These Festive Vegetarian Galettes with Squash, Red Onion & Chestnuts are the perfect Christmas centrepiece. These individual puff pastry parcels are ideal if you’re catering for one or two vegetarians and want to serve a delicious option with no mushrooms or cheese in sight.
These Festive Vegetarian Galettes are the perfect Christmas centrepiece
Around the holidays, it is common that you will be catering for at least one person that is vegetarian, or in the very least doesn’t want to eat the turkey or meat option you may be serving.
These people can often be unintentionally overlooked in meat eating households. My Festive Vegetarian Galettes are a fantastic option that will make anyone opting for the vegetarian choice feel special.
Individual galettes are perfect if you are only catering for one or two vegetarians. And they’re definitely a bit more exciting than a shop bought nut roast.
A festive vegetarian dish without mushrooms or cheese
There are a lot of vegetarian options to buy in supermarkets and also recipes online to make. But one thing I noticed was that the vast majority of them include mushrooms and quite often cheese too.
Now I’m sure many vegetarians love mushrooms and cheese, but what about those that don’t? And also you might get bored if you were always served mushrooms and cheese!
I wanted to create a delicious vegetarian option that wasn’t the same old standard flavours.
Festive vegetarian galette ingredients
These galettes use simple, complimentary flavours with a festive flair to create a puff pastry vegetarian delight.
Puff pastry
I will always opt to use shop bought puff pastry as I don’t think many people have the time or inclination to make their own. I take it one step further and buy ready rolled puff pastry.
I’m not blessed with the skills of being able to roll out a block of pastry into a perfect rectangle. This is why I will always use ready rolled pastry if at all possible!
Although you can use light puff pastry, it isn’t my favourite to work with. As it has a lower fat content it is a bit softer then standard puff pastry.
As it is a bit softer and flexible, I would recommend working as fast as you can. If it ever gets too soft, just pop it in the fridge for a few minutes to firm up before carrying on.
Butternut squash
I choose to use frozen butternut squash for these galettes for ease. Around the festive season time is of the essence so I will take any shortcut possible.
Frozen butternut squash comes already peeled, deseeded and cubes so it is ready to use straight away with no need to defrost first.
The only thing to bear in mind is to make sure you allow the cooked squash to steam dry thoroughly.
You can of course use fresh butternut squash – or any other squash variety if you prefer.
chestnuts
Chestnuts are a classic ingredient most of us only associate with Christmas. Although you can enjoy them at any time of year, most supermarkets only tend to sell the ready cooked packs towards the end of October to the end of December.
These packs of cooked chestnuts are the ones you want to use. Again there is no reason you couldn’t buy a bag of chestnuts and cook and prepare them yourself, but who has time for that?!
red onions
Red/purple onions have a sweeter and more subtle flavour than white/onions. This is why I like to use them for these galettes as I didn’t want the onions to overpower the rest of the flavours.
I also like to cut the onions into quite thick slices before. You want them to be a recognisable ingredient in the finished galette and they shrink quite a lot as they cook.
sage
Sage and squash are a match made in heaven. I like to use dried sage because although I love it, I don’t use it as often as other herbs so I don’t tend to buy fresh.
You can absolutely use fresh sage if you prefer. You will likely want to add a little more than the recipe states as it has a more delicate flavour than dried sage.
making your galettes
The most important piece of advice I can give you when making these galettes is that puff pastry is very forgiving. Do not panic if they look a little rustic before they go in the oven, they will come out looking beautiful.
You also might think there is too much filling for the galettes, but trust me you can really pack it in. Pile the fillings up rather than spreading them out as you need the border around the edge of the pastry to bring up to encase the vegetables.
It doesn’t matter if all of the galettes don’t look identical, that is the beauty of homemade food!
Prepare your galettes in advance
I would almost certainly recommend making these galettes ahead of time. This is especially helpful if you are serving a galette to one or two people alongside a meat option for everyone else.
Trying to make two main elements on Thanksgiving or Christmas as well as all the sides will be way too hectic. And if you can make cooking easier, I think you should always try.
Although the galettes aren’t difficult to make, they do take a little time and involve a few steps. So I like to set aside some time to make these when I have nothing else to worry about and then freeze them ready for when I need them.
Freezing your festive galettes
Freezing the galettes couldn’t be easier and means you will have a stash ready to pop in the oven at a moment’s notice.
Follow the recipe below but don’t put the egg wash on. Place them in the freezer on a baking tray for around an hour until they are nicely frozen. At this point you can then transfer them to a bag or a box and freeze completely.
This initial freezing will help ensure they don’t stick together and you can whip out individual galettes as and when you need them.
You can keep the galettes in the freezer for up to three months, so feel free to double the recipe.
Don’t worry about defrosting the galettes before cooking. You can cook them straight from the freezer, just remember to brush them with egg first.
They will just take 7-10 minute longer than the recipe states. You’ll know when they’re cooked when the pastry is golden brown.
Making the galettes vegan or gluten free
These galettes couldn’t be easier to make vegan or gluten free with some very small changes.
The only aspects of the recipe that aren’t vegan are the egg and the butter. Swap the egg for your go-to dairy free milk and the butter for a dairy free alternative and you’re good to go.
Most pastry is already vegan unless you specifically choose an all butter version but it is always worth checking.
Making these galettes gluten free is also super easy, all you need to change is using gluten free puff pastry as everything else is already gluten free.
How to serve these Festive Vegetarian Galettes
My favourite way to serve these galettes is as part of a roast dinner. Although they really lend themselves to Thanksgiving and Christmas, you really can serve them at any time of year.
Here are some sides I like to serve with them:
- Simple Roast Potatoes
- Cauliflower Cheese
- Broccoli Cheese
- Creamed Savoy Cabbage
- Air Fryer Green Beans
- Roasted Air Fryer Parsnips
- Air Fryer Chantenay Carrots
But they absolutely do not have to just be served as part of a roast. Serve them with any of my air fryer potato recipes and some roasted parmesan tenderstem broccoli or pressure cooker red cabbage with apple.
For a lighter meal serve them with my stilton pear and rocket salad or beetroot, red pepper and goat’s cheese salad.
You could even make mini versions for a starter or to be served as part of a buffet or party spread.
Other recipes you might like
- Puff Pastry Goat’s Cheese & Onion Tarts
- Puff Pastry Potato Tart
- Leftover Turkey Cranberry & Brie Pastries
- Puff Pastry Tomato Tart with Pesto
- Chilli Cheese Straws
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Festive Vegetarian Galettes with Squash, Red Onion & Chestnuts
These Festive Vegetarian Galettes with Squash, Red Onion & Chestnuts are the perfect Christmas centrepiece. These individual puff pastry parcels are ideal if you're catering for one or two vegetarians and want to serve a delicious option with no mushrooms or cheese in sight.
Ingredients
- 320 g ready rolled puff pastry
For the squash mash
- 350 g butternut squash frozen
- 20 g unsalted butter
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ⅛ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp dried sage
For the filling
- 2 red onions thickly sliced
- ½ tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ⅛ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp dried sage
- 50 g chesnuts cooked
- 1 egg beaten
Instructions
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Bring a medium pan of water to the boil before adding 350g frozen butternut squash cubes
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After 3-4 minutes, remove half of the butternut squash from the pan and allow to steam dry thoroughly
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Leave the remaining squash cubes to cook for a further 2-3 minutes until you can easily insert a knife. When cooked, drain and leave to steam dry thoroughly
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In a large pan over a medium heat, add ½ tbsp sunflower oil
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Add 2 red onions, thickly sliced. Leave to cook for 7-8 minutes until softened stirring often so they don't gain too much colour
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Add the squash pieces that you removed first to the pan with the onions along with 1 tsp sea salt, ⅛ tsp black pepper an ½ tsp dried sage
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Cook for a further 5 minutes before setting aside to cool completely
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Once the remaining squash cubes have thoroughly steamed dry, add back to the empty pan they were cooked in. Add 20g unsalted butter* 1 tsp sea salt, ⅛ tsp black pepper and ½ tsp dried sage and mash together. It doesn't have to be completely smooth, some texture is fine
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Set the butternut squash aside to cool
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Once the fillings have cooled, unroll a 320g sheet of ready rolled puff pastry
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Cut the sheet of pastry into 4 by cutting it in half horizontally and vertically
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Spoon the butternut squash mash in the middle of each of the four rectangles of pastry
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Add 50g cooked and chopped chestnuts to the onion and squash mix. Stir to combine
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Divide the squash mash between the four pastry rectangles making sure to keep a border round the outside of the pastry
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Add the onion mixture on top of the mashed squash, again making sure to leave the border
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Brush the outside of the pastry with beaten egg
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Gather the pastry up to tuck around the filling. This doesn't have to be particularly neat as pastry is very forgiving
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Preheat your oven to 180°C
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Place the galettes on a baking tray – if you aren't confident of it's non stick abilities, line the tray with parchment paper
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Cook for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is golden and crisp
Recipe Notes
*you can easily use salted butter but you may want to add less sea salt
Nutritional information is given as a guide only and may vary
Karen says
I really enjoy making these savoury galettes, I swapped the sage for thyme and they tasted great.
Sisley says
Wow these are incredible. Just as popular with the meat eaters at dinner.
Chloe says
These are great, I’m the person with veggie friends that get bored of cheese and don’t like mushrooms so these went down a treat!
Hazel says
I loved the addition of chestnuts to make this a really festive dish. We really enjoyed the combination of flavours and the galletes are definitely worthy of a celebration meal.