Making homemade gravy is an important kitchen skill for any home cook. You can easily and quickly whip up a homemade gravy to accompany any meal. Make gravy for mashed potatoes, turkey, and pot roast, or whip up some simple sausage gravy to serve over biscuits or toast.
Use our recipe for the juiciest turkey ever for pan drippings to use for gravy.
Why Our Recipe
- Printable recipe that includes detailed instructions for making any kind of gravy.
- Use pan drippings or broths or stocks to make turkey gravy, chicken gravy, beef gravy, vegetarian gravy, and gluten-free gravy.
- A video demonstration if you need a visual reference.
Roux
Traditional gravy starts with a roux. A roux is a 1:2 mixture of fat to all-purpose flour. The fat used in gravy making is usually butter, although other fats like oils, margarine, and even bacon fat can also be used. The fat is melted and combined over heat and cooked briefly. Next, a liquid is slowly added and brought to a simmer. This liquid can be pan drippings from a roast, canned broth, or stock, or even milk. The roux will cause the liquid to thicken, creating gravy.
Using Pan Drippings
Pan drippings are a flavorful option for making homemade gravy from scratch. In order to use the pan drippings you’ll need to carefully remove them from the hot pan and strain off any fat or gristle. The easiest way to do this is to pour the liquid through a fine mesh strainer into a glass liquid measuring cup so you can easily see how much dripping liquid you have.
MAKING GRAVY DIRECTLY IN A ROASTING PAN: You can also thicken your pan drippings using a cornstarch slurry directly in your roasting pan rather than using the traditional gravy-making method. This works well when there are a lot of pan drippings from a roast and the gravy is made while the pan drippings are still very hot, straight from the oven. Skim off any fat or gristle, then spoon out 1/4 cup of the pan drippings into a small bowl. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of cornstarch (for approximately 2 cups of drippings), and then pour this slurry back into the pan. Whisk well until gravy thickens.
Gluten-Free Gravy
A traditional gravy is made using a 1:2 ratio of fat to flour. You can make your gravy gluten-free by replacing all-purpose flour with cornstarch. Cornstarch is a more powerful thickening agent so only half of the amount is needed. For example, in a recipe calling for 1/4 cup of flour, you’d replace it with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.
Milk Gravy
Milk rather than broth is used to make creamy gravies like sausage gravy or a simple white gravy for drizzling over fried pork chops or chicken fried steak. You can also add milk to any meat-based gravy for a creamy variation. Simply replace part of the liquid called for in the gravy recipe with milk.
Storage and Reheating Instructions
Refrigerate leftover gravy in an airtight container for up to 3 to 4 days.
Reheat gravy in a saucepan over medium-low heat or microwave on high in 30-second increments until hot, stirring in between for even heating.
Watch the video below where Rachel will walk you through every step of this recipe. Sometimes it helps to have a visual, and we’ve always got you covered with our cooking show. You can find the complete collection of recipes on YouTube, Facebook Watch, or our Facebook Page, or right here on our website with their corresponding recipes.
X What kind of broth would you use for ham gravy if there isn’t a lot of juice?.
I would use a chicken or vegetable broth, that would pair with ham well.
What is chocolate gravy? Where do you use it?
It was perfect! I am a believer in Amy & Jacky, so I added a little soy sauce and some oyster sauce…………DELICIOUS!
Thank you, its easy to make and so Delicious!
How many people does the 3x recipe serve?
Love this easy gravy recipe…we help cook at a homeless shelter and have used it often ! Thank you!
This gravy is the best I’ve ever made. So easy and simple too. Hard to mess it up, even for a terrible cook like me😂
First gravy that came out good. First time the butter flour came out right.
Thanks. I added a little purée Turkey to it. I hope Santa puts your new book under my tree. It’s sold out at Target !!
Congrats!
Amazing way to make gravy! Have patience. You got this!
I grew up on a farm in New Zealand and my mum would always make gravy from the pan straight after a roast , she would put the whole pan over the stove element and put a bit of water in there and slowly simmer to lift of the pan bits because that’s all your flavour, then after a while she would make a slurry of flour and water and bit by bit place that into the pan! It would slowly cook away and make a beautiful thick gravy. I will try your gravy with the butter as I’ve never thought of adding butter.
Excellent job I’ve made some of the best gravy for my friends and family! Z I thank you so much 💖 🙏
Your Turkey gravy looks like my Moms! I learned from her how to make chicken, Turkey & beef gravy. Chicken for biscuits or Chicken fried steak we use drippings &flour GF a is easy use GF a flour! The secret for these is to brown the flour in the drippings before you add the milk or chicken base. For Turkey & Beef I use cornstarch.
I had the Executive Chef of the Waldorf =Astoria comment on a sauce I made he gave me 👍🏻👍🏻! He also said my Daughter had told him about how wonderful the Turkey gravy had been the day before, I replied that I could only make the gravy as well as I did because my Daughter had cooked the Turkey to perfection! He agreed that was a big part of the secret.
He spent his first 2 years as the “Saucier’”
Making all the Sauces, gravels, etc at the A=W To be complemented by such an expert was very high praise! If you taste a sauce at a Restaurant ask to speak to the Chef, if it’s not dinner time! Complement him on the flavor & ask is this ? In it? “Yes” is this in it? Yes!! Is this in it? “YES!! We did this at a Marie Cal. The “cook” was not happy that we guessed the ingredients to one of their main sauces. The problem with their sauces ETC. was they used MSG in or on everything!!!!
Diabetics or those of us with an allergy to MSG can get Migraines (me) or those with Kidney disease it can cause Kidney shut down & an ER visit! I later went from Migraines to kidney disease (mild)after a food poisoning that dinged my kidneys.
I would first get a migraine then start to retain fluids. MSG a is dangerous and in my opinion should be banned or on the list of “allergens” in bold print on the back where it lists them;peanuts, wheat, etc. Because it’s no longer listed you have to search the fine print of ingredients. Chicken base that you can buy at a store like Whole Foods only Sells “non MSG “