Vegan Poutine (or are these disco fries?)

The Canadian specialty known as poutine consists of French fries smothered in gravy and topped with cheese. This vegan poutine recipe swaps out traditional gravy for an easy mushroom gravy and plant-based cheese. Now in plant-based form, it’s a major comfort food. Recently, I’ve been alerted that this recipe may be closer to disco fries.

How this dish came to be a Canadian specialty is always up for debate, but you can learn more about the (non-vegan) history of poutine. And now, what’s the difference between poutine and disco fries, which originated in New Jersey?

Poutine in its more traditional form uses cheese curd, something not readily adapted to plant-based, and disco fries use regular block cheese, an ingredient easily replaced by plant-based cheese shreds.

Either way, in vegan form, poutine / disco fries is a bit odd, a tad indulgent, but still — it works so well that you’ll be coming back for more whenever you’re in the mood for some serious comfort food.

Make sure to see the shortcut (using organic frozen fries) and the variation (adding plant-based protein) at the end of the recipe box, in the Notes section.

What to serve with poutine

It’s nice to serve something fresh and green with this dish. A colorful salad with some chickpeas added is a good companion. You can also roast a batch of fresh broccoli florets at the same time since you’ve got your oven going at 425ºF.

Photos by Hannah Kaminsky, BittersweetBlog.com.

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Yield: 6

Vegan Poutine (or are these Disco fries?)

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This vegan poutine recipe swaps out a traditional gravy for a mushroom gravy, and, of course, uses plant-based cheese. You might also argue that this recipe is even closer to disco fries.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Ingredients

Baked fries (or see shortcut)

• 2 pounds potatoes, preferably golden, medium size
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Mushroom Gravy

• 1 cup chopped white or brown mushrooms
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 large or 2 regular salt-free vegetable bouillon cubes
• 3 tablespoons unbleached white flour
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, optional
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce, or to taste
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

Toppings

• 1 to 1 1/2 cups cheddar-style nondairy cheese shreds, as desired
• 2 to 3 scallions, thinly sliced

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425º F.
2. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise, then cut each half into 4 wedges. Place in a mixing bowl. 
3. Drizzle in the olive oil and add a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Stir, then transfer the potatoes to a parchment-lined baking sheet or roasting pan. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden and crisp. Stir a couple of times as they bake.
4. Once the potatoes are nearly done, start the gravy. Combine the mushrooms with a little water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until they’re wilted, about 3 minutes. 
5. Add the water and bouillon cube. While it’s warming up, dissolve the flour in enough water to make it smooth and pourable.
6. When the water comes to a simmer, turn the heat down and drizzle in the dissolved flour, stirring all the while with a whisk. Stir in the nutritional yeast if using, and cook just until thickened.
7. Season the gravy to taste with soy sauce and pepper and remove from the heat. Transfer about half of the gravy to a spouted container.
8. When the potatoes are done, transfer to a serving container — a shallow casserole dish works well. Pour the gravy remaining in the saucepan over them, followed by an even sprinkling of the cheese and.
9. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes longer, or until the cheese is melted. Remove from the heat and sprinkle with the scallions.
10. Serve at once, passing around the extra gravy.

Notes

Shortcut: It isn’t a whole lot of work to cut 2 pounds of potatoes into fry shapes, but if you’d like to skip this step you can use two 16-ounce bags of all-natural frozen fries. Try sweet potato fries for a more colorful variation.

Variation: To make this more of a protein dish, add an 8-ounce package of baked tofu (cut into strips) or an 8- to 10-ounce package of your favorite plant-based meat alternative. Chick’n strips, "beef" tips, or vegan sausage all work.

See more vegan main dishes and ways to veganize classic recipes.