Aldi, Asda, Morrisons and Lidl all have their own unique offerings for the non-meat-eaters this Christmas, but several are not worth spending your money on
Nicola Roy Spare Time writer
01:24, 06 Dec 2025
I tried veggie Christmas dishes from Aldi, Lidl, Asda and Morrisons(Image: Nicola Roy)
With Christmas just a couple of weeks away, the focus is now firmly on the long-awaited festive feast. While turkey is the traditional choice in the UK, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, so it’s lucky that there are now plenty of alternative options available.
As a long-time vegetarian, I never found Christmas dinner to be an issue. Each year, supermarket shelves were piled high with amazing choices, from tasty pies and wellingtons to complete vegan roast dinners.
Although my dietary habits have since changed, I’m not a fan of turkey, so I decided to check out the current state of vegetarian festive offerings (spoiler alert, it was a wasted effort).
It’s no secret that following a plant-based diet isn’t as trendy as it once was. Rewind six or seven years, and it seemed like everyone was jumping on the bandwagon, with shops and eateries continually expanding their vegan ranges.
Turkey might be traditional, but it’s not everyone’s favourite(Image: Getty Images)
These days, many people – myself included – have abandoned their vegan lifestyles. There are plenty of valid reasons for this shift, one significant factor being the increasing awareness of ultra-processed foods, a category into which many vegan ‘meats’ fall, reports the Express.
Understandably, outlets have begun to reduce their offerings. However, I was genuinely surprised by the drastic reduction in just a year. The vegetarian Christmas options were alarmingly limited, with only one choice available in two out of the four shops I visited.
Three of the options were immediately discarded after the taste test, with one being so unpalatable that I could only manage a single bite. It’s hardly surprising that people are abandoning their vegan diets if this is the best supermarkets can offer.
Lidl’s vegan wellington was the least offensive option(Image: Nicola Roy)Lidl vegan turkey and cranberry wellington
Let’s start with the least offensive option. Lidl’s frozen vegan turkey and cranberry wellingtons retail at £4.99 for a pack of two and take 40 minutes to cook in the oven.
Historically, this budget supermarket was my least favourite choice for vegetarian options, but they had a few festive items in the freezer, which was reassuring.
The wellingtons came out of the oven nicely golden, resembling something you might pick up from Greggs. The vegan turkey element consisted of a soya protein, not a million miles away from a sausage roll.
The cranberry filling was its downfall – an unavoidable feature of Christmas, but one I personally hate, so I had to scrape it out. Aside from that, it was quite good, and I wouldn’t object to having this on Christmas day.
Aldi’s brie, onion and potato pie was a complete disaster(Image: Nicola Roy)Aldi
Next on the list was this very tiny pie from Aldi, which cost £2.49 for a pack of two. On paper, this sounded delicious, as there isn’t a single ingredient among the three that I don’t like.
However, I was sorely mistaken. It looked promisingly puffy and golden after cooking, but upon digging in, I quickly discovered the chunks of potato were still rock-hard and unpleasant to eat.
In addition to this, the brie was overly rich and the caramelised onion was simply too similar to cranberry. This was a massive let down, and I’m not sure if I could recommend this to anyone.
Asda’s vegan wellington was incredibly dense(Image: Nicola Roy)Asda’s mushroom wellington
This supermarket has always been my go-to for the weekly shop due to its extensive vegan range, which remains impressive today. However, it seems that Christmas is an exception, as this was the only option I could find.
Mushrooms are texturally challenging for me, but this seemed harmless enough. They were diced so finely and packed into the pastry shell that they barely even counted as mushrooms.
This item was incredibly heavy and required about 50 minutes of oven time. Disturbingly, a significant amount of liquid had pooled at the bottom of the tray, but I tried to overlook it as I cut in.
It was just too dense and lacked flavour. The puff pastry wasn’t flaky, and while I believe it could potentially be saved with some gravy and veggies, it’s a gamble I’m not prepared to take.
This was the priciest option at £5.64 – absolutely not worth it in my view.
Morrisons vegan ‘roast’ should be banned forever(Image: Nicola Roy)Morrisons
You could easily mistake this for a tasty berry crumble dessert. It’s actually a ‘roast’, according to Morrisons, and if my worst nightmare took the form of a dish, this would be it.
Once again, this was the only vegetarian festive option available, so it was a case of this or nothing. It arrived frozen in a tray like a ready meal and required approximately 40 minutes to cook.
The dish was surprisingly heavy and its appearance remained unchanged after it was cooked. The term ‘slop’ springs to mind – I’m uncertain if it was intended to have any structural integrity, but it certainly didn’t.
Made up brown rice, mushrooms, chestnuts, sunflower seeds and several other ingredients that have no business being part of a Christmas dinner. A single bite was sufficient before it was promptly discarded. Priced at just £2.99, I still felt short-changed.
I tried veggie Christmas dishes from Aldi, Lidl, Asda and Morrisons(Image: Nicola Roy)
Dining and Cooking