Often times it’s the sauces and gravies that make a dish memorable and this easy oil-free vegan gravy is no exception.
It’s great served over mashed potatoes or cauliflower, drizzled on meatless meatloaf or even on a baked potato or fluffy biscuit.
There’s no reason to feel guilty with this plant-based, oil-free gravy recipe because it’s made without oil or dairy. If you have a good vegetable broth that you love, you’re ready to go.
This plant-based gravy is really that easy so don’t be afraid to make it on a busy night!
How to make oil-free gravy
After you throw in the whole wheat, onion powder, and nutritional yeast, toast them for a minute or two to bring out their flavor. Then add the vegetable broth and whisk to keep it from lumping.
Alternatively for this oil-ree vegan gravy, you can put the dry ingredients into a jar with a lid, add about 1/4 cup of the broth and shake it to combine. My mother used this trick when she needed a sauce thickened a little more if it didn’t get thick enough the first time. It’s come in handy many times.
Try some of these holiday favorite recipes:
- Cranberry Apple Sauce
- Chunky Sweet Potato Casserole
- Vegan Green Bean Casserole
- Mashed Cauliflower
- Roasted Baby Turnips
My family seems to love healthy vegan gravy and, especially during the holidays, we make extra. If you like a lot of gravy you might want to double this easy fat-free vegan gravy for your meal or to keep on hand for the next day.
If you want a more robust version, try this Mushroom Gravy recipe. Also, have a look around for more oil-free vegan recipes like my Refried Pinto Beans, or learn how to Cook Without Oil in this article.
I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below for this Easy Oil-Free Vegan Gravy recipe! If you have a photo, post it on my Instagram page, tag me using the hashtag #plantbasedcooking in your caption, and I won’t miss it!
This recipe is Plantricious Friendly because it meets the following guidelines.
The Trusted Seal for
Plant-Based Nutrition
- Must be whole food plant-based, contains no animal products
- May be minimally processed
- No added oil
- No added sugars
- No artificial additives or preservatives
- *Plantricious Friendly foods may include but are not limited to condiments, fermented foods, soups, sauces, beverages, dressings, marinades, etc.
Easy Fat-Free Vegan Gravy
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup whole wheat or unbleached flour
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 2 heaping Tbl nutritional yeast
- 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth or a mixture of non-dairy milk and broth, (or 2 cups homemade)
- 1 Tbl low-sodium tamari (or soy sauce)
- 2 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
- sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, add flour, onion powder, nutritional yeast to a pan and heat over medium.
- Add vegetable broth, whisking constantly to keep it from clumping. Add soy sauce and Worcestershire. Stir until thickened and season with salt and pepper.
I have a large family, and we eat a lot. Which sauces can be batch cooked and frozen? Or how long can I keep them in the fridge? We are new to plant based eating, and I’m finding it hard cooking every day after using my batch-cook-and-freeze method for so long. Which brings another question: aside from quadrupling the recipes here (which typically feeds us slightly less than 2 meals), can you recommend any large-family plant based eating resources? Thanks!
Hi Hannah, I know that these would be good for batch cooking and freezing… Lentil Shepherd’s Pie, Marinara Sauce, Moroccan Stew, Vegetable Divan, Burgers, Beefless stew, Chili, Chana Masala and more. The soups would probably be difficult as they take up so much room. Items that you’ve cooked will keep in the fridge 3-4 days and the freezer 3-4 months. It’s a little harder to find resources for large families eating a plant-based diet so I’m motivated to do more research and write an article. In the meantime, this might help you. Batch Cooking 101, Batch Cook Like a Boss (look past the date to read the article.) Best of luck ????
A huge part of plant-based eating is eating it fresh and natural as possible. Takes away alot of the “weekly cooking” that some do. We’ve found that we do a couple extra small shopping trips during the week and choose dinners daily. 51% of your plate should be raw! Good luck!
Good tip. I’m always on the lookout for ways to make meal prep easier! It is important to eat raw and cooked vegetables. I haven’t seen any science that says what percentage raw vs cooked we should eat. Here’s a quick video of an interview with Dr. Fuhrman about this topic. “With some vegetables, the micronutrients are heat-sensitive and can be destroyed by cooking. But with others, cooking allows the body to absorb more of the beneficial compounds because heat releases the nutrients from the cell matrix to which they are bound.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnletS9O18M
It says Miso paste in the instructions but I do not see it in the ingredient list. Am I missing something?
Oops, that should NOT be in the ingredient list (I fixed it). I decided there was plenty of umami flavor and salt from the Tamari. Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Ok so the miso paste is not included in this recipe, I was wondering too lol
Hi, oops, I thought I’d fixed that… ???? I decided to leave out the miso since the tamari adds a bit of saltiness. All fixed now.
I tend to avoid using too much of anything that comes out of a packet or is processed. Can this sauce be made without the nutritional yeast?
Sure, you can make it without the yeast. I think it’ll turn out fine. 🙂
Thanks for the lovely recipe. Would rice or coconut flour work instead of regular flour?
I know that rice works, but I’ve never tried coconut flour. Not sure that would thicken it. You could also use cornstarch. Let me know how it goes. Cheers.