Amazing Vegan Panettone Recipe

This amazing vegan panettone recipe is based off of my great grandpa’s recipe, adapted to be both eggless and dairy free. With a beautifully risen enriched dough speckled with candied raisins, cherries, and citron pieces, this vegan panettone recipe tastes just like the classic panettone and is perfect for all Christmas celebrations!

What is panettone?

If you’ve never had panettone before, you’re in for a treat. Panettone is a Christmas bread served in Italy that’s made from an enriched dough. The dough is made over the course of two days, and is folded with candied citron or orange peel, raisins, cherries, and almonds.

Panettone is more of a pastry bread than a cake; however, it is know throughout Italy as the Italian Christmas cake. Originating in Milan, the classic cake-like bread recipe has traversed throughout Italy and made its way to the United States and beyond.

My great grandpa, Andrea, who was Sicilian, absolutely adored making panettone. This recipe is adapted from his and attempt to incorporate some of his takes on the classic Italian Christmas bread.

My great grandpa’s panettone recipe:

This was Andrea’s panettone recipe that he used to make. He was an amazing chef and baker, but definitely not vegan, so the non-vegan ingredients will have to be different for our recipe. However, since I wanted to honor his memory, I thought it might be nice to provide the recipe he had passed down to my grandma.

Andrea’s Panettone:

• 3 cups pastry flour
• 1 envelope yeast
• 2 teaspoons lukewarm water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter melted
• 4 egg yolks room temperature
• 2 eggs room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 2/3 cup seedless raisins
• 1/2 cup candied citron peel, cut in small pieces 

My version of a vegan panettone:

I had to adapt Andrea’s recipe quite a bit, as vegan breads work a bit differently than regular breads if they’re enriched doughs (which is what panettone is).

I tried to stick as closely to the ratio as I could. However, we did need to change some things in order for this recipe to work! For instance, I’m adding in a touch of turmeric to give the classic Italian panettone a bit more of a golden hue. In a regular panettone, you would get this from the egg yolks. As this is vegan, and we’re not using eggs, I wanted to still find a way to add it in.

If you don’t have turmeric, you can simply omit. It’s not necessary for the overall success of the recipe!

Here’s my version of a vegan panettone:

• 5 cups (600 grams) pastry flour, divided, plus more for kneading
• 2/3 cup (167 grams) lukewarm water, divided
• 1 packet active dry yeast (not instant)
• 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 cup (240 grams) dairy free unsweetened vanilla yogurt, room temperature
• 2/3 cup (160 grams) vegan butter, melted but not hot
• 1/2 cup candied citron or orange peel (or sub 1 tsp fiori di sicilia if you can’t find orange peel)
• 1/2 cup each diced apricot, raisins, and cherries
• 1 tbsp maple syrup + 1/4 cup water or 3 tbsp rum extract
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1 tsp turmeric, for coloring
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

As you can see, the first difference is that I used weighted measurements. Andrea, my great grandpa, did not, but he was a pretty precise baker nonetheless, so I’m going to assume he was pretty close to the metric measurements.

You’ll also notice that we’re using more flour, less wet ingredients, and a touch less sugar. I reviewed other panettone recipes, and I’m realizing the reason I probably liked his so much was because it was so sweet ha! Most panettone recipes use about half the sugar he used. I tried to use a bit less because 1 cup of granulated sugar felt a bit aggressive. But this vegan version of the classic Italian Christmas cake is still sweet enough!

And lastly, he didn’t soak his dried fruit in rum nor rum extract! He actually added the fruit dry into the dough. I know at least the true Milanese version of Panettone likes to use the rum extract. Seeing as I’m alcohol free, I used a touch of maple syrup and water. This will simulate the rum extract for us. However, if you’d like to stick to a truer version of this panettone, you may use the rum extract.

Equipment & materials needed for panettone:

Panettone is not only a labor of love; it also requires a few specialty items in order to make it work!

I recommend making this panettone in with a stand mixer, especially if this is your first time making bread. This particular version, I made by hand, but I will say, it is easier with a stand mixer (and a lot less messy).

You will also need a panettone mold. You can pick this up at an Italian bakery or order them online via Amazon.

How to make vegan panettone (overview)

For the full written instructions and ingredient measurements, see the bottom of this post in the recipe card. You can also hit the “jump to recipe” button at the top of this post! Here, we’ll go over a brief overview of the steps, along with providing visuals for a better understanding of the recipe.

Making panettone is simple enough in method, but it does require patience. You will need to make this classic Italian Christmas cake over the course of two days.

I recommend starting the vegan panettone on the morning of the first day. You will have about 6-8 hours of rising time on the first day, so you really need to utilize your hours in a day!

Here’s an overview of how to make panettone, but vegan:

Day 1:

On the first day, you’ll have quite a bit of work to get done. So as I mentioned above, you’ll need to get started early.

You’ll first start by making the starter. This will be the dough that carries us through the entire recipe. Unlike other panettone recipes you’ll find on the web, I chose to use active dry yeast instead of instant. My great grandpa used active, and I felt like it was a bit more reliable.

Start by blooming the yeast, then making the starter dough. After that, you’ll allow the starter to rest for 2 hours.

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Then we’ll make the first dough, adding in both more pastry flour and lukewarm flour. Once your first dough is made, allow it to rise again for 2 hours.

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Next, we’ll make the second dough by adding in more flour once again, followed by the sugar, dairy free yogurt, salt, vegan butter, and turmeric if you’d like. We’ll rise it once more for 2 hours! Then you’ll place the dough into the refrigerator to rise overnight.

I recommend using a stand mixer over making this dough by hand. It will be much less messy!

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Day 2:

On the second day of making your vegan panettone, you’ll start by draining the fruit. The raisins and apricots should have soaked up a lot of the liquid. Then set the fruit aside.

Roll the dough into the shape of a rectangle and spread the fruit on top. Then you’ll fold the fruit in. I recommend folding the dough into thirds to create a column. Then take the top half and fold it down, followed by the bottom half and fold it up. Finally, take the four corners and fold them in to shape your dough into a ball.

Place the dough seam side down into the panettone mold to rise for 4-6 hours or until double in size.

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Then you’ll bake the panettone! I created a cross hatch mark and placed a pat of vegan butter on top while it bakes.

Once baked, you’ll allow the panettone to rest for an hour. Then you can serve!

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Is panettone a bread or a cake?

I personally believe panettone is more bread like than cake like. However, since it’s an enriched dough, it’s very similar to a brioche or challah bread. That being said, there really is nothing quite like it. With the fruit and candied orange rippled throughout the bread, the flavors are so distinct and unique, you truly only associate panettone with an Italian Christmas.

How do you eat panettone?

You can enjoy panettone either at breakfast as a sweet pastry or as a Christmas dessert! We always did either or both. Since panettone is so large, there are leftovers which will last several days! Sprinkle some powdered sugar on top and serve with coffee or tea, as my grandmother suggested below! 😉 (This was her text to me, as she wrote out all of my great grandpa’s instructions!).

Why does panettone last so long?

This is a great question! Doesn’t bread go stale pretty quickly? Not panettone! Because of how many times we’re rising the dough, the multiple rises actually help to extend panettone’s shelf life!

Enjoy this classic Italian Christmas dessert!

I hope you just love this vegan panettone recipe! It was so much fun to make, and really reminded me of my great grandpa, and the time we spent together. It’s a true Christmas bread treat, and well worth the wait!

More vegan Christmas desserts

Amazing Vegan Yule Log Cake

Best Vegan White Chocolate Cupcakes

Vegan Red Velvet Cake

Amazing Vegan Star Bread

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If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!

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