Light Vegan Onion Gravy

You can make this light, creamy, 7-ingredient vegan gravy in under 20 minutes. It is a mild, but flavorful gravy using onion and garlic as the main ingredients. You will love it poured over your mashed potatoes or next to your favorite Thanksgiving or Christmas main dish. 

Is there any Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner without mashed potatoes and gravy? Well, I am not sure there is. This tasty and creamy vegan gravy goes perfectly together with most of the potato-based side dishes like vegan mashed potatoes with celery root, or vegan scalloped potatoes. It is also a great addition to our vegan lentil loaf.

What is vegan gravy?

The original gravy is a sauce made from the juices that are released by the meat during cooking. Well, we don’t want to use any meat drippings, do we?

So the only way to make vegan gravy is to use vegetable stock. It will not be as fatty and heavy as the one made from meat. However, with the proper seasoning, you can still enjoy a thick, creamy, and cruelty-free sauce with your mashed potatoes.

Ingredients

This vegetarian gravy recipe is light and simple. No wine or heavy seasoning. All ingredients are probably already in your pantry and are only there to highlight the caramelized flavor of onion.

• Onion – We used white onions since they have a milder flavor and a more delicate texture. This means that after frying they likely become so soft that they fall apart resulting in a rather smooth onion sauce.
• Garlic
• Vegetable broth
• Dairy-free milk -> We recommend using unsweetened almond, oat, or soy milk. We also find that store-bought brands are sweeter than homemade ones even if you have no added sugar. Therefore, we like to use our homemade cashew milk.
• Soy sauce -> It is to make the gravy brownish and to tone down the sweetness. To make it gluten-free as well, chose one of the 5 best gluten-free soy sauce substitutes. You can also use miso paste or Worcestershire sauce, all of them are flavor enhancers.
• Dairy-free butter -> To give a little bit of buttery taste
• Corn starch -> To thicken the gravy you can also use tapioca starch, but we found corn starch to be a stronger thickener.

🛒 You can find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

What herbs go great with it?

If you can turn this basic vegan gravy recipe up a notch, you can certainly add some herbs. Depending on the dish you are making this vegan gravy for, various herbs would go with it. We love to add rosemary, thyme, or sage.

Instructions

Preparing the ingredients

• Peel and finely chop onion and garlic. You can use a knife, but if you want super fine here is what we recommend.
• For the garlic, we use this simple garlic press that makes it super easy to have finely minced garlic.
• For the onion, we use the chopping bowl of our hand blender. It chops the onion so finely that it is practically pureed.

Making vegan gravy

This is a recipe where you have to use a whisk. If you use a non-stick pan, then you need to use a silicone whisk to avoid damaging the pan. If you use a stockpot or other metal equipment, you can use a metal whisk. But if you were to use a spatula or wooden spoon, you may not be able to avoid lumps.

1. Take a pan and heat it up to medium heat. When it is hot, add the vegan butter. Stir until it is melted completely.
2. Add the finely chopped onion. Stir and cook for 2 minutes.
3. Add the finely chopped garlic. Stir and cook for a minute.
4. Add the corn starch and use a whisk to mix them quickly and thoroughly. This is called a roux actually, which is one of the 20 ways to thicken soups and sauces.

5. No need to wait here. After the corn starch and the butter are combined, you can add the vegetable broth in 2 or 3 parts – at most ½ cup at a time. Mix until perfectly combined before adding more to avoid lumps.
6. When it is mixed, add the tamari or soy sauce and whisk again. 
7. The last one to add is the dairy-free milk also in 2 or 3 parts – at most ½ cup at a time.
8. Season at the end with salt, black pepper, and optional dried ground herbs like rosemary, thyme, or sage. The vegan gravy is ready if it is thickened to the desired consistency.

How to thicken vegan gravy?

As we eat gluten-free, we chose to thicken the gravy with corn starch. However, if you don’t need the onion gravy to be gluten-free, you can thicken it with all-purpose flour.

In both cases, you need to stir vigorously to avoid lumps. The corn starch or the flour is only activated (starts to thicken the gravy) if it is heated. You will see the result almost immediately.

If you are not happy with the thickness, make some extra slurry. In a separate bowl mix 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch with 1-2 Tablespoons of cold water. Add it and reheat the gravy again.

Please note that the gravy will thicken further while it is cooling!

Top tips to make it perfectly

• Whole foods all the way – We like cooking whole foods, so we use real onion and garlic instead of powders. They will make the taste more real and authentic in our opinion.
• How to mince finely? – Have you preferred using powders only because you were afraid that the gravy will be lumpy if you cannot chop the ingredients finely enough? Well, here is what we recommend. For the garlic, we use this simple garlic press that makes it super easy to have finely minced garlic. For the onion, we use the chopping bowl of our hand blender. It chops the onion so finely that is practically pureed.
• Add liquid in batches – To avoid lumps, make sure that you add any liquid ingredient ½ cup at a time and mix thoroughly before adding more.
• Use warm veggie broth – To avoid lumps, add warm veggie broth instead of room temperature or cold.
• Thickening the gravy – Start with 2 Tbsp of flour or starch and repeat if needed. Please note that the gravy thickens further while it is cooling.
• What if you got lumps? – Since we already have a more or less pureed onion sauce, if you indeed end up with some lumps, just blend it and you are good to go.

Serving suggestions

This easy gravy recipe is a great addition to a number of side dishes like:

• Vegan mashed potatoes with celeriac
• Vegan scalloped potatoes
• Roasted potatoes
• Potato fries (like in the Canadian Poutine)
• Yorkshire pudding
• Biscuits
• Roasted cauliflower

But don’t forget about the main dishes. If you don’t like tomato glaze, you can just skip it and make this creamy brown onion gravy to accompany the following recipes:

• Vegan lentil loaf
• Vegan shepherd’s pie
• Vegan meatballs
• Vegan nut roast
• Vegan sausages (bangers)
• Cauliflower steak
• Vegan Wellington

Let us know in the comments what is your favorite combination.

FAQs and substitutions

What can I use instead of corn starch?

You can use other starches like tapioca or arrowroot, although they may give you a more pudding-like texture. You can also use all-purpose flour if you don’t need gluten-free. Gluten-free flours like rice or oat flour may give you a grainer finish. Not to mention that if you reheat it, the gravy will get thinner again.

You can read more info on gluten-free flours and starches.

What can I use instead of vegan butter?

You can use sunflower oil, coconut oil, or another shortening that has a neutral taste. However, if you want to give a little bit of buttery taste to your gravy, vegan butter can do that for you.

Is gravy healthy?

I would say much healthier than the one with meat drippings. In the non-vegan version, they use meat juices that are actually melted fat due to heat. Using this light vegan onion gravy will give you a much healthier alternative.

Allergen info

This vegan gravy recipe is meat-free, dairy-free, and egg-free.

• Vegan – All ingredients are supposed to be vegan.
• Nut-free – Choose oat milk or soy milk instead of any type of nut milk as well as pay attention to the vegan butter you buy since they can be made of coconut oil. Alternatively, you can use sunflower oil. Other than that, no other ingredients are supposed to contain nuts. In any event, always check for cross-contamination issues in any products you buy.
• WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) – You can use vegetable broth for frying the onions and the garlic. It will change the taste, but you can get the same creamy texture.
• Gluten-free – Soy sauce is not gluten-free, so you need to use one of these 5 gluten-free soy sauce substitutes like tamari. All other ingredients are supposed to be gluten-free, but always check the packaging for cross-contamination info especially if you buy vegan butter and vegetable broth.
• Soy-free – Instead of soy sauce, use coconut aminos since they don’t contain any soy products. Also, refrain from using soy milk and choose another non-dairy alternative.

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UPDATED: This recipe was originally posted in Nov 2019. More tips, details, and photos were added and it was republished in Sep 2022.