complicated at all) part of this is rolling up the filling in the puff pastry. I recommend using an ice cream scoop or a large spoon to pack the filling tightly, then forming it so it’s wide enough to take up the center third area. Leave about an inch of room on the ends. Fold up the sides. They should overlap about 1/2 an inch or so. Use a little water to help seal the seam.
Then, pinch together the ends of the puff pastry. I like to tuck them in like you would wrap a gift. Again, use some water to help seal so the filling doesn’t sneak out.
Flip the puff pastry over so the seal is down. Place on a baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
How to Score Puff Pastry
Scoring is a simple method that 1) allows steam to escape while cooking and 2) looks pretty. To score mine, I basically just drag a knife diagonally across the pastry to make shallow slits, about 1 inch apart. Then, I go down the opposite way. This creates the diamond shapes. If you don’t want to get super fancy, you can just cut 3-4 slits across the pastry.
To create a golden crust without an egg wash, I brush non-dairy milk all over the top. Then, just pop your wellington in the oven and bake until beautifully golden brown!
Make Ahead
Yes, you can make this wellington ahead of time! Follow the instructions up until the baking part. Wrap in plastic wrap or store in a large container in the fridge for up to a day. Bake as instructed, but keep in mind it might take some extra time.
It’s best to eat right after baking, of course, but I still really enjoyed the warmed-up leftovers the next day.
Did you enjoy this recipe? Please leave a comment and a ⭐ star review below!
Vegan Wellington
Ingredients
- 1 frozen puff pastry sheet
- 1 large carrot peeled and chopped
- 1 large celery stalk chopped
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter or oil
- ⅔ cup dry lentils green or brown
- 2 cups water
- 2 teaspoons vegan Worcestershire sauce see notes
- 1½ teaspoon vegetable or “no beef” bouillon see notes
- 1½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon sage
- ½ teaspoon thyme
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- soy sauce or salt to taste
- 2 cups chopped kale loosely packed
- ½ cup roasted unsalted sunflower seeds coarsely chopped
- ¼ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons non-dairy milk
Instructions
- Set the puff pastry out to thaw.
- In a medium-sized pot, sauté the carrots and celery in vegan butter until tender.
- Add in the lentils, water, bouillon, onion powder, garlic powder, vegan Worcestershire sauce, paprika, sage, thyme, and pepper.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender and have absorbed the liquid. Add some salt or soy sauce if needed.
- Turn off the heat, but leave the pot on the burner. Stir in the kale and sunflower seeds. Cover the pot for about 5 minutes, or until the kale has wilted.
- Mix in the breadcrumbs. Let the lentil mixture cool until just warm, no longer hot. If the mixture is too hot, it will melt the puff pastry.
- Pre-heat the oven to 400℉.
- Once the puff pastry is thawed and pliable, you can start assembling your wellington.
- Scoop the lentil mixture in the center third of the puff pastry in the shape of a log. Leave an inch of room on the edges. Make sure it’s packed tightly.
- Fold the sides of the puff pastry over the top of the lentil mixture, tightly. There should be about a half an inch of overlap. Pinch, seal and tuck the edges. Use water to help create a more secure seal.
- Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Place the wellington on it, seam-side down.
- Score the pastry (directions in the post above) and then brush with the non-dairy milk (this will create a golden crust as an egg wash would.)
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Let cool for about 5 minutes, then use a serrated knife to cut slices.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
More Dinners to Try:
Just making this for the second time, really like the flavours but I could do with a sauce to go with it – any suggestions?
I plan to make an individual version of this for one person coming to Christmas dinner. My thought is to make a couple individual ones and freeze those that are not served at dinner (sending at least a couple home with the guest). Will this freeze? Do you recommend freezing before or after baking?
Outstanding vegan dish. Made this for a dinner party and it was so delicious. Not only does it look beautiful on the plate ,but the nutty flavour and texture of the sunflower seeds take it up a notch. I doubled the recipe for 7 people and everyone went back for seconds and there were no leftovers.
Would definitely make it again.
What can be substitute for sunflower?
You can leave them out.
Very tasty recipe! Easy to make.
Vegan Puff pastry? They are not usually vegan.
I addressed this in the blog post 🙂
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
This looks so good! What a great way to enjoy a classic dish while vegan!
Followed the recipe to a T and found the lentils were were just not cooked enough and in fact semi-crunchy. It seems the water to lentil ratio is off. Not sure if using a certain pan would have worked differently, but even kept trying to add a little water by increments felt frustrating.
Felt the flavors were great, but after adding more water it just was frustrating to keep guessing.
Made this for our Christmas dinner. I agree, the lentils take a little longer than 20 minutes, and I also added an onion. The smell of the spices & flavours – amazing! This was delicious and easy to make.
My family loved this dish, thank you! My 9 year old even asked me to make it again the next night. New staple recipe in our house!
Totally delicious. The whole family loved it. This will definitely become a Christmas Day staple for us.
Excellent! Made this for Christmas dinner, & it was a hit! Enough filling for two. Added onion to the filling. The lentils took longer than 20 min to cook, but other than that, recipe was on the mark!
Delicious! Easy too! Thanks for this recipe. I make a homemade dough. Perfect for Christmas dinner!
Pepperidge Farms uses hydrogenated oils. Is there a different Puff Pastry brand you know of that does not use hydrogenated oil?
I found a recipe for 15 min puff pastry…..my store only has the Pepperidge Farm one too, I took on look at the ingredients and petit back as soon as I saw High Fructose Corn Syrup and the Hydrogenated Oil!!!!
I’ve made this twice and it’s so yummy! I added onions with the carrots and celery. SO good
Made this tonight as a practice run for Christmas dinner, it was a huge hit. As this is our 1st vegan Christmas, I am now more relaxed about dinner. I didn’t have bullion but used a meatfree stock cube instead and spinach replaced the kale.
Can I make this filling ahead of time and assembly a day or 2 later?
Absolutely.
Puff pastry is made with butter-how does this part end up being vegan? Can you use phyllo?
Hi, Emily. I addressed this right in the blog post. Most store-bought puffy pastry IS vegan, including the Pepperidge Farm brand. Just make sure to read labels. Hope that helps!
Hi,
I don’t have the beefless bouillon. I can just use beefless broth instead of 2 cups of water?
Sure!
I don’t care for kale, could I leave it out or substitute it with something else?
You can leave it out or use spinach.
This was delicious! One of the best vegan meals I have made. I added onion and garlic and sautéed the carrot, celery and onion mixture until the carrots we soft. I added more panko to absorb the extra moisture. I had enough filling to fill 2 pastry sheets.
This dish was phenomenal. There was so much filling that I have enough for another. It was a real hit with my family. Adding it to my rotation.
I’m a carnivore dad, and my daughter made this for us and some guests…oh my goodness — it was spectacularly delicious! Wow! This has so much flavor packed in along with the light, flaky crust…it was simply incredible. My daughter added diced cremini mushrooms.
10/10 Stars! Thank goodness she left us with extra filling for another meal! I never knew vegan could taste so good!
Delicious! My carnivore husband though thought different, and so I made the following substitutions and he loved it the second time. add mushroom and diced onion (if you like those things- we do) and add a tiny bit less lentils and add gardein ground beef (not beef- gardein is the meatless brand name) it was delicious- spices and directions were all perfect! Thank you!
This recipe is sooooo good; very pleased. As I always add extra, we have enough mix for three meals! Thank you.
Wonderful! Thank you so much!