How To: Make Homemade Gravy

Ingredients and Equipment Needed

Ingredients

• Butter – I recommend real butter here if you don’t have any dietary exceptions that prevent that.  You could also use turkey fat here, but I prefer the flavor of the butter.  If you’re making any sort of bacon-wrapped meat, bacon grease works beautifully as a gravy starter as well.
• All-purpose flour – There’s a reason we’re not just tossing cornstarch in here-  a butter and flour based roux provides one of the main flavor components. See the frequently asked questions later in the post for notes on gluten-free flours.
• Broth or pan drippings – See the Liquid Options section below for more information and options.
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• Additional flavoring agents as desired – Fresh herbs, seasonings, vinegar, Worcestershire, etc.

Equipment

• Sauce pan
• Whisk
• Fat separator – If I were Oprah-rich, I would buy one of these fat separators for each and every one of you right this second.  This is one of my most favorite kitchen gadgets.  They’re not very expensive, and I love OXO’s because it’s made from sturdy plastic (as opposed to breakable glass, like some of the competitors.)  This isn’t an ad, I just really recommend these.  Are you wondering what exactly it’s for? When you cook meat, like a big roast, or a turkey, for example, you’re left with a pan full of delicious juices, mixed with a layer of greasy (yet delicious) fat.  You need to get rid of that fat in order to get to the juices (a main ingredient in gravy).  You can skim it off, but this makes it so much easier.
  
  There’s a large hole strainer on top to strain out any big chunks.  All you do is pour all of the juices and fat in there together.  Just quickly empty out that pan. Fat will naturally rise to the top as it settles.  If you do this with a normal measuring glass, when you start to pour, you’re pouring the fat.  Notice on the fat separator, the spout connects at the bottom, so you just pour out the flavorful juices and can easily stop when you get to the fat.  I seriously use this thing all the time, and you might want to pick one up before Thanksgiving- it will come in handy!

How to Make Homemade Gravy

Basic gravy starts with a roux, which is a mixture of cooked butter and flour that will naturally thicken liquid. 

1. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a sauce pan and add 4 tablespoons all purpose flour. Use a whisk to combine it into a smooth mixture.
2. Stir/whisk it constantly as it bubbles.  Here’s something to know about a roux: it should basically match the color of your finished product.  So if you were making a white sauce, you could cook it for a couple of minutes until it looked creamy and pale. For our gravy we want a nice caramel color.
3. Cook until deep caramel in color. But for beef or poultry gravy, you want to cook it longer, being careful not to burn it, until it’s a golden caramel color.  Basically the color of gravy.  It will smell amazing, almost like dessert. When your roux reaches that point, it’s time to whisk in your liquids. You can use pan drippings, broth/stock, or a combination of both. See the Notes on Liquid Options below for more info on that.
4. When your butter/flour mixture is ready, start adding your liquid a very small amount at at a time and stir constantly.  Don’t be scared when the mixture seizes; that’s natural.  It will get very clumpy at first, which is why it’s important that you just keep whisking constantly.  It’s also important that you only add a small amount of liquid at a time and don’t add more until you’ve whisked it in smooth.  If you dump in all your liquid at once, it will most certainly be lumpy!
5. When your butter/flour mixture is ready, start adding your liquid a very small amount at at a time and stir constantly.  Don’t be scared when the mixture seizes; that’s natural.  It will get very clumpy at first, which is why it’s important that you just keep whisking constantly.  It’s also important that you only add a small amount of liquid at a time and don’t add more until you’ve whisked it in smooth.  If you dump in all your liquid at once, it will most certainly be lumpy!
6. Simmer Gravy to thicken. Bring the gravy to a simmer and let it bubble away to thicken for about 5 minutes (this is a great time to drop in some fresh herbs if you’d like to).  This is your basic recipe.  From here, you can customize it.  It’s nearly impossible to follow and exact recipe for gravy because everyone’s pan drippings will taste different.  So from here, definitely season with salt and pepper first, if needed.  Then taste it and see what it needs.  I always, always add a splash of Worcestershire sauce.  I like a little bit of acidity to balance out the flavors, a splash of  red or white wine vinegar also works great.  If you’re serving it with smoked meat, try a splash of liquid smoke in there.  You can add chopped fresh herbs, and any other seasonings you like.
7. Remove from heat, transfer to a serving dish, and drizzle generously over whatever you’d like, but especially mashed potatoes. Because there is nothing like rich, buttery gravy over a creamy bed of potatoes! And possibly my favorite thing is when everything on your plate ends up covered in it.  It somehow totally works.

Frequently Asked Questions