Laravel – Connection could not be established with host smtp.gmail.com [ #0]

Editor’s note: disabling SSL verification has security implications. Without verification of the authenticity of SSL/HTTPS connections, a malicious attacker can impersonate a trusted endpoint (such as GitHub or some other remote Git host), and you’ll be vulnerable to a Man-in-the-Middle Attack.

Be sure you fully understand the security issues before using this as a solution.

In Laravel project directory, edit config/mail.php and add the following:

'stream' => [
        'ssl' => [
            'allow_self_signed' => true,
            'verify_peer' => false,
            'verify_peer_name' => false,
        ],
    ]

It worked for me.

Fyi, my SMTP settings are:

MAIL_DRIVER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
MAIL_PORT=465
MAIL_USERNAME=[Full Gmail Address]
MAIL_PASSWORD=[Google App Password obtained after two step verification on Google Account Page]
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=ssl