George Julskinka or Christmas ham is the centrepiece of the Swedish Christmas table, and since one of us is a Swede, it was a must to find a way to recreate it made vegan, and oh boy we have! Our Swedish Style Vegan Christmas Ham (Vegansk Julskinka) looks exactly the same as the non-vegan one and it tastes absolutely delicious. It’s normally served cold, but if you rather eat it warm, you can too!
This recipe is going to blow your mind! This vegan ham is so tender and juicy, filling and perfect for Christmas or any special occasion.
Recipe created back in 2017!
Normally served cold and finished off in the oven glazed with mustard, applesauce, and breadcrumbs.
Once the ham is cooked, it’s moved somewhere cold, usually outside, to cool as quickly as possible. The idea is that this way will ensure that the ham remains moist and tasty.
I made my vegan version exactly this way and it worked just as good, the ham is moist and not dry at all, truly full of flavours!
One serving of this delicious Swedish Style Vegan Christmas Ham (150 g) of this delicious vegan ham provides you with 255.5 kcal and 34.8g of protein, which is 70% of the protein that you need in a day (based on a 2000 kcal per day diet), and just 6.1g of fat, with 0 grams of trans fat and 0 g of cholesterol. Doesn’t it sound amazing? Well, it is!
Give this a try, you and your family are going to love it!
As I said before, this ham is consumed cold, but my wife likes it better warm so you’re welcome to try it that way too! Simply cook the ham slices in a non-stick skillet and you’re all set!
If you liked this recipe, check out our Succulent Birthday Seitan Tenderloin (Wheat Meat). You’re going to love it!
This Swedish Style Vegan Christmas Ham’s recipe can also be found in our new cookbook & e-book “ALL PLANTS: The Food You Love, The Vegan Way”, in chapter 3 “VEGAN BUTCHERY”. The recipe is called “Swedish Christmas Ham” on page 100. In this chapter, you can find recipes for 13 incredibly delicious vegan meats, some of them gluten-free too! Here’s a list:
- VEGAN BRATWURSTS
- VEGAN HOT ITALIAN SAUSAGES
- VEGAN WHEAT FILET MIGNON
- VEGAN BBQ RIBS
- THE BEST VEGAN BURGER
- BAKE-ON: A SUPER QUICK&EASY BACON MADE OF TOFU
- SWEDISH CHRISTMAS HAM
- CHICKUN: 2 DIFFERENT WAYS TO MAKE VEGAN CHICKEN: VEGAN THYME & ROSEMARY CUTLETS AND SPICY BUFFALO CHICKEN TENDERS
- SEITAN BACON
- VEGAN MORTADELLA
- BAVARIAN MORTADELLA
- SEITAN PEPPERONI
- and more!!
THYME & ROSEMARY CUTLETS THYME & ROSEMARY CUTLETS & VEGAN EGG ON VEGAN CAESAR SALAD SEITAN PEPPERONI ON VEGAN PEPPERONI PIZZA SEITAN PEPPERONI VEGAN MORTADELLA BAVARIAN MORTADELLA BRATWURSTS Photo shows our Fluffy Homemade Vegan Bagels and some recipes from our cookbook ALL PLANTS: our Vegan Fried Egg, Seitan Bacon & Hot Italian Sausages HOT ITALIAN SAUSAGES & THE BEST VEGAN SCRAMBLE OUR COOKBOOK SPICY BUFFALO CHICKUN TENDERS ON OUR BOOK COVER NO-PIGS IN A BLANKET SPICY BBQ CAULIFLOWER WINGS WHEAT FILET MIGNON YELLOW PEA SOUP WITH SEITAN BACON SEITAN BAC’N WHEELS&CHEEZE WITH TOFU BACON BBQ RIBS THE BURGER CHARCUTERIE BOARD
We also have an entire chapter named “Dairy is Scary” dedicated to vegan dairy substitutes, from homemade coffee creamers to 3 kinds of homemade yoghurts, homemade tofu, 4 types of cultured vegan cheese, and 5 easy and quick varieties of vegan cheese including feta, cheddar, Buffalo Mozzarella, etc. If you’re a cheese lover, you will love our cookbook! Read more about it here.
If you liked this recipe, check out our Nut-Free Vegan Parmesan Cheese, our Vegan Buffalo Mozzarella, our Gluten-Free Vegan Mortadella, our Fluffy Homemade Vegan Bagels, our Vegan Mayonnaise (Plain & Spicy), our Easy to Make Vegan Béarnaise Sauce, our Oil-Free & Healthy Vegan Béarnaise Sauce, our Vegan Pink Sauce – Beetalicious, our Garlic Vegan Sauce, and our Vegan Pesto Sauce. And if you want to find some REALLY EPIC SAUCES AND DRESSINGS RECIPES, ALONG WITH OVER 150 OTHER RECIPES, check out our very first cookbook ALL PLANTS: The Food You Love, The Vegan Way, which includes over 150 satisfying recipes to feed all the members of your household (including your dogs!). It’s available internationally as a hardcover on Book Depository (with free delivery worldwide), Walmart, and in many other bookstores! Yay! Click here and here to learn more. You can also purchase it as a downloadable e-book (pdf) in our Store (currently ON SALE!), and our Etsy Shop (also on sale there!).
The Original Swedish Style Vegan Christmas Ham
Enjoy friends! If you make this recipe, please snap a photo and tag @veganvvocals and #veganvvocals on Instagram! We’d also love it if you would leave a comment below, and give the recipe a rating! Thanks so much!
Equipment
Ingredients
HAM
HAM DRY INGREDIENTS
- 4 cups vital wheat gluten
- 1/4 cup onion powder
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp pink peppercorns, freshly ground
HAM BLENDER INGREDIENTS
- 280 g pressed and drained extra-firm tofu, (weigh it after pressed and drained, and it has to weigh 280 g)
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/4 cup Japanese soy sauce
- 1/4 cup white miso paste
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 5 boiled small beetroots
- 1 1/2 tsp smoked salt
- 2 tbsp liquid smoke
STREAK
STREAK DRY INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup vital wheat gluten
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tbsp chickpea flour
STREAK BLENDER INGREDIENTS
- 80 g extra-firm tofu
- 1/2 cup oat milk
- 1/2 cup boiled chickpeas
- 1 tsp smoked salt
- 1 tbsp white miso paste
- 1 tsp whole pink peppercorns
SIMMERING BROTH
- 2 litres water
- 2 onions, quartered
- 15 whole white peppercorns
- 15 whole allspice corns
- 4 bay leaves
- Some store-bought vegetable broth, if desired
GLAZE
- 8 whole cloves inserted in the ham
- 2 tbsp old style mustard
- 2 tbsp applesauce
- 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
Instructions
- In a big bowl, combine the dry ingredients of the ham and set aside.
- Press the tofu using either a tofu press (allow around 12 hours of pressing time) or manually, squeezing out the water wrapping the tofu with a kitchen towel, twisting and squeezing hard until all water is out.
- Using a high-speed blender, combine the crumbled pressed tofu and the rest of the blender ingredients. Blend until smooth and creamy.
- In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients of the streak part and set aside.
- Using a high-speed blender, combine all the blender ingredients of the streak part (tofu, oat milk, chickpeas, smoked salt, white miso paste, and pink peppercorns). Blend until smooth and creamy.
- Scoop the blended ingredients from the ham into the dry ingredients from the ham, and combine with a sturdy silicone spatula until dough begins to form.
- Scoop the blended ingredients from the streak part into the dry ingredients from the streak part, and combine with a sturdy silicone spatula until dough begins to form.
- Transfer the ham dough to a work surface and knead vigorously for at least 5 minutes. Make sure it's elastic enough to not tear when you stretch it apart. Make a few tests and if it breaks too easily, keep kneading and try again. This is a very important step as the texture of the ham will absolutely depend on it. Sometimes it can take 10 minutes or more but it is very important to continue kneading until the dough does not break when you stretch it apart!
- Transfer the streak part dough to a work surface and knead vigorously for at least 5 minutes as well. Make sure it's elastic enough to not tear when you stretch it apart. Make a few tests and if it breaks too easily, keep kneading and try again. This is a very important step as the texture of the ham will absolutely depend on it. Sometimes it can take 10 minutes or more but it is very important to continue kneading until the dough does not break when you stretch it apart!
- Shape the ham part into a ham/roast shape, and beat/roll the streak part into a flat slab, using a rolling pin.
- Lay the streak dough over the ham dough and press the two pieces until they fuse together, and then reshape into a ham (just like in the photo).
- Bring 2 litres of water to a boil in a large pot.
- Wrap the dough tightly first in parchment paper and then in cling film. Place the wrapped dough into the water for 2 hours, flipping over half way through cooking, simmering (don’t let it boil hard!).
- In another large pot, bring the broth to a boil.
- After two hours inside the simmering water, remove the ham from the pot and allow to cool. Once cooled, unwrap the ham.
- Now it's time to place it inside the pot with the simmering broth. Immeditely reduce to a simmer, and don't let it boil hard. Let it simmer for 1 hour, flipping over half way through cooking.
- After one hour, remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let the ham cool in the broth for a few hours until lukewarm.
- Preheat the oven to 225ºC.
- In a small bowl, combine the mustard and applesauce together.
- Insert the whole cloves in the ham just like in the photo.
- Using a basting brush, brush the mustard and apple sauce mix all over the ham until it’s all covered.
- Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top until well covered.
- Bake the ham on the upper rack of the oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Take the ham out of the oven and quickly let cool completely. Once the ham is done baking, move it somewhere cold, usually outside (your balcony/terrace/patio), to cool as quickly as possible. The idea is that this way will ensure that the ham remains moist and tasty inside. Store in the refrigerator overnight, covered in aluminium foil. Chilling is very important so DO NOT OMIT this step.
- The next day, once the ham is cooled, it’s ready to be consumed.
- Carve and serve cold, or warm if you wish. It's extremely delicious either way!
- Enjoy along with the rest of our Christmas delicious vegan dishes!
Video
Nutrition
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Thanks, George! I made this Swedish vegan ham and it was delicious! It’s meaty, chewy and gets better the next day. Your recipe is surprisingly simple. Thank you for the recipe. We really liked it.
Thank you! It makes us so happy that you like our recipe! 🙂
I made this ham for our family Christmas dinner last year and everyone loved it! It is incredible, very juicy and delicious, the glaze is delicious too. No one could believe it was a VEGAN HAM!. making it this year too, already bought all the ingredients. Thanks guys for your hard work!
Hi Anne,
So happy to hear that you and your family all loved our Swedish Christmas Ham and that you are making it again! Yay! We also make it every year, it’s so delicious, filling, and such a beautiful centrepiece for the Christmas table 🙂
Hi, in what ratio I should turn cups to desiliters? Meaning, do you use UK or US cups?
Hi :)! We use US cups, 240 ml per 1 cup
What could be used to replace the garlic and onion powder for an allergic person? And, is it possible to use tin foil instead of the plastic wrap when boiling?
Hi Madeleine,
We have never made this recipe without adding onion and garlic powder. Maybe replace them with another spice with a strong flavour that you like? And about the tin foil instead of plastic wrap, we have never done it, but we think it should work, as long as you wrap it in parchment paper first 🙂
Thank you for answering!!
🙂
This has been the centerpiece on my Christmas table for the last two years! Love it… Great job with the recipe.
Hi Hans,
That is amazing! This ham is also the centrepiece of our Christmas table every single year. We are so glad that you like it 🙂
I look forward to seeing your Christmas spread and the ham this year on your Instagram ☺️?
This is the best vegan meat we have ever tried in our lives! Seriously delicious and the presentation is beautiful! It makes for the very best ham/roast ever! THANK YOU for taking our vegan Christmas to a whole new level!!!
Making this again this Christmas, starting today as it takes 2 days to make, but TOTALLY WORTH IT! Best centerpiece ever! Everyone LOVES it! THANK YOU FOR THE BEST VEGAN RECIPE ON THE INTERNET!
Hi! This recipe looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it out for Christmas. my question is do you think that at some point it will be possible to freeze it? (probably in front of the baking part)? My flight is one day before Christmas and I probably won’t have time to make the ham there (maybe I won’t find all the ingredients either) so I was wondering if I could make it ahead of time and transport it frozen…
Hi Jasmine!
We have no experience freezing this ham in the middle of the cooking process. However, we have frozen slices of it once it’s fully prepared (it’s so big, we never have time to eat it all). If you want to freeze the whole ham, it’s probably better to do it before glazing and baking just like you suggested! We would love to hear the results if you do 🙂
Thank you for your response! I will definitely update how it turned out 🙂
It’s our pleasure! Can’t wait to hear how it turned out and hope you’ll like it as much as we do 🙂
Hey! So here is my update 😀
Everyone liked it soo much (especially my vegan Swedish grandma)
thank you for the awesome recipe!
And the details of the freezing part if anyone is interested:
I made it the day before my flight and put it in the freezer for the night, then at noon I took it with me in a cooling bag. Even though I was traveling in quite cold weather it did melt a little before I could pop it back in the freezer where I was staying..
Also side note – the recipe seems long but honestly it wasn’t as much work as I thought it would be 🙂
Hi Jasmine 🙂,
That is amazing! We are so happy that everyone liked it so much and that your vegan Swedish grandma was satisfied! That is so lovely!
I can’t wait to make this ham. Can be slice thing to use for sandwiches? Thank you!
Wonderful! Yes, it can be sliced thin for sandwiches, we do it all the time 🙂
How can I replace canola oil? I make my recipes with kitchen weight, could you tell me: 1 cup+ how many grams?
Hi Julianna!
You can replace canola oil with any other oil with a neutral flavour. About the cups, it’s impossible to tell how many grams are in 1 cup as it would depend on what we are measuring. 1 cup of flour will weigh different from 1 cup of some other ingredient.
We use US cups. In case you’re interested, we have linked the cups we use right above the ingredient list, on the “equipment” list.
Sorry I couldn’t help more! Happy Holidays 🙂
Looks amazing, trying to gather the ingredients. But since everything is measured so exactly, why aren’t the beets in grams? “Small” beets could vary a lot in size. I have experienced that the ratio between dry and wet ingredients are quite important when making seitan so don’t want to mess it up ☺️
Hi Emelie,
Thank you so much! You make a good point! We used 5 boiled small beetroots, each is roughly 1.5inches/4cm in diameter. Hope that helps!
Thank you for the guidance! Mine were a bit bigger so I took 4,5 instead but still wonder if it was too much because the dough was really wet and after 30 min or so of kneading we were still not happy with the elasticity. But we went on anyway and now it is cooling in the broth. It feels quite soft to the touch and I’m wondering if I should leave a bit longer in the oven. Or not cool it very quickly after baking it. Or should it be quite soft still? The streak part on the other hand feels almost too hard. Aah, I’m nervous of how it will turn out! 🙀🙈
Hi Emelie!
Merry Christmas! We haven’t experienced the dough being too wet before. Maybe it will firm up in the fridge overnight.
You could leave it five extra minutes in the oven and we still recommend cooling it quickly after baking it. Please let us know how it turned out!
Hi again! So last year it never firmed up, we ended up chopping it up and frying the pieces for other dishes. But now I’m returning here because of recommendations. I might try it again, but also might want to add up the spices a bit, does it change the recipe if I use more spices?
Hi Emelie,
Glad you’re trying again this year! If it seems too wet, add a bit more vital wheat gluten. Hope this year it firms up nicely!
About the spices, you can add as much as you want as long as it’s dry ingredients it shouldn’t affect the texture!
Whew! Took me three days, though that was a lack of planning on my part. You have to cook then completely cool this three times – it’s intense! But juicy in a way I haven’t had in either homemade or store bought faux hams. I’ve had it sliced thickly and warmed as well as thinly on sandwiches. Yum 🙂
We are so happy you like it! It’s so juicy and delicious, right!? It indeed takes time but it’s so big it lasts for a while and it also freezes so well! Thanks so much for your feedback!