RealGravy

Vegetarian and Vegan Gravies

Vegan White Gravy

A pale, peppery bechamel style gravy built on soya milk and vegan butter, with white miso and nutritional yeast doing the savoury work.

  • Vegetarian
  • Vegan
  • Dairy free
  • white gravy
  • vegan
  • peppery
  • quick
Illustration of Vegan White Gravy
Prep
5 min
Cook
15 min
Total
20 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy

White gravy is a different animal to the brown stuff. There is no browning to lean on, so every bit of savouriness has to be added rather than developed. White miso, nutritional yeast and an aggressive amount of black pepper get it there. Pour it over vegan sausages, fried potatoes or a scone split in half.

Ingredients

Makes about 500ml, four servings

Scale

Kit

  • Saucepan
  • Whisk

Method

  1. Melt the vegan butter in a saucepan over a medium heat until it foams. Whisk in the flour and cook for two minutes, stirring the whole time, keeping it pale. This is a white roux, so do not let it colour.

  2. Add the nutritional yeast, onion granules, garlic granules and black pepper and stir them into the roux for 30 seconds so the spices bloom in the hot fat.

  3. Pour in about 100ml of the soya milk and whisk until it forms a thick smooth paste with no lumps. Getting this first stage smooth is what stops the whole thing going lumpy later.

  4. Add the rest of the milk in three or four additions, whisking hard between each, until you have a thin smooth sauce.

  5. Bring it slowly up to a simmer over a medium heat, whisking constantly. It will thicken suddenly when it gets there, so stay with it.

  6. Simmer gently for five minutes so the flour cooks out properly. If it gets thicker than you want, whisk in a splash more milk.

  7. Take it off the heat, whisk the miso with a spoonful of the hot sauce in a cup, then stir it back in. Taste, add salt, and finish with another grind of pepper on top.

Tips worth knowing

  • Use unsweetened plant milk. Sweetened or vanilla flavoured versions will make a very strange gravy indeed.
  • Soya milk is the most reliable here because its protein content helps it thicken. Oat works, almond is too thin.
  • The pepper should be coarse and visible. Fine ground pepper disappears and this gravy needs the bite.
  • Add the miso off the heat. Boiling it dulls the savoury flavour you added it for.

Change it up

  • Crumble in 200g of fried vegan sausage meat at the end for a proper Southern style biscuits and gravy.
  • Add two tablespoons of chopped fresh sage fried in the butter before the flour goes in.
  • Use half stock and half plant milk for a lighter, more savoury version that suits a roast dinner better.

Keeping and reheating

Two or three days in the fridge. It sets firm and needs a good whisk and extra milk to bring back. Freezing is not recommended, as flour and plant milk sauces go grainy.

Questions people ask

What is white gravy made of?

A roux of fat and flour let down with milk rather than stock, seasoned heavily with black pepper. This version uses vegan butter and soya milk, plus miso and nutritional yeast to replace the savouriness you would otherwise get from sausage fat.

Why is my white gravy lumpy?

The milk went in too fast at the start. Add the first splash and whisk it to a smooth paste before adding any more, and the rest will follow smoothly.

Can I use oat milk instead of soya?

Yes, though oat milk is often slightly sweet and thickens a little less. Use unsweetened oat milk and expect to simmer it a minute or two longer.