Gluten-Free Vegan Wellington

Gluten-free vegan Wellington is perfect festive main dish! It uses a simple, almond flour pastry crust and a pecan lentil loaf for a show-stopping holiday entree. Gluten-free soy-free with nut-free option.

You guys love my lentil mushroom Wellington and have been asking for a gluten-free version of it, so here’s a gluten-free vegan Wellington!

It’s really difficult to find gluten-free puff pastry, so we are making a simple dough from scratch. If you can find the gluten-free puff pastry, you can use that in this recipe or in my other lentil mushroom Wellington recipe and it’ll work out just fine. 

If you can’t find gluten-free puff pastry, then use this almond flour crust to wrap your Wellington. The crust uses just a few ingredients and takes just minutes to prep. It makes this amazing, gluten-free vegan Wellington! 

The crust obviously is going to be more delicate to work with compared to a puff pastry sheet, but it’s still pretty hardy, and you can shape it however you like. You can just wrap the entire Wellington up, or you can make some fancy designs. 
Not up for making a wrapped Wellington? Just make the loaf, And glaze it with a ketchup plus vegan Worcestershire glaze and bake for a lentil pecan meatloaf!

Why You’ll Love this Gluten-Free Vegan Wellington

• flavorful, moist lentil pecan loaf
• simple almond flour pastry crust
• make-ahead option
• gluten-free and soy-free with a nut-free option

More Vegan Holiday Entrees

• Vegan Meatloaf – Nut Loaf
• Vegan Stuffed Shells
• Lentil Sambusa Pie
• Sheet Pan Thanksgiving Dinner
• Vegan Pot Pie with Black Pepper Biscuits
• Baked Whole Roasted Cauliflower

Ingredients and Substitutions

• pecans – For the loaf. You can use pumpkin seeds for nut-free.
• garlic and onion – For the loaf.
• lentils – You can use canned, drained lentils or homemade brown lentils.
• mushrooms – Gives the loaf a meaty texture.
• dried herbs and spices – Italian seasoning, salt, sage, smoked paprika, black pepper, and onion powder give the loaf an amazing flavor! You’ll also use Italian herbs, garlic, powder, and salt to season the pastry dough.
• sauces – Ketchup and balsamic vinegar add umami, acid, tang, and moisture to the loaf.
• binders – Flax meal, corn starch (or other starch of choice, and oats help the loaf ingredients form a cohesive dough. Use gluten-free flour instead of oats. Tapioca starch and flax meal mixed with water act as the binders for the crust.
• almond flour – For the crust. To make this nut-free, either omit the crust or use gluten-free, nut-free vegan puff pastry, if you can find it.
• melted coconut oil – Gives the crust an amazing texture and adds moisture.
• maple syrup – Adds more moisture and just the lightest touch of sweetness.

Tips

• When you’re making the dough for the crust, it will seem too dry at first. Just keep mixing, and don’t add any additional moisture until after you press and mix for a minute or two.
• The crust dough shouldn’t be too soft, or it will be too hard to shape. You want a pastry dough-like texture. It will firm up some when you chill, as well.
• It’s very important that you cool the loaf before wrapping! Do not wrap while still hot. Let the loaves come to room temperature.
• Have fun with decorating your Wellington! Use excess dough to cut cute shapes and stick them on, if you have time.

How to Make Gluten-Free Wellington

First, make the lentil pecan loaf, since that needs to cool before you wrap it in the dough.

Preheat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit (205° C).

In a food processor, add the pecans, onion, and garlic, and pulse until the mixture is a coarse meal. Add the mushrooms and pulse to chop them up, then add half of the lentils and all of the spices and the sauces, and pulse to mix everything. The mixture will kind of become like coarse pate, which is all right. 

Transfer the mixture to a bowl, and mix in the flaxseed meal, 1 tablespoon of corn starch, and the oats and remaining lentils.

You can also add in 2 tablespoons of green peas and a tablespoon of finely chopped carrots, if you like, for breaking up the look of the loaf.

If the mixture is still very moist, then add in another tablespoon of cornstarch or other starch and mix in. Do not overmix! You want there to be some texture in the mixture. There’ll be some texture from the whole lentils that we added and the veggies.

Let this mixture sit for 5 minutes for the flax meal, starch, and the oats to absorb some of the moisture. 

Using oiled hands, shape the mixture into two mini loaves, which are at least 3/4” to 1” tall in height and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. I just plopped the mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet and shaped it with my hands. Then bake for 20 minutes or longer, until the top is set and starting to get a little golden.

In the meantime, make your crust. 

In a bowl, add the almond flour, tapioca starch, all of the spices and salt, and mix really well. Press and mix to break the almond flour lumps. 

Add in the flax egg, coconut oil, and the maple syrup and mix really well. It’ll feel like there’s not enough moisture initially, but don’t add any extra moisture just yet. Press and mix until you get a dough. If the dough is way too crumbly after trying to mix it for about a minute, then add in sprinkles of water or non-dairy milk to help it come together. You don’t want the dough to be too soft. You want it to be kind of like a pastry dough. If it’s too soft, then it’ll just be really hard to roll out and to work the dough into different shapes to wrap over the lentil loaf.

Put the dough in the freezer for about 10 to 15 minutes for it to stiffen a little bit.

When your lentil loaf is done baking, take it out of the oven and let it sit to cool to room temperature before wrapping.

Then, take your dough out of the freezer, divide it in half, put the first half between two parchment sheets, and roll it out. The dough should be really easy to roll out. You can just use your hands to spread it out, or you can use a rolling pin. Just spread it out into somewhat of a rectangle. Even if it’s rolled out to some other shape, you can just cut the rectangle out and put the cut pieces back to the other dough.

Once you have your rectangle cut out, keep the width to be the length of your lentil loaf. Then, place the lentil loaf in the middle, and now you can just either wrap the pastry completely over the loaf or you can make designs as you like. I usually just cut the sides of the rolled out dough into ribbons, and then crisscross the ribbons over the lentil loaf.

Once you’re done with designing whatever you like over your lentil loaf, use a toothpick to break a few holes. You can use some of the extra dough that you removed while shaping it into a rectangle to make different designs, like leaves or strips or something like that, and put it on top of the Wellington, as well.

Brush the top of the Wellington with a little bit of oil, and repeat for the other lentil loaf. 

Bake the Wellingtons at 350° F (177° C) for 20 minutes or longer, until the dough is starting to turn golden. You don’t want the dough to get overly golden brown, but you do want it just about golden. If it’s overly golden brown, it’ll become a bit too crispy. If you like your crust to be very crispy,  then you can bake it longer. the crust however might fall off if it’s too crispy. 

Once the Wellingtons are done baking, remove them from the oven, brush a little bit of olive oil, sprinkle with some Italian herbs, or just a sprinkle of thyme, and then slice, and serve it with your favorite gravy.

Frequently Asked Questions