Vegan Poutine

Our vegan poutine recipe is made with three of our favorite things. Crispy fries. Vegan Gravy. Vegan Cheese Sauce. If you’ve never heard of poutine, or putting gravy on French fries, keep reading, because this tasty appetizer is going to become your favorite game day or happy hour snack!

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What to Expect

We’ve combined three of our most popular recipes to make this delicious and decadent vegan poutine.

If you’ve never heard of this dish, we’ll tell you what it is, where it originated, and how to make them vegan, as well as more valuable information.

Here’s what to expect:

• What is Poutine?
• What Kind of Potatoes are Best?
• How Can You Make It Vegan?
• Can You Prepare it Ahead of Time?
• How to Serve It
• More Vegan Game Day Appetizers You’re Going to Love

What is Poutine?

Poutine (poo-TEEN) is a Canadian dish of fries, cheese curds, and gravy. We think of them as a higher level of cheese fries. The hot and crispy fries are the perfect base for the melty gravy and cheese.

It was created in the 1950s in Quebec and is now celebrated as the national dish of Canada.

Canada’s northern neighbors also adore this savory dish, and have adapted it to make it their own. Depending on the region, the gravy and/or the cheese is totally different.

For our vegan version of this recipe, we used our 5 Ingredient Cheese Sauce in place of the cheese curds.

My husband and I (Linda) grew up in Wisconsin, AKA Dairyland, and our family still lives there. We know cheese curds and have yet to find a vegan version that actually has the rubbery texture of true curds.

Instead of adding pieces of softer vegan mozzarella, we decided to combine our cheese sauce with the gravy. It tastes amazing!

What Kind of Potatoes are Best?

Russet/Idaho potatoes are best for crispy fries because they have the most starch. Starch is what makes the fries firm and gives them those crispy edges.

You could use another type of white potato, but it won’t be as crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

Is it Gluten-Free?

We use flour to make our gravy, but you can swap the flour for cornstarch to make this a gluten-free dish.

How do You Make it Vegan?

We used a mushroom gravy and a vegan cheese sauce. Fries, unless they’re fried in animal-based oil or dipped in milk (why?), are always vegan.

STEP ONE

Make our vegan Porcini Mushroom Gravy.

This gravy takes a little while to make, and it’s totally worth it. It’s a brown gravy that’s full of flavor, and it goes great with the cheese sauce.

It gets its incredible flavor from soaking dried porcini mushrooms and cooking the gravy with fresh herbs.

STEP TWO

Make the fries.

Slice the potatoes into thin sticks and spray them with a thin layer of oil on all sides, or, you can make them oil free by squeezing lemon juice on them.

We recommend spraying a thin coat of oil on them for the crispiest fries.

STEP THREE

While the fries are baking, make our easy vegan cheese sauce.

It’s a simple five ingredient recipe that goes perfect with the gravy. To give it the sharp flavor you’d expect from cheese, we used vegan Greek yogurt, and it pairs perfectly with the gravy.

Once the fries are done, put them on a platter, strain the gravy, and pour it and the cheese sauce all over the fries and dig in.

You’re going to want to use a fork to eat these, because they’re deliciously messy.

Can You Prepare It Ahead of Time?

You can make the gravy up to four days ahead of time; however, we suggest making the fries and the cheese sauce just before serving.

Fries should be hot and crispy to make this dish the best it can be, and cashew cheese sauce is always best when fresh.

How to Serve It

We like to serve it family style, on a big platter so everyone can gather together.

You can also make individual servings in small cast iron or copper skillets, which makes for a fun presentation.

Of course, you can also set out the fries, gravy, and cheese sauce on separate dishes and let people serve themselves on individual plates.

More Vegan Appetizer Recipes You’re Going to Love

Cheesy Vegan Tater Tots 

Vegan Buffalo Chicken Calzones

Easy Vegan Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip 

Crispy Vegan Southwest Egg Rolls 

Vegan Buffalo Chicken Dip 

Crispy Fried Pickles 

Make our vegan poutine recipe and let us know what you think. We love to hear from you! And, don’t forget to take a picture of your gorgeous creation and tag us @veganosity on Instagram.

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Vegan Poutine

Delicious crispy fries smothered in our rich mushroom gravy and 5 ingredient cheese sauce! This is the ultimate comfort food.

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Canadian, Vegan

Prep Time: 40 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 55 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 329kcal

Author: Linda & Alex

Equipment

• ▢
  Oven

Ingredients

For the Gravy

• ▢ ½ cup dried wild porcini mushrooms
• ▢ 2 tablespoon olive oil SEE NOTE
• ▢ 1 medium red onion finely diced
• ▢ 1 shallot finely diced
• ▢ 3 cloves garlic minced
• ▢ 5 sprigs fresh thyme
• ▢ 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
• ▢ 6 ounce Portobello mushrooms sliced
• ▢ 1 ¾ cups no-chicken broth SEE NOTE
• ▢ 2 tablespoon flour + ¼ cup of water Whisked until if forms a thick paste SEE NOTE
• ▢ salt and pepper to taste

For the Fries

• ▢ 4 Russet potatoes peeled (optional) and cut into thin sticks
• ▢ Vegetable oil spray SEE NOTE
• ▢ Salt and pepper to taste

For the Cheese Sauce

• ▢ 1 cup raw cashews soaked in hot water for at least 4 hours
• ▢ 5 ounce plain Vegan Greek Yogurt we use Kite Hill brand See note
• ▢ 2 tablespoon nutritional yeast not rapid rise or brewers yeast
• ▢ ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ▢ ¼ cup water

US Customary - Metric

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Instructions

For the Gravy

• Put the½ cup dried porcini mushrooms in a small bowl and cover with 3 cups of hot water. Let soak for 30 minutes.
• Whisk the 2 tablespoon flour with the ¼ cup water until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
• Heat the 2 tablespoon olive oil (or 3 tablespoon water or vegetable broth) in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the onions and mushrooms and cook for 7 minutes ,or until they begin to brown. Add the shallots and cook for two minutes. Add the garlic and cook for one to two minutes, or until it just begins to brown..
• Pour the porcini mushrooms, including the water they soaked in, into the pan. Add the 1 ¾ cups of no-chicken broth and the rosemary and thyme and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for 15 minutes.. It's normal for the liquid to reduce during this time, but you don't want it to evaporate too much, so make sure that the heat is low.
• Put a fine strainer over a large bowl and pour the mushroom mixture into the strainer. Rinse the pan and put back on medium-high heat. Pour the mushroom gravy back into the pan and bring to a low boil. Whisk in the flour mixture and continue whisking until the gravy thickens Add the salt and pepper to taste and stir for another minute.
• Strain the gravy one more time if needed to make sure that it’s smooth and creamy.
• Don’t throw the solid mushroom mixture away. Remove the herbs and finally chop it, then serve as a side dish, or save it to toss with pasta or quinoa

For the Fries

• Preheat the oven to 400°F (204˚C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
• Peel (optional) and slice the potatoes into thin sticks and evenly place on the pan, spread them out so they don’t touch. This will ensure that they get crispy.
• Spray a thin coating of oil on all sides and bake for approximately 15 minutes, shake the pan to turn the fries and bake for approximately 10 more minutes, or until they’re golden brown and crispy.

For the Cheese Sauce

• Boil a pot of water and cover the raw cashews in the water and soak for at least 4 hours. The cashews should double in size and look plump and feel soft. Drain and rinse.
• Put the cashews in the blender and add the yogurt, nutritional yeast, salt, and water in the blender and blend at a high speed for 1 minute. Scrape the sides and blend for another 1 minute, or until the sauce is smooth and creamy. You shouldn’t see any solid pieces of nuts.
• Fold it into anything that needs a thick and creamy cheese sauce or use it as a dip.
• Put the fries on a large platter and pour a layer of the gravy and the cheese sauce over them and enjoy!!

Notes

NUTRITION DISCLAIMER

Notes for the Gravy
• If you don't cook with oil, substitute with 3 tablespoon of water or broth. Add more as needed. The flavor will not be as rich.

• If you can't find no-chicken broth, feel free to use vegetable broth.

• For a gluten-free version, use cornstarch instead of flour. Gluten-free flour may result in a gritty texture.

Notes for the Fries
If you don’t cook with oil, squeeze a thin layer of lemon juice on the potatoes to crisp them up.

• Notes for the Cheese Sauce
  If you can’t find plain vegan Greek yogurt you can use plain almond milk or soy yogurt. Don’t use coconut yogurt as it tastes like coconut.

Nutrition

Serving: 80g | Calories: 329kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 212mg | Potassium: 970mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 54IU | Vitamin C: 15mg | Calcium: 68mg | Iron: 3mg

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