By Susan Voisin 72 Comments
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My family celebrated Thanksgiving two days late this year. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, my parents arrived early in the day to watch their college play its big football game, and my brother and sister-in-law arrived shortly afterward. The game was nearing its end, and I was in the kitchen reheating all the food I’d prepared in advance (including a green bean casserole and a No-Fu loaf) and getting ready to cook the Brussels sprouts and warm the gravy.
With seven seconds left in the game and everything needing a few more minutes to be truly hot, the electricity went out in my entire neighborhood. A call to the power company confirmed what I knew from experience: it could be hours before the power was restored.
I was not going to let the meal get any colder. Working by candle light, I had everyone bring the food to the table and ordered my husband to get the camp stove in from the garage (panic over food makes me quite bossy). You’re not supposed to use this kind of stove in the house, but I was determined to heat the gravy. You see, everything else can be lukewarm, but hot gravy pulls the meal together.
The dinner was a success, the camp stove fumes didn’t kill us, and my parents found out that their team had won the game in a surprise upset in the 7 seconds that they missed. Oh well. We consoled ourselves with pie–Double-Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake and apple pie–by candlelight.
I think gravy is important, so important that I’m pulling my mushroom gravy recipe out from the archives where it’s been residing at the bottom of my Mushroom Timbales post. Around this time of year, I get a lot of emails from people trying to find “the gravy recipe that everyone raves about,” so I decided it needed its own page. Here it is, my Christmas gift to you:
5 from 13 votes
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Vegan Mushroom Gravy
My mushroom gravy is always an ad lib affair; I don’t think I ever make it the same way twice. Here’s the basic recipe, but the amounts of herbs should be adjusted as necessary–more for blander foods and less for highly seasoned dishes.
Prep Time 5 minutes minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes minutes
Total Time 30 minutes minutes
Servings 6
Author Susan Voisin
Ingredients
- 1/2 large onion minced
- 10 regular-sized or 6 large mushrooms sliced or chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary optional, crushed
- 1/4 -1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon sherry optional
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce coconut aminos, or gluten-free tamari
- 2 tablespoons unbleached flour substitute with arrowroot for gluten-free
- 1/4 cup plain non-dairy milk
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
In a medium-sized non-stick saucepan, saute the onion until beginning to brown, about 5-10 minutes (adding a pinch of baking soda speeds things up). Add the mushrooms and 1 tablespoon of water, and cook for another 3 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook, stirring, for another minute.
Add the vegetable broth, herbs, nutritional yeast, sherry, and soy sauce. In a bowl, whisk or blend (with a hand blender) the “milk” and flour together until smooth. Add it to the saucepan and stir well. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.
Notes
You can make this gravy more palatable to mushroom-haters by blending it until smooth. For a smoother gravy with some pieces of mushroom, blend only half the gravy.
For a bacony-flavored gravy, add a few drops of Liquid Smoke with the salt and pepper. (Bacony gravy is excellent over biscuits!)
Nutrition Facts
Vegan Mushroom Gravy
Amount Per Serving (1 serving)
Calories 31Calories from Fat 5
% Daily Value*
Fat 0.5g1%
Sodium 177mg8%
Carbohydrates 6g2%
Fiber 1g4%
Protein 2g4%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutritional info is approximate.
Have you made this recipe?Mention @SusanFFVK and tag #fatfreevegankitchen in your photos on Instagram.
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May your holidays be warm and bright (with or without electricity)!
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Deanna
April 10, 2015 at 2:42 amLove your recipes!
When you say non dairy milk, what do you usually use? Almond, soy…….?Thank you so much for all that you do!!!!
Deanna 🙂Reply
April 10, 2015 at 7:11 am I used to use soy milk exclusively but now I use almond milk. For most recipes, either will work, and if a specific one is required, I will recommend it. For this recipe, you can use any milk you like. 🙂
Reply
Lisa Lyon
November 19, 2015 at 8:42 amHi Susan,
I just made this gravy for the first time and loved it! I’m wondering if it can be frozen – what do you think?
Thanks!Reply
November 20, 2015 at 7:48 am Lisa, yes, it should freeze fine. I’m so glad you liked it!
Reply
See Also28 Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes
sylsims
November 22, 2015 at 4:31 pmI’m so excite to try this!
When struggling with my newly Vegan lifestyle gravy is my go to comfort food. I usually need to go to a restaurant for good vegan gravy. I will save so much money having this recipe.
Thank you!!Reply
Gina
November 25, 2015 at 3:57 pmCan you use all veggie broth instead of non-dairy milk?
Since becoming vegan, I’ve only made gravy with cornstarch so I’m excited to try this TOMORROW (Eeek!!). Can I sprinkle the flour in the pan or (try to) make a roux? I’m nervous about whisking the flour with the broth and ending up with a pasty or raw flour taste. Sorry for the lengthy post. Thanks!!Reply
November 25, 2015 at 4:39 pm Yes, feel free to use all veggie broth. You can brown the flour if you want, though I’ve never noticed a pasty flavor. Hope you enjoy it!
Reply
Poppy
December 30, 2015 at 1:10 amMade this for the first time and this gravy far surpassed my expectations. My hubby, who grew up on hearty Irish fare, said this is a delicious gravy by any standards. That’s a BIG compliment from him, and of course I also loved it. This is going in the “favorites” file and I can’t wait to make it for non-vegan family at the next holiday meal. When I told my non-vegan sister that I just made an awesome gravy and that it was from your website, she said, “well of course it was good!” Thanks for having so many recipes that aren’t just “good for being plant-based”, but are “good food by any standards”. That’s quite an accomplishment and I await your new recipes every month. (I started following your blog years ago, just as a “lurker”, but I feel I should contribute positive comments more often!)
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Manuela
January 1, 2016 at 11:44 pmHello! If I were to used canned mushrooms, how many cans? Could you give the amount of mushrooms in cups? Thank you!
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Andrea Tersigni
July 7, 2016 at 7:00 pmOh my !! What a treasure this recipe is. A local organic farmer “gifted me” several heads of cauliflower. Once mashed I knew I needed to kick it up a notch. This gravy is so flavorful that I am tempted to go buy MORE cauliflower. Many thanks👍
Reply
Patricia Giannelia
November 17, 2016 at 10:49 amYou can also use potato starch as a gluten free option – and a smoother gravy in my experience. It blends in beautifully. Potato starch also makes a a good ingredient for a gluten-free, fat-free brownie.
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Melissa L Bradford
October 1, 2017 at 8:07 pmOh my word! This is delicious! I made it for my son who is vegan for health reasons and we all loved it! It went faster than traditional turkey gravy!
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Michal T
January 3, 2018 at 11:39 amI am not gluten free, is the arrowroot necessary, or will regular flour work? Or would cornstarch work?
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Kris
February 25, 2018 at 8:36 pmJust made this tonight and it was awesome. Thank you very much, I’m sure we’ll do this and variations of it quite often.
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Marisa
July 14, 2018 at 8:29 pmHoly cow, this stuff is magic. Thank you!!
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Kim
November 20, 2018 at 9:23 amOh, Susan, this gravy is sooo very good. I must admit I added celery, savory and some poulty seasoning because it was easier to do when I decided at the stove to double the sauce. Golly, I could eat this as soup !!! Thank you so much and Happy Thanksgiving!
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Megan
January 10, 2019 at 6:01 pmI hate mushrooms but I LOVE this gravy. Thank you so much for sharing. I just dish around the mushrooms for myself. Made hubby very happy as well!
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PuckOff
August 1, 2019 at 10:45 amThis is delicious! Best I’ve discovered yet!
Reply
Terri
November 24, 2019 at 6:54 pmThank you so very much for this recipe! It is absolutely delicious!!! This is definitely the best gravy recipe I have ever tasted!
Reply
Diana
November 29, 2019 at 2:06 amJust made this gravy for Thanksgiving – my first gravy ever (!!). My non-vegan in laws loved it and were dreaming of biscuits and gravy and they said we could eat it for soup! Yes! I got a little heavy- Handed with the pepper, but it was still delish! Thank you!
Reply
Jill
July 5, 2020 at 7:00 pmMakes a great easy meal with mashed potatoes, peas cooked in the microwave, and stewed plums (also cooked in the microwave!). Hardest part of the menu was getting out the potato masher. 🥔🥔
Wear a mask, everybody, and be safe.Reply
Jenni Smith
August 12, 2022 at 9:39 pmI can’t eat garlic or onions and this still turned out scrumptious!
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