Easy Creamy Chanterelle Sauce Recipe
This easy creamy chanterelle sauce recipe is rich, velvety, and full of flavour. Perfect with dumplings, potatoes, pasta, or steak.
This easy creamy chanterelle sauce is a simple yet hearty seasonal treat. Rich, velvety, and full of earthy flavour, it’s one of those dishes that makes the most of fresh, foraged mushrooms. With just a handful of ingredients, you can turn chanterelles into a comforting sauce that’s perfect for spooning over dumplings, potatoes, or pasta on an autumn evening.
Why This Creamy Chanterelle Mushroom Sauce Is One of My Seasonal Favourites
I didn’t get into mushroom foraging until I moved to Austria, and this dish is perhaps one of the most iconic Austrian chanterelle dishes, with some variation available at every traditional restaurant. It was the first foraged mushroom dish I cooked myself.
Although chanterelles are available here in the supermarket from summer into mid autumn, I always prefer to find my own. Everytime I happen to find a large haul of them, this will definitely be on the dinner table later that evening.
Here in Austria, it’s most often served with Semmelknödel (bread dumplings), but it’s wonderfully versatile — equally at home as a pasta or gnocchi sauce, or even as a rich accompaniment to steak or roast meats.
However you serve it, it always feels like the very best of mushroom season in a single dish.
What Are Chanterelle Mushrooms?
Chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius) are one of the most sought after species of foraged mushrooms. Because they can’t be cultivated (at least not on a commercial level) every chanterelle you find in a restaurant, market, or shop has been foraged by hand.
They are instantly recognisable by their vibrant golden colour and irregular trumpet shape. Highly prized by food lovers, they:
- Grow from late summer to early winter, typically found in pine forests.
- Have a firm, chewy texture they retain in sauces
- Taste earthy, nutty, and slightly fruity.
- Provide fibre, vitamin D, and B vitamins.
If you want help identifying them, and which ones to avoid, this page is very helpful.
Ingredients Breakdown for Creamy Chanterelle Sauce
- Chanterelles – The star of the recipe, with their earthy, nutty, slightly fruity flavour.
- Onions – Add sweetness and depth to the sauce. Shallots make a nice, milder alternative.
- Sunflower Oil – A neutral base for sautéing; butter adds extra richness if you prefer.
- Plain Flour – Thickens the sauce to a smooth, creamy texture.
- Double Cream – Creates the rich, velvety base. A vegan alternative can be used, but go with oat cream rather than coconut based, as the flavour will be too strong
- Paprika – Gives warmth and colour.
- Lemon Juice – Lifts the flavours and balances the creaminess.
- Salt & Pepper – Essential seasoning to bring everything together.
- Parsley – A fresh earthy finishing touch; thyme also work well for chanterelles, but its flavour is more pronounced.
Step-by-Step Instructions for Creamy Chanterelle Sauce
- Soften the onions – Start by warming a little oil in a wide pan. Add the onions and let them cook gently for about 5 minutes, until they turn soft and sweet.
- Cook the chanterelles – Tip in the mushrooms and watch as they sizzle. After a few minutes, they’ll release their liquid — let it bubble away until most of it evaporates. This concentrates that wonderful earthy, nutty taste.
- Make a quick flour paste – While the mushrooms cook, stir flour and paprika with a few spoonfuls of cold water until smooth. This little trick keeps your sauce lump-free later.
- Stir in the cream – Pour the cream into the pan, then stir in the flour paste. Give it a good stir and let everything simmer until the sauce thickens into something glossy and velvety.
- Season –Stir through some of the parsley, and finish with salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice to brighten everything up.
Serve and enjoy – Scatter over the rest of the parsley and serve right away with dumplings, potatoes, or whatever cosy side you fancy. It’s proper comfort food.
Easy Creamy Chanterelle Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 800 g chanterelles cleaned and trimmed
- 2 onions finely chopped
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 400 ml double cream
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- Salt & pepper, to taste
- A handful of fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a wide pan and sauté the onions over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until soft and translucent.
- Add the chanterelles and cook for 8–10 minutes, allowing their liquid to release and reduce.
- In a small bowl, mix the flour and paprika with a few tablespoons of cold water to form a smooth paste.
- Stir the cream into the pan with the mushrooms, then whisk in the flour paste. Simmer until the sauce thickens to a creamy consistency.
- Stir in half the chopped parsley. Season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Garnish with the remaining parsley.
Notes
Notes & Variations for Creamy Chanterelle Sauce
- Dairy-Free / Vegan – Swap the cream for oat cream. I don’t recommend anything coconut based, as the flavour will be too strong.
- Gluten-Free – Replace the plain flour with cornstarch or arrowroot. Just whisk it with cold water before stirring it in to avoid lumps.
- Storage – Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat gently on the stove, adding a splash of cream or stock if it thickens too much.
- Freezing – Cream sauces don’t freeze well as they can split. Instead, sauté and freeze just the chanterelles, then prepare the sauce fresh when needed.
