Ina Garten’s portobello mushroom lasagna. I have made this many times. It is absolutely fantastic. Just a word of caution, though, nonvegetarians lloved it too!

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/portobello-mushroom-lasagna-recipe-1946968.amp

Make the quiche crustless. A quinoa salad. I've never used gluten-free noodles but if someone recommends a brand, a vegetable lasagna sounds good. Baked eggplant with ground nuts for a crunch topping.

Heavy protein is nice of you but possibly not necessary. When you're eating a ton of veggies you get pretty full and get most of the nutrients.

Personally I would ask more questions before I made anything. My vegetarian sister won't eat certain kinds of mushrooms excetera. I don't know how close you are to the person but I would ask what they like if you are willing to make what they like.

If it were for my vegetarian sister I would make a zucchini casserole as she loves the one that I make. It has cheese and cream cheese in it so it's quite filing and flavourful with the salsa and tomato sauce.

I have a great vegetarian wild rice stuffing recipe that I add tempeh to to up the protein content. That said, I'm a long time vegetarian (>30 years) and I never worry about protein content of anything. Especially at a Thanksgiving dinner as there are usually so many side dishes to choose from, as yeonassky said above.

I'd be happy to share that recipe that I mentioned if you are interested.

I've made this before with veggie broth and it is quite tasty flavorful, but it's flavor profile is spicy, not Thanksgiving like.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/spicy-quinoa-with-sweet-potatoes-3361830

I bet you could make a variant with sage, thyme, rosemary, Italian parsley (instead of cilantro), lemon (instead of lime) instead of the listed flavorings.

I've made this recipe before for holiday meals, esp potlucks, and sometimes add some black beans to the mix,

https://www.deliciousmeetshealthy.com/harvest-butternut-squash-quinoa-salad/

It looks beautiful and very autumnal, esp with the squash and dried cranberries : ) . And it's filling but not heavy, which I like.

I've been a vegetarian for decades. For my "main" Thanksgiving meal, my family used to make me a little veggie lasagna (which I deeply appreciated). Everyone ended up liking the veggie lasagna so much it eventually became a full-sized lasagna that everyone ate. :)

I now associate veggie lasagna with Thanksgiving like the rest of you meat eaters think of turkey! Ha ha.

I have two vegetarian daughters. I second the advice of asking what the person would like. Sometimes my DD's have tacked on gluten free or now one is trying to be dairy free.

It might even be as simple as picking up a Gardein stuffed turkey, or if they are trying to be soy free, a Quorn turkey product. Or, as we are doing a Torfurky. You have all the wonderful side dishes.

This protein mimics the turkey which is what is missing on the vegetarian plate.

Patric, would you might sharing the veg lasagna recipe?

We have several vegetarians so we make a veggie heavy meal. We usually make a Tofurky along with the turkey, and I make a mushroom gravy that everyone raves about. Using sage in the gravy really makes it taste like turkey gravy.

Lots of root veggies, toasted in olive oil then roasted with sea salt, rosemary and garlic. Again-everyone loves them.

There is so much food that seldom does anyone care about the turkey-it's all about the side dishes and gravy for us.

Open a can of three bean salad. Add some celery and scallions, halved cherry tomatoes, and garnish with hard cooked eggs. Bam, done. And a crowd pleaser. Or make something from scratch with beans.

Thank you all for the suggestions and advice. I fixate on protein, but it's much easier to choose if I let go of that concern.

I made a vegan Shepards pie one year for my son at Thanksgiving. I can't remember what recipe I used but it might have been this one .

https://yupitsvegan.com/vegan-shepherds-pie-lentil/

We like spicy so I would have added red pepper or some type of hot pepper or spice. My son liked it. At the time he also wanted organic everything so I went to three or four stores to get ingredients . I wasn't liking him much during the whole process.

As a long-time vegetarian, I agree that it's best to check on individual preferences. Justerrilynn, thanks for that shepherds pie recipe! I'm not vegan so would use milk and butter, plus some sour cream or cheese to the potato layer. But I'll definitely use that recipe. Thanks for sharing! And I think black beans & squash or corn make a great combination.

I don’t have any recipe to add, but did want to say thank you to Jojoco and Beckysharp for your recipe links. They sound delicious! I’ve added all their ingredients to today’s shopping list and plan on making both in the next week. And for all of you who know that I try to avoid wheat products, I’ve also just ordered green lentil lasagna noodles to make Jojo’s Portobello Mushroom Lasagna with.

Just made my shopping list to include everything needed for that wonderful sounding Portobello Mushroom Lasagna!

I just saw this and thought it was stunning as a vegetarian main dish. https://www.seriouseats.com/2018/10/how-to-make-vegetarian-stuffed-pumpkins-thanksgiving.html

The advice to check with the person was spot on. She is quite content to fill up on vegetables. But Jojo's lasagna recipe looks delicious!

I made Beckysharp’s Autumn Harvest Quinoa Butternut Squash Salad for dinner tonight and we loved it! Simple. Healthful. Delicious. Easy. Pretty. We actually had it for our main dish, as the quinoa provides so much good protein. My DH insists that I add it to my own online recipe blog for our patients. It’s that good! Thank you Becky for that great recipe!

I'm a vegetarian and this is one of my favorite Thanksgiving main dishes. It's not protein rich, but it's hearty and has excellent Thanksgiving elements (winter squash, sage, cranberries).

Mark Bittmans Autumn Millet Bake

Its good to have vegetarian dishes that are just not super starchy! Thank you for making something on those lines. The Portobello lasagna casserole, with additional veggies, sounds great. Winter squash, yum... Items with beans, baked or otherwise, also good.

I went through a period where I would not eat meats unless they were locally farm raised... but I would get dizzy and sick on concentrated hi-starch veggie food menus. (Also, most tree nuts are things I can't eat anyway.) More leeway here now, but I understand what you are trying to do.

So glad to hear you enjoyed it, Lynn. The thanks really should go to the Delicious Meets Healthy blogger though : ) . I was actually inspired to make it again last night -- hadn't made it for a while -- and we all loved it. As much as I like it warm right after it's made, I also like the leftovers for a quick and easy "lunch in a bowl". Sometimes I'll add some chopped up kale to it.

Last night I had a sweet potato hanging around, so I roasted that with the butternut squash, and used up a bunch of green onions instead of the red onion.

AND, I also wanted to thank Jojoco for her recommendation of Ina Garten's Portobello Lasagna (and the link to it). I made it for dinner a couple of days ago and we loved it! But, because we try to avoid empty carbs whenever possible, I had to first search for and then wait for these Green Lentil Lasagna Noodles to be delivered (via Amazon). Happily, there was no noticeable difference in the overall flavor using them. And, one box was all I needed for this dish. I also used plain almond milk instead of whole milk, and the green labeled Smart Balance instead of butter. Oh, and as an afterthought, I would recommend cutting the one tablespoon of salt back to half that amount.

Because it's just the two of us, we ate only 1/3 of it and I froze the remaining two thirds for two more dinners. I love having good homemade meals frozen for us to eat on my super busy days, especially during the holidays!

P.S. With these noodles, you do not boil them first. Just place them as directed in a recipe and they cook perfectly as you bake. Also, they're NOT cheap, which is frustrating! I had to order a package of (I think) 6 boxes to make it a reasonable purchase. That and Amazon Prime! Soooo, bring on more healthful lasagna recipes (LOL)!!!