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While most people associate Thanksgiving with roasted turkey, I associate a different family classic with the holiday: tofu pot pie. Some of you may be skeptical and feel that this is probably just another imitation meat dish that vegetarians like to eat so that they don’t feel left out of the holiday festivities. But trust me—as a meat-eater, this dish is so much more.

My mom first received the recipe from a friend in college when she was looking for dishes to cook for my dad, one of the rare vegetarians of her day. The recipe has transformed over the years to become a staple of the household, a dish served at all major holidays as a vegetarian delight that most meat-eaters end up enjoying as well.

Having never eaten real chicken pot pie, I can’t promise that it tastes anything like the real deal. But the gravy is the real kicker. It is made with nutritional yeast, which has a nutty and cheesy flavor, rounded out with some garlic and soy sauce.

This weekend, I’m cooking a tofu pot pie for the MINDS cooking competition on Saturday, so if you want to taste this recipe first hand, come out to the event! For those of you who struggle to find a delicious vegetarian dish on Turkey Day, I highly recommend tofu pot pie.

Ingredients:

– 2 packages tofu, cut into ½ pieces
– 2 piecrusts
– 1/2 cup flour
– 2 tbs. nutritional yeast
– 1.4 tsp. salt
– 1/2 tsp. garlic
– 3-4 potatoes
– 2 carrots
– 1 onion
– 1/2 tsp garlic (2 cloves)
– 2 tbs soy sauce

For the gravy:

– 1 1/3 cup water
– 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
– 1/4 cup flour
– 3 tbs. oil
– 2-3 tbs. soy sauce
– 1/4 tsp. salt
– 1/8 tsp. pepper

1. Mix together ½ cup flour, 2 tbs. nutritional yeast, ½ tsp. garlic, and then coat the chopped tofu. Fry on medium heat until brown on most sides.

2. Dice the potatoes and carrots into big chunks and put them in boiling water for ten minutes until partially cooked. Take them out of the pot and rinse them in cold water.

3. Sauté the onion and garlic on medium low heat and then add 2 tbs. soy sauce.

4. Add the potatoes and carrots to the onion and continue to sauteé for approximately five minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

5. In a sauce pan, mix the ingredients for the gravy over medium-high heat. Stir continuously until it thickens.

6. Pour ½ of the gravy over the veggies and add the tofu, mixing so everything is mostly coated. Add the veggie mixture to the pie crust. Pour the other half of the gravy on top and cover it with another pie crust.

7. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.