This quick & easy to make vegan onion gravy makes perfect accompaniment to any vegan roast dinner! Beautifully creamy with rich & savoury flavour you'll love.
Good, homemade gravy that is quick and easy to make yet full of flavour is a must as far as I'm concerned.
My vegan onion gravy is our ultimate go to gravy to serve with vegan Sunday roast, Christmas dinner or simply with vegan sausage and mash supper! It goes really well with chunky chips too!
It can be made in no time at all and its flavour is far superior over anything you can get in the shops!
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✔️ Why should you try this recipe?
- Fail safe, quick and easy to make vegan gravy recipe
- Vegan and vegetarian friendly, easy to make gluten-free
- Beautifully creamy, with rich, savoury flavour
- Perfect make-ahead onion gravy
- Easy to adapt - make it as smooth or as chunky as you like
- Uses very simple ingredients you are likely to already have in your kitchen cupboards
- Perfect accompaniment to any dishes that go well with gravy
🥘 Ingredients and substitutions
Yellow Onions - When cooked gently and slowly in vegan butter, onions become nice and sweet and their flavour is simply amazing (not mentioning the aroma). Feel free to use shallots or red onions instead if you prefer.
Vegan Butter - Any vegan butter will do here. If you don't have block butter to hand, the spreadable type from the tub will do just fine.
Plain (All-Purpose) Flour - It's our thickener. You can use cornstarch, potato flour or your favourite gluten-free flour blend if you need your gravy to be gluten-free.
Vegetable Stock - Homemade, from cube or powder is fine. One thing to bear in mind is the saltiness of the stock you're using. It's best to go for low salt option especially as we are also adding soy sauce to the mix. It's always easier to add the seasoning rather than take it away.
I started using this bouillon powder which contains less salt and has got a very nice flavour too.
Soy Sauce or Tamari - It will add lovely deep flavour to the gravy (and a bit of colour too). Use Tamari for gluten-free option.
Garlic & Onion Granules - More FLAVOUR!
Marmite - Completely optional but it does add that extra umami flavour to the gravy. Add a little bit at a time and make sure to taste your gravy as you go.
🍽 Equipment
Medium Saucepan - Any medium saucepan will do here. You will use it to make your gravy pretty much from start to finish from sautéing the onions to blending your gravy to desired consistency.
Whisk - For getting rid of those pesky lumps.
Immersion/Stick Blender - I like to use simple stick blender for making my onion gravy super smooth as that's how we like it.
💭 Pro tips
- Cook the onions nice and slow stirring every now and then so that they go nice and soft but don't burn.
- Feel free to add some finely chopped herbs like thyme or rosemary to your gravy if you want to. I kept it super simple to show you that you can get delicious and flavourful gravy with just a handful of ingredients.
- Make sure to use hot stock for your gravy. Some like to add it gradually, bit by bit and keep stirring as gravy thickens but I usually pour it all in and then whisk it well to get rid of any lumps of the flour. You then bring gravy to gentle simmer and let it cook for a bit until it thickens nicely.
- Watch out for the saltiness of your veg stock as you don't want your gravy to be too salty especially as you are adding some soy sauce/Tamari and possibly even Marmite to the mix. Personally, I don't use any extra salt in this gravy at all.
- Don't feel like you need to make your gravy super creamy. If you fancy it a bit chunky with onions then go for it. We've been pureeing our gravy to make it more palatable for our kids who don't like gravy with "bits".
- If you are making your gravy with the intention of having it chunky, I would suggest chopping the onions a bit smaller.
- The amount of flour in this recipe will give you thick(ish) gravy but you can always make it thicker by adding more flour. Having said that, make sure you do it gradually as gravy will thicken as you cook it and you don't want to add too much flour from the start.
🥡 Storing and freezing leftover onion gravy
Vegan onion gravy can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days which makes it great for advance prep especially ahead of big events like Christmas.
It can also be frozen for up to 6 months.
📖 Variations
My vegan onion gravy recipe is super simple and uses only a few ingredients but feel free to put your own stamp on it.
Use some finely chopped herbs (thyme and rosemary work particularly well).
I have already suggested using Marmite as an extra flavour enhancer but if you're not a fan you could try miso paste or even a small teaspoon of mustard.
Sprinkle or two of nutritional yeast would work really nice too.
I don't use any plant milk or soy cream in my gravy but you could add a splash to your gravy if you wanted to.
❓ FAQs
Yes you can. This gravy well (3-4 days in the fridge) and it's quick and easy to reheat which makes it perfect for advance prep. You can also freeze it in the freezer safe container for up to 6 months.
The world is your oyster here! It's perfect with any roast style dinner like this vegan lentil roast with vegan roast potatoes, orange glazed tofu roast, mashed potatoes, chunky chips (I know that one might be a bit controversial), pies etc.
Technically yes, however, in case of this recipe I feel that vegan butter will give your gravy nicer flavour.
Yes you can and you can sauté it together with the onions. Take care not to burn it though as it will taste bitter.
If you need your gravy to be gluten-free, simply substitute plain (all-purpose) flour with cornstarch, potato flour or your favourite gluten-free flour blend. You will also need to swap regular soy sauce for tamari which is its gluten-free version.
🔪 How to make vegan onion gravy?
Ingredient quantities & detailed instructions to be found in recipe card at the bottom of the post.
In a medium saucepan melt some vegan butter and add roughly chopped onions.
Sauté onions in butter nice and slow, stirring from time to time until nice and soft but not coloured (5-8 minutes).
Add flour, garlic and onion granules followed by vegetable stock. You can keep adding stock bit by bit stirring constantly or all at once, it won't make much of a difference.
Gravy will thicken as it cooks and you will need to keep whisking from time to time to get rid of any flour lumps.
Bring gravy to gentle boil and let it simmer for a few minutes until it starts to thicken.
Add soy sauce and whisk it in.
Give gravy a taste and season according to your preferences. Now would also be the time to add any optional extras like marmite etc. (see: Variations)
Once happy with the flavour take gravy off the heat and blend until smooth using immersion (stick) blender. You can also keep it chunky if you prefer.
Serve and enjoy!
Have you tried my Vegan Onion Gravy recipe?
Please consider giving it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in recipe card below and share your views or tips in the comments.
😋 More delicious vegan side dishes
Vegan Roast Potatoes
Sage and Onion Stuffing (Vegan)
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic Vinegar & Walnuts
Braised Red Cabbage
Easy Cranberry Compote (Sauce) with Rosemary
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📋 Recipe
Vegan Onion Gravy
Equipment
Ingredients
- 150 g yellow onion (1 large) roughly chopped
- 30 g vegan butter see notes
- 30 g plain (all-purpose) flour see notes
- 750 ml vegetable stock from cube or powder is fine
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari (gluten-free) or to taste
- ½ teaspoon garlic granules see notes
- ½ teaspoon onion granules
- Marmite optional and amount to your taste
- salt and pepper to taste, watch out for saltiness of your gravy
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan melt some vegan butter and add roughly chopped onions.
- Sauté onions in butter nice and slow, stirring from time to time until nice and soft but not coloured (5-8 minutes).
- Add flour, garlic and onion granules followed by vegetable stock. You can keep adding stock bit by bit stirring constantly or all at once, it won't make much of a difference.Gravy will thicken as it cooks and you will need to keep whisking from time to time to get rid of any flour lumps.
- Bring gravy to gentle boil and let it simmer for a few minutes until it starts to thicken.
- Add soy sauce and whisk it in.
- Give gravy a taste and season according to your preferences. Now would also be the time to add any optional extras like marmite etc. (see: Variations)
- Once happy with the flavour take gravy off the heat and blend until smooth using immersion (stick) blender. You can also keep it chunky if you prefer.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Nutritional information is approximate, per serving based on 4 servings and should be treated as a rough guideline only.
- Feel free to substitute yellow onion with shallots or even red onions.
- To make gravy gluten-free use cornstarch, potato flour or your favourite gluten-free flour blend and tamari instead of soy sauce.
- You could use oil instead of vegan butter but butter will give your gravy nicer flavour.
- As there are lots of salty additions like soy sauce and marmite etc. make sure to use low salt veggie stock. Also taste, taste taste first before adding any seasoning.
- Feel free to use fresh garlic instead of granules and saute it together with the onions. Take care not to burn it though as it will turn bitter. Granules are much more convenient here.
- Leftover gravy will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days. You can also freeze it for up to 6 months.
- Cook the onions nice and slow stirring every now and then so that they go nice and soft but don't burn.
- Feel free to add some finely chopped herbs like thyme or rosemary to your gravy if you want to.
- Make sure to use hot stock for your gravy. Some like to add it gradually, bit by bit and keep stirring as gravy thickens but I usually pour it all in and then whisk it well to get rid of any lumps of the flour. You then bring gravy to gentle simmer and let it cook for a bit until it thickens nicely.
- Watch out for the saltiness of your veg stock as you don't want your gravy to be too salty especially as you are adding some soy sauce/tamari and possibly even marmite to the mix. Personally, I don't use any extra salt in this gravy at all.
- Don't feel like you need to make your gravy super smooth. If you fancy it a bit chunky with onions then go for it. If you are making your gravy with the intention of having it chunky, I would suggest chopping the onions a bit smaller.
- The amount of flour in this recipe will give you thick(ish) gravy but you can always make it thicker by adding more flour. Having said that, make sure you do it gradually as gravy will thicken as you cook it and you don't want to add too much flour from the start.
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