Easy Homemade Gravy Recipe

This extremely flavorful homemade gravy recipe is easy to make and perfect for all your holiday roasts. You will love how easy this is to make.

Using a tasty sauce is a fantastic way to accompany so many different foods.  I highly recommend checking out my reduced balsamic recipe or chimichurri sauce to help take the flavor of your food over the top.

Gravy

Gravy is a sauce made from meat juices, often combined with a liquid such as chicken stock or beef stock, wine, or milk thickened with flour, cornstarch, or arrowroot.  A gravy may also be the simple juices left in the pan after cooking meat, poultry, or fish.

There is no doubt that gravy can enhance the flavor of whatever it is being poured on as well as help to tenderize and make juicier.  In addition to serving it with protein, it is commonly poured over mashed potatoes.

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Fat – You can use rendered lard, unsalted butter, olive, or avocado oil.
• Onion – I used shallots and garlic in this recipe. However, you can substitute the shallot for white, yellow, sweet, or red onions.
• Celery – A few ribs of celery help round out the flavors in the gravy.
• Carrot – You will need some fresh carrots for this.
• Herbs – I use a combination of fresh parsley, thyme, and rosemary. You can also use fresh sage.
• Flour – All-purpose flour is what’s needed.
• Juices – You can use any rendered juices from the meat you are cooking or pre-made chicken or beef stock.

How to Make Gravy

Lightly brown the vegetables and herbs in fat, drippings, butter, or lard in a large roasting pan or pot.

Once brown, stir in the flour until it is completely combined.

Pour in the stock or rendered protein juices and turn the heat to high while constantly stirring.

The mixture will become very thick, and once it does, simmer on low heat for 5 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper, strain, and serve.

Gluten-Free Gravy

If you need to make this recipe gluten-free, you have two options. Here are the ingredients and how to make it:

• Cornstarch: Use half the amount of fat when cooking the vegetables and forgo sprinkling in flour, but still bring the mixture to a boil.  In a separate small bowl, whisk together 3 tablespoons of cornstarch with 6 tablespoons of water and mix it with a whisk or spoon until it is combined to make a slurry. Once the stock is boiling, whisk the slurry into the mixture, and it will immediately thicken. Season, strain, and serve the gluten-free gravy.
• Arrowroot: Use the exact instructions as above. However, use 4 teaspoons of arrowroot to 4 teaspoons of water.

Make-Ahead and Storage

Make-Ahead: You can make this recipe up to 3 days ahead.  Keep cool until ready to use.

How to Store: Cover and keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.  You can freeze this, but the sauce may break, and you will need to rethicken it.

How to Reheat: Add the desired amount of velouté to a small saucepot and heat over low heat until hot.  You may need to rethicken it using a small amount of roux.

chef notes + tips

• When making gravy specifically for your holiday turkey, add 3-4 leaves of fresh sage when adding other herbs.
• If you are making this for a holiday meal, I highly recommend prepping the mirepoix 1 to 2 days ahead to alleviate cooking pressures.
• While your protein is resting once it finishes roasting in the oven or smoker, this is the perfect time to make this. 
• Substitute the fresh herbs 1 to 1 for dry herbs.

More Sauce Recipes

• Cranberry
• Velouté
• Teriyaki
• Cocktail
• Tzatziki

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Easy Homemade Gravy Recipe

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5 from 12 votes

This extremely flavorful homemade gravy recipe is very easy to make and is the perfect complement to all your holiday roasts.

Servings: 3.5 cups

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Ingredients 

US CustomaryMetric

• ¼ cup rendered fat, butter, oil, or lard
• 1 peeled and small diced shallot
• 1 small diced celery stalk
• 1 peeled and small diced carrot
• 2 finely minced garlic
• 3-4 parsley stems with leaves
• 3-4 fresh thyme sprigs
• 1 rosemary sprig
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 cups stock or rendered meat juices
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Add the fat to a roasting pan or pot over medium heat.
• Place in the shallots, celery, carrots, garlic, parsley, thyme, and rosemary and lightly brown while stirring every 20 to 30 seconds, which takes about 5 minutes.
• Next, stir in the flour until it is completely combined to make a roux.
• Pour in the stock or meat juices and turn the heat to high while stirring to mix in the roux while occasionally stirring.
• Once the mixture is to a boil and is thick, turn the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Season with salt and pepper, and then strain the mixture through a chinois or fine mesh strainer and serve it.
• Optionally sprinkle on some fresh chopped parsley, thyme, and rosemary.

Notes

Make-Ahead: You can make this recipe up to 3 days ahead of time. Keep cool until ready to use.

How to Store: Cover and keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can freeze this, but the sauce may break, and you will need to rethicken it.

How to Reheat: Add the desired amount of velouté to a small saucepot and heat over low heat until hot. You may need to rethicken it using a small amount of roux.

When making gravy specifically for your holiday turkey, add 3-4 leaves of fresh sage when adding in the other herbs.

If you are making this for a holiday meal, I highly recommend prepping the mirepoix 1 to 2 days ahead of time to alleviate any cooking pressures.

While your protein is resting once it finishes roasting in the oven or smoker, this is the perfect time to make this.

Nutrition

Calories: 205kcalCarbohydrates: 16gProtein: 2gFat: 15gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 12mgSodium: 1089mgPotassium: 112mgFiber: 1gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 3603IUVitamin C: 5mgCalcium: 19mgIron: 1mg

Course: sauce, side

Cuisine: American, French

Author: Chef Billy Parisi