Vegetarian Gravy {Make Ahead Recipe}

A gravy boat with vegetarian gravy inside, sitting on a white table with a spoon and potatoes just out of shot.

4.80 from 24 votes

Vegetarian Gravy {Make Ahead Recipe}

This easy Vegetarian Gravy is a foolproof recipe for cooking up rich, satisfying and flavour-filled gravy for your special meat-free dinners. You can also make a batch ahead of time to use another day for ultimate kitchen convenience!

Prep Time10

Cook Time2 10

Total Time2 20

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Family Food

Servings:

Author: Sarah Rossi

Ingredients

2 Onions
500 g Leeks
450 g Carrots
4 Celery sticks
1 Garlic bulb
2 tbsp Olive oil
2 tbsp Tomato puree
10 g Fresh thyme
2 Bay leaves
2 Vegetable stock cubes No need to dilute
1.5 l Water
180 ml White wine Check label if you're vegetarian or vegan
25 g Cornflour See notes
2 tbsp Dark soy sauce I use reduced salt
2 tbsp Redcurrant jelly
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 200℃ fan/220℃/Gas Mark 7.
Start by preparing the vegetables, cut the tops and bottom off each onion, remove the outmost layer of skin, but leave on as much as you can, then cut in half, and each half into quarters. Cut the leeks, carrots and celery into 2cm chunks (you can leave the carrots unpeeled). Cut the top off of the garlic bulb.
Put all the vegetables on a baking tray, drizzle with the olive oil, and a good seasoning of salt and pepper. Put into the oven and set a timer for 50 minutes.
When the timer goes off, remove the tray from the oven, give everything a good shake and add in tomato puree and thyme. Return to the oven for 10 minutes, until the vegetables have turned very brown, then transfer them to a large saucepan. Carefully squeeze the garlic out of its skin into the vegetables, add the bay leaves, stock cubes, water and white wine, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour (it should be bubbling).
Using a large sieve, strain the mixture into a large bowl, discarding the vegetables. Pour the gravy back into the saucepan.
Put the cornflour in a small dish and add just enough of the gravy to make a smooth paste (making this cornflour paste helps avoid heavy lumps). Pour the paste back into the saucepan of gravy and mix well. Add the soy sauce and redcurrant jelly and cook over a low heat for a further 5-10 minutes until thickened, whisking often to avoid any lumps.

Notes

Nutritional values: These values are very approximate as they don’t account for the discarded ingredients after straining.

Make ahead of time: If you’re making this ahead of time, just wait until it’s totally cold and then put it into a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Freeze in one batch or several. Defrost thoroughly in the fridge overnight or in the slow cooker or saucepan.

Alcohol: You can replace the wine with additional water if you prefer an alcohol free version.

Cornflour: PLEASE NOTE that cornflour in the UK is NOT the same as it in the US! There it's known as 'corn starch'. Corn flour in the US is something different (the same as cornmeal in the UK), so please don't use this.

Nutrition