Learn how to make a creamy mushroom sauce at home.
I am a complete sucker for sauce. Forget the healthy vegetables on the side or even the protein on the plate. Give me a bowlful of just about any sauce with a generous portion of chips and I’m in seventh heaven.
If you happened to be vegetarian and/or are avoiding gluten, this is a splendid recipe.
What type of mushrooms do you use in mushroom sauce?
In the photos I used the chestnut variety but white mushrooms, Chanterelles, Portobellos and Cremini will also do.
Substitutes for Sherry
Port, Madeira and Marsala can be used instead of sherry in this recipe. Some people don’t like alcohol in their food and have been known to use apple cider, vanilla extract, orange or pineapple juice. My two cents? If you’re not going to be using sherry or the equivalent, don’t try to add those aforementioned dodgy items to your sauce. Take the safe route and use stock/broth instead. See below.
Mushroom Sauce Recipe Variations
The mushroom sauce you’ll find below is simply one variation of this easy and highly adaptable recipe. I took the simple route but you can make the flavours more complex by frying finely chopped shallots to the garlic, use more than one mushroom variety mentioned above and use stock/broth.
Bigger quantities
You can make bigger quantities of the sauce; all you have to remember is the ratio – 50% sherry and 50% cream.
Just mushroom sauce
Substitute the sherry with stock/broth if you don’t want alcohol in your food, e.g. 50% stock/broth and 50% double cream.
Healthier sauce
10% sherry, 80% stock and 10% single cream or crème fraiche.
Low-Fat Mushroom Gravy
Use low-fat spray along with 10% sherry, 90% vegetable/chicken or beef stock.
Mushroom Flavour Matching Ideas
If you’re feeling adventurous you could add one of the following items to your sauce to jazz things up a bit.
- Anise
- Almonds
- Anchovies
- Bacon
- Cheese (any blue cheese, e.g. gorgonzola, Gruyere and Parmesan)
- Chestnut
- Ham
- Pancetta
- Truffle
- Walnut
Herbs and Spices to Add to your Mushroom Sauce
Keep things simple by just adding one of the following below.
- Black Pepper
- Cayenne
- Chervil
- Chives
- Dill
- Marjoram
- Mustard
- Nutmeg
- Oregano
- Paprika
- Tarragon
- Parsley
- Rosemary
- Thyme
If you're a fan of mushroom sauces you would love other Greedy Gourmet recipes:
Now let's get on with the recipe!
All you need is one clove of garlic to give this sauce a punchy flavour.
Peel and finely chop the garlic then set aside.
Let me tell you a secret. Never ever wash mushrooms in water or any other liquid for that matter.
Mushrooms are quite porous and if you wash them with water they tend to soak up a lot of liquid and that in turns affect their texture. We don't want soggy mushrooms, do we?
The solution to this problem is simply using a paper towel and gently rubbing off any noticeable dirt. Afterwards, chop off the stalk or remove them completely.
Halve the mushrooms. Quarter them. Slice them. Chop them. Do whatever your heart desires.
Heat up a pan on the stove and get the butter melting. Gently fry the garlic.
Add the mushrooms and brown them a bit.
Increase the heat until everything starts sizzling and then add the sherry and watch it bubble for about 3 minutes.
Next add the cream and stir it into the sauce. Let it bubble for a few minutes.
While you're waiting, quickly add a teaspoon of corn flour to a cup and stir in the same amount of water in it to make a slurry.
Use more, use less. It all depends on how thick you would like your sauce to be.
When you add the slurry to the sauce make sure the temperature is set at the lowest possible setting because once the corn flour hits the pan, it starts thickening. Secondly, you have to be prepared to start stirring vigorously. If you don't, be prepared to eat a clotty sauce.
If you take heed, there is nothing to worry about. Just add the corn flour slurry slowly, stir vigorously and watch the sauce thicken. If you ran out and would like your sauce even thicker, make a new slurry and simply add it to the pan.
Oh, and one last tip. You can use the pan liquids instead of tap water to make the slurry. Less flavour would be diluted.
And there you have it! Pour the sauce on top of your steak, pork chop or fish. This time round I had it with a chicken breast I cooked with a sous-vide on a bed of rice. Bliss!
📖 Recipe
Creamy Mushroom and Sherry sauce
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
A versatile sauce that can be served with chicken, beef, pork, fish and even pasta.
Ingredients
- 15ml (1 tbsp) butter
- 1 garlic clove
- 300g (10 oz) mushrooms
- 120ml (4fl oz) sherry
- 120ml (4fl oz) double cream
- 5ml (1 tsp) corn flour
Instructions
- Melt the butter in hot pan and gently fry the garlic for one minute.
- Add the mushrooms to the garlic and fry them for a few minutes until lightly browned.
- Pour the sherry in and cook until reduced to a glaze which will take about 3 minutes.
- Stir in the cream and let the sauce cook for 1 minute.
- Meanwhile, mix the corn flour with 5ml (1 tsp) of cold water in a cup.
- Reduce the heat and slowly add the slurry to the sauce and stir vigorously to avoid any clotting.
- After the sauce has thickened, serve immediately.
Notes
- Serve with steak, pork, fish, chicken or pasta.
- Instead of sherry you can use Marsala or Madeira.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Pan Fry
- Cuisine: French
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 271.9
- Calories: 406
- Sugar: 2.5 g
- Sodium: 48 mg
- Fat: 33.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 7.5 g
- Fiber: 1.5 g
- Protein: 5.8 g
- Cholesterol: 15 mg
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Renil M. George
I was stunned to realize how elaborated you made it. Thank you very much.
Michelle
Dian, you are right; there are two kinds of sherry. It can be a bit confusing when buying it because it can have a variety of names. You best bet is to check out Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherry
If you look under Types and the table, you'll see Fino is the driest and Pedro Ximénez the sweetest. Usually, dry sherry is used in cooking but it all depends on your taste and the type of dish you're preparing. I've got quite a sweet tooth and have no qualms adding a sweet sherry to anything!
Hope it helps.
Dian Kim
Question: I've never cooked w/Sherry before but I've read elsewhere there are 2 kinds used: Sweet and Dry. Which goes with this? And when I'm in the grocery looking at bottles, will I be able to tell on the label which kind it is?
Thanks in advance for your help. Love this recipe w/variations, additions, subs.
Michelle
Thanks for your feedback, Kim. Greedy Gourmet recently had a facelift and we're still doing some finishing touches. We've listened and now all images are Pinnable. Happy pinning!
Kim
Hi. I can't find an icon to Pin this recipe to Pinterest. Am I just missing it or isn't there one? Thanks. Kim
Michelle
Ooooh, that's a tricky one. To be honest I don't cook with soya milk and I think the problem would be that the sauce won't thicken properly... unless you thicken it with some cornflour slurry just before serving.
Mike
can i use soya milk imstead of cream
Michelle
Thanks, MJ. Luckily Ocado, the British online grocery shopping company, is rather good with their fresh mushrooms!
Michelle
Thanks, Rosa!
mjskit
I'm with you - mushroom cream sauces are wonderfully delicious and this one looks awesome! The texture looks perfect and, such fresh ingredients! I have a hard time finding mushrooms as fresh as those. I really need to find another source. Love the hefty amount of black pepper!
Rosa
Fantastic! I love creamy sherry sauces and mushrooms.
Cheers,
Rosa