Sauces – The Vegan Rhino

November 8, 2020November 8, 2020

Fried Pickles

Serve these fried pickles as an appetizer or side dish at dinner and watch them disappear! Fried pickles have an awesome flavor combination that when fried, are simply divine. Although I don’t eat too much fried foods, these in my opinion are well worth it!

Yield: roughly 45 pickles, 1 cup sauce

Ingredients

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. organic all-purpose flour

1 tsp. Gustus Vitae Greek seasoning

1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. Himalayan pink salt

1/4 tsp. white pepper

1/4 tsp. paprika

3/4 cup water

1 Tbsp. hot sauce

16 oz. dill pickles, sliced and drained

Southern-Style Comeback Sauce

3/4 cup plant-based mayonnaise

3 Tbsp. ketchup

1-3 Tbsp. hot sauce

1 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

3/4 tsp. Dijon mustard

3/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. black pepper

Directions

In small bowl, stir together sauce ingredients and set aside. Drain pickles and save juice. Place pickles on a kitchen towel to dry.
Preheat 2” inches oil in a pot over medium heat to 375 degrees F.
In a rimmed dish, whisk together all ingredients until smooth. In small batches, add pickles to batter to coat and let excess drip off. Add pickles to oil one at a time.
Fry pickles 1 1/2 minutes or until golden brown. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on kitchen towel.
Serve with dipping sauce.

Chef’s tip: Make sure to dry the pickles before coating in the batter. This helps keep them crispy.

November 1, 2020November 1, 2020

Mushroom Marsala Spaghetti

This easy to make Mushroom Marsala Sauce is a great addition to elevate plain spaghetti into a restaurant-quality dish. You could serve these mushrooms over cauliflower steaks, mashed potatoes, or whatever you’d like! For someone who grew up not enjoying mushrooms, I have to be honest, this dish rocks with a savory flavor that keeps you wanting more.

Yields 4 servings, roughly 1 3/4 cup sauce

Ingredients

1 lb. spaghetti, or as much as you’d like

1 Tbsp. + 1 1/2 tsp. avocado oil

1 cup shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 cup baby Bella mushrooms, thinly sliced

1/4 cup shallot, minced

1 Tbsp. minced garlic

1/4 tsp. Himalayan pink salt

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

3/4 cup Marsala wine

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 Tbsp. plant-based butter

1 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to boxed instructions and drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta water.
In a skillet over medium heat, sauté the mushrooms and shallots until tender and slightly brown. Add garlic and cook unfurl fragrant. Sprinkle with flour and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Slowly add the Marsala wine and cook until reduced by half. Stir in vegetable stock, butter, and heat until sauce thickens. Stir in cooked pasta and slowly add pasta water, as needed.
Garnish with parsley and serve.

Chef’s tip: Using pasta water helps thicken the sauce and helps stick to the noodles.

September 28, 2020September 28, 2020

Yogurt Dill Sauce

This creamy non-dairy yogurt dill sauce perfectly pairs with couscous, rice, or quinoa and even on top of crispy breaded tofu or zucchini burgers. This sauce is extremely universal and can even be used on warm pita falafel sandwich. Another alternative for this is to thin it with a tad of water for a diary-free dressing. Whatever you chose, it’ll be great either way!

Yield: 5 servings

Ingredients

1 cup plain non-dairy yogurt

1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise

1 Tbsp. cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. fresh dill, minced add 2 Tbsp. more

1 Tbsp. chives, minced

1/2 tsp. Himalayan pink salt

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Directions

In a small mixing bowl, combine the above ingredients and stir until everything is incorporated. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.
Serve and enjoy!

Chef’s tip: You can turn this into a tzatziki sauce by adding cucumber.

July 22, 2020July 22, 2020

Rhino’s Country Gravy

This country gravy, also known as a white gravy, is made from milk that is thickened by a roux, which is flour cooked in vegan butter. This gravy recipe is best with a soy milk because of its natural flavor profile. If you don’t use or have soy milk, you can always opt for oat milk or almond milk, just make sure it is unsweetened. Smother this gravy over Country Fried Cauliflower Steaks or biscuits! The choice is yours.

Yields 8 servings

Ingredients

5 Tbsp. vegan butter

1/3 cup organic all-purpose flour

3 1/2 cups non-dairy milk

1/2 tsp. Himalayan salt

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

Directions

In a skillet over medium-high heat, melt butter and sprinkle with flour, stirring for 30 seconds. Slowly pour in non-diary milk and whisk until gravy thickens. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve over fried cauliflower steaks and garnish with parsley and side of mashed potatoes and green beans.

Chef’s tip: The best type of plant-based milk is soy because it has the most natural flavor. If you can’t use soy, go for unsweetened oat milk.

March 7, 2020May 14, 2020

Homemade Fermented Hot Sauce

Learn how to make a fermented hot sauce with these 7 simple ingredients that will give new meaning to your chilis and peppers. Ive been recently growing a ton of ghost, apache, and scotch bonnet peppers and thought how could I use these before they go bad? With that question in mind, I decided to mix them together to create this tasty hot sauce that packs the heat. Before you even consider this being too difficult of a task, let me reassure you that it takes maybe 5 minutes of actual prep time to make this. Once you place the hot sauce mixture on the counter top, you just let nature do its thing and allow the fermentation process to begin. After 5 days, you have one heck of a sauce! Making your own hot sauce is a fun DIY project and a great way for beginners to learn how to ferment, you should give it a try.

Yield 4 oz. or 1/2 cup

Ingredients

2 ghost peppers

2 scotch bonnet peppers

10-12 hot apache peppers

1 medium carrot, sliced

2 garlic cloves, peeled

3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt

1/4 cup filtered water

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Directions

Blend all of the ingredients except for the vinegar. Add mixture into a clean mason jar and cover with a cheese cloth. Allow to sit on the counter for 24 hours before adding the apple cider vinegar to the mixture.
Keep covered on the counter for 5 days. Pour mixture into a cheesecloth lined colander and squeeze out all of the liquid (be sure to wear gloves).
Heat hot sauce in a sauce pot until it reaches 185 degrees F. Bottle hot sauce in a mason jar and allow to cool before storing in the refrigerator.

Chef’s tip: For a more mild hot sauce, take out the seeds from the peppers before pulverizing them in the blender.

January 20, 2020May 14, 2020

Creamy Cauliflower Alfredo

As you all know, alfredo sauce is rich and creamy, but normally made with tons of milk, cream, and cheese. My veganized version is a lot healthier and made from cauliflower! That’s right, Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce for all those pasta cravings. Cauliflower is a great way to re create a thick restaurant-quality sauce. It comes together super quickly and can even be used for your next pizza night! This recipe is great to make ahead and use during the week for fast dinner ideas! Feel free to wilt some spinach in your pasta before adding the sauce, it’s one of my favorite ways to enjoy it.

Yield 3 cups

Ingredients

1 Tbsp. vegan butter

1 head cauliflower

1/2 white onion, chopped

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1 cup vegetable stock

1/4 cup oat milk

1/4 cup vegan Parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast

2 tsp. lemon juice

3/4 tsp. Vitacost Himalayan Fine Pink Salt

1/4 tsp. white pepper

Fresh parsley, to garnish

Directions

In a medium pot, bring the vegetable stock to a boil. Add the cauliflower, minced garlic, onion, and cook for 10 to 12 minutes or until fork tender.
In a blender, add the vegetables, broth, and remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth and well combined.
Serve hot with choice of pasta.

Chef’s tip: Sauté onion and garlic until slightly browned. Deglaze pan with 1/4 cup white wine, cooking for an additional minute.

November 27, 2019April 3, 2021

Mushroom Gravy

This Mushroom Gravy recipe is perfect for my vegan roast turkey, garlic-chive mashed potatoes, or anything else you can think of! Growing up, I would pour tons of gravy on my stuffing, mashed potatoes, and anything else I could, I would. Realizing the importance of a good gravy, I thought this would be the perfect recipe for your holiday roasts and more!

Yield 8

Ingredients

1/4 cup vegan butter

2 (8 oz) packages baby Bella mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup white onion, chopped

1/4 cup King Arthur organic flour

3-1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 tsp. balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp. Vitacost Himalayan Fine Pink Salt

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

1/4 tsp. fresh thyme, minced

Directions

In a skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter and add the sliced mushrooms and onions. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and sauté for 15 minutes until the water has evaporated. Add balsamic vinegar and cook for an additional minute.
Sprinkle the flour and cook for an addition 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly pour the vegetable broth while stirring and season with salt, pepper, and thyme.
Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once thickened, remove from heat and pour into gravy boat.
Serve immedietly.

Chef’s tip: Add a splash of vegan worcestershire sauce.

May 3, 2019May 14, 2020

SunflowerFamily Haché “Sausage” Gravy

For some of us, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Instead of de-fueling your body with processed cereals or sugary doughnuts, fuel it with nutritious, plant-based options like what you see here! Using @sunflowerfamilyusa sunflower haché to replace meat in this recipe, I’m able to recreate the perfect texture for the plant-based sausage and gravy.

Yields 4 cups

Serves 3-4 people

Ingredients

1 (9 oz) package sunflower haché

2-1/2 cups oat milk

1/4 cup King Arthur organic flour

1/2 tsp. white pepper

1-1/4 cup water

1/4 tsp. Vitacost Himalayan Fine Pink Salt

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. onion powder

Directions

In a frying pan on medium heat, and water and haché. Cook for 2-3 minutes until water has soaked into the textured protein.
Add the flour and mix around to coat. Slowly pour in the oat milk, mixing while the gravy thickens. Season with pepper.
Serve with Easy Cheesy Biscuits

Chef’s tip: This recipe is also great for a veganized country fried steak using my “chicken” Milanese recipe located on Vitacost.com #VitaVibes Blog, click here.

April 24, 2019May 14, 2020

Stir Fry Sauce

Looking for the best and easiest stir fry sauce ever? Well look no further because I have created that perfect go-to sauce for any noodle dish, stir fry, or other meal you chose. I like to think this sauce recipe is your the best secret weapon when it comes to stir fried noodles, primarily because of the delicious peanut butter flavor.

Yields 8 oz

Ingredients

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup dry sherry

2 Tbsp. sesame oil

1-1/2 Tbsp. organic cane sugar

1/2 tsp. garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1/4 cup cornstarch

3 Tbsp. peanut butter

1/4 cup water

Directions

In a blender, combine all sauce ingredients. Blend until well mixed.
In your wok, mix vegetables, choice of protein, and noodles. Add sauce and mix around.
Serve immediately.

Chef’s tip: To spice this sauce up, add some crushed red pepper flakes!

March 7, 2019May 14, 2020

Hearty “Hamburger” Macaroni and Cheese

There is something about macaroni and cheese that we all can relate to. Whether it’s the creamy cheese sauce or the crispy top baked with breadcrumbs and more cheese, we all have our go-to version. My plant-based “hamburger helper” recreation uses sunflower haché by Sunflower Family. This type of protein is made from dehydrated sunflower kernels. If you haven’t already decided what you’re making this week, I highly suggest this!

Yields 5-6 servings

Ingredients

1 (16 oz.) organic Conchiglie pasta, cooked

“Beef” Mix:

1 box Sunflower haché

1 medium onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 Tbsp. avocado oil

1 cup water

1/2 tsp. Vitacost Himalayan Fine Pink Salt

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

fresh parsley, to garnish

Cheese Sauce:

2 cups potatoes

1 cup carrots, chopped

1/2 cup filtered water

1/3 cup avocado oil

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

2 tsp. Vitacost Himalayan Fine Pink Salt

1/4 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

pinch of smoked paprika

Directions

Combine all cheese ingredients and blend until smooth. Serve either hot or cold
In a sauce pan, add avocado oil and onion; sauté for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for additional 1 minute.
Add the haché and the water; allow to cook for 2-3 minutes.
Cook pasta according to the packaged directions. Once done, drain and add to a bowl.
Combine cheese sauce, “beef” mix, and pasta. Garnish with chopped green onions.
Serve immedietly.

Chef’s tip: if you don’t have and haché, feel free to use another mock “meat” alternative: mushroom, lentils and walnuts, or your own personal favorite choice.