Vegan Southern Sausage Gravy

Most vegan sausage gravies fail because they leave out the fat and the seasoning that made the original taste of anything. This one browns the sausage properly, uses enough oil to make a real roux and leans on nutritional yeast, sage and fennel to fill the gap left by pork. Oat milk is the right choice because it is naturally creamy and does not split.

Ingredients

Makes about 850ml, enough for six split scones

• 400g (14oz) vegan sausages skins removed and crumbled, or plant based mince
• 4 tbsp rapeseed oil plant sausages render almost no fat, so this is doing the job pork fat would
• 1 tsp dried sage
• 1 tsp fennel seeds lightly crushed, this is what makes it read as sausage
• ½ tsp dried chilli flakes
• 40g (1½oz) plain flour
• 750ml (1⅓ pints) unsweetened oat milk warmed, barista style has the most body
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1½ tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• salt to taste

Kit

• Large heavy frying pan
• Wooden spoon
• Balloon whisk
• Measuring jug

Method

1. Heat two tablespoons of the oil in a wide heavy frying pan over a medium high heat. Crumble in the vegan sausage in rough pieces and spread them out into a single layer.

2. Leave them alone for three minutes to catch colour underneath, then stir and keep frying for another five or six minutes. Plant sausage needs more heat and more patience to brown than pork does, and pale crumbs give you a pale, flat gravy.

3. Add the sage, crushed fennel seeds and chilli flakes and stir for a minute so the spices toast in the oil. This step is what stops it tasting like white sauce with lumps in.

4. Pour in the remaining two tablespoons of oil and let it heat through. Scatter in the flour and stir until every crumb is coated and there is no dry flour left in the pan.

5. Cook the flour for two to three minutes over a medium heat, stirring, until it smells toasted. Because there is no dairy in the fat there is less risk of catching, but keep it moving anyway.

6. Add a third of the warm oat milk and whisk hard. It will thicken sharply. Once smooth, add the rest in two goes and whisk each in fully.

7. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for six to eight minutes. Stir in the nutritional yeast and soy sauce. The gravy will darken slightly and thicken to a proper coating consistency.

8. Add the black pepper and taste for salt. Vegan sausages vary hugely in how salty they are, so season at the very end. Serve loose over warm split savoury scones.

Tips worth knowing

• Use four tablespoons of oil and do not cut it back. Plant sausages render almost nothing, and without enough fat the roux goes pasty and the gravy tastes thin.
• Fennel seeds and sage are what the brain reads as breakfast sausage. Even if your vegan sausages are already seasoned, adding these makes a noticeable difference.
• Barista oat milk has more fat and stabilisers than the standard sort, which gives you a creamier gravy that is less likely to go watery. Soya milk works too but can taste beany.
• Nutritional yeast can go bitter if you boil it hard, so stir it in near the end rather than at the start.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps four days in the fridge and thickens considerably. Reheat with a good splash of oat milk over a low heat, stirring. It freezes better than dairy gravies do, up to three months, though it needs a hard whisk when reheating.

Questions people ask