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Vegan roast beef can be for a special holiday meal or prepared on the weekend for dinner or meal prep for busy weeknights or weekday lunches. The main ingredient in this vegan roast recipe is mushrooms, making it savory and delicious. There are instructions for cooking it either on the stove or in an instant pot. Also included is a preparation tutorial for baking it as a vegan holiday roast or Sunday roast with colorful root veggies.

This recipe makes 1 vegan roast beef (10 servings).

Table of Contents

(click the links below to skip to the section you’re looking for)

• Vegan Roast Beef Dough
• Stovetop Instructions
• Instant Pot Instructions
• Sunday Roast Preparation
• Tips and FAQ
• Ingredient Substitutions
• Video
• Nutritional Information
• Contact Me with Questions
• Similar Recipes

I’ve only made this vegan roast dinner recipe a few times, but it always turns out great, even if I have to make substitutions. It might seem challenging when you read through the recipe, but it’s very forgiving. You don’t need special equipment or tools (no food processor, no blender, etc.). I based this recipe on a modified version of a couple of the vegan roast recipes in the Field Roast cookbook. If you’re looking for other vegetarian roast ideas, I highly recommend this book. That makes this one of the best vegan roast recipes, because most use beans, and are therefore inherently drier.

For a soy-free version of this juicy vegetarian roast dinner, read the substitutions section for alternatives to soy sauce.

Ingredients you need for Vegan Roast Beef

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• 2 tablespoons (26g) avocado oil
• 1 tablespoon (9g) dried onion flakes
• 1 pound (453g) finely chopped mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons (28g) organic tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon (10g) garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon (20g) salt
• 1 tablespoon (3g) dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• ¼ cup (52g) of vegan red wine
• 2 cups (490g) vegan beef broth
• ¼ cup (65g) soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons (28g) sesame oil
• 2 ⅓ cups (300g) vital wheat gluten
• ¼ cup (25g) fava chickpea flour

How to Make Vegan Roast Beef Dough

cook time: 25 min + prep time: 10 min

Sauté the first 8 ingredients in a large pot on the stove on medium heat (or in an instant pot using the sauté button. Add the ingredients in this order: 2 tablespoons (26g) avocado oil, 1 tablespoon (9g) dried onion flakes, 1 pound (453g) finely chopped mushrooms, 2 tablespoons (28g) organic tomato paste, 1 tablespoon (10g) garlic powder, 1 tablespoon (20g) salt, 1 tablespoon (3g) dried oregano, and 2 bay leaves. Sauté for 15-20 minutes or until the ingredients start to dry out and stick to the bottom of the pot.

Add ¼ cup (52g) of vegan red wine and scrape the sticky bits from the bottom of the pot. Some people call this deglazing. Spend 2-5 minutes doing this. Turn off the heat if it starts to stick again or when it’s been 5 minutes.

Remove the bay leaves.

Add 2 cups (490g) vegan beef broth, ¼ cup (65g) soy sauce, and 2 tablespoons (28g) sesame oil. If you avoid soy, see my substitutions section for alternatives to soy sauce.

Sift and whisk 2 ⅓ cups (300g) gluten and ¼ cup (25g) fava chickpea flour together in a large bowl.

Combine the ingredients from the pot with the dry ingredients. I made the HUGEST mess when I poured mine and splattered it everywhere, so you might want to use a ladle for yours.

Mix with a baking spatula or your hands. It should be wet, so don’t be concerned if it doesn’t look like dough, in the traditional sense.

Lay a large piece of unbleached cheesecloth on a baking sheet. You can do it straight onto your counter, but I find this step to be really messy and a baking sheet will keep the mess contained.

Spray cheesecloth with oil. I use reusable cheesecloth and an oil sprayer.

Transfer the roast beef dough from the bowl onto the cheesecloth.

Wrap your roast in cheesecloth by rolling it like a burrito.

Tie the roast with kitchen twine both on the ends, in the middle, and in 2 other places to keep it from puffing up too much while it cooks.

Skip to the instructions for [cooking the roast on the stove] (#stove) or steaming the roast in an instant pot. I personally don’t notice any difference whatsoever, except that the one boiled on the stove is a little bit saltier from being cooked in saltwater. I do prefer how the roast looks when cooked on the stovetop. In the instant pot, it gets flat on the bottom from being on the steamer trivet. Here is a side-by-side comparison. The one on the left was cooked on the stove.

How to Boil Vegan Roast Beef on the Stove

prep time: 10 min + cook time: 1 hour 30 min

Rinse your large pot that you used to sauté the mushrooms and spices.

Fill the large pot with a gallon of water and 2 tablespoons (40g) of salt.

Heat the salt water on the stove on high until it boils.

Lower your roast beef gently into the boiling water, using the handle you made out of kitchen twine.

Reduce the boil to a simmer, and cover the pot with the lid.

Simmer for around 90 minutes, flipping it periodically to make sure it cooks evenly on all sides.

Remove it from the pot and set it on a plate to cool.

Cut the twine and unwrap the roast once it’s cool enough to touch.

Skip to the instructions for baking the roast to serve. Or if you’re prepping the roast in advance, cool it completely before wrapping it in cling wrap to save it for later.

How to Steam Vegan Roast Beef in an Instant Pot

prep time: 10 min + cook time: 1 hour 15 min

Rinse your instant pot liner if you used it to sauté the mushrooms and spices.

Add a couple of inches of water and a steamer trivet.

Set your roast beef in the instant pot liner on the trivet.

Put the lid on, lock it in place, and move the venting nozzle to the venting position.

Press the steam button and change the time to an hour and 15 minutes.

Remove it from the instant pot and set it on a plate to cool when the time is up.

Cut the twine and unwrap the roast once it’s cool enough to touch.

Skip to the instructions for baking the roast to serve. Or if you’re prepping the roast in advance, cool it completely before wrapping it in cling wrap to save it for later.

Ingredients for Making a Vegan Sunday Roast

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• 4 pounds (or a bit less than 2kg) of root veggies (optional)
• 2-4 tablespoons (26-52g) avocado oil
• 1 teaspoon (6g) salt

How to Bake Holiday Roast with your Vegan Roast Beef

prep time: 20 min + cook time: 1 hr

Preheat oven to 375ºF (190ºC).

Wash or peel and cut 4 pounds (or a bit less than 2kg) of root veggies. You can use more traditional pot roast veggies, but I like colorful foods. So, I went to the farmers market and the natural foods co-op. I bought purple potatoes, pink watermelon radishes, purple daikon radishes, and purple carrots, and some traditional root veggies like yams and beets. I’m a spice wuss, so I peel my radishes, rather than wash them. Plan to spend about 15 minutes washing or peeling and chopping 4 pounds of veggies. If you want to cut them into cute shapes (I made some of mine hearts and stars), give yourself an extra 5 minutes. Or you can just cut them normally to save time like the ones below.

Transfer the chopped veggies to an oven safe dish that’s big enough to fit your roast.

Drizzle 2-4 tablespoons (26-52g) avocado oil and sprinkle 1 teaspoon (6g) salt over the veggies.

Mix with your hands (or I guess you could use a spoon if you must) to make sure each veggie is evenly coated with oil and salt.

Make a spot in the middle for the roast by pushing all the veggies to the perimeter of the baking dish. Since my baking dish was so small, I ended up just taking a bunch of the veggies out and setting them on a plate temporarily.

Set the roast in the middle, and rearrange your veggies to fit as many as you can.

Cover the baking dish. If your baking dish doesn’t have a lid, use foil. The amount of veggies I prepared was enough for a large roast pan, but I wanted to use this cute vintage pyrex that I borrowed from my friend Ilsa. So, I ended up baking a second dish of the veggies that wouldn’t fit into the 1.5 quart oval snowflake pyrex.

Bake in the oven at 375ºF (190ºC) for 15 minutes.

Remove the lid from the baking dish, baste the roast, and stir the veggies. If there’s not enough liquid at the bottom of your roast pan to baste the roast with, make your own. You can make a quick basting liquid with ½ cup of veggie broth, some sage, paprika, thyme, and salt. Or you can just baste it with Braggs liquid aminos (or use coconut aminos if you avoid soy).

Bake the roast for another 15 minutes.

Baste the roast again, and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.

Repeat until you have baked the roast for a total of an hour. Pierce a few of the veggies with a fork to make sure they’re all cooked all the way through. If even one of them is still uncooked in the center, bake the roast for another 15 minutes (after basting it one last time, of course).

Turn off the oven and remove your roast once you can pierce one of each variety of veggie easily with a fork.

Questions and Answers

What should I serve with a Vegan Holiday Roast?

I served this vegan roast with vegan macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, and vegan pumpkin pie.

But, if you want to be a little more eclectic, you could serve it with roasted green beans wrapped snugly in vegan crescent rolls and Vegan Dauphinoise potatoes.

What can I do with leftover vegan roast beef?

Leftover roast beef is a delicious problem to have. Slice it thinly and use it in sandwiches. For cold sandwiches, add vegan cheese and vegan mayo and mustard. For hot sandwiches, add it to a grilled cheese sandwich. Or just have roast with veggies again. You can heat slices of it in the microwave, air fryer, oven, or toaster oven.

Or if you store the leftovers in the baking pan you roasted it in, just rebake the entire thing, covered, for 30 minutes at 350ºF (175ºC). You can also use the leftover roast to make a vegan pot roast.

Can I freeze vegan roast?

I know how important it is to batch cook when you have a busy life. I always double this recipe and freeze one roast (after cooking but before baking) for the future. To freeze, let the roast cool all the way and wrap it in cling wrap. Then place it in a freezer bag and label it!

The day before you want to bake it, move it from the freezer to the fridge so it can defrost for 24 hours.

Ingredient Substitutions

• Avocado Oil: I use avocado oil because it can be heated to higher temperatures which helps you avoid transfats. However you can replace the avocado oil in this recipe with an equal amount of any vegan oil. Some options are coconut oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, olive oil, or even vegetable oil or canola oil.
• Dried Onion Flakes: If you don’t have dried onion flakes, replace them with ⅓ cup finely diced onion.
• Mushrooms: I just used baby portabello mushrooms, but you can use any kind of mushrooms you prefer. If you prefer this to be more of a veggie roast recipe, replace some of the mushrooms with other vegetables.
• Organic Tomato Paste: If you don’t have 2 tablespoons (28g) of organic tomato paste, you can replace them with ⅓ cup of organic tomato sauce. Make sure it’s organic or non-GMO, since tomatoes are often genetically modified. If you make this substitution, reduce the liquid in the recipe by ¼ cup.
• Garlic Powder: Replace the 1 tablespoon (10g) garlic powder with an entire bulb of fresh garlic, minced or finely chopped.
• Salt: I like to use pink sea salt because it contains trace minerals, but you can use any kind of salt. If you are the kind of person who often thinks foods are too salty, you may want to reduce the amount of salt in this recipe.
• Oregano: If you grow oregano, you can replace the tablespoon (3g) of dried oregano with 3 tablespoons of fresh oregano.
• Bay Leaves: If you are running low on bay leaves, you can omit them, or you can use more than 2. It’s totally up to you.
• Vegan Red Wine: Make sure you check barnivore to find out which brands of red wine are vegan. Or you can replace the red wine with some of the vegan beef broth.
• Vegan Beef Broth: I like Ocean’s Halo brand of vegan beef broth because it’s organic, but any vegan beef broth should work fine. You can also make your own if you have any vegan beef bouillon. I wouldn’t replace this with a veggie bouillon if you want it to taste like vegetarian roast beef.
• Soy Sauce: I always buy organic soy sauce because soy is usually genetically modified. If you avoid soy, there are alternatives you can use. One is the soy-free soy sauce by Ocean’s Halo. Another is the no soy tamari from San-J. You can also use coconut aminos. Brands of coconut aminos are Coconut Secret, Big Tree Farms, Safeway’s organic store brand called O, and Target’s store brand called Good & Gather.
• Sesame Oil: You can replace the sesame oil with more avocado oil or just omit it altogether.
• Vital Wheat Gluten: I buy my gluten from Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco because they carry organic gluten in the bulk section. However, you can use non-organic if that all your local store carries.
• Fava Chickpea Flour: You can replace this with regular chickpea flour (also known as garbanzo bean flour).

Video

Nutrition Facts

This nutritional information is for one serving of roast only (without the veggies). I’m assuming that this roast is 10 servings because when I had friends over for Friendsgiving, there were 7 of us, and we only ate about ⅔ of it.

• Servings: 10
• Calories: 199
• Total fat: 6g
• Saturated fat: 1g
• Cholesterol: 0mg
• Sodium: 1158mg
• Total Carbohydrates: 10g
• Sugars: 2g
• Fiber: 2g
• Protein: 26g
• Calcium: 63g
• Potassium: 279mg
• Iron: 3mg

Comments or Questions?

If you make this roast dinner for any vegetarians in your life, I would love it if you’d snap a pic, post to instagram, and tag me @vegandollhouse. It seriously makes my day/week/month! You can also message me through instagram or email me if you have any questions about the recipe.

Similar Recipes

I made this vegan roast alternative for Thanksgiving, but it would be good for Christmas or Easter too I think. Some other vegetarian proteins I make for holidays are tofurkey and vegan ham.

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* I use mostly organic ingredients when I cook. I realize that not everyone has the disposable income to buy only organic ingredients. So, I only specify organic on the ingredients that matter: when buying the organic (or non-GMO) version is the only way to ensure that an item is vegan.

This post links to items I used when I made this recipe. If you click on the purple Buy Now button on a product page, you will go to a website (like Amazon) where you can buy the same product I used. Sometimes, the store you purchase from (Amazon, Etsy, etc.) will pay me for referring you. This costs you nothing extra, and I would never recommend a product that I don’t use. These affiliate programs help me buy the ingredients to create these recipes for you. Read more about this in my privacy policy.

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