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A delicious and easy to make Mushroom Gravy that is the perfect alternative to share at your Christmas roast this year. Deep in colour and flavour and ready in under 20 minutes!! It’s the best gluten-free and vegan gravy you’ll make.
Recipe Difficulty – Very Easy
Table of Contents
📋About The Recipe
There really isn’t anything better than a delicious gravy is there? Have you tried making gravy with mushrooms before? While it might seem like getting a packet from the shop might be easy, if you’ve got 20 minutes, then you can make a delicious homemade vegan gravy.
Made with just 10 simple ingredients (and salt and pepper!) this mushroom gravy is so simple to make and is absolutely packed full of flavour. Even better, don’t limit yourself to making this during the holiday season, it’s so easy that you can make it on a regular basis.
When you tell your guests you made your own gravy it always gets you bonus points!
I added this recipe into my 10 gluten-free and vegan Christmas recipes roundup.
👨🏻🍳Why Make This Recipe
- Super easy – It’s so easy that a beginner cook can make this!
- Only 20 minutes – No need to rush because this gravy is done in 20 short minutes. Perfect as a last minute addition to any holiday meal.
- Simple ingredients – Odds are you already have most of these ingredients in your fridge. If not, it’s all ingredients you can get at a local store without issue.
- Bragging rights – You can tell your guests you made this from scratch which will totally win you some brownie points at the dinner table.
- Deep flavour – You’re in for an umami flavour bomb thanks to the mushrooms and tamari. Paired with the fresh herbs, you’ve got layers of complex flavour.
- Gluten-free & Vegan Friendly- Meaning it can cater for everyone at the Christmas table!
🥘Ingredients to make mushroom gravy
- Mushrooms – I personally use chestnut mushrooms but you could use other varieties. As this is a vegetarian gravy the mushrooms give it a “meaty” flavour. If you have some leftover then make sure to try my Vegan Mushroom Risotto.
- Tamari – Is a gluten-free version of soy sauce and adds a real umami flavour and helps create the colour.
- Cacao Powder – Potentially a surprising ingredient to see but it’s a must try! Adds an incredible depth in flavour and again helps create that beef gravy colour in your veggie gravy.
- Corn Flour – Helps to thicken the gravy and makes this a naturally gluten-free gravy.
- Veg stock – Again adds great flavour rather than just using water.
- Rosemary & Thyme – These two fresh herbs create so much flavour in this gravy and take it to the next level.
- Olive oil – You could swap this for other oils if you wish.
🔪How to make mushroom gravy
Step 1: Firstly prepare the mushrooms by roughly slicing, dicing the red onion and garlic and roughly chopping up the rosemary and thyme.
Step 2: In a pot over a medium heat add the oil, garlic, red onion, chopped mushrooms, herbs and fry together (making sure to stir) for 5 minutes until the mushrooms soften.
Step 3: Add the veg stock, tamari, cacao powder and stir. Then whisk in the corn flour to prevent clumps. Simmer for 10 minutes or until desired thickness.
Step 4: Finally strain the ingredients into a jug and it’s ready to serve!
👪Recipe FAQ’s
Below are some answers to commonly asked questions for this Mushroom Gravy:
Absolutely! You can prepare this as far in advance as you wish. If you’re preparing within a few days of use simply store in a sealed container in the fridge and reheat when required. If you want to prepare weeks in advance then simply allow it to cool, place in a sealed container and freeze. Allow to full defrost and reheat when required.
I personally use chestnut mushrooms as they’re readily available, not too expensive and add a great nutty flavour to this gravy. But you could swap for other varieties such as button or portobello.
No! You can quite easily have the gravy with bits in it. I would advise finely chopping the onion, garlic and herbs though so your mushroom gravy isn’t too chunky.
If you don’t have fresh herbs on hand, don’t worry, your vegetarian gravy will still be delicious. You can replace 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs for 1 tsp of dried herbs.
💭Top Tips
- After you fry the onion, garlic, mushrooms, rosemary and thyme and you add in the veg stock be sure to deglaze the pan to get all the browned bits. When you deglaze the pan, you are scraping up the browned bits and dissolving it into your liquid. The fond (fancy term for cooked food bits), are the source of a ton of flavour that you don’t want to miss out on. Simply add in a splash of the veg stock, give the bottom of your pan a scrape with a wooden spoon or spatula and you’re good to go!
- If you strain the gravy, you can save 2-3 pieces of mushroom ahead of time to fry again to place on your gravy as garnish. Just something to make it look fancy and impress your guests!
- While harder to find at times, if you have mushroom stock, feel free to substitute it in place of the veg stock to give your vegan gravy a stronger mushroom flavour.
- Be sure you are purchasing tamari and not soy sauce if you are making this gluten-free gravy for gluten-free guests. Tamari and soy sauce are not interchangeable as soy sauce contains gluten.
🍽Serving Suggestions
Here are some of my favourite recipes to serve this homemade mushroom gravy with.
- It’s delicious poured over my Christmas Nut Roast
- You can’t beat gravy drowned Rosemary Roast Potatoes
- Goes perfectly with my Easy Lentil Wellington
- If you’re going all out for Christmas day try it poured of my Gluten-free & Vegan Yorkshire Puddings
- Poured over my Smashed Brussel Sprouts.
🥡Preparing Ahead And Storing
The best thing about this vegan gravy is that you can prepare this ahead of Christmas day! It’s one less thing to worry about on a busy day.
If you’re preparing within a few days of use simply store in a sealed container in the fridge and reheat when required. I find it’s best to gently bring it up to a simmer on the stovetop when reheating.
If you want to prepare a few weeks in advance then simply allow it to cool, pour into a sealed container and freeze. Allow to full defrost and reheat when required.
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Tried this Mushroom Gravy recipe? Please leave a star rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below and let me know how you get on. Hearing positive feedback is one of the best parts of creating recipes so please review it below and leave a comment!
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Best Mushroom Gravy
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 large red onion, sliced
- 375 g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
- 3 sprigs rosemary, chopped
- Large handful fresh thyme, chopped
- 500 ml veg stock
- 1 1/2 tbsp tamari, (gluten-free soy sauce) (22.5ml)
- 2 tbsp corn flour, (16g)
- 1 tbsp cacao powder, (8g)
- Salt & pepper
Instructions
- Finely dice the onion, slice the mushrooms and finely chop the herbs
- Heat a small pot on a medium heat, add the olive oil, onion, garlic, mushrooms, rosemary and thyme with a pinch of salt and fry for 5 minutes until the mushrooms soften
- Add the 500ml stock, 1 ½ tbsp tamari and 1 tbsp cacao powder and mix together
- Now whisk in the 2 tbsp corn flour to stop any clumps
- Simmer for roughly 10 minutes (or to your desired consistency)
- Finally strain it by placing a sieve over a jug and pouring in the gravy. Making sure to press it down to extract all the liquid.
Video
Notes
- After you fry the onion, garlic, mushrooms, rosemary and thyme and you add in the veg stock be sure to deglaze the pan to get all the browned bits. When you deglaze the pan, you are scraping up the browned bits and dissolving it into your liquid. The fond (fancy term for cooked food bits), are the source of a ton of flavour that you don’t want to miss out on. Simply add in a splash of the veg stock, give the bottom of your pan a scrape with a wooden spoon or spatula and you’re good to go!
- If you strain the gravy, you can save 2-3 pieces of mushroom ahead of time to fry again to place on your gravy as garnish. Just something to make it look fancy and impress your guests!
- While harder to find at times, if you have mushroom stock, feel free to substitute it in place of the veg stock to give your vegan gravy a stronger mushroom flavour.
- Be sure you are purchasing tamari and not soy sauce if you are making this gluten-free gravy for gluten-free guests. Tamari and soy sauce are not interchangeable as soy sauce contains gluten.
- Follow the instructions then allow the veggie gravy to cool and store it in a sealed container in the fridge and reheat.
Nutrition
Hi James. This is probably a silly question but after you have strained the ingredients what do I do with what is left in the sieve if I don’t want to add it to the gravy? Thanks!
Hey Laura, I have added them into pasta a few times or you can blend it with a little stock into a soup!
James I love this recipe, I’ve made it three times already – thank you.
I didn’t strain the veg kept it in the gravy (chopped it up small to begin with) served with a wellington and everyone loved it.
Hi James!
Can you recommend a replacement for the cornflour? My daughter cannot tolerate corn. I was thinking of using arrowroot instead – do you think that will work?
Thanks! Btw: congratulations on your new addition – Peanut!
Hey Helen, not tried it with others but yes try arrowroot should work. Let me know 🙂
Perhaps this is personal preference but I think the cocoa powder doesn’t go well. Without it I think the sauce was good.
Was the reason for it just to give it the colour?
Would probably give a 5 without cocoa powder
Great recipie, son thoroughly enjoyed them. He is allergic to wheat and eggs. Tried them myself and they were quite nice . Will be cooking this recipie again Will definitely use your website again so that we can enjoy meals together as a family instead of cooking separate dishes for the family.
I love this gravy. It’s serious simple and the most delicious gravy ever. Even the meat eaters in my life love it.
Best bit though, I strain the gravy, then add some creme fresh and blue cheese for an awesome pasta sauce. Happiness in a bowl. Thank you.
Aww thank you Helen 🙂 so pleased to hear that!
Do you have a hardcopy recipe book….hate all this technology. I lose it all the time.
Hi Clair,
Thank you for the comment! It is something I am working towards for 2018… Right now I just have a free eBook and my blog recipes. It is probably best to write down the website address or bookmark it on your phone/PC so you can remember to come back or follow me via my Facebook or Instagram pages @healthylivingjames.
Hope that helps,
James