Roux Without Butter – Tips and Tricks For the Vegan Version

This is how the roux works without butter

If you want to thicken your sauces with a roux and do without butter, there is a simple and vegan alternative. All you need is 2 tablespoons of flour and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.

• Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan, stirring, until liquid.
• Gradually add about twice as much flour as oil and mix everything vigorously with a whisk until the flour and oil combine to form a doughy mass and small golden-yellow lumps form. The basic recipe is now complete.
• Now, while continuing to stir, add your sauce until the desired liquid consistency is achieved.
• Tip: If you want your sauce to be a little darker, you can let the roux sauté longer before adding the liquid.

Variations with vegan roux

You can vary the ingredients of the roux or thickened sauce to affect the flavor of the dish.

• The type of vegetable oil you use for the roux will affect the flavor of your sauce. Highly heatable oils such as hot-pressed olive oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil or coconut oil are well suited.
• For example, if you’re making a vegan béchamel sauce, you can use either water, vegetable stock, oat milk, or soy milk.
• In addition to the classic salt and black pepper, nutmeg, white pepper or cardamom are also suitable as spices for a sauce thickened with roux.