Not your average Vegan Red Wine Gravy! This one is infused with sweet vegetable & fresh herb flavour and is super tasty, rich & flavoursome. Just perfect for serving with your holiday feast!
I have a thing about gravy. I just love it. Especially on vegan mashed potatoes. A good gravy like this Vegan Red Wine Gravy elevates a meal and brings everything together, and this one is an intensely savoury, can’t-stop-mopping-it-up delicious gravy that you’ll want to pour over everything!
We're talking a sweet vegetable base, red wine, herbs, garlic, onion etc, all simmered together into a thick, rich, saucy, gravy. And it is packed with flavour. It leaves storebought gravy packets or granules in the shade. There is no comparison.
Gravy really can make or break a dish. There is nothing worse than bad gravy and nothing better than good gravy!
Jump to:
Is red wine vegan?
Not all wine is vegan. Animal products like egg white or fish swimbladders are sometimes used in the fining/filtering process. It's not difficult to find vegan wine though so you'll have no problems finidng it for this vegan gravy recipe. Barnivore is a great online directory to use when searching. Have it ready on your phone when you go to the liquor store. You can type in the name of a wine and it will tell you if it's vegan friendly or not.
What ingredients do you need
For detailed measurements and instructions, scroll to my printable recipe card at the bottom of the page or click the "jump to recipe" button at the top of the page.
Here's what's going in the gravy pot today:
- Onion, garlic, celery & carrot - The base of any good recipe. They add such a flavour-base to this gravy.
- Flour - To thicken (if you're gluten-free you can use cornstarch)
- Red wine - For amazing depth of flavour
- Stock - More flavour and to thin things out
- Soy sauce or Tamari - My secret weapon in savoury vegan dishes. It adds a "meaty" flavour and darkens the colour.
- Fresh herbs - Optional but recommended for another layer of flavour
- Salt and pepper - Flavour!
- A touch of sugar - Important for balance
- Cranberry Sauce - Optional but recommended if you have some as it really elevates the gravy to new levels.
How to make Vegan Red Wine Gravy
Good vegan gravy is really easy to make. Here's how it's done:
- Step 1 - Saute the veggies slowly until golden and caramelized
- Step 2 - Add the flour and cook it out
- Step 3 - Add everything else and simmer
- Step 4 - Sieve and serve, or store in the fridge for later
Success tips
- Slow cooking the veggies and getting them nice and caramelized is really important for flavour. Don't rush them.
- If at all possible add the optional fresh herbs and vegan cranberry sauce. They really elevate it.
- Use really good quality, tasty stock.
- Make it ahead if you can. The flavours get better with time.
Making ahead and freezing
My Vegan Red Wine Gravy can be made up to 4 days ahead and stored in a sealed container in the fridge. It can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight and warm gently on the stovetop when needed.
How to serve
This Vegan Red Wine Gravy is a savoury, comforting and super-tasty addition to any meal, whether it be a special dinner for friends or family, on your Sunday roast, or for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.
Try serving it with:
- creamy vegan mashed potatoes
- roasted red cabbage
- vegan mashed sweet potato
- vegan roast
- vegan Yorkshire puddings
- toad in the hole
- vegan green bean casserole
- stuffed pumpkin
- roast potatoes
- Wellington
- vegan sweet potato biscuits
- Mushroom Lentil Loaf with Cranberries
- veggie sausages
- Bubble & Squeak
- pies like my individual easy mushroom pies
- Lentil Shepherd's Pie
- hot dipped sandwiches
- Thanksgiving dinner
- Christmas dinner
Hungry for more?
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Red Wine Gravy
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil , Optional. Saute with a bit of water to keep oil-free
- 2 medium onions , chopped
- 1 medium carrot , chopped
- 1 stick celery , chopped
- 1 clove garlic chopped , chopped
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour , or cornstarch/arrowroot
- 1 cup / 240 mls vegan red wine
- 2 cups / 480 mls stock
- 2 tablespoons Tamari or soy sauce , gluten-free if necessary
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 to 3 sprigs of fresh herbs like rosemary, thyme or sage OPTIONAL (stalks can go in)
- 1 bay leaf OPTIONAL
- 2 tablespoons cranberry sauce , OPTIONAL
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Warm the olive oil in a medium pan over a medium heat.
- Add the chopped onion. carrot, celery and sauté slowly, stirring often, for about 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown and caramelized.
- Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two.
- Turn down the heat to the lowest, add the flour and stir very well. It will be clumpy and weird looking. Keep it stirring and let the flour cook for about one minute.
- Remove from the heat and very gradually a few drops at a time, add the red wine, stirring very well in between each addition to work out most of the lumps. We are straining it later though so don't worry about some small ones.
- Once all the red wine has been added, pour in the stock, salt, pepper, sugar and Tamari, then add the optional cranberry sauce and herbs.
- Turn the heat back up to medium and bring to a gentle simmer. Stir constantly until thickened (about 10 minutes). You must stir it the whole time or it will get really lumpy.
- Once it's nice and thick, strain through a sieve over a bowl or clean pan, mashing all the veggies and herbs down with a spoon to get maximum flavour from them.
- Serve right away or store for another day.
NOTES
- Slow cooking the veggies and getting them nice and caramelized is really important for flavour. Don't rush them.
- If at all possible add the optional fresh herbs and cranberry sauce. They really elevate the gravy.
- Use good quality, tasty stock.
- Make-ahead if you can. The flavours get better with time.
Making ahead and freezing
My Vegan Red Wine Gravy can be made up to 4 days ahead and stored in a sealed container in the fridge. It can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight and warm gently on the stovetop when needed. Calories include the optional ingredients.NUTRITION
Nutritional information is provided for convenience & as a courtesy. The data is a computer generated estimate so should be used as a guide only.
This recipe was originally published on December 23rd 2015. I've tweaked the post a bit and now I am republishing it for you. The actual recipe remains the same. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for following A Virtual Vegan!
FAQS
Red wine really does make gravy taste amazing but if you can't use it, dry white wine also works well. For an alcohol-free alternative replace it with more stock. A tablespoon of balsamic vinegar (not any other kind of vinegar is a good addition too if you have some.
A quarter teaspoon of dried rosemary, thyme or sage would be ok, or a small pinch of all 3.
Clive P says
So tasty! We made it for Thanksgiving and at Christmas. It will be our go-to for special occasions now. Thank you!
Signe says
I made this gluten-free and dairy-free. Unfortunately, I can't give it a good rating. It was not very flavorful (despite all the veggies and spice), and using cornstarch to thicken just didn't work. We were disappointed!
Carol Bryan says
Made the red wine gravy for last night. It smelled wonderful while cooking, but I couldn't bear to throw those wonderful veggies away, so pureed them in the blender. The gravy was spectacular.
Frank says
Red wine is unfortunately not vegan. I worked on a winery. A lot of bugs make it into the wine.
A Virtual Vegan says
The only red wine that is not vegan are ones that are fined or filtered with non-vegan ingredients like egg white, isinglass etc. Many wineries don't use those and many wines are in fact vegan.
All food and drink could end up with random bugs etc in it. That's just life. The FDA allows a certain percentage of contamination from insects etc in all food/drink because it isn't realistic to think none would make it in there. It doesn't make you not vegan. If vegans lived like that we wouldn't be able to eat anything, even homegrown in case there was an aphid on a lettuce leaf or something, or even step outside in case we stepped on a bug.
Being vegan is all about doing the best you can not to cause harm to living things. You still need to live and eat though. We can't survive on air alone. Ha ha!
Amy says
This recipe is excellent. I used dried herbs instead of fresh even though I know fresh would be better. Had to add an extra tablespoon of flour to thicken. Also it was very sweet which I imagine varies depending on the type of wine you use. Rounded out the sweetness with 2 teaspoons of vegan Worcestershire and it was perfect. Will make again. Thank you!
Stephanie Hernandez says
Loved it!!!🤤
Cindy says
Hi Mel,
Can you make the gravy without oil, or will that impact the flavor? I don't use oil when cooking.
Thanks!
A Virtual Vegan says
Just use a tiny bit of water to sauté the onions etc and it will be fine. Add more to stop it sticking as you need to.
Tania says
Hi there! Help me please! I made this roast recipe tonight for our New Year’s Eve dinner. I followed the recipe exactly, I had the broth so omitted the water and powder and I even cooked it 10 minutes more than the recipe called for. The end result was it looked and smelled great but the consistency while eating it is like chewing bubble gum :(. What do you think went wrong? If you think it was undercooked, do you think undercooked vital wheat gluten will make us sick? Hope not. Thanks for the recipe though.
A Virtual Vegan says
I've never had mine come out like that and I made it all sorts of ways while testing it. No other reports from anyone else either. I guess there's a chance it was undercooked. Maybe your oven runs a little cooler? Or maybe you made it a bit thicker than my description so it would take longer to cook through. Did you definitely stick to the recipe exactly (other than using broth which is fine) and not change any of the amounts? You used artichokes in oil and not brine/water? And you definitely wrapped it in foil and oven baked it, and not steamed it/boiled it/cooked it in a pressure cooker? This recipe has to be cooked in the oven.
The only other thing is maybe you didn't knead it properly? If you aren't used to kneading bread/seitan it might be worth you watching a Youtube video about how to knead.
It won't make you sick so don't worry about that.
I hope you can manage to deduce what might have happened from these suggestions!
Kaleigh says
Made this for Christmas dinner.
Loved it!! Thank you. So rich and tasty!
John Francis Murphy says
Dear Mel,
Huge gratitude to you for this gravy recipe and the Mushroom Lentil Loaf with Cranberries. I love to experiment with cooking and baking myself but as it's 3.00a.m. on Christmas night I will now gratefully follow your recipies in preparation for tomorrow. Best wishes for a happy holiday.
A Virtual Vegan says
Happy holidays to you too John. I hope you enjoy both recipes!
Teresa says
Can you advise on a vegan red wine ?
A Virtual Vegan says
I tend to buy Shiraz or Merlot, but I only buy local wines as we have some great wineries around us, so my recommendations probably aren't much help unless you are in BC, Canada. Copper Moon is my favourite for cooking because it's really reasonably priced here and it's vegan but that's a local one. My favourite for drinking is any from Tinhorn Creek winery. That's also in BC. Barnivore is a great website and app for checking what wines are vegan.
This article from PETA might be helpful https://www.peta.org/living/food/vegan-wine/ When I'm not buying wines I'm familiar with I go to the liquor store, armed with my phone and the barnivore app and search each one until I find a vegan one. Just make sure you don't use a really cheap cooking wine. It should be one of a quality you would drink. Any average priced bottle of red will work in this gravy, and if you don't drink the remnants, freeze them for when you make the gravy again. Hope that helps!
Lynne says
I didn't bother straining out the vegies as I thought they added an interesting texture, so I'm just calling this a "sauce" rather than a gravy. I will definitely use this recipe again! And such a shame that there was red wine left over from the recipe that I felt compelled to drink while cooking! HA! Thanks Mel!
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm so pleased you enjoyed it. Finishing off the red wine after cooking is a hard job but someone's got to do it! ;O)
Phoebe says
Hi, how long will this keep in the fridge?
A Virtual Vegan says
Easily 3-4 days. Probably a bit longer. It freezes well too. It will get really thick and gloopy when it cools but as soon as it warms back up again it will loosen up. You can always add a drop of water if you need it a bit thinner too.
CharlotteAngel says
I made this to go with a seitan roast for my non-vegan family in law for Christmas lunch. It topped off the meal beautifully. Lovely flavour
A Virtual Vegan says
That's great! Thanks so much for stopping by to let me know :O)
Vanessa says
I found it so hard to find a good vegan gravy. You nailed it though!
Roxanne Veinotte says
Going to make this for my wedding, to serve over lentil balls. Thank you for the recipe!
A Virtual Vegan says
Oh wow! I am honoured! It will be great with the lentil balls. In fact it goes great with nearly everything. I hope your wedding is absolutely fantastic and that you love every minute! Congratulations in advance!
Roxanne Veinotte says
It will be real soon, January 9, so will give you an update, 99% of guests are omnivores, and I am the only vegan there, and the food is ALL vegan. LOL
Oh and by the way the crown I am wearing is the tiara I will be wearing at my wedding!
A Virtual Vegan says
Love the tiara! I bet you are so excited. Have a fantastic day!