Quick Thanksgiving tips from LA’s vegan butcher

Hosting and preparing a Thanksgiving meal can be hectic enough. Meeting everyone’s dietary needs does not have to be the thing that tips your very full metaphorical plate.

For some advice, LAist asked one of L.A.’s premiere vegan chefs, Maciel Bañales Luna of Maciel’s Plant-Based Butcher & Deli in Highland Park.

A vegan butcher? Explain yourself!

Bañales Luna creates her own meat substitutions from scratch so her shop is part deli, serving sandwiches and sides, and part butcher counter where you can buy plant-based “meats” like vegan pastrami and mesquite turkey, all made in-house and plant-based. Read my full write-up from Maciel’s early days here.

It's all about sides and substitutions 

Start with traditional Thanksgiving recipes and substitute with vegan options.

These days, in Southern California, it's pretty easy to find vegan alternatives in your neighborhood grocery store like vegan milks and butters.  

”I like the Miyoko's butter,” Bañales Luna said. “It's very delicious, so I use that.”

For mashed potatoes, she recommends soy milk.

“It's so creamy and rich, and kind of thicker than the other ones,” Bañales Luna said.

She also highly recommends coconut milk as a dairy substitute, especially for its texture. Just be aware the coconut flavor can come through in a simple dish. But it could work for something with more ingredients like green bean casserole.

Casseroles in general often use sour cream. For that, Bañales Luna recommends cashews for a base instead. She says even some non-vegan friends like her version because it can lighten a traditionally heavy dish.  

“You are losing all the fat and the grease from the dairy,” Bañales Luna said. “You can use it for everything. You won't lose that creamy part of what dairy does.”

Maciel's vegan turkey loaf, stuffing and cranberries

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Courtesy Maciel's Plant-Based Butcher & Deli

)

A main dish for the vegans 

There’s a fair share of faux-turkey products in the frozen aisle in November, but sometimes they lack in taste and texture. If you go that route, don’t be afraid to dress it up.

If you’re a vegan guest, offer to bring a main meal.

“ As a vegan, I like to make my friends' lives easier," she said. "I'm gonna bring my own protein. I can make a meatloaf with vegan ground beef, lentils or mushrooms. There's just many things.”

Can’t skip dessert 

Pumpkin pies and apple crisps can be easy to make vegan and stay delicious. For an egg substitution, Bañales Luna likes to use flaxseed meal.

“Just add some water into two tablespoons of that,  stir it, and then you leave it there for a few minutes,” she said. “And then it's ready to bake or whatever you need to do. It's simple.”

And if you want to skip the oven, you can use her’s vegan chocolate mousse as an inspiration,

”It's just using silken tofu,” Bañales Luna said. “It just has a ton of protein and just a few ingredients. And then instead of chocolate, you can add pumpkin or whatever you want to make. It's just a matter of being a little bit creative.”

Need more help? 

These cookbooks will teach you how to prepare vegan meals to delight everyone at your table:

• The Choi of Cooking: Flavor-Packed, Rule-Breaking Recipes for a Delicious Life from Roy Choi
• Big Vegan Flavor from Nisha Vora
• The Vegenaise Cookbook: Great Food That's Vegan, Too from Bob Goldberg