Anna’s famous onion gravy recipe
Comments(58)
I’ve been working at Anna’s house for the past five weeks. The spot is so secluded that I could not find it on my first foray and had to return home. At the second attempt, Jalopy and I were resting at the side of the road, scratching our heads and on the point of giving up when, miraculously, Anna drove past. We followed her lead and learned the route to her house. Down a quiet track, in the middle of fields. I would never have found it by myself and might have missed out on this onion gravy gem.
Anna cooks delicious meals for her children every evening without a hint of resentful huffing and puffing. She chops, sears and simmers. Then takes Max, their lurcher, out for a power walk. Within minutes after her return, they are sitting down to a feast.
Needless to say, I have tasted every dish that she has made. Anna shares her secrets.
Last night she offered me a spoonful of mashed potato with gravy. My figure has rollicked out of control recently so I tasted only a teeny touch of onion gravy. It was was beefy and piquant. I was amazed to discover that it was entirely vegetarian. We were having sausages this evening so I made Anna’s onion gravy as an accompaniment. Danny loves onion gravy and I knew that this would blow his socks off. Thanks Anna, he was delighted.
Don’t make the same mistake as we did. This gravy is designed to be served with plain sausages and we used spicy ones which gangled the taste buds.
Our cottage is divided down the middle when it comes to Marmite. I love it, Danny runs screaming from the room at the sight of a pot. The Marmite flavour combines well with the other ingredients and is not discernible.
Anna’s famous onion gravy recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 large onion (sliced into rings). Anna says that red onions are best.
- 1 clove of garlic (Finely chopped)
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 small knob of butter
- 1 level tbsp of plain flour
- 350ml of stock (boiling water poured over 1 tsp of Marigold)
- 1 level tsp of Marmite
- 2 tsp of soy sauce
- 1 tsp of balsamic vinegar (I think that she shouted this variation through the door as I shot out to join Jalopy in the snow).
- 1 pinch of decent mixed herbs (my addition)
- Ground black pepper to taste
Method:
- Heat the olive oil and butter in a frying pan over a low heat and add the onion slices.
- After five minutes add the garlic.
- Sautee until the onions are soft and transparent.
- Add the flour and stir in well. Let the flour get a bit nutty.
- Add the stock gradually, stirring constantly. Then add the Marmite, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, mixed herbs and black pepper.
- Bring the mixture to the boil and simmer very gently for 20 - 30 minutes. Stir every 5 minutes until the gravy thickens and the flavours blend.
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I stumbled across this recipe today and decided to try it with a few adaptations. I wanted a sauce to serve with steak for a special occasion meal (my wedding anniversary and my birthday). I added a few sliced mushrooms when I added the garlic and I also used double the flour to thicken and slightly less stock so that it reduced to a sauce consistency rather than a gravy. Have to say it was absolutely delicious and went down extremely well with my husband and our two sons. Thanks for sharing and making my anniversary meal a little special.
Hi Annette
Your adaptations sound great. Danny would be interested in this as we usually have steak on a Friday night. Thanks for sharing.
Worked very well even without having garlic, herbs or soy sauce to put in
Hi Simon,
That’s good to know. Thanks for leaving a comment!
Hi,
Sounds yummy… but what kind of stock is it that you use?
My partner loves anything with onions, so I will certainly try this.
Thanks,
Don
Hi Don
This onion gravy is yummy. We use vegetable stock for this recipe (a cube or powder).
Thanks for leaving a comment.
fantastic gravy. Will definetly pass this recipe on!
Hi Janet
Thanks for the positive feedback. Suddenly I have a longing for sausages and gravy!
This one is a great ‘base’ recipe. I am not ‘quite’ veggie, but a pesco veggie and instead of marmite and soy sauce, I used Worcestershire sauce, I believe you can get a veggie variation.
Marigold is the best vetable stock on the market.
Hi Aly
Thanks for the tips.
I agree that Marigold is a great vegetable stock powder.
Wonderful onion gravy recipe! I could have eaten it on its own. I browned the onions more than the recipe seems to recommend, and next time might try less flour – but it was fabulous. But should the recipe read 1-2 tsp (not tbsp!) soy sauce? My effort was fine with one teaspoonful…
Thank you so much for posting this recipe. We’ve been using it ever since you put it up and it makes me very happy… vegans don’t have much choice when it comes to gravies!
Hi just made the gravy to go with meatloaf- so not at all vegan I’m afraid when I seated off the onions I added about a tablespoon of demerara sugar to caramelize the onions- DELISH even my son ate it and he doesn’t like onions!!!! Thank you for the recipe definately will be using it again!!
Thanks for your valuable feedback, Anne, Sara and Jo.
Last Wednesday I printed out Fiona’s recipe above and cooked some cut price Musk’s superb sausages with the onion gravy as per her/Anna’s original recipe.
Agree – it was far too salty, probably because of the amount of soy sauce (1-2 tbsps in the original). So I have amended the recipe to 1-2 tsps as per Anne’s suggestion.
Also, I started cooking the gravy before anything else. That was a lucky break because the other ingredients took longer than expected (too much vino absorbed by the cook). So the gravy cooked for a total of 25 minutes or more. That was good because the onions became softer and the gravy was better as a result. Probably the same effect as browning the onions for longer.
Ad, Jo, next time I will try a little sugar. I am a small boy at heart after all !!
My dear friend,
Delighted to see my recipe on le blog.I actually use 2 tbsp of soy sauce,perhaps a little too salty for most palates bit then I never have salt in anything else.Another lovely addition is a tbsp of home-made( obviously!) bramble jelly,damson jelly or a slug of damson wine,
Would love to catch up soon,
annaxoxoxoxooxox
We had this gravy last night with ‘bangers n mash’ and it was lovely. I too added a spoonfull of sugar to the onions but kept to the rest of the recipe. This was a good ol’ comfort meal. Thank you
I omitted the soy sauce and added mushroom ketchup instead – 2 teaspoons
Hello Anna R
Nice twist. Mushroom ketchup is such a great ingredient!
I made this to go with some leftover roast chicken when we had no leftover gravy. It was delicious! We had mashed potato & swede along with other veg & it was a perfect gravy for it. I did adapt it a bit but now can’t remember what I did hope I wrote it down!! Still the original sounds lovely too – I never stick to a recipe anyway.
Hi KarenO
This is good news! Never considered using it with anything other than sausages. Thanks for sharing.
Very nice. I’ve just had it with sausage and mash for the second evening running. I haven’t any Bovril, but an Oxo cube in a few decilitres of boiling water did fine.
May I suggest that a generous pinch of mustard powder and a splash of red wine make it even better?
Thanks for your excellent feedback, Chris. I am making this again this evening to accompany a pack of free range Hampshire breed pork chipolatas that we forgot to cook as trimmings with our Christmas goose. Also a handful of spare ribs rescued from Tesco’s bargain basement counter.
I will try your mustard and red wine suggestions.
This has to be the best ever recipe for gravy… Made this last night to have with liver n kidneys. What a cheap n cheerful meal! Love your website, thank you
Hi Alison
Thanks very much for taking the time to leve some feedback. I love this gravy too.
Am using this as the base for a whisky gravy that i’m serving alongside Haggis at a Burns Supper this evening.
[...] Tuesday – Veggie sausages with jerusalem artichoke mash, homemade yorkshire puds, lots of lovely veg and veggie gravy. [...]
Thanks so much for this recipe, I love the bangers and mash in the UK, so naturally looked for the best gravy recipe, which was this one! I agree with Chris on the wine, but added a half glass of port towards the end. Really delicious!
thanks for the recipe, went down a treat
Hi Kyle
Hope that it worked out well for you!
Hello Alex
Love te idea of the port.Thanks for the tip.
Hi K
I love this recipe too. Great that it worked well for you- thanks for dropping by.
This is the BEST veggie onion gravy recipe I have ever tasted. I’ve made it three times since I discovered it a month ago and it just gets better every time. I just can’t go back to granules now! Thank you for sharing it with us.
Hi Kate
Thank you so mucj for dropping by. I agree Anna’s recipe is superb!
Hi Kate
I think that this recipe is great too.
Anna is a superb cook and also shares her recipes!
My husband hates onions(seeing them!) so I blended it, no problem. Love this recipe & sent it to my Vegetarian Son-out-of- law Steve in London.
I made this this evening to go with toad-in-the-hole and it was GORGEOUS! I didn’t have the balsamic vinegar, didn’t add garlic because my husband would say that was weird (garlic in gravy!!!), and added a splash of some pink wine in the fridge – it was fab, thanks.
Hello Alison
I must try your twist in this recipe. Sounds delicious.
Stick some mushrooms in just after the garlic. Yummy.
Made this with Toad in the Hole tonight! Fantastic, Bisto granules will never be the same again.
I made it with the 2tsp of soy as suggested above so it wasn’t as salty. Thanks for the recipe
Oh my gosh, this is the best onion gravy I’ve had the pleasure of eating! Easy to follow recipe and extremely tasty. Thank you Anna for sharing this fantastic gravy with us all. Very very much appreciated!
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Don’t forget the juice from the sausages…
Will be having sausage and mash for tea tonight! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…….
I’ve been following your blog for quite a while and enjoying your wealth of good recipes. When Foodista announced that they are going to publish the best food blogs in a full color book that will be published by Andrews McMeel Publishing Fall 2010, I naturally thought of you. This recipe would be a good submission! You can enter here: http://www.foodista.com/blogbook/submit
Cheers,
Melissa
melissa@foodista.com
Editor and Community Developer
Foodista.com — The Cooking Encyclopedia Everyone Can Edit
Oh my goodness, I tried this recipe tonight and have to say that I didnt want the meal to end!
What an amazing gravy recipe! You should bottle that and sell it! Thankyou for posting the details.
Wicked gravy , will use this every time , thanks !
This is GENIUS and works extremely well with veggie haggis, neeps and tatties!
Love it love it love it!!
Hello Tony
I totally agree – this gravy is well worth the effort. It’s wonderful with toad in the hole too!
Hello Jude
Thanks for leaving a comment!
Hi Christy
Great that it got the thumbs up from you.
Wow, this was gorgeous gravy! I didn’t have any vegetable stock, so i used some chicken stock from the freezer, delicious!
Wow! That gravy was lovely! My husband was very impressed that i have managed to make something so delicious! I am so glad I found your site and have bookmarked it for further recipe ideas. Thanks again for sharing it
Ooh, I shall give this a try tomorrow with the faggots I just got from the butcher. One question – and this may sound dumb but I’m a bit of a novice cook – how many servings is this? 4?
Hi David
It could stretch to 4 but just the 2 of us lick the pan clean
HI,
After reading all the great comments to this gravy it’s a ‘MUST’ to try!
Thankyou so much for the recipie.
Odelle X.
how many people does this roughly serve?
i am planning to do a toad in the hole whith mash and hopefully this gravy tmorrow!
Hi Sonia
About 3-4 but with D’s appetite just 2 here!
This is a tremendously successful recipe. Some day I will try it with veg Marigold broth but for now Rapunzel works just fine. Brava!
The most tasty gravy I have ever tried in 20 years of being vegetarian. Thank you so much.
My carnivore partner devoured it and told me this recipe is a definite keeper.
I added 1/2 level tsp of smoked paprika but like the idea of adding mustard. Will try that the next time.
Brilliant! The mere fact that my carnivorous hubby asks me constantly to make that ‘bloody great onion gravy’ says it all. I do realise that I am repeating what has been said numerous times, but simply had to say it.
hi, just polished off some veggie saussies and mash with a great helping of this onion gravy. very very good! thanks for sharing
i’ll definitely be making it again.
Made this gravy last night and was really impressed. Even my fussy son wolfed it down with his veggie sausage and mash. Will be making a bigger batch next time though. Thank you for sharing this great recipe.
I cooked this last night and I would say you have to be careful how much Vinegar you put in, but the consistency from the Flour is important as well as the stock, of which I used vegetable based one and reduced it by some 50% on the boil to get a stronger flavour.
The recipe is a great one (it could do with directions in how to cut an onion into rings) but should caution on the over use of Soy and Vinegar as I think the sauce should be more sweet than anything, that’s how I’ve always known it.
I did however use the extra strong XO version of Marmite (being a fan) as well as a strong stock, it would be wise for me to keep that in mind in future.
Thanks for the recipe and here’s my version of what you made:
http://cl.ly/010p233y1X2n0x1r1F0o