Creamy vegan risotto with mushrooms & sausage

Looking for a dish that will impress your dinner guests?

Look no further than this creamy and comforting vegan risotto with hearty vegan sausage and earthy mushrooms.

Risotto has “special occasion” written all over it, because it takes a little more attention than your standard weeknight rice dish. (Perfect for Christmas dinner or Easter!)

However, it’s not complicated to make. It just takes a little bit of babying and attention. Totally worth it for the end result!

Risotto is known for its creaminess, thanks to the starchy nature of short grain Italian rice, arborio. But my version is EXTRA creamy, because it’s finished with full-bodied cashew cream.

It’s almost like risotto meets mushroom alfredo. So much yum in every bite. It makes for a really indulgent, hearty dish that feels downright decadent.

In this post:

Raw cashews: Raw cashews make this risotto unbelievably creamy. You can find raw cashews with other nuts at the grocery store.

I recommend buying raw cashew pieces, because they’re less expensive than whole raw cashews. Since you’ll be blending them anyway, might as well save some money.

Vegetable broth: For best results, choose a full-flavored vegetable broth. You’ll need 3 ½ cups of vegetable broth for this recipe. If you buy a 32 fluid ounce box, that’s 4 cups. So simply store ½ cup of broth for another time, and use the rest.

Oil: There’s a small amount of oil in this recipe to brown the sausage and saute veggies. Avocado oil is my go-to, but any neutral-flavored cooking oil will work here. (Follow an oil-free diet? I give workarounds below.)

Vegan sausage: Use any vegan sausage you enjoy such as Herbivorous Butcher, Upton’s Naturals, or Field Roast. To make this dish gluten-free, use a gluten-free sausage like Beyond or Impossible.

You’ll need 1 cup of chopped sausage or 6 ounces. That’s generally 2 full-sized sausage links.

Mushrooms: Cremini are hearty, delicious, and easy to attain. However, any mushrooms you enjoy can be used.

Onions and garlic: Yellow onions are especially nice here. A garlic press comes in handy for mincing garlic with ease. (With my favorite garlic press, you don’t even have to peel the garlic cloves before pressing!)

Arborio rice: Arborio rice is a plump grain that holds its shape, and has a starchiness that lends itself to risotto. Look for it with other grains in the center aisles of the grocery store. If you prefer, it can be replaced with carnaroli rice.

Seasonings: Dried thyme, dried rosemary, black pepper, and salt bring this dish to life with homey flavor.

1. Make cashew cream by blending raw cashews with water in a high-speed blender. (Don’t have a high-speed blender? See workarounds below.) Then set aside.

2. Bring a small pot of vegetable broth to a low heat. In a separate large skillet, brown bite-sized pieces of vegan sausage with oil. Once the sausage has browned, transfer it to a plate for later.

3. Sauté mushrooms with oil in the skillet until they release their juices and brown.

4. Push the mushrooms to one side of the skillet, and add onions and garlic. Sauté until fragrant, and then combine with the mushrooms.

5. Add Arborio rice, thyme, rosemary, and pepper. Get everything fully coated.

6. Slowly add warm vegetable broth to the rice mixture. Pour in one or two ladles at a time. With each ladling of broth, allow the rice to fully soak it up before adding another.

Keep stirring. As it cooks, the risotto will start to thicken. Continue adding ladle after ladle of broth until you run out. This will take about 25 minutes.

7. Once the rice is al dente and all of the vegetable broth has been absorbed, add cashew cream and browned sausage to the pan.

8. Combine everything, and let it cook about a minute more. (The risotto should be creamy and luxurious, but not overly wet.)

Remember: Risotto is at its creamiest when served right away.

Make this comforting dinner your own by varying the ingredients.

To make this dish oil-free: Replace the sausage with a bean or vegetable. Saute the mushrooms, onions, and garlic in water or vegetable broth instead of oil.

To make this dish without a high-speed blender: Grind the dry raw cashews in a clean coffee or spice grinder until they are fine like a flour. Then add them to your standard blender with the water.

Or soak the raw cashews in additional water for several hours to soften before blending. (Remember to drain off the soaking water before blending.)

To make this dish with vegetable bouillon instead of broth: Stir 1 Tablespoon of Better Than Bouillon no chicken base into 3 ½ cups of warm water until it dissolves.

Vary the ingredients: Onions can be replaced with sliced leeks or shallots. Minced garlic can be replaced with ½ teaspoon of garlic powder. (If you’re using garlic powder, add it at the same time as the other herbs and seasonings.)

Vegan sausage and/or cremini mushrooms can be replaced with an equal amount of your preferred bean or vegetable. If you’re a mushroom lover, consider swapping out the sausage for even more mushrooms.

Here are some other good options:

• Cubed winter squash (like butternut or delicata squash)
• Button or oyster mushrooms
• Chickpeas
• Cannellini beans
• Great Northern beans
• Asparagus
• Red bell pepper
• Zucchini
• Yellow summer squash
• Green peas
• Broccolini

Finish vegan mushroom risotto with an optional garnish: For added color, finish the complete dish with fresh thyme or chopped parsley just before serving.

Serve this creamy vegan risotto with any of these vegetable side dishes:

• Roasted fennel with vegan parmesan
• Air fryer radishes with vegan parmesan
• Oven-roasted Brussels sprouts with apples
• Air fried asparagus
• Fall salad with apples
• Roasted delicata squash

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will continue to thicken as it cools. It will keep for about 4 days.

Reheat in the microwave or on the stove, stirring frequently. Add a splash of water or vegetable broth to loosen the texture, make it creamy again, and less sticky.

Even better, repurpose cold leftover risotto into vegan arancini (shown above). Vegan arancini is AMAZING. It can be cooked in the air fryer or oven.

📖 Recipe

Creamy vegan risotto with mushrooms & sausage

Author: Cadry Nelson

4.88 from 8 votes

This full-bodied risotto is extra creamy by way of cashew cream. It's a vegan main dish that really feels like an indulgence. It's loaded with mushrooms and vegan sausage. Worthy of a date night or dinner party!

Makes about 3 ½ cups of risotto

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 38 minutes minutes

Total Time: 48 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 people

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: dairy free, rice, vegan, vegetarian

Ingredients

• ▢ ¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons raw cashews*
• ▢ ½ cup water
• ▢ 3 ½ cups vegetable broth**
• ▢ 2 teaspoons avocado oil or other neutral-flavored high heat oil, divided
• ▢ 1 cup (6-ounces) chopped vegan sausage cut in small to medium bite-sized pieces
• ▢ 8 ounces cremini mushrooms sliced
• ▢ Pinch of salt
• ▢ ½ cup chopped yellow onions
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic minced
• ▢ 1 cup arborio rice
• ▢ ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• ▢ ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
• ▢ Pepper to taste

Instructions

• ▢
  Make the cashew cream. Put the raw cashews into a high speed blender with ½ cup of water. Blend until it is completely smooth, a thick cashew cream. Set aside.
• ▢
  Bring a small pot of vegetable broth to a low heat on the stove. You’ll come back to it in a bit.
• ▢
  Bring a large non-stick skillet to a medium heat with one teaspoon of oil. Add the seitan sausage pieces and brown in the skillet to give them some color on both sides. This should just take a couple of minutes. Remove the sausage pieces from the skillet, and transfer them to a plate for later.
• ▢
  Add a half teaspoon of oil to the skillet, as well as the sliced mushrooms and a pinch of salt. Allow the mushrooms to release their liquid and brown in the skillet. Once the mushrooms are brown on one side, flip them. (Moving the mushrooms too often will slow their browning.)
• ▢
  Once the mushrooms have some nice color, push them to one side of the skillet. Add the remaining ½ teaspoon of oil to the empty side of the skillet, along with chopped onions & garlic. Saute the onions and garlic for a couple minutes, until fragrant. Then stir them together with the mushrooms.
• ▢
  Add arborio rice, dried thyme, dried rosemary, and a grind of black pepper to the skillet. Use a spatula to fully incorporate all of the ingredients. Cook for a minute or so.
• ▢
  Now it's time to start incorporating the warm broth. Add one or two ladles of warm broth to the skillet. Stir the arborio rice mixture every 30 seconds to a minute or so.

  The ingredients in the skillet should be at a low simmer. You don't want everything to boil off quickly, but you also don't want the heat so low that it takes forever to cook.
• ▢
  Once the rice has fully absorbed the first round of broth, add another ladleful and allow that to be absorbed, continuing to stir often. Keep going in this manner – ladle by ladle – until all of the broth is used. (Once the broth is gone out of the small pot, remember to turn off the heat.)

  As it cooks, the risotto will start to thicken. It should take about 25 minutes for all of the broth to be absorbed into the rice. Take a bite. The rice should be perfectly al dente. (It's unlikely, but if it still feels too hard, you can add a splash more of water to the rice until it reaches the right texture.)
• ▢
  Now it's time to add the cashew cream. Pour the cashew cream into the skillet, and fully combine. Add the browned sausage to the skillet as well. Allow the risotto to cook for a minute or so longer, and for the sausage to warm up again. The risotto should be velvety and rich.
• ▢
  Taste for salt & pepper, and add more if necessary. Serve right away.

Watch how to make it

Notes

*If you aren’t using a high speed blender, you’ll need to soak the raw cashews in additional water for several hours to soften and then drain before continuing with the recipe. Or grind the dry raw cashews in a clean coffee grinder until they are fine like a flour. Then add them to your standard blender with the water. If you’re using a high speed blender, you can skip this step.

**If you’d prefer, instead of vegetable broth you can use 3 ½ cups of water + 1 Tablespoon Better Than Bouillon in the no-chicken base. Just stir the Better Than Bouillon into the warm water until it dissolves.

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Nutrition

Calories: 311kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 6g | Sodium: 986mg | Potassium: 374mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 440IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 3.5mg

Content and photos updated March 10, 2024. Originally posted January 14, 2019.