Vegan Chanterelle Risotto

This vegan chanterelle risotto makes every gourmet’s mouth water. It is creamy, hearty, herby, simple to make - and full of amazing chanterelle flavour that shines across the whole dish like sunlight across an alpine meadow on a warm summer day.

Wild chanterelle mushrooms

The chanterelle mushrooms absolutely shine in this risotto. The combination with onions and herbs always works perfectly for savoury dishes. The unique flavour of the bright orange chanterelles makes this an awesome seasonal treat. Or dehydrate chanterelles when they are fresh and enjoy our vegan chanterelle risotto the whole year round! We like to sun dry them behind the windscreen, on the dashboard of our van.

The chanterelles have such a characteristic, charismatic, unique, special, amazing flavour… I could go on raving about them for hours. They are one of the main reasons for us to visit a certain area in Austria (where chanterelles are called Eierschwammerl - ‘egg mushrooms’) every summer or autumn, and there we have a little chanterelle festival.

Chanterelle mushrooms are happy to lend their earthy and fruity aroma to many meals as the heart of the dish, but also make a great addition to any hearty, savoury recipe. We like them best when they are fried with some onions and herbs before combined with other ingredients.

Before I actually rave on about how awesome chanterelles are, let’s get back to the risotto.

Pressure cooking risotto

Pressure cooking a risotto is our favourite way to make risotto. No long cooking time or endless stiring! Pressure cooking reduces the cooking time of any dish, while preserving more nutrients than conventional cooking. In the camper van, that means saving some gas, while also saving time and eating more healthy!

But of course, you can also cook this recipe without using a pressure cooker.

No wine? No problem!

You could use white wine for deglazing, as almost any risotto recipe calls for. But as we usually don’t have a bottle of white wine in our van, we got creative using some of our staple ingredients. We usually use a splash of soy sauce and lemon or lime juice, which serves the same purpose of adding some extra flavour and a subtle tang to the vegan chanterelle risotto. You can also substitute apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar for the lemon juice.

Rounding it off with herbs

On the same walk on which we picked the chanterelles for the risotto, we also came across some wild oregano. So that’s what we used to herb up the risotto, but any herb mix will do the job perfectly, like herbs de provence or italian herbs. In the alpine area you would likely find chanterelles paired with parsley a lot.

Nutritional yeast in vegan risotto

Nutritional yeast works magic in vegan risottos. It’s key role is to add a ‘cheesy’ flavour typical for risottos, but also helps make it more creamy. It also adds some extra nutrients to vegan dishes. Simply mix it in at the end of the cooking process. And don’t be too frugal with it!

Other recipes:

If you are looking for more vegan risotto recipes, why not try these?
Caramelised Fennel Risotto with Herby Garlic Cashews
Squash Lentil Risotto

More of our chanterelle recipes:
Wild Chanterelle Mushroom Goulash
Creamy Chanterelle Soup

📖 Recipe