Vegan and Gluten Free Stroganoff with Morel Mushrooms

Kindi Lantz October 17, 2019

Creamy Stroganoff Made with Dried Morels and Cashew Milk

Morels are such an incredible addition to those comforting autumn dishes but aren’t typically found fresh at this time of year. Fortunately, dehydrated morel mushrooms reconstitute to their original flavor, form, and texture! What a fantastic choice for creamy stroganoff! 

Stroganoff is a mushroom-heavy dish traditionally made with pieces of steak, beef broth, and cream or sour cream—not something you’d typically find on a vegan table. If one were to omit the steak, though, it would still be incredibly hearty due to the quantity of mushrooms used. So I replaced the steak with meaty morels, found substitutes for the dairy ingredients, and employed the liquid from reconstituting the mushrooms in place of beef broth. Oh yeah, and I made it gluten free, too!

The result was amazing! The vegans I served loved that they got to enjoy this classic comfort food and the carnivores didn’t even miss the meat!

Morel Stroganoff Recipe (Vegan and Gluten Free)

Ingredients

• 1 ounce dehydrated morel mushrooms
• ¼ cup butter substitute, divided
• 1 cup fresh minced baby bella mushrooms 
• 1 cup chopped onions
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• ¼ teaspoon pepper 
• 1  whole bay leaf
• ½ cup sherry
• 3 tablespoons gluten free all purpose flour blend
• 1 ¼ cups of cashew milk or other milk substitute
• 1 cup mushroom rehydration liquid.
• 1 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Procedure

1. Rehydrate your mushrooms in water and reserve the rehydration liquid.
2. Slice the morels into rings. 
3. In a medium saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter substitute. 
4.  Add the onions, minced baby bella mushrooms, and salt to the butter and cook until the onions are soft and translucent. 
5. Add the morels, garlic, pepper, bay leaf, and sherry. simmer for about 5 minutes. 
6. Turn the heat up to medium, melt the remaining butter substitute into the saucepan, stir the flour into the mushroom mixture, and then slowly whisk in the cashew milk and rehydration liquid. It’s important to continuously whisk as the mixture bubbles and thickens. This will help in avoiding a lumpy sauce. 
7. Stir in the fresh-grated nutmeg, mustard powder, and lemon juice.

Serving Suggestions

In Russia, this dish is traditionally served over potatoes, especially fried shoestring potatoes but once popularized in the United States, it was commonly accompanied by rice or egg noodles. I served it over mashed cauliflower to limit the carbs and nobody missed the extra carbs! Top with fresh parsley.

You can get dehydrated morels and fresh nutmeg for this dish in our online ingredient store!