Vegan White Sauce + Gluten Free (Bechamel)

Make almost anything taste better with this vegan white sauce recipe! It’s also gluten free. This vegan and gluten free version of Bechamel sauce is one of the famous five French mother sauces. You can use this sauce dozens of different ways!

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Table of Contents

• Why You’ll Love This Vegan White Sauce Recipe
• Ingredients For Gluten Free & Vegan White Sauce
• How to Make Vegan and Gluten Free White Sauce
• What is White Sauce?
• Is White Sauce Vegan?
• Are White Sauce and Bechamel Sauce The Same?
• Is (Bechamel) White Sauce Gluten Free?
• Ingredient Substitutions for Gluten Free Bechamel Sauce
• Equipment You Need To Make Gluten Free White Sauce
• History of Bechamel Sauce
• How To Eat Vegan White Sauce?

Why You’ll Love This Vegan White Sauce Recipe

You’ll love this vegan and gluten free white sauce recipe because it’s thick, creamy, rich and silky smooth. It clings to pasta for life making sure that every inch of your food is covered in delicious buttery goodness.

This gluten free white sauce recipe is also

• Vegan
• Gluten Free
• Dairy Free
• Soy Free
• Anti-inflammatory
• Paleo Friendly
• Plant Based
• Easy to Make
• Uses Few Ingredients

Ingredients For Gluten Free & Vegan White Sauce

• Coconut Oil
• Shallots
• Oat Flour
• Almond Milk
• Thyme
• Bay Leaf
• Nutmeg
• Lemon
• Sea Salt

For full ingredient amounts and instructions check out the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

How to Make Vegan and Gluten Free White Sauce

It’s easy to make vegan and gluten free white sauce. From start to finish this recipe will take you about 35 minutes. Here is my detailed step by step guide to making the perfect bechamel sauce.

• Step 1: Add the coconut oil, shallots and salt to a 2 1/2 quart sauce pan. Sweat the shallots over medium low heat until they are translucent. This should take 3-6 minutes. Make sure to use an off set spatula to move the shallots around to keep them from burning. If you burn the shallots the sauce will be ruined and you’ll want to start over.

• Step 2: Make a roux by adding the oat flour to the shallots and stir constantly for six minutes making sure not to brown the flour.

• Step 3: Whisk in the almond milk to prevent it from clumping with the flour. Next, add the fresh thyme and bay leaf. Raise the heat to medium and allow the sauce to simmer for 20 minutes stirring often.

• Step 4: Add the lemon juice and nutmeg. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Strain out the fresh herbs and enjoy!

What is White Sauce?

Bechamel sauce (also known as white sauce) is one of the five Mother Sauces. The five mother sauces are the sauces that provide both the framework and building blocks of French cuisine.

White sauce in it’s simplest form is flour and butter cooked into a roux that is then mixed with milk. The result is a creamy, silky smooth cream sauce that can be used as an ingredient in other sauces or on it’s own.

Bechamel is a thick cream sauce that sticks to food making it great to serve with pasta, fish or on chicken.

Is White Sauce Vegan?

No traditional white sauce is not vegan because it’s made with milk and butter. But for those of us on a gluten free, vegan or dairy free diet who want to enjoy this classic mother sauce I made a vegan version.

Vegan white sauce is easy to make by swapping out:

• Butter for Coconut Oil
• Milk for Almond Milk

My gluten free white sauce recipe is vegan! For the full recipe check out the recipe card below.

Are White Sauce and Bechamel Sauce The Same?

Yes, bechamel sauce is also known as white sauce and a mother sauce. I use the terms white sauce and bechamel sauce interchangeably throughout this post.

Is (Bechamel) White Sauce Gluten Free?

No traditional white sauce is not gluten free because it’s made with wheat flour. It’s easy to make a gluten free white sauce by simply swapping out traditional all purpose flour for oat flour. Oat flour is great for making sauces because it works well for making roux.

Ingredient Substitutions for Gluten Free Bechamel Sauce

• Coconut Oil: If you don’t like coconut oil and would like a more buttery taste you can use vegan butter! I like kite hill brand’s vegan butter because it is made from nuts and is free from soy. Many people use earth balance vegan butter but that brand isn’t healthy because it’s made from soybean oil.
• Oat Flour: If you want to use another kind of flour you can swap out the oat flour for another type of gluten free flour like gluten free all purpose flour, cassava flour, quinoa flour or chickpea flour.
• Almond Milk: Almond milk is easy to find but for an even creamier sauce you can swap the almond milk out for oat milk. Any other type of nut milk will also work. I also like to make this gluten free white sauce with macadamia or brazil nut milk.

Equipment You Need To Make Gluten Free White Sauce

One of the best parts of this gluten free white sauce recipe is that you don’t need many pieces of equipment. So you can leave your blender in the cabinet! All you need are:

• Knife
• Offset Spatula
• 2 1/2 Quart Sauce Pan
• Measuring Cup

History of Bechamel Sauce

Béchamel sauce was invented during the Renaissance in Tuscany. Back then it was referred to as “glue sauce” since it sticks to food so well. In 1533 white sauce as brought to France by Henry the II’s wife Catherina de Medici’s personal chef. That was when the sauce got it’s name:

Béchamel sauce was invented during the Renaissance in Tuscany. Back then it was refered to as “glue sauce” since it sticks to food so well. In 1533 white sauce as brought to France by Henry the II’s wife Catherina de Medici’s personal chef. That was when the sauce got it’s name: Béchamel. It was named after Louis de Béchamel who was the chief steward to King Louis XIV of France. Béchamel sauce is featured in lots of Italian Renaissance cookbooks, it was later published in the cookbook Le Cuisinier Francois in 1651. Since this publication Béchamel sauce has been considered to be one of the foundational 5 Mother Sauces of French culinary arts.

How To Eat Vegan White Sauce?

Well, now that you know how to make white sauce I bet you’re wondering what you can do with it. The applications for white sauce are nearly endless. You can use this gluten free & vegan white sauce as a base for maccaroni and cheese or add a bit of cheese and turn it into a Mornay sauce. Here are more applications for white sauce.

• Base for Creamy Soups
• Soufflés
• Croquettes
• To Flavor Cooked Vegetables
• Served with Cooked Meat
• Pairs well with Shrimp and other Seafood
• Base for Mac and Cheese
• Base for Mornay Sauce
• Used in Classic Vegetable Gratin Recipes
• For Pie Fillings
• Lasagne
• Pasta Sauce
• White Parsley Sauce
• Moussaka
• Tuna Mornay

Vegan GF White Sauce Google Web Story!