Creamy chestnut gravy (vegan)

Dairy-free chestnut gravy in orange gravy boat.

5 from 2 votes

Creamy chestnut gravy (vegan)

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.

Prep Time6

Cook Time14

Total Time20

Course: Dressing, Sauce

Cuisine: American, Vegan

Keyword: christmas recipe, gluten free gravy, vegan gravy

Servings: people

Calories: 99kcal

Author: Cadry Nelson

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:

Grind the dry, raw cashews in a clean coffee grinder until they're like flour. Then add them to the blender with the water.
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.

Nutrition