Vegan Butternut Squash Wellington

It is a delicious, vegan Wellington with roasted butternut squash wrapped around in sautéed rosemary walnut mushroom filling baked in a puff pastry shell. It is an exquisite and spectacular main course for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any holiday!

Do you need more vegan recipes for the holidays? Have you seen our FAVORITE vegan Thanksgiving dinner recipes or our FAVORITE vegan Christmas dinner recipes? Besides this awesome Wellington, you can try the best juicy vegan lentil loaf, this no-lentil vegan shepherd’s pie topped with mashed celeriac and potatoes, this portobello pot roast, or this vegan pot pie with a homemade pie crust. 

What to expect

Initially, they made Wellington with beef fillet surrounded by an aromatic sautéed mushroom filling. Then they wrapped it in sliced ham or bacon and baked it in a puff pastry.

To make it vegan, you have to ask yourself whether you want to mimic the meat taste and texture of the original dish or try a rich and fragrant dish that smells and tastes delicious. We prefer not to add mock meat or store-bought processed meat, but instead, we use only whole foods and real veggies.

Vegan Wellington recipes use beetroot, butternut squash, or large portobello mushroom caps instead of beef. Lazy Cat Kitchen’s vegetarian Wellington inspired our recipe, since hers was the first ever meatless version we have ever tried. And the butternut squash in the middle was fantastic. We made our version for the mushroom filling and the pastry shell, but we kept the roasted butternut squash in the middle.

Ingredients

We will show you what you need and how to make this butternut squash Wellington to end up with a fantastic Christmas dinner:

• Puff pastry → We usually use Schar Puff Pastry Dough since it is vegan and gluten-free as well.
• Butternut squash → You only need the neck part. So you can use the leftovers to make pumpkin soup or a delicious baked vegan pumpkin cheesecake. Believe me, it will be much better than regular canned pumpkin purée.
• Olive oil
• Onion
• Garlic
• Button mushrooms → Any fresh mushrooms can be a good candidate. Start with whatever you have on hand or find in your local store. You will probably be able to buy button mushrooms since they are the most common type. You can also find them under cremini, crimini, small portobello, baby bella, Italian brown, champignon, or chestnut mushroom. They are practically the same both in taste and texture.
• Walnut → You can also use pecans instead.
• Rosemary → We used dried ground rosemary.
• Nutmeg
• Salt and black pepper

🛒 You can find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Instructions

Roasting butternut squash

1. Wash butternut squash and pat it dry with a kitchen towel. Trim the top off. Cut it in half and keep the neck part. Peel it.
2. Cut it length-wise in half.
3. Take an oven-safe dish. Brush the butternut squash halves with olive oil, and sprinkle them with salt and black pepper. Place fresh rosemary twigs on top.
4. Preheat the oven to 395 Fahrenheit (ca. 202 °C) and bake them for 30-35 minutes until they are almost tender.

Making a walnut and mushroom filling

While our squash is roasting in the oven, you can prepare the sautéed rosemary walnut-mushroom filling. I am sure you’ll love it as this is the best part.

• Peel and chop onion and garlic. 
• If you have a walnut meal, you can use that. Or chop the walnuts finely in a food processor. Avoid making nut butter.
• Gently clean the mushrooms with a paper towel or clean kitchen cloth. We never peel button mushrooms, but sometimes cut off the stem if they feel too dry or stiff. Chop them finely (not puréed) with a food processor.

Once you are done with the preparations, you can continue with sautéing them.

1. Take a frying pan and cook onion and garlic in olive oil until soft and glassy over low-medium heat.
2. When they are ready, add chopped walnuts and mushrooms.
3. Add the seasoning: dried ground rosemary, nutmeg, salt, and black pepper.
4. Stir continuously and fry on low/medium heat until all moisture is absorbed. It will take approximately 30 minutes.

Baking the vegan Wellington

1. Preheat the oven to 395 Fahrenheit (ca. 202 °C). Take a non-stick baking tray or a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the ready-rolled puff pastry sheet on it.
2. Spread half of the walnut mushroom filling in the middle of the pastry, but leave the sides empty.
3. Place the roasted butternut squash halves on top of the Wellington.
4. Cover them with the other half of the filling.

5. Gently fold the puff pastry over the filling.
6. Cut off the excess pastry and decorate your Wellington with leftover puff pastry. Or just cut lightly a crisscross pattern with your knife on the top.
7. Press the ends together with your fingers or with a fork to seal them.
8. Brush it with vegan egg wash options like plant-based milk, melted vegan butter, or aquafaba.
9. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the pastry shell is golden brown.

Top tips

• What is the best mushroom to use? – While button mushrooms are the most common ones, they usually release a lot of moisture, and you can end up with a soggy bottom. You either cook off all liquid on the stovetop or choose another type like oyster mushrooms or shiitake mushrooms. These types are stiffer with less water content.
• You cannot skip pre-cooking! – There is no way you can make a vegan Wellington without pre-cooking both the butternut squash and the mushroom filling. If you add them raw, you will have a burnt puff pastry with a still hard, uncooked squash and the worst soggy bottom ever.
• Refrain from filling the puff pastry! – You may think there is plenty of space to add the filling mixture, but there is not. If you overfill it, the puff pastry may open up or crack during baking. Leave plenty of dough, so the ends overlap and do not just touch each other. Avoid smearing any filling around the edges, so you can close it properly.

What to serve with it?

Now you have a beautiful vegan butternut squash Wellington with an aromatic walnut mushroom filling baked in a crispy golden brown puff pastry. So what’s next?

Serve it hot! The more you wait, the more the puff pastry will lose its crispiness. So don’t wait for too long and serve it with one of these sides, sauces, and condiments:

• Oven-roasted asparagus, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, beets, sweet potatoes, or other root veggies
• Sautéed carrots with maple thyme glaze, green beans or other veggies etc.
• Vegan mashed potatoes with celery root, or other mashed veggies like cauliflower, or carrot
• Green beans casserole
• Vegan scalloped potatoes
• Savory vegan sweet potato casserole
• Vegan risotto
• Vegan onion gravy, mushroom gravy, or red wine gravy
• Green peppercorn sauce,
• Cranberry jelly or sauce
• Fresh salads

What is your favorite combination? Let us know in the comments.

FAQs and substitutions

How to store it?

The mushroom filling will still be juicy and will let off steam after taking the Wellington out of the oven. This moisture will soften the puff pastry as time goes by. You can store it in the refrigerator overnight. It will still be delicious the next day, but the puff pastry will be soft and not crispy.

Can you freeze it?

Yes, you can store it in the freezer after baking. Unbaked puff pastry with the filling cannot be frozen like that. We recommend storing it per serving for easy access.

How to reheat it?

We recommend reheating it in the oven to get back some crispiness. Put it under a hot broiler for 5 minutes.

Allergen info

This Vegan Butternut Squash Wellington recipe is meat-free, dairy-free, and egg-free.

• Vegan – Make sure you choose egg-free puff pastry, as not all brands are vegan. All other suggested ingredients are supposed to be vegan.
• Nut-free – We used walnuts in the filling. If you need this recipe to be nut-free, substitute more mushrooms for walnuts. We have yet to test this recipe was any seeds.
• WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) – Even if you cook veggies in vegetable broth or water instead of oil, you still need to find a WFPB puff pastry to be compliant.
• Gluten-free – We usually use Schar Puff Pastry Dough, which is vegan and gluten-free. If you are interested in making it from scratch, Gluten-free on a Shoestring has a long-standing and loved recipe using a homemade GF flour mix. All other ingredients are supposed to be gluten-free, but always check the packaging for cross-contamination info.
• Soy-free – Choose anything but soy milk for the “egg wash”. But other than that, all purposed ingredients are supposed to be soy-free.

More vegan dinner recipes

Do you need more vegan recipes for the holidays? Have you seen our FAVORITE vegan Thanksgiving dinner recipes or our FAVORITE vegan Christmas dinner recipes?

UPDATED: This recipe was originally posted in Nov 2020. More info, tips, and details were added, and it was republished in Nov 2022.