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This southern-style vegan sausage gravy recipe is ready in just 20 minutes! It's downright perfect for spooning over homemade biscuits or toast, it's rich, smells like actual heaven, and packs more flavor and protein than you'll know what to do with!
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Here's the scoop: vegan sausage gravy, sometimes called country gravy, is all about that comforting, creamy texture with a robust flavor profile. But forget about heavy, kinda barfy-looking recipes loaded with costly, unnatural ingredients.
This recipe has been successfully pulled off by my massive team of recipe testers who absolutely freaked out about it. They served the gravy over biscuits for brunch next to fat stacks of my blue corn pancakes or chilaquiles verdes drenched with salsa verde. It's really a downright banger!
This sausage gravy hits all the smoky, meaty notes without a whole heck of a lot of fuss. Ready to make your morning meal unforgettable? Let's get this gravy made right quick!
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🥰 Why this is the best vegan sausage gravy recipe
✅ Tested and Approved Worldwide: As with all the vegan recipes I share, this one has been rigorously tested and perfected by a global team of literally HUNDREDS of recipe testers!
✊ Vegan AF: Like all of my vegan sauce recipes, this Southern-style sausage gravy is made without harming a single cute critter. No chicken sausage or pork to be found here! The animals don't care if you wanna use kosher meat. It's just not right!
🙅♀️🌾 Easily Made GF: Do you scream into the heavens and shake your fists in a rage every time you see a crop of wheat blowing majestically in the breeze? No worries! Just use a GF sausage variety and GF flour mix, and this can become one of the gluten-free vegan recipes your brunches have been crying out for in the night for many centuries.
🍴 Quick & Stupidly Easy: Ready in just about twenty minutes and made in one pan, this dairy-free gravy is perfect for busy mornings or lazy jerks like me who are always trying to keep things simple.
🛒 Ingredients You Probably Already Have: Unlike other gravy recipes, this one really only uses common ingredients you likely already have in your pantry.
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🥛 Ingredients and Substitutions
The Fat
A rich, flavorful gravy needs fat to help the roux thicken properly and carry those savory flavors. I do the same exact thing with my mushroom gravy and vegan brown gravy recipe.
Anyway, for this recipe, vegan butter is my top choice. I recommend Earth Balance for convenience, Melt for its creamy texture, or Trader Joe's vegan butter because it tastes great and is also a super-budget-friendly option. If you prefer, olive oil or refined coconut oil are excellent alternatives that will still give you a delicious result.
Another option is to make your own vegan butter! I can teach you how to do that, along with a bunch of other homemade dairy essentials, in my vegan dairy crash course.
Flour
Flour is essential for thickening this gravy and creating a smooth, silky texture. While all-purpose flour is the standard choice, you can use a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend if needed. Just be sure to avoid blends with high rice or brown rice flour content, as they can give the gravy a gritty and unpleasant mouthfeel.
Poultry Seasoning
Poultry seasoning is completely plant-based, despite its name. If it's hard to find, you can easily substitute with a blend of sage, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, and ground rosemary, using equal parts of each.
Vegan Cream Cheese
Adding a small amount of vegan cream cheese to this recipe makes it richer and ever more amazing for biscuits or on grilled sour dough bread. Maybe I am a little biased, but I really do love the cultured vegan cream cheese recipe I have on the blog. But if you don't have time for that super-easy project, you can totally just make this recipe with store bought stuff.
Vegan Sausage
I am all about using either my applewood-smoked vegan breakfast sausage in this recipe or my vegan Italian sausage. Both can be made from scratch cheaply, and they freeze well too. Otherwise, you can use ground vegan chicken, vegan ham, or store-bought plant-based sausage like the ones from Field Roast.
While the Beyond Meat sausages are amazing for grilling up with some Korean BBQ sauce, they really are designed to mimic uncooked sausage meat. So, if you use them in this recipe, I recommend crumbling and sautéing them in a small amount of olive oil before adding them to the gravy.
Liquid Smoke
This optional ingredient adds a smoky flavor to the gravy, mimicking the taste of smoked meats. That's why I use liquid smoke (sparingly) in a lot of vegan meat recipes like vegan pepperoni and my vegan hot dog recipe too.
If you don't have any but want to add some smokiness, you can make a strong cup of smoked lapsang souchong tea and add a tablespoon or two of it to the gravy.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
🤯Variations
Vegan Chorizo Gravy
Use vegan chorizo instead of regular sausage, and add a minced spoonful of chipotle peppers in adobo to the gravy too. This is a great variation to serve with vegan tamales for breakfast.
Hatch Chili Sausage Gravy
There are a lot of things that my friend Chuck from Brand New Vegan and I agree upon, and one of them is that canned green hatch chilies are a phenomenal secret weapon to keep in your culinary arsenal! Adding a generous spoonful of minced canned hatch chilies is awesome for making breakfast nachos or for loading up your vegan drumsticks with.
50 stunning holiday classics designed to win over even the most anti-vegan guests.
📖 How to Make This Easy Vegan Sausage Gravy
Nail this creamy good stuff on your first shot by following these step-by-step photos with helpful tips. Or scroll down to the bottom of this page for the easy-to-print recipe card.
Step One
Butter Business Bureau:
Melt the vegan butter in a large pan over medium heat. After 90 seconds, when it's fully melted, sprinkle in the flour and whisk constantly until you have a smooth roux. Cook for a few minutes until the roux is lightly browned and has a nutty aroma.
Step Two
Garlic Your Lips:
Add the minced garlic, poultry seasonings, nutritional yeast, and black pepper to the roux. Stir frequently for about 60-90 seconds to let the aromatics release their goodness.
Step Three
Whisk and Reward:
Slowly whisk in the vegetable stock, making sure there are no lumps. Keep whisking for 2 minutes until the mixture starts to thicken up nicely.
Step Four
Milk (shake brings all the boys to the yard):
Reduce the heat to low and stir in the plant-based milk, vegan cream cheese, and salt. Let it cook until the gravy reaches your desired thickness, stirring occasionally.
✅ If it gets too thick, simply thin it with a bit more stock or milk.
✅ My testers and I have had great success making this with oat milk, soy milk, almond milk, and even homemade cashew milk. I wouldn't advise using coconut milk or anything else with a strong or sweet flavor.
Step Five
Sausage Party:
Fold in the vegan sausage crumbles and let it heat through, stirring gently to combine.
✅ If you are using a "raw" plant-based sausage like the Beyond Sausages, I recommend crumbling it and then sautéing the pieces in a little olive oil so that it is ready to eat when you mix it into your gravy base.
Step Six
Sage Advice:
If you're using them, mix in the fresh sage and liquid smoke at this point, and adjust your vegan gravy for seasoning to taste, and serve the heavenly stuff all up on some biscuits, or on garlic Hasselback potatoes!
💡Serving Ideas
While vegan biscuits and gravy is the obvious application for this country-style gravy, m'dear mommy, there are many delightful comfort food applications for this chunky stuff.
Pour this glorious white gravy all-the-heck-over a bed of creamy grits for a Southern-style brunch that slaps. It's also stupid-yummy on hash browns or crispy Indonesian vegetable fritters.
It ain't wrong to roll this creamy gravy out on Thanksgiving or Christmas either, though. What about serving some sausage gravy over some vegan turkey, or a human baby-shaped tofu loaf (I'm not joking…) filled to the brim with either chestnut and herb-laden vegan stuffing or vegan cornbread stuffing that's spiked with stewed cranberries?
Vegan mashed potatoes or candied yams on the side is a must. And only dumdums skip out on either a big ol' slice of vegan apple pie or vegan apple cider donuts for dessert.
👉Top tips
- Keep the Roux Smooth: When making the roux, whisk constantly to avoid lumps. A smooth roux is key to a silky, lump-free gravy. If you see any lumps forming, keep whisking until they're gone.
- Low and Slow is Your Friend: Once you add the plant-based milk and salt, cook the gravy on low heat. Doing that, and also using a thick-bottomed pot, prevents scorching the gravy or causing it to curdle and separate.
- Adjust Thickness with Care: If your gravy gets too thick, gradually add more vegetable stock or plant-based milk to reach your desired consistency. Adding too much liquid all at once can make the gravy too thin.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Yes, store-bought vegan sausage works great in this recipe; just crumble it into the gravy and let it heat through. But if you use Beyond Meat's sausage or any other brand that tries to emulate raw sausage, you should first crumble it and sauté it in olive oil to make it ready to eat.
You can use mushroom broth or just use unsweetened plant-based milk for 100% of the liquid in the recipe and add a spoonful of bouillon paste or a bouillon cube to the gravy.
Absolutely! Feel free to adjust the seasoning to your taste, adding extra black pepper, ground sage, or even some chopped fresh herbs like parsley.
To add some heat, mix in a pinch of cayenne pepper or a few dashes of hot sauce (homemade sriracha, shatta, or sambal oelek can all work great for that) while cooking. Adjust to taste for the perfect spice level.
🧊 Refrigeration and Freezing:
Store leftover vegan sausage gravy in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. For longer storage, you can freeze the gravy in a freezer-safe container or glass jar for up to three months. When ready to use, thaw in the refrigerator overnight before reheating.
🔥 Stovetop Reheating:
To reheat on the stovetop, place the gravy in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir frequently and cook for about 5-7 minutes until heated through. If the gravy is too thick, add a splash of vegetable stock or plant-based milk to reach your desired consistency.
⚡️ Microwave Reheating:
For microwave reheating, transfer the gravy to a microwave-safe bowl and cover loosely. Heat on high for about 1 to 2 minutes, stirring halfway through. Continue heating in 30-second intervals if needed, until the gravy is hot throughout.
⬇️ Serve vegan sausage gravy with these ⬇️
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Easy Vegan Sausage Gravy Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegan butter
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 ½ teaspoons nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup unsalted vegetable stock
- 3 cups unsweetened plant-based milk
- ⅓ cup vegan cream cheese
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups vegan sausage crumbled
Optional Additions:
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage minced
- ½ teaspoon liquid smoke
Instructions
- Melt the vegan butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the butter is fully melted, add the flour and whisk constantly until it forms a smooth roux, cooking for a few minutes to lightly brown and develop a nutty flavor in the flour.
- Add the minced garlic, poultry seasoning, nutritional yeast, and black pepper to the roux. Stir frequently for a minute to release the aromatics.
- Slowly whisk in the vegetable stock, ensuring no lumps form. Continue whisking for 2 minutes until the mixture begins to thicken.
- Reduce the heat to low, then stir in the plant-based milk, vegan cream cheese and salt. Cook until the gravy reaches your desired consistency, stirring occasionally. If the gravy becomes thicker than you like, you can thin it with additional stock or milk.
- Stir in the crumbled vegan sausage to the skillet and allow it to heat through, stirring gently. If you are using them, fold in the fresh sage and liquid smoke at this point.
Notes
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Karen Crowe says
Made this last night, so easy, spot on gravy taste and texture!
Kimbi Walton says
This gravy is so comforting, rich and delicious.
Robyn says
THE ABSOLUTE BEST sausage gravy my husband and I have ever had!!!!! I have been craving biscuits and gravy for years and never got the itch scratched. This is one satisfied woman and tummy!!
Melinda says
This is so tasty! Mine turned out a little thin so i will probably add a bit more flour next time, but the flavor is great!
Jennifer says
This is absolutely great! I will definitely make this recipe. Thank you, Chef Adam for the inspiration for your health-conscious and great tasting recipes 💖🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Dosa Princess says
I made this recipe to go with scrambled tofu and it came out great. So easy to follow and perfect gravy. Recommend the liquid smoke as this did make the perfect smoky addition to the flavor that worked well with the tofu. Thank you Adam, great recipe.