Vegan Morel Mushroom Cream Sauce
Rich and creamy, this morel mushroom cream sauce is the ultimate vegan creamy goodness- the morels add a level of savory complexity that no other mushroom could match. Although this sauce only has seven ingredients, you’d never guess it from the flavor. Sage, garlic and onion help bring together the morel flavors, and the creamy sauce uses soymilk, or your favorite non-flavored, unsweetened plant based milk. So if you’ve struck mushroom gold, try cooking up your morels in this simple, beautiful, vegan morel mushroom cream sauce.
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Want something Vegan and Creamy? Try one of these!
- Creamy Roasted Romaine Soup (Vegan)
- One-Pot Green Curry Noodle Soup
- Creamy Garlic Sauce (Cashew Cream)
- Giant Buffalo Beans- White Beans in Buffalo Sauce
- Vegan Air Fried Cream Cheese Wontons
Foraging for Morel Mushrooms
For a long time I have been wanting to start foraging and eating wild mushrooms, but I haven’t had the time, energy or skills to know where to start. I joined a local mushrooming club (the Boston Mycological Club), participated in a class and bought a book, but made little progress in actually going to the woods and finding food- that is, until a three-day weekend rolled along. With time on our hands and morel season drawing to a close, we knew it was now or never if we wanted to get our hands on some of these precious pitted perishables- the goal? A delicious vegan morel cream sauce.
So forage we did. Myself, my boyfriend and my sister trounced through thorns and brambles, eyes on the ground, trying to pick out the honeycomb pattern of the morels from the leaves matting the forest floor. Not long into our search we found and identified our first morel- followed quickly by several more. Perhaps it was beginners luck, perhaps it was our disregard of the harsh conditions, but morels were popping up everywhere. We picked the mushrooms that looked fresh, which the bugs had not already eaten, and within an hour or two we had a considerable haul (around 20 mushrooms of different sizes- enough for a dinner for three). On our way we also found a tree blossoming with oyster mushrooms, but that’s a recipe for a different day.
We brought our morels home, brushed off what we could and refrigerated them for the next day. It is important that you don’t use water to wash your morels until you’re ready to eat them- water can cause the mushrooms to get mushy or rot more quickly, and then your precious morels could be lost.
Cleaning Morel Mushrooms for Your Morel Mushroom Sauce
We brought our morels home, brushed off what we could and refrigerated them for the next day. Look inside as best as you are able for slugs and small critters, and remove them if possible. It is important that you don’t use water to wash your morels until you’re ready to eat them- water can cause the mushrooms to get mushy or rot more quickly, and then your precious morels could be lost.
When you are ready to eat, place your morels in a large bowl and fill with water. As you swish the water around gently, bits of dirt and grime will fall off the mushrooms into the water. Every once in a while drain the water from the bowl and fill up, and swish the mushrooms again. You will know you’re done cleaning when they are no longer releasing dirt into the water. Be patient, this could take a little while.
Making your Vegan Morel Mushroom Cream Sauce
I used the morels we foraged to make the creamiest vegan sauce I have ever had. Because my morels differed so much in size I cut them all into bite sized pieces, but if yours are all smaller you could cook them whole or cut neatly in half. One of the nice things about this recipe is that you don’t have to have the best morels- since we’re chopping them up, it’s okay if they’re a little on the old side or have had insect visitors. I used the mushrooms, some garlic, onion and sage to flavor my sauce and unflavored, unsweetened soy milk to create the creamy texture. My world was more or less changed by the savory, meaty, creamy qualities of this vegan morel cream sauce.
We ate the sauce with some homemade fresh pasta, which was amazing and I highly recommend, but it could taste good in a number of ways. This sauce would taste fantastic over baked potatoes, zucchini noodles or even bread- as long as you serve it over something fairly simple that gives the morels their place to shine.
Vegan Morel Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 cups (about 8 oz.) of fresh morel mushrooms, cleaned and chopped into bite sized pieces
- 5 TBSP vegan butter
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced.
- 10 sage leaves
- Half an onion, diced
- 3 TBSP flour
- 2 cups of plain, unsweetened soy milk (or other plant-based milk)
Instructions
- Heat the butter in a large skillet. Once it has all melted, add the sage leaves and fry until crispy. Remove the leaves and set aside.
- Add morel mushrooms and sauté, for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Once they have released a good amount of liquid, add the onion and garlic and sauté for a couple more minutes, until fragrant.
- Add the flour to the pan, and stir until the flour is completely combined. Cook for a minute or so, stirring so the flour doesn’t burn. Pour the soy milk into the pot, stirring well. Let the sauce heat to a slow bubble, stirring to not allow it to clump. Continue cooking and stirring while the sauce thickens. After about 10 minutes it should be smooth, silky, creamy and ready to go. Serve over pasta, vegetables, or as desired, with crispy sage leaves on top.
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Let’s hear from you…
- What are you going to drizzle your vegan morel mushroom cream sauce over?
- What was the first mushroom you ever foraged and ate?
- Have you ever purchased morel mushrooms, or do you find yours growing wild?
Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Thank you soooo much for this recipe! It sounds almost identical to the vegan morel gravy I make with coco milk biscuits
Mmmm that sounds delicious! Morels here are just starting to pop up- I’ll have to try it out.
There is no soy milk in the ingredient list…. This caught me off guard when I was cooking and left me in a pinch. Dont even know how much it requires!
Sorry Evan, and thanks for pointing this out. We recently changed the format of the recipe, and it must have been left off accidentally. It should now show that we used 2 cups of soy milk (or your favorite plant-based milk).
Made it second time, tonight. So bomb. Had on linguini tonight, had on parsley garlic egg noodles the first time. Excellent recipe. We’ll put leftovers on biscuits in the morning. Used oat milk, and miyoko european cultured plant butter.
We’re so glad you liked it! I’m definitely going to be trying our morel cream sauce on biscuits next time, it sounds so yummy. Thanks for the comment Al!
I bought morels at my co op. I am having this over zucchini noodles and added tempeh for extra protein. I can’t really taste the morels. I don’t remember how far away they came from or how fresh they were. I think this is quite a handy recipe though, and I’d recommend it. It would be wonderful to have “chicken of the woods” instead of the tempeh in this. I’ve seen those around in the past but haven’t picked them myself.
Hi Maura- that meal sounds delicious! I’m sorry the morel didn’t come through well- fresh from the woods morels are always the best, and the ones bought in stores are typically farmed and not as flavorful. I bet chicken of the woods would be awesome in this recipe! Let me know if you ever give it a shot!
This recipe is amazing. I was lucky enough to get a whole bag of fresh picked morels from my neighbor. When I found the recipe I was surprised at how easy it sounded. It was very quick and easy and absolutely scrumptious. I will be making this one again.
So glad you liked it and thanks for the comment! Also I’m majorly jealous about what a cool neighbor you seem to have…