Easy Vegan Gravy

Along with the base vegetables and herbs, I flavour the gravy with red wine which adds acidity and porcini mushrooms which add a rich depth of flavour to the gravy. I also add some blackberry jam for sweetness and marmite and dark soy to season and add a real savoury note.

This rich vegan gravy is also a great addition to any plant based meal, but perfect to serve with a Thanksgiving vegan dinner, or a Christmas vegan dinner. In fact it's so delicious you can add it to pretty much any main meal.

Recipe ingredients

• Stock - good gravy starts with a good stock. I've used homemade vegetable stock (broth), but you can also use a good quality store bought stock.
• Mushrooms - add great depth of flavour to a gravy, I've opted to use dried porcini mushrooms, softening them in hot vegetable stock first.
• Oil - I've used regular olive oil to sauté the vegetables.
• Base vegetables - for the base of the gravy I used onion, carrots and celery.
• Herbs - I always add bay leaves (fresh or dried) and a few sprigs of fresh thyme to my homemade gravy.
• Red wine - for the best flavour use a good quality vegan red wine, something you would enjoy drinking a glass of yourself.
• Thickener - I use plain flour (all purpose) to thicken the gravy.
• Tomato puree - I add a tablespoon of tomato puree to the gravy which adds flavour and some acidity to balance out the other flavours.
• Jam - I add blackcurrant jam to the gravy which adds a subtle sweetness to the gravy.
• Seasoning - I season and flavour the gravy with marmite and dark soy sauce which add great savoury flavour.

How to make vegan gravy

• Gently heat up the vegetable stock in a large saucepan, then take off the heat, add the dried porcini mushrooms and set aside for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile add the olive oil to a large frying pan and bring to medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, bay leaves and thyme, stir for a minutes, then turn down to low and cook gently for 20 minutes, stirring from time to time.
• Add the wine to the vegetables, turn up the heat to high and reduce the wine right down. This will take around 5 minutes.

• Now turn the heat back down to medium, add the flour, and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring continuously.
• Add the tomato puree, marmite and jam, stir to combine.
• Add the vegetable stock with the porcini mushrooms into the vegetables. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and cook for 30 minutes.

• Add the dark soy sauce and stir through. Now taste the gravy and adjust the flavours, adding more marmite, soy sauce or jam to balance the salty/savoury/sweet flavours to taste.
• Pass the gravy through a fine sieve into a jug below. At this stage you will have a thinner, jus style of gravy, enough to feed 3-4 dinners.
• For a thicker richer gravy as shown here, take the vegetables that are left in the sieve and place them into a blender and blend until you get a smoother consistency. Pour this mixture back into the sieve, then using the back of a metal spoon, push as much of this mixture through the sieve into the gravy.
• Taste the gravy again and adjust seasoning if required.
• Either return the gravy to the pan to warm up, ready for serving. Or, place into an airtight container and refrigerate or freeze the gravy until you are ready to use it.

LESLEY'S TOP TIP: This gravy has a rich mushroom flavour from the porcini mushrooms. If you want to cut back on the mushroom flavour, simply remove the mushrooms from the sieve before you blend the rest of the vegetables to add back into the gravy.

Recipe variations

• Mushrooms - if you don't want the rich flavour of porcini mushrooms, you can omit them from the recipe. Alternatively you could add some brown mushrooms to the other vegetables while they are cooking. Brown mushrooms will still add flavour but not the same depth as porcini.
• Garlic - you can add a couple of cloves of garlic if you wish. I tend not to as it has such a strong flavour, particularly if you are adding the gravy to a dish that already has garlic in it.
• Herbs - I use bay leaves and sprigs of thyme to flavour the gravy. You could also use other herbs, try rosemary or parsley.
• Marmite - you either love or hate marmite. I love it, but rest assured the marmite is there to season and add a rich savoury flavour to the gravy, you are not going to taste the marmite. You could use other yeast extract, eg vegemite.
• Red Wine - red wine adds acidity to the gravy, balancing out the other flavours. You could also use vegan white wine.
• Vegan Worcestershire Sauce - if you don't want to add alcohol to the gravy, then a vegan Worcestershire sauce is a great swap. Add 3-4 tablespoons alongside the marmite and tomato puree.

Serving suggestions

This rich vegan gravy recipe is a great addition to any plant based meal. It's a recipe I use any time I have dairy free or vegan diners coming for dinner, so tasty that all the meat eaters will happily eat it too.

This easy gravy recipe is a great addition to the vegan Thanksgiving or Christmas table, as it works well with nut roasts, veggie wellingtons, roasted vegetable pies or any other vegan main.

Useful hints and tips

1. Proper seasoning makes a huge difference to gravy, adjust with the dark soy, marmite or blackcurrant jam to taste.
2. For a gluten free vegan gravy replace plain flour with 2 tablespoon Gluten Free plain flour or 1 tablespoon Cornflour.
3. Containing no dairy this gravy is suitable for dairy free and vegan diners.
4. Allergy advice: gluten free, dairy free, egg free, soya free and nut free. For comprehensive and detailed allergy advice go to Allergy UK.

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Additional recipe suggestions

Gravy's and sauces are a great way of adding flavour to food, try some of my favourite recipes:

• Classic French Dressing
• Honey Mustard Dressing
• Wild Garlic Salsa Verde (Green Sauce)
• Creamy Horseradish Sauce
• Yogurt, Lemon & Tahini Sauce