Creamy chestnut gravy (vegan)

Is it even possible to buy them without singing, “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire?”

And while I have had them roasted on an open fire (in Switzerland on our honeymoon), it’s a heck of a lot easier to buy them already peeled and cooked.

Closer to home, I buy peeled and cooked chestnuts in vacuum-packed boxes at Trader Joe’s. You can also find them elsewhere in jars.

I have cooked chestnuts from scratch in their shells in the oven, and that’s fun to do.

But for recipes like the one I’m sharing today where you’re using a lot of them, it’s a lot easier to buy them cooked and peeled, ready to go into any recipe.

They can be eaten right out of the package, or used in hot dishes.

(Want to cook chestnuts yourself? Check out this post on how to roast chestnuts in the oven.)

In this post:

This gravy recipe came about when I was looking for new ways to use chestnuts – outside of just chopping them and folding them into other things.

I’d heard of chestnut bisque. And that sounded like a delicious holiday starter.

I sautéed onions and garlic, added spices, water, no-chicken flavored bouillon, chestnuts, and cashew cream. Then I blended them until they were beautifully smooth.

But when I took a taste, I thought, “This would make a great gravy!”

It was nice right out of the pot, but it would be even lovelier on top of a pillowy mound of mashed potatoes.

And so cashew gravy with chestnuts was born!

As a bonus, this cashew gravy is gluten-free and flour-free.

Afterwards, I googled it to see if people make chestnut gravy, and they do. But it seems like more often wine is added to chestnut gravy, and the gravy is thinner.

Because of the cashew cream in my recipe, it has a thick, velvety body that feels very rich and indulgent.

And the chestnuts add an undertone of mild sweetness that is a nice surprise.

This gravy would make a terrific Christmas dinner side dish!

Here are the ingredients you will need to make this recipe.

Raw cashews: Raw cashews make this gravy wonderfully creamy & full-bodied. Look for them with other nuts at the grocery store.

Oil: You can use any neutral-flavored cooking oil to sauté onions and garlic. Avocado oil is my go-to.

Onions: You can use any color, but yellow is especially nice here.

Garlic: Freshly minced garlic has the best, most robust flavor. But it can be replaced with ⅛ teaspoon of garlic powder. If using powdered, add it at the same time as the other seasonings.

Chestnuts: I recommend using ready-to-eat, peeled & cooked chestnuts. You could find them in vacuum packaging, jars, or sealed pouches at many grocery stores, especially around the winter holidays.

Seasonings: Dried rosemary, dried thyme, salt, and pepper.

Bouillon: I like Better Than Bouillon no chicken base. Water + bouillon can be replaced with an equal amount of vegetable broth instead.

Here’s how to make this recipe at a glance. For complete ingredient amounts & instructions, keep scrolling to the recipe card below.

Start by making cashew cream. It’s thicker than cashew milk, and it gives the gravy luxurious body.

Add water and raw cashews to a high-speed blender. Blend until smooth, stopping once to scrape down the sides, if necessary.

Then set the cashew cream aside to use later.

If you don’t have a high-speed blender, I give alternatives in the notes section of the recipe box below.

Sauté onions and garlic with oil under a medium heat in a pot, until translucent and fragrant.

Then add cooked chestnuts to the pot.

(If you’re using vacuum-packed chestnuts, they will be stuck together. Break them apart with your hands as you add them to the pot.)

Sprinkle in dried rosemary and dried thyme as well. Then give everything a stir.

Deglaze the pot with water, Better Than bouillon no chicken base, salt, and a dash of pepper.

If you’d rather, you can use vegetable broth instead of water + bouillon.

Stir everything to combine, and cook for a couple minutes.

Add cashew cream to the pot, and cook a couple minutes more.

Then blend everything until smooth with an immersion blender.

As the chestnuts break up, the gravy will thicken.

If it’s not thick enough after everything has blended, cook for a little bit longer, so that it can cook down. (But in my experience, it’s plenty thick by the time everything has blended.)

Pour this delicious gravy over any of these dishes:

• Mashed potatoes
• Vegan stuffing
• Vegan fried chicken
• Vegan skewers Thanksgiving kebabs

Round out the meal with any of these sides:

• Delicata squash salad
• Orange cranberry sauce
• Roasted Brussels sprouts with apples

📖 Recipe

Creamy chestnut gravy (vegan)

Author: Cadry Nelson

5 from 2 votes

You won't believe the velvety goodness in this vegan, gluten-free, and flour-free gravy. Perfect for holiday dinners over mashed potatoes. Chestnuts add a subtle sweetness, and blended cashews give it luxurious body.

Use peeled and cooked chestnuts to save yourself time and energy.

Makes 1 ½ to 2 cups of gravy.

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 6 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 14 minutes minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 people

Course: Dressing, Sauce

Cuisine: American, Vegan

Keyword: christmas recipe, gluten free gravy, vegan gravy

Ingredients

Cashew cream

• ▢ ½ cup water
• ▢ ¼ cup raw cashews

Chestnut gravy

• ▢ ½ teaspoon avocado oil or other neutral-flavored oil
• ▢ ½ cup chopped yellow onions
• ▢ 1 clove garlic minced
• ▢ 6.5 ounces chestnuts peeled & cooked
• ▢ ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
• ▢ ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• ▢ 1 cup water
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon no chicken base*
• ▢ Pinch of salt
• ▢ Dash of pepper

Instructions

Make cashew cream

• ▢
  Put water and raw cashews into a high speed blender.** Blend until smooth. (Stop once and scrape down the sides, if necessary.)

Make the chestnut gravy

• ▢
  Bring a medium-sized pot to a medium heat with oil. Add chopped onions and minced garlic. Saute a few minutes, until translucent and fragrant.
• ▢
  Add cooked chestnuts, dried rosemary, and dried thyme to the pot. (If the chestnuts are stuck together, break them apart with your hands as you put them into the pot.) Saute for about a minute.
• ▢
  Add water, Better Than Bouillon no chicken base, pinch of salt, and dash of pepper. Stir to evenly incorporate everything. Cook for a couple minutes.
• ▢
  Add cashew cream to the pot, and stir to evenly combine everything. Cook for a couple minutes more.
• ▢
  Now it's time to blend the soup until creamy. If you have an immersion blender, I recommend using that, so that you're not moving hot liquid. Blend until completely smooth with a stick blender.

  If necessary, continue cooking for a minute or so more, until the gravy is the thickness you like.

  (If it's not thick enough or warm enough, keep letting it cook until it condenses more. If it's too thick, add a splash of water.)

  If you don't have an immersion blender, carefully put the soup into a standard blender, and blend until smooth. If it's not thick enough or warm enough, put the soup back into the pot, and continue cooking until it's reached your preferred thickness/warmth.

Notes

*If you’d prefer, instead of using 1 cup of water + bouillon, you can use 1 cup of vegetable broth. Note that Better Than Bouillon no chicken base doesn’t make claims that their product is gluten free, because of cross contamination potential. So if that’s a concern for you, use broth instead.

**If you don’t have a high speed blender, your blender will need some help blending the cashews until totally smooth. You have 2 options:

1. Grind the dry, raw cashews in a clean coffee grinder until they’re like flour. Then add them to the blender with the water.
2. Soak the raw cashews for several hours in water until they have softened before making this recipe. Then drain the cashews and add them to the blender.

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Nutrition

Calories: 99kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 8mg | Potassium: 204mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 11mg | Iron: 1mg