Easy Vegetarian Gravy From Scratch
Not only can you make this easy vegetarian gravy ahead of time, but it’s entirely plant-based, making it suitable for vegans too. Spoon it over sausages and mash or drizzle it generously over a roast dinner. Either way, it’s rich and deeply savoury, quietly nutritious and ties the whole plate together beautifully.
I love good gravy and no roast dinner is complete without it. Sausages and mash, Yorkshire puddings and toad in the hole all benefit from it too. This recipe, although easy, is a little more involved than my normal one. It’s the one I use for my Christmas dinner.
Dive Right In
- Why You’ll Want To Make This Vegetarian Gravy
- The Best Easy Vegetarian Gravy Recipe
- Ingredients, Additions And Substitutions
- How To Make The Best Vegetarian Gravy
- Other Blackberry Recipes You Might Like
- Keep In Touch
- Pin It
- The Recipe
Why You’ll Want To Make This Vegetarian Gravy
This is the kind of vegetarian gravy that meat eaters will like too. Built slowly from caramelised vegetables, herbs and umami-rich ingredients, it has depth, richness and balance rather than relying on shortcuts.
It’s reliable, make-ahead friendly and designed to work with everything on the plate – whether that’s a Christmas roast, a nut roast or a simple bowl of mash. Make it once and you’ll probably want to ditch those gravy granules.
- Made from scratch – no ultra processed granules or artificial flavours.
- Deep, savoury flavour from slow-fried, caramelised vegetables and carefully chosen umami ingredients.
- Smooth and luxurious thanks to blending. No lumps, no fuss.
- Fully plant-based – naturally suitable for vegans and vegetarians alike.
- Perfect for Christmas and Sunday roasts, but also excellent with sausages and mash.
- Make-ahead friendly, so you can get organised and reduce stress on the day.
- More nutritious than packet gravy, with real vegetables at the base.
- Flexible and forgiving – easy to adjust thickness, seasoning or richness to taste.
- Brings the whole plate together, tying roast potatoes, veg and mains into one cohesive dish.
- Impressive but simple, ideal for serving to mixed-diet guests without compromise. It’s also easy to make gluten-free, if needed.
The Best Easy Vegetarian Gravy Recipe
Making a good gravy is about building up levels of flavour as you go. I have a secret ingredient though and it really makes a difference.
This vegetarian gravy recipe is made with vegetables. They not only flavour the gravy, but they thicken it up too. They also provide both sweet and savoury elements. As they fry, they start to caramelise adding colour as well as depth.
Then of course, there’s all those additional vitamins, minerals, fibre and antioxidants they provide to keep us bright and energised.
The sauce is blended at the end to incorporate all that lovely caramelised veg. It also removes any unintentional lumps gathered along the way.
Ingredients, Additions and Substitutions
Apart from the veg and herbs, you need surprisingly few ingredients to make this sumptuous vegetarian gravy.
Flour
Although it’s rare for me to use plain flour (all purpose flour), it’s the best flour to thicken gravy with. Even I don’t really want bits of bran floating around in my sauce.
If you need a gluten-free gravy though, it’s fine to use gluten-free flour instead.
Herbs
Fresh woody herbs really help to flavour this gravy. Rosemary is quite a dominant force, so you’ll only need one sprig of that. Then there’s thyme and a bay leaf.
Pickle Juice
Don’t ever throw away any juice leftover from a jar of pickles. It’s liquid gold. I use it for all sorts, from stews to vegetable side dishes to this vegetarian gravy. It adds both sweet and sour notes as well as whatever other flavours are in the jar.
In this instance I used the liquor from my pickled beetroot. It helps to give colour as well as flavour.
If you don’t have any pickle juice, use two teaspoons of red wine vinegar and one teaspoon of redcurrant jelly or quince jelly.
Stock
Whether you make your own, use a stock cube, vegetable bouillon or just use the water leftover from boiling veg, the more flavoursome your stock, the better your gravy will be.
I usually save any water I’ve boiled my veg in for just such purposes as this. It’s usually very tasty and often quite sweet. Broccoli water is particularly good. I tend to add a pinch of salt and only a little water to my veg, so it half boils and half steams. This also makes the leftover water more flavour intense.
This time, I used two teaspoons of organic vegetable bouillon and stirred it in with the flour. I then just added water.
Umami Elements
Black garlic is my secret gravy ingredient. It gives much needed colour, but also a deep umami hit. It loses the sharp pungency of fresh garlic, but gains a sweet and earthy complexity which is really rather magical. For best results, use one large clove or two smaller ones.
It’s such a brilliant ingredient it’s worth keeping a stock in the cupboard. Black garlic lasts for ages. If you can’t get hold of any, use double the amount of fresh garlic instead and fry it along with the other veg.
Soy sauce is a must use ingredient for vegetarian gravy. It gives complexity, umami notes and colour. I use tamari, which is both richer and less salty than other soy sauces. It’s also naturally gluten-free.
I also like to use brewer’s yeast powder to make gravy. Much like soy sauce, it boosts flavour by adding both umami and complexity. It’s also a probiotic and full of beneficial B vitamins, minerals and protein. It’s easy to find in health food shops and online, but not so much in supermarkets.
Brewer’s yeast is well worth keeping in your store cupboard. It lasts for ages and you can use it for all sorts of things. If you can’t find it though, use Marmite instead.
Vegetables
You don’t need vegetables to make a good vegetarian gravy, but they really help to make an outstanding one. They also help to thicken the sauce.
I’ve used an onion, a carrot, a stick of celery and a small sweet potato. The first three are classic flavour enhancers so try to use them all if you can. However, you could swap the sweet potato for a parsnip or even some swede if you like. It’s the sweet starches that this particular veg is good for.
How To Make The Best Vegetarian Gravy
This isn’t a particularly quick gravy to make, but it is easy and very forgiving.
Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for cooking temperatures and quantities of ingredients used.
Step 1. Prepare Veg
Peel the onion and roughly chop it. Then give the carrot, celery and sweet potato a good scrub. Top and tail them, then dice. There’s no need to peel any of them.
Step 2. Fry Veg
In a wide saucepan, fry the vegetables in the oil over a moderate heat for fifteen to twenty minutes or until they start to caramelise around the edges.
After the first five minutes, add the salt then cover the pan with a lid and turn the heat down slightly. They will cook faster this way.
Top Tip – add the onions to the pan first. Whilst they’re frying chop the carrots. Add them to the pan and whilst they’re frying chop the celery. Add to the pan and then chop the sweet potato and add that. Onions need as long as possible to add flavour and carrots take longer to cook than celery. Sweet potato takes the least time.
Step 3. Add Flour
Throw in the black garlic, then sprinkle the flour over the veg along with the brewer’s yeast, if using. Stir it in and let it cook out for a couple of minutes. The garlic will start to break up as you stir.
Don’t worry if anything sticks to the bottom of the pan at this stage, you can sort that out when you add the liquid.
Step 4. Add Stock
Add the stock, a third at a time. Stir well after each addition and keep stirring as the mixture thickens. This will help to avoid any lumps.
Make sure you scrape off any bits that have stuck to the bottom as you go. These usually contain extra flavour. Plus you’ll prevent pan cleaning difficulties at the end. A wooden spoon works well.
Add the herbs, soy sauce, pickle juice and Marmite, if using. Bring the sauce to a simmer, cover the pan and cook for five minutes.
For an even richer gravy, swap 100 ml of the veg stock for red wine or even port. Pour this into the pan before adding the stock, so some of the alcohol has a chance to burn off.
Step 5. Blend
Turn the heat off, then remove the bay leaf and herb stalks, being careful not to burn yourself. Blend the gravy until smooth. You can use a stick blender for this or a jug blender.
For a super smooth gravy, you can do one of two things. Blend for a minute or two in a power blender or pass the blended gravy through a sieve.
I used a stick blender in the images you can see here and no sieve.
Step 6. Finish Gravy
Return the gravy to the pan, if necessary. Add the black pepper, then bring it back to the boil. Simmer for a couple of minutes or until you get the consistency you want. Add more water if it’s too thick or simmer for a bit longer if it’s too thin.
Taste test and add a bit more salt, pepper, pickle juice or tamari if needed.
Step 7. Serve or Store
With the lid still on, keep warm on a low heat until you’re ready to serve. Then pour into a warmed gravy boat or jug and let everyone help themselves.
If making ahead, allow the gravy to cool, then place in a sealed container. It will keep in the fridge for three days or the freezer for three months.
To reheat, place in a lidded saucepan and bring slowly to the boil. Thin down with stock or a little water if needed, then simmer for a couple of minutes until piping hot.
Add any leftovers to soups, stews or casseroles.
Recipes To Build Your Roast Dinner
The gravy may tie everything together, but what else is needed to make an outstanding vegetarian roast dinner? The roasties go without saying, but here are a few of my other favourites:
- braised red cabbage
- bread sauce
- carrot & swede mash
- cranberry sauce
- lentil nut roast
- perfect brussels sprouts
- vegan pigs in blankets
- vegan stuffing balls
And if you need more inspiration, I have a whole post on vegetarian and vegan Christmas recipes.
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make my easy vegetarian gravy, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or tips for making gravy?
Please rate the recipe too. And do tag me @choclette8 on Instagram with your images, I love to see your take on my recipes.
For more delicious and nutritious recipes follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard or Pinterest. And don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to my weekly newsletter. Or why not join the conversation in our Healthy Vegetarian Whole Food Recipes Facebook Group?
If you’d like more sauce recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.
Choclette x
Easy Vegetarian Gravy. PIN IT.
Easy Vegetarian Gravy From Scratch
Ingredients
- 25 ml extra virgin olive oil (2 tbsp)
- 1 onion peeled and chopped
- 1 carrot scrubbed, topped, tailed and diced
- 1 stick celery scrubbed and diced
- 100 g sweet potato scrubbed and diced
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 1 clove black garlic
- 20 g plain flour (all purpose flour) (2 tbsp) use gluten-free flour if needed
- 1 tsp brewer’s yeast powder can use marmite instead
- 500 ml vegetable stock (made with 2 tsp veg bouillon)
- 1 tbsp tamari (affiliate link)
- 1 tbsp pickle juice or use 2 tsp red wine vinegar and 1 tsp redcurrant jelly
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- 4 sprig fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- good grinding of black pepper
Instructions
- In a wide saucepan, fry the vegetables in the oil over a moderate heat for fifteen to twenty minutes or until they start to caramelise around the edges. After the first five minutes, add the salt then cover the pan with a lid and turn the heat down slightly. They will cook faster this way.25 ml extra virgin olive oil, 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 stick celery, 100 g sweet potato, ¼ tsp sea salt
- Throw in the black garlic, then sprinkle the flour over the veg along with the brewers yeast, if using. Stir it in and let it cook out for a couple of minutes.1 clove black garlic, 20 g plain flour (all purpose flour), 1 tsp brewer’s yeast powder
- Add the stock, a third at a time. Stir well after each addition and keep stirring as the mixture thickens. This will help to avoid any lumps.500 ml vegetable stock
- Add the herbs, soy sauce and pickle juice. Bring the sauce to a simmer, cover the pan and cook for five minutes.1 tbsp tamari (affiliate link), 1 tbsp pickle juice, 1 sprig fresh rosemary, 4 sprig fresh thyme, 1 bay leaf
- Turn the heat off, then remove the bay leaf and herb stalks, being careful not to burn yourself. Blend the gravy until smooth. You can use a stick blender for this or a jug blender.
- If you want a super smooth gravy, you might want to pass it through a sieve. Otherwise, add the black pepper, then bring the gravy back to the boil. Simmer for a couple of minutes or until you get the consistency you want. Add more water if it’s too thick or simmer for a bit longer if it’s too thin.good grinding of black pepper
- Taste test and add a bit more salt, pepper or tamari if needed. Pour into a warmed gravy boat or jug and serve immediately.