Cooking for vegetarians can be a challenge for some, so I experimented with some ingredients to see if I could pull off a vegetarian gravy to serve with mashed potatoes. Gravies tend to be meat or poultry based, so it’s often hard to replicate the flavor of them without adding any chicken or beef stock. Check out this recipe and let me know what you think. We think it’s pretty tasty!

Ingredients

1 cup of Crimini or baby Portobello mushrooms, sliced
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons corn starch, more if needed
1 cup water, more if needed

Directions

1. Add the butter to a medium sauce pan on medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the onions and sliced mushrooms.

2. Cook until the onions and mushrooms start to brown.

3. Add the black pepper, salt, and soy sauce and give everything a stir.

4. Mix the corn starch with water and add to the mixture. You’ll have to stir the gravy to get a sense of its thickness. If you feel that you need more water, add about 1/4 cup at a time. If your gravy is too watery, dillute some more cornstarch with water and add to gravy, until the desired thickness has been achieved. Keep in mind that the gravy will thicken a bit more once you take it off the stove. Add more salt if desired.

You can also look for a vegetarian browning sauce in grocery stores and substitute that for the soy sauce. Serve over mashed potatoes or anything else you like. Enjoy!