Rutabaga Ham Croque Monsieur Recipe

This rutabaga ham Croque Monsieur recipe transforms a familiar café-style sandwich into a smoky, creamy, fully plant-based meal using glazed rutabaga, crispy sourdough, Dijon mustard, and a rich cashew cream sauce. Featured on VEGANnotvegan with hosts Maddie and Kiki Longo, the sandwich is broiled until bubbly and golden, then paired with a bright lemon-dressed arugula salad for a satisfying balance of richness and freshness.

The Inspiration

This plant-based Croque Monsieur takes the recognizable structure of a hot, saucy sandwich and rebuilds it using vegetables, nuts, nutritional yeast, and bold seasonings. Instead of traditional ham, thick slices of rutabaga are simmered in a deeply seasoned liquid containing soy sauce, liquid smoke, brown sugar, salt, peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves, and cinnamon sticks. The rutabaga is then chilled, sliced thinly, glazed, and roasted until the exterior takes on even more concentrated flavour.

Featured on VEGANnotvegan with Maddie and Kiki Longo, this recipe highlights how a vegetable can become the centrepiece of a hearty sandwich through seasoning, texture, and careful cooking. Rutabaga has enough structure to hold its shape through simmering, chilling, slicing, glazing, and roasting, making it well suited to a layered sandwich.

Ingredients

For the Rutabaga Ham

1 large rutabaga, peeled
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup kosher salt
½ cup brown sugar
1 ½ tbsp plus ½ tsp liquid smoke, divided
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp whole cloves
2 bay leaves
2 cinnamon sticks
¼ cup maple syrup
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp beet juice
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper

For the Croque Monsieur

About 4 slices rutabaga ham, about 1/8 thick
2 slices fresh sourdough bread, toasted
2 cups raw cashews
1/2 cup tapioca starch
¼ cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp chopped chives
Salt and pepper to taste

For the Side Salad

½ (5 oz) container arugula
2 tbsp olive oil
½ tbsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Make the Rutabaga Ham

Preheat the oven to 400 F.
Add 2 liters of water, soy sauce, 1 ½ tbsp liquid smoke, brown sugar, salt, black peppercorns, whole cloves, bay leaves, and cinnamon sticks to a large pot and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Add the rutabaga and simmer for 60 minutes, covered. Transfer the pot (uncovered) with the rutabaga and liquid to the fridge and let cool for 60 minutes more, or until fully chilled.
Remove the rutabaga from the liquid. Cut 4 to 6 slices of the rutabaga about 1/8 inch thick and arrange in a single layer on a wire rack lined on a baking sheet. Whisk together the maple syrup, Dijon mustard, ½ tsp liquid smoke, beet juice, apple cider vinegar, and freshly ground black pepper to make a glaze. Brush the rutabaga slices with glaze and roast in the oven for 10 minutes. Baste with more glaze and roast for another 10 minutes.

Make the Croque Monsieur

Soak the cashews in 2 cups boiled water for 30 minutes, then drain. Add the cashews, 2 cups water, nutritional yeast, freshly grated nutmeg, and tapioca starch to a high speed blender and blend until smooth. Add this mixture to a small saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens up, around 1 or 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Place an oven rack under the broiler and preheat the broiler.
Toast 2 slices of the sourdough bread in a pan over medium heat with 2 tbsp of olive oil until golden brown and crispy on one side.
Spread Dijon mustard on the untoasted side of each slice of sourdough bread. Top the bottom slice of bread of bread with 2 tbsp of the cashew sauce right over the Dijon mustard, the sliced rutabaga ham, and another 2 tbsp of the cashew sauce. Add the other sourdough slice to form a sandwich and place on a baking sheet. Top the sandwich with plenty of the sauce (It’s ok for it to drip down the sides!).
Place sandwich under the broiler for 2-4 minutes, or until the sauce on top is bubbly and starting to brown. Carefully slice the warm sandwich in half, garnish with chopped chives, and serve with side salad.

Make the Side Salad

Whisk together the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste in a medium bowl. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking. Add the arugula and toss to coat.

Serving Suggestions

This rutabaga ham Croque Monsieur recipe makes a memorable choice for brunch, lunch, or a plant-based dinner when you want something more indulgent than an everyday sandwich. The smoky rutabaga, rich cashew cream sauce, sharp Dijon, and crisp sourdough already create a substantial main, so the simple lemon arugula salad is an ideal accompaniment.

Its peppery flavour and bright acidity provide contrast to the creamy sauce and sweet-smoky glaze without distracting from the sandwich. For serving, slice the Croque Monsieur in half while it is still warm so the layers of rutabaga ham and cashew cream are visible, then arrange the arugula alongside it.

Finish with chopped chives just before bringing the plate to the table. Because the sandwich is at its best when the sourdough remains crisp and the broiled cashew sauce is hot and bubbly, serve it immediately after assembling the salad.

Final Thoughts

This rutabaga ham Croque Monsieur recipe is a creative example of how plant-based cooking can build bold flavour through technique rather than relying on a single replacement ingredient. Each component is prepared with intention, from the slowly seasoned rutabaga to the creamy cashew sauce and crisp sourdough.

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