Swiss Chard and Mushroom Stuffed Puff Pastries (2024)

These golden and flakySwiss chard and mushroom stuffed puff pastries are easy to prepare and make agreat appetizer, mid-day snack or main dish! They are vegan and can be adaptedto whatever extras you want to throw in!

Is puff pastry vegan?

While the traditionalrecipe for puff pastry calls for butter, most commercially produced puff pastryuses shortening. I have also seen some newer products advertised as palmoil-free which use sunflower oil instead of shortening.

So while most puff pastryis vegan, it’s always a good idea to read the ingredients, even if it’s aproduct you have bought before as the ingredients can sometimes change. Watchout for butter, lard, milk or eggs.

You’ll also see a lot of chemical-sounding names that you may not be familiar with. Try downloading a barcode scanning app like Is It Vegan (or another) or buy a product that’s on this list of vegan puff pastry brands.

If you’re really ambitious, you can make your own homemade vegan puff pastry.

How to cook Swiss chard

Swiss chard isn’t as common as spinach or as trendy as kale but it’s a delicious leafy green full of nutrients. As we all know, you should be eating leafy greens every day and if you’re struggling with recipes, check out my 50+ Vegan Leafy Greens Recipes post for some inspiration.

There are manydifferent ways you can cook Swiss chard. Lots of recipes call for boiling itbut my favourite way is to sauté it with onion and garlic.

Since the stems aretougher than the leaves, you’ll want to separate them first. The stems aretotally edible and a bit similar in texture to celery. They just need to becooked a bit longer than the leaves so I throw the diced stems into the panafter the onion is cooked.

Once the stems aretender, throw in the shredded leaves. Similarly to spinach, Swiss chard willcook down quite a bit. For that reason, you’ll start with a very large quantityof chard and you’ll need a big pan. I used my wok as it’s my biggest pan. Youcan also cook Swiss chard in batches if it doesn’t all fit in your pan at once.

The leaves are a bitthicker and sturdier than spinach so it needs more time to cook than spinach. Ilike to do it over medium-low heat and you don’t need to stir is constantlywhile it cooks, just occasionally, until it’s tender.

How to make these Swiss chard and mushroomstuffed puff pastries

As with all therecipes on this blog, I tried to keep this one as simple and easy as possiblewith minimal ingredients.

Once you have sautéed alarge bunch of Swiss chard with onion and garlic, and a package of vegan puffpastry, the only ingredient missing is mushrooms.

I seared the mushroomsseparately from the chard as I prefer to cook mushrooms over medium-high heat inorder to get them nice and brown before turning down the heat to cook the chardleaves a bit more slowly.

Since I love theflavour of Swiss chard on its own, the only seasoning I added was salt andpepper. However, if you want to give it a little extra something special orseasonal, try a pinch of nutmeg. A drizzle of sesame oil would also beinteresting for more of an Asian feel or some oregano or thyme for aMediterranean profile. Feel free to use your favourite seasonings!

Now that the fillingis ready, cut your puff pastry into squares or small rectangles. My puff pastrycomes pre-rolled and measures 13 x 10 inches (32.5 x 25.5 cm). If yours issmaller, you can gently roll it out a bit larger.

Cut both sheets into 9pieces. Mine did not make perfect squares but rather rectangles. It doesn’tmatter as long as you can get 9 pieces.

Spoon the filling ontohalf of the pieces. I tried to pack the filling as tightly as possible so as toget well-filled pastries. Top with the other half of the puff pastry pieces andseal them with a fork.

Since this is a veganrecipe, I did not use an egg wash. As you can see, the puff pastries came outnice and golden anyway.

After about 30 minutesin the oven, these Swiss chard and mushroom stuffed puff pastries are ready todevour!