Creamy Polenta with Wild Mushrooms is an easy, elegant dish to serve family and friends or cook for yourself when you feel like an indulgence without too much work — or calories. The creamy, cheesy polenta is topped with a textured, flavorful wild mushroom gravy that’s to die for. A gluten-free, vegan recipe.
I need just one word to describe this Creamy Polenta with Wild Mushrooms. Mindblowing.
But… I simply can’t resist saying more.
Here’s a dish so delicious, you’ll be left licking your bowl and your spoon and the pan. And at the end of it all, you’ll wish you’d made enough to feed an army so you could eat it all yourself.
This recipe has so much going for it. It’s got:
-amazing layers of texture from the wild mushrooms and the polenta
-tons of flavor
-is easy to make, in fact it’s foolproof
-is ready in under 30 minutes
If you have polenta or cornmeal and dry mushrooms of any kind in your pantry, you probably don’t even need to make a trip to the store for the simple ingredient list. All you need are:
-soy sauce or tamari or liquid aminos
-nutritional yeast
-raw cashews
-dry herbs like sage and thyme
-salt and pepper
I love making this with a mix of porcini, shiitake and crimini mushrooms, but mix it up with other mushrooms, if you’d rather. Serve up this Creamy Polenta with Wild Mushrooms with a simple salad of mixed greens, and you’ve got a hearty, satisfying meal that is wonderful enough to take the bite off winter.
- 1 cup polenta or cornmeal
- 1 tsp dry sage
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- A few dashes of tamari or soy sauce or liquid aminos
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup dry porcini mushrooms
- 1 cup dry shiitake mushrooms
- 8 oz fresh crimini mushrooms, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup dry white wine (optional)
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp raw cashews
- 2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari or liquid aminos
- 1 tsp dry thyme
- 1 tsp dry sage
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
Blend the cashews with 1/2 cup water and the nutritional yeast. Set aside.
Heat 2 cups water. Season with salt, ground pepper, tamari or soy sauce or aminos, and sage. Bring to a boil and slowly add in the polenta or cornmeal, whisking as you add it so lumps don't form.
Turn the heat to low and continue cooking the polenta for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. If the mixture gets too dry, add some water but don't make it too watery. You want the polenta to be fairly thick and it should be a bit of a workout for your arm when you stir.
Once the polenta is cooked, add the cashew cream and yeast mixture. Stir it in well. Turn off the heat. The cashew cream will help keep the polenta creamy even when it cools down.
Blend the cashews with an equal quantity of water into a smooth cream.
Soak the dry mushrooms in 1 cup of water for 30 minutes.
Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and saute, stirring, for a few seconds until the garlic gets very lightly golden. Add the fresh mushrooms and the dry, reconstituted mushrooms. Squeeze out all the water they were soaked in and reserve it for the sauce.
Saute the mushrooms for about five minutes and add the wine. Let the mushrooms cook over medium-high heat until the moisture has evaporated, then add the sage, thyme, ground black pepper, soy sauce or tamari or aminos, and stir to mix.
Add the reserved mushroom stock and let it cook down over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the cashew cream and heat through. Check seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.
Put the creamy polenta in bowls and ladle the mushroom gravy over the polenta. Serve hot or warm.
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For mushroom lovers:
Vegan Mushroom Stew
Mushroom Matar, mushrooms and peas in a creamy sauce
Mushroom Barley Risotto
I have always loved polenta, but I have never tried a cheezy vegan version like that. It sounds delicious with the herbs and nutritional yeast. Wild mushrooms are the best. I will be trying this out!!!
Hi Ruth, We love wild mushrooms. 🙂 Hope you try!
This sounds delicious! But the ads for steak almost made me puke. I suppose you have no control over what nauseating ads appear?
Hi, yes, I’ve talked to the company that manages ads, and they ask that you report the ad– there’s a button at the bottom right under the ad. I report these when I see them, and feel free to do so when you see an ad for meat.
Wanted to try the sauce but had no cornmeal so I made it to ladle over gnocchi; it was so amazing. I had no white wine so I just used 1/4 of the mushroom broth (1 3/4 cup total)
This was a sauce that would be served in a high end restaurant. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hi Leanna, how awesome that you liked the sauce! Thanks for letting me know. I love mushrooms, and this one is my new favorite. Great idea to ladle over gnocchi– in fact, some fettuccine or pappardelle would also be great vehicles for this sauce.