Rich and creamy vegan mushroom sauce made with homemade cashew cream for a seriously delicious sauce that is divine over anything and everything!
I have been in love with mushroom sauce for a long time! Way before I was vegan I was seriously into mushroom sauce over anything and everything.
And seriously I think the vegan version is better!
It’s not only completely divine, it’s also really versatile and can be used so many different ways.
And then… along with being insanely delicious it’s also so easy to make! Bonus!
Of course if you love mushrooms then you’ll love our delicious vegan stuffed mushrooms and vegan garlic mushrooms, so check those out. Another amazing sauce that elevates anything you pour it on is our vegan peppercorn sauce.
How to Make Vegan 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.
- Add raw cashews, water and salt to a blender jug and blend into a smooth cashew cream. Set aside.
- Now add vegan butter and olive oil to a frying pan along with crushed garlic and dried thyme and heat that together, then add in sliced mushrooms and cook until they’re softened.
- Add vegetable stock and the full batch of homemade cashew cream. Lower the heat and simmer and stir until it thickens.
- Add some salt and pepper and you have a sauce to remember!
Ingredient Notes
Vegan butter and olive oil. We used both in this recipe, which might seem odd, but I was reading somewhere that using a little oil along with butter can make the butter seem to go further! So I gave it a try and well… it certainly seemed to work great in this recipe.
Mushrooms. We used cremini mushrooms in this recipe, also known as baby bella’s or portobellini mushrooms. You can use white button mushrooms instead, that would also work fine in this recipe.
Cashews. We didn’t soak the cashews first in this recipe, but we made the cashew cream in a Vitamix. If you think your blender may struggle, then place the cashews in a bowl, pour over boiling hot water from the kettle until the cashews are submerged. Leave them to soak for 15 minutes and then drain and rinse and continue with the recipe.
If you don’t eat cashews, then you might want to try our tahini mushroom sauce instead or the mushroom sauce we used with our tofu burger recipe. Neither of those sauces uses cashews.
Serving Suggestions
This sauce is super versatile and would be totally divine served over vegan ‘meats’ like vegan steak or vegan chicken. It would also be wonderful with a vegan burger or over a baked potato or served with pasta or rice or even over vegan mashed potatoes or vegan cauliflower mashed potatoes.
It’s really an ‘everything’ sauce in that it would go great with pretty much anything savory.
Storing and Freezing
Keep leftovers in the fridge and consume within 3-4 days.
It is also freezer friendly if you’d like to freeze it.
More Vegan Mushroom Recipes
- Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff
- Vegan Mushroom Gravy
- Vegan Mushroom Risotto
- Baked Portobello Mushrooms
- Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup
- Vegan Mushroom Pasta
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
Cashew Cream:
- 1 cup Raw Cashews (150g)
- ½ cup Water (120ml)
- ½ tsp Salt
Mushroom Sauce:
- 2 Tbsp Vegan Butter
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 tsp Crushed Garlic
- 1 tsp Dried Thyme
- 3 cups Mushrooms (300g) Sliced
- ¾ cup Vegetable Stock (180ml)
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Black Pepper
Instructions
- Prepare the cashew cream. Add the cashews, water and salt to the blender jug and blend until smooth. Set aside.
- Prepare the mushroom sauce. Add the vegan butter and oil to a frying pan and then add the crushed garlic and dried thyme and sauté together until the butter is melted and the mix is heated.
- Then add in the sliced mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms are softened.
- Add in the vegetable stock and all the cashew cream and stir it in. Lower the heat and bring to a simmer and keep stirring until it's thickened.
- Add salt and black pepper.
- Serve over anything and everything that needs a sauce (more ideas in the blog post)!
Notes
- Cashews. You don’t have to soak the cashews first unless you have a weaker model blender. If you need to soak them first then you can place them in a bowl, pour over boiling water from the kettle and leave to soak for 15 minutes to soften and then drain and rinse.
- Mushrooms. We used cremini mushrooms, also called portobellini mushrooms or baby bella’s. You can also use regular white button mushrooms in this recipe.
- Storing. Keep leftovers in the fridge and consume within 3-4 days. It is also freezer friendly if you’d like to freeze it.
It blew our minds! I have been vegetarian for years and I always thought I couldn’t be vegan because I love cheese and cream. But you would never know there’s no cream or cheese in this sauce! We had it with brown rice and it was so unbelievably delicious!!! It definitely gets on our regular recipes list! Any recipe of yours I’ve tried is a triumph, sweet or savoury! Many thanks!!!
That’s so awesome! Thanks so much Sevi!
My husband and I made this last night for a pasta dish and OMG it was so good!!! The base of the cream sauce is versatile and we could do so many variations with it! We added some more seasonings but I highly recommend this sauce. We also added a little nutritional yeast for thickness. Was so savory and yummy!!!
Thanks so much Kimberly!
My husband is not vegan and he absolutely loves this recipe. It’s easy to make and really delicious
Awesome Cindy! So happy to hear that!
Your photos look so good, I could hardly wait to make the trip to Costco to pick up their big pack of brown mushrooms. Made the sauce as directed, and it was delicious.
The balance and combination of spices in your recipes almost always match my taste perfectly. Also, I might have mentioned before how much I appreciate your specifying both weight and volume (grams and ml) for ingredients. Nothing bugs me more than when a recipe calls for “3 medium bananas.” Honestly! 😂😂😂
Karen in Japan
Thanks for the awesome comment and review Karen! And I couldn’t agree more about the bananas! Same here!
Everyone who I’ve made this for has been blown away, amazing recipe, fab with penne/rigatoni/etc. Made exactly as directed (though once in a while leave out the lemon juice in the cashew cream if I don’t have, doesn’t seem to make much of a difference)
Fantastic! Thanks so much for the amazing review Emily!
This was so delicious and easy to make. I added hot mustard powder to the cashew cream sauce and one tablespoon of organic soy sauce to the mushroom sauce.
Thanks so much.
April
Awesome! Thanks April!
This is a very good recipe. I added crumbled tempeh and all purpose seasoning. Made it with roasted cabbage and cauliflower rice.
Sounds great! Thanks for sharing Lisa!
Amazing! Added a red wine with the mushrooms for a tweak and have zero regrets! Was planning to eat over pasta, but this may turn into a soup as I can’t stop sampling.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Eleanor!
Everyone I made this for has loved it.
Awesome! Thanks Rozanne!
Made it, absolutely loved it. Had it on jacket spud one day and toast the next
Fantastic! Thanks Gemma!
Made this the other day and it was crazy good!! I’m the only vegan in my family and when I made this they really enjoyed it. It was so easy to make too!! Definitely will be making this more often! Thank you so much for this amazing recipe!
So happy to hear that Karen! Thanks so much for the awesome review!
I love mushrooms, and this was AMAZING!!! And deceptively easy! I used your cashew cream recipe, without lemon juice. As you recommended to quicken the blending process, I first dumped 1/2 cup kettle-heated water on top of the 1 cup cashews in my Vitamix, then prepped everything else. I didn’t have fresh mushrooms, so I had to use a large can of mushroom pieces, drained. I also put vegetable broth (no stock on hand) directly into my Vitamix with the mostly-blended cashews & water. This recipe was so easy, and I couldn’t believe how quickly this thickened in the pan! It was yummy over pasta…and on its own with a spoon! (I’m going to get more cans of mushrooms to have on hand, for last-minute dinners. I always have a container of unsalted cashews from Costco.) THANK YOU!
So happy to hear that Theresa, thanks so much for sharing!
Hi Alison
I just made the Mushroom Cream Sauce and OMG it was so delicious!
My carnivore husband even went crazy for it! Heading over to check out more of your recipes!
Thanks so much for sharing!
Looking forward to trying more!
Deborah
So happy to hear that Deborah! Thanks for posting! 🙂
Omg, I’ve just discovered your blog and and I’m such a fan! I’m so intrigued by the vegan butter recipe and this mushroom sauce in particular! I love how you are explaining things so well! Thanks for sharing! <3
So happy to hear! Thanks Pia! 🙂
I love all of your recipes and I love you, Alison???? I cannot ‘wait’ to make this???????? Much ♥️♥️♥️ to you!
Thank you so much Teresa! Hope this works out great for you. Thanks for the lovely comment! Much love to you too. 🙂