The Umami-Bomb You Need For Thicker Vegan Gravy
Just because you have vegans sitting around your dinner table doesn't mean your gravy recipes are doomed. A vegan gravy recipe can be just as satisfying and thick as one made with animal products, still full of savory flavors to add the finishing touch to your meal. Should you feel your usual recipe is a bit thin before serving, however, there's an easy solution to bulk up your gravy: nutritional yeast.
Nutritional yeast can be added to gravies and soups as a thickener and also to bring a boost of savory umami deliciousness to a potentially disappointing sauce. With just one spoonful, your food will take on a richer quality with the nutty, tangy inclusion, that's been compared to a parmesan-like taste. Plus, nutritional yeast is considered by some to be a superfood, offering vitamins and minerals that elevate the nutritional profile of whatever it's added to. Talk about winning all around. You'll want to add nutritional yeast conservatively and slowly to your recipes, as a little can go a long way when it comes to this flaky or powdered ingredient.
Extra texture and flavor in an easy spoonful
In addition to adding quick spoonfuls to your gravy during the whisking and cooking process, you can delicately sprinkle nutritional yeast on top of poured dishes of gravy just before serving for a textural and aesthetic boost. Any omitted ingredients for the sake of making it plant-based will be quickly forgotten with this easy addition.
As well as keeping some for gravy, consider stocking nutritional yeast in your pantry for easy inclusion into all sorts of other dishes, from soups to chilies, or to bulk up the flavor of dishes in need of a bit of a cheesy bite. It's good sprinkled onto the crunchy topping of mac and cheese, for example. Spoonfuls added to salad dressing, sprinkled on top of bowls of popcorn, or added to your morning plates of scrambled eggs can warrant investment in the ingredient. The umami-forward flavor will build richness and depth to the dishes you serve to your vegan friends — and will have you looking for ways to add the ingredient into more meat-based meals, too.