Rich and creamy dairy free mushroom sauce with an unusual ingredient that just works so well. You’ll want to serve this with everything!
This dairy free mushroom sauce is so good served over pretty much anything.
Over rice? Fabulous. On baked potatoes? Unbelievable. On pasta? Yum!
It’s a simple 8-ingredient sauce that you can whip up anytime and turn any boring old rice or pasta dish into a gourmet meal.
And it has a surprise ingredient: Tahini!
Tahini creates the creaminess and richness of this sauce. It’s not what you would usually think of adding to a mushroom sauce but seriously it works sooo well in this recipe and you’ll love the richness of flavor.
We do have another vegan mushroom sauce that you will also love and that one is made with homemade cashew cream for a seriously creamy result. Check that one out too. Heck, why not try both recipes. I think you will love them both.
And if you love all things mushrooms then also check out our delicious vegan stuffed mushrooms.
How To Make Dairy Free Mushroom Sauce
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- It’s so simple to make this delicious sauce. Start off with slicing your mushrooms.
- Then mix up some soy sauce, sesame oil, maple syrup, crushed garlic, dried rosemary and thyme in a mixing bowl or measuring jug.
- Add the sliced mushrooms to a pan and pour over the sauce. Sauté the mushrooms until softened.
- Continue to sauté until the water is reduced.
- When the sauce is reduced so that there is only a little water remaining, turn the heat down low and stir in the tahini. Remove from the heat.
- Serve over penne (or rice or baked potatoes or anything you like) with chopped cilantro for garnish.
Chef’s Tips
Mushrooms. We used white button mushrooms for this sauce, but you could also use cremini mushrooms (also called portobellini or baby bella). Either type of mushroom will work great in this sauce.
Tahini – should be a high quality, great tasting tahini. Soom is a good brand (available on Amazon). Otherwise just use a brand that you know tastes good.
Sauté the mushrooms until there is a little water remaining. If you sauté them for too long then all the water will evaporate and then the sauce will be too dry. So you want some of the water from the mushrooms to mix up with the tahini to create a delicious rich sauce.
Storing and Freezing
Keep leftovers in the fridge and enjoy within 3-4 days. It is also freezer friendly if you want to freeze it. Let it defrost in the fridge overnight when you’re ready to use it.
More Vegan Sauce Recipes
- Vegan Cheese Sauce
- Vegan Peanut Sauce
- Vegan White Sauce
- Vegan Peppercorn Sauce
- Vegan Bolognese Sauce
- Cashew Cheese Sauce
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Dairy Free Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
- 5 cups White Button Mushrooms (480g) Sliced
- 2 Tablespoons Dark Soy Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
- 3 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
- 1 teaspoon Crushed Garlic
- 1 teaspoon Dried Rosemary
- 1 teaspoon Dried Thyme
- ⅓ cup Tahini (80g)
Instructions
- Start off with slicing the mushrooms.
- Then mix up the soy sauce, sesame oil, maple syrup, crushed garlic, dried rosemary and thyme in a mixing bowl or measuring jug.
- Add the sliced mushrooms to a pan and pour over the sauce. Sauté the mushrooms until softened and then continue to sauté them until the water is reduced.
- When the water is reduced so that there is only a little water remaining, turn the heat down low and stir in the tahini. Remove from the heat.
- Serve over penne (or rice or baked potatoes or anything you like) with chopped cilantro for garnish.
Notes
- Tahini. Use a good quality, good tasting Tahini.
- Mushrooms. White button mushrooms or cremini mushrooms both work great for this sauce.
- Sauté the mushrooms until there is only a little water left (but there is still some water left). If you sauté them for too long so that all the water has evaporated then the sauce will be too dry. So you want to have some of the water from the mushrooms to mix up with the tahini to create a delicious rich sauce.
- Storing: Keep leftovers in the fridge and enjoy within 3-4 days.
- Freezing: It is also freezer friendly if you want to freeze it. Let it defrost in the fridge overnight when you’re ready to use it.
- Nutritional information is for the sauce only and does not include pasta or anything you might serve it with.
Love the sweetness from the maple syrup. This will be a staple in my house. I doubled the sauce and used 24 oz of mushrooms. It really soaked into the rice I served it over. Thank you
So glad you enjoyed it Kathy! Thanks for the great review. 🙂
Yum yum yum, ich komme!
Pilze sind so umami, ich liebe Pilze.
Grüße,
Jesse-Gabriel
Haha, same! 🙂
Mouthwatering. Cooked up last night and included it in my rice paper rolls, OMG so delicious. Then today I had the leftover sauce on baked sweet potato slices – even better!! Really enjoyed it thank you so much.
Awesome Stephanie! So glad you enjoyed it, thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
I did a single serving size, to see if I wanted to serve it to friends. Had to substitute agave syrup for maple syrup, and I used herbs de Provence for the spices. I’m using someone else’s kitchen, so I had to improvise. I would increase the garlic next time, and probably add onions too. I loved the earthy taste. I’m wondering why you don’t allow the liquid to sit for a few hours, to allow the dried herbs to expand? My sauce was a little too thick (I think because of the small sample), so I added some white wine. It was really tasty. I will use this to cook for friends now. Thanks.
Hi Francine, thanks for sharing! I generally try to keep things quick – but if you prefer to let the dried herbs sit for a while and expand, definitely do it!
Was amazing! I have had it 3X this weeks already tata! lol, but with raw shredded zucchini that way no calories and I put a bit of cashew cheese as a topper.. was scrumptious..I also subbed with parsley. thank you Alison!
Sounds delish! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Outrageously good. I just went to make this and found that I was mistaken about what was in my fridge – had only three small mushrooms and three largish, ripe tomatoes from my parents’ friends’ garden. Used the mushroom-tomato combo instead of just tomatoes, followed the rest of the recipe unchanged (adding the tahini to the cooked-down mix at the end) and the result is amazing. I feel confident that I could use this recipe with almost any veg combo and it would be great (though I can see how mushrooms have a special affinity with this flavour mix, and am looking forward to trying the recipe with just mushrooms). Thank you so much for a fantastic and (very importantly) easy and quick recipe. I’m sure I’ll use it often.
That is so fantastic! So glad to hear you loved it and that it was great with a tomato/mushroom mix! It definitely is good with different veg combos! 🙂
Made this tonight and it was delicious! I have to bookmark your site for more recipes. I’m newly vegan and having so much fun experimenting with new flavors and ingredients!
Glad to hear Elita! And that’s so exciting that you’re a new vegan, it’s an awesome adventure in food! All the best! 🙂
Hi Alison, I love this recipe! It’s quickly becoming my go-to meal!! I’m not the greatest cook so it took a couple of attempts for it to resemble yours, but I think I’ve now cracked it! Love your recipes, easy to follow and adapt for just 1 person. Thanks and keep them coming! x
Hey Nicole! You’re welcome! So glad you like it! It’s one of our faves too. 🙂
Made this sauce today and it was a hit! Thank you for the incredibly creative recipe, love using tahina in my sauces so this was perfect.
Hi Arva, so cool, thank you! So glad it was a hit! 🙂
Hi I made this and loved it. only one problem was that my tahini was too sticky and clumpy. yours looks creamy. How did you get it nice?
p.S cant wait to make it again!
Hi Alex! So glad you loved it! 🙂 It depends what tahini you buy, some are smoother than others. I would just try a different brand of tahini next time, the ideal is if the tahini is a similar consistency to peanut butter, nice and smooth and easy to mix in 🙂
Also – just make sure to stir it in while the mushrooms are still hot, and there is still a little liquid remaining from the mushrooms. And then just stir and stir until it mixes into a paste.
This was so amazing. Will be making again!
It IS amazing! So glad you liked it too Jean! 🙂
This sauce is Amazing! My family and I loved it, even my mushroom-averse teenage daughter. I served it over pan-fried polenta and it was perfect. This will now be in my regular rotation. I can imagine it would be great with pasta or rice. 5 stars!! Thanks!
Yay! So glad to hear Sandy! And pan fried Polenta sounds amazing too 🙂
I made this tonight and that sauce was so good. I thought that if I put it over penne it would be too dry for my taste so I put it on organic soba noodles instead and it was a great pair. I will be making this again. Thanks for the great recipe!
Woohoo! So glad to hear it was awesome! And yes, it goes with anything! 🙂
what exactly is olive dried spice…what would use to replace it ?
Thanks !!
Hi Jill, we use Ina Paarman’s Rosemary and Olive Spice, which is an all-in-one seasoning. It’s available on Amazon, but really it’s not necessary to use this exact one, you can substitute any dried spice mix of your choice, and if it contained rosemary that would be great. Olive is much less common in a spice, but this doesn’t need direct substituting.
This is going to be glorious. I’m not hungry right now but my mouth is watering just looking at the pics and since 5 mins is exactly my preferred time to prepare food and 20 mins is my preferred time to cook anything, I can’t wait to make it.