Vegan Onion Gravy
This rich gravy is packed with flavour – caramelized onions, sherry, and vegetable stock – it might even be your new standard at your family’s holiday dinner rotation!
The gravy is vegan (yes, really!). But there are some considerations to take, to make it to the strictest vegan standards.
Soy sauce – make sure your soy sauce is vegan.
Dry sherry – not all sherries are vegan. The filtration process used in traditional sherry-making, often uses such ingredients as egg whites, bone char, or fish products. This is known as fining. No trace of these products end up in the final sherry, but since they’re used in the process you can’t call it vegan.
Look for unfiltered sherries, or try a vegan marsala wine.
How long does Vegan Onion Gravy take to make?
Prepping all your ingredients and cooking the onions, will take about 30-35 minutes. If you want to run the gravy through a blender — which is completely optional — that will take another 5 minutes.
What ingredients go into making Vegan Onion Gravy?
Sweet onions – my onions were very large, so I only needed two of them to get the six cups of thinly sliced onions. Sweet onions caramelize beautifully!
Vegetable stock – The backbone of the gravy and imparts richness.
Sherry – Sherry gives the onion gravy a slight touch of acidity and sweetness. You could also use Marsala wine.
Soy sauce – for that umami flavour. Use low-sodium if you have it.
Herbs & spices – I used dried herbs. Thyme, rosemary, marjoram, and nutmeg are used in this gravy.
Can I Make Substitutions?
Sherry – You can substitute Marsala wine.
Sweet onions – You can substitute yellow onions, but add one teaspoon of sugar in with the herbs.
Soy sauce – You can substitute coconut aminos, or tamari.
Vegetable stock – This would be even more delicious made with mushroom stock!
Can Vegan Onion Gravy be gluten-free?
Yes! Use coconut aminos or tamari instead of soy sauce. And since the gravy is thickened with corn starch, you can continue to use that.
The Vegan Onion Gravy Method
Thinly slice your onions. Add them to a skillet over medium high heat along with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir the onions until they’re nice and coated with oil.
Add herbs & spices, and stir. Turn the heat down to medium, and continue cooking the onions until they’re caramelized and soft, about 25 minutes. Keep stirring every so often, so the onions don’t burn. If they burn, they’ll be bitter!
The onions cook down until you have about a cup of caramelized onions.
Then add in the soy sauce, sherry, and 1.75 cups of the vegetable stock, keeping ¼ cup of the stock aside for later.
Bring the mixture back to a bubbling simmer, then add 2 tablespoons of corn starch to the ¼ cup of stock you saved earlier. Whisk it well, smoothing out all the lumps. Then add the corn starch mixture to the gravy.
Stir the gravy until thickened. Taste the gravy, and add more salt & pepper if you would like it.
You can serve the gravy just like this, or I like to puree it in a blender to smooth it out — whatever texture you like!
I’m pouring this gravy over mashed potatoes. It would also be delicious on French fries, or even grilled eggplant. Yum!
Vegan Onion Gravy
Equipment
- 1 Large skillet or wok
- 1 Large spoon
- 1 Whisk
- 1 blender optional
Ingredients
- 6 cups sweet onions thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon rosemary leaves dried
- 1/4 teaspoon thyme leaves dried
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg ground
- 1/2 teaspoon marjoram dried
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce low-sodium
- 1/4 cup dry sherry
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium high heat, add olive oil. Immediately add onions and stir to coat.
- Stir in the rosemary, thyme, nutmeg, and marjoram. Lower heat to medium, and continue cooking until onions are dark and caramelized, about 25 minutes.
- Add soy sauce, sherry, and 1.75 cups of the vegetable stock and stir until it comes back to a bubbling simmer. (Reserve ¼ cup of stock)
- Add corn starch to the reserved ¼ cup of stock, and whisk until smooth. Add to gravy and cook for another minute or two until thickened.
- Optionally, you can blend the gravy in a blender or using a stick blender until smooth.
- Serve immediately, or re-heat over medium heat in a saucepan.