How to Make Homemade Gravy (Any Variation) (2024)

Imagine your family sitting around the holiday table, plates piled high with all the traditional favorites. Happy chatter quiets as the serving dishes are passed and eyes close in utter bliss as they take that first bite of fluffy mashed potatoes covered in the silkiest, creamiest, homemade gravy known to man. Grab some coffee and let's talk about making gravy from scratch - and becoming the holiday dinner MVP.

It seems like some people are just born knowing how to make gravy from scratch while others struggle for years before finally succumbing to the heartbreak of gravy failure. If you think I am kidding around just bring a can of store bought gravy to the next southern dinner you get invited to.

No, please don't. I can't be responsible. Just read through and learn to make it right.

So, just about everybody knows that people in the south consider gravy to be a vital part of the food pyramid, right? Country gravy, also known as cream gravy, goes on chicken fried steaks, chicken fried chicken, biscuits and such. Brown gravy goes on pot roast, roast chicken, turkey and stuff like that. Any kind of gravy goes on mashed potatoes.

Once you have that down you're good to go.

? Ingredients

The ingredients for any gravy recipe are pretty basic. It's the technique that makes the difference. Whether you're making it to top buttermilk biscuits or to pour over a roast here's what you'll need:

• Liquid can be meat or poultry stick, vegetable stock, milk or milk alternative.
• Fat can be bacon grease, butter, turkey drippings, poultry drippings, meat drippings...
• Flour is the thickener of choice. I use all-purpose flour for this.
• Salt and Pepper are necessary for flavor. I like plenty of black pepper in my gravy.
• Other Seasonings can be added like sage, poultry seasoning, herbes de Provence, rosemary, or whatever.

? Instructions

Real Southern gravy is rich, creamy, and an important part of the Southern food pyramid. It should be smooth as silk and rich as a Houston oil tycoon.

The technique is the same whether you are making cream gravy or brown gravy so this recipe will show you how to make gravy of any sort you like.

1. Heat bacon grease, butter, or oil in a skillet.
2. Add the flour.
3. Stir to blend - it will be bumpy.
4. Cook and whisk for 2 minutes.
5. Whisk in the milk.
6. Stir until smooth.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste.

? Turkey gravy with giblets

You'll find the giblets and heart and liver in that paper bag inside the turkey. Some people add the liver to the simmering water but I don't like the flavor. Do what you want about that. Learning how to make gravy is largely a matter of experimenting to see what you like best.

1. Cover the neck and giblets and heart with water.
2. Add 1 onion, peeled and cut in half as well as 1 peeled carrot, 1 stem of fresh rosemary, and 2 stalks of celery.
3. Simmer covered until the meat is cooked through and the vegetables are soft.
4. Remove the vegetables and strain the stock to remove meat and vegetable matter - some people like to just blend the vegetables up with the broth for a heartier gravy. Others chop the cooked giblets, heart, and neck meat up and add it to the gravy. You've got options.
5. Use for the liquid as directed in the recipe.

I think a great homemade gravy recipe should definitely be considered a side dish, don't you? Here are more of my favorites -

• Easy Au Gratin Potatoes are creamy, and delicious AND made right on top of the stove!
• Slow Cooker Cornbread Dressing is so light and fluffy! Once you've made it in a slow cooker you’ll never make it any other way.
• Southern Corn Pudding is made with fresh corn that's fire roasted then cut from the cob to create this deliciously creamy side dish.

❤️ Tips

1. Don't use margarine for your homemade gravy! Use real butter (not whipped), bacon fat, or drippings from the meat. Use oil if you must but don't use margarine! Please!
2. Go easy on the salt. You can always add more once it's done.
3. Add plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Yes, even in the cream gravy. It's supposed to be "freckled".
4. Be sure to cook the flour in the fat for at least 2 minutes while stirring constantly. This will get rid of any raw flavor.
5. When you add the liquid to the fat and flour mixture do it slowly while whisking with your other hand. Whisk quickly and all of the lumps should whisk right out. Do not let it scorch - there's no coming back from that.
6. If you're worried about lumps in the gravy just strain the gravy as you pour it into the serving bowl. With practice there won't be any lumps to strain out.
7. Use evaporated milk or whole milk for your cream gravy. Do not use non-fat or low fat. Please, this is GRAVY.
8. DO NOT dilute your gravy with water. Dear God.
9. Strain any pieces of meat or vegetable out of your stock before making brown gravy.
10. Always taste and adjust

❓FAQs

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about making gravy from scratch. If you can't find your answer here go ahead and ask in the comments and I'll get back to you.

How do you make gravy from meat juices?

Pretty much just like you make it with cream or milk.

1. Collect the juices and the fat from the meat you are roasting or use prepared stock.
2. Let the fat separate and skim it off.
3. Add the fat to a heavy saucepan
4. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute.
5. Stir in the meat juices and/or stock until you get a smooth gravy.

How can I make it quickly?

If you don't have meat juices and fat from roasting you can still make a great gravy with butter and store bought stock -

1. Melt butter in pan over medium heat. Bacon grease works well, too.

1. Add flour, stirring constantly for 2 minutes until the mixture is a light tan but don't let it brown.

1. Add broth, salt and pepper .
2. Continue to stir for 3 minutes or until it thickens.

Can you make it with flour and water?

Not really - you need at least a little milk, meat, chicken, or vegetable stock to give it flavor. Bullion is an inexpensive way to flavor your gravy.

Can you use cornstarch?

You sure can. Usually people make it with flour but you can use cornstarch as well. Here's how -

1. Mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch with ¼ cup cold water until smooth.
2. Stir into the pan of stock and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
3. It should thicken in about 1 minute.
4. Substitute 1 tablespoon cornstarch for every 2 tablespoons flour to thicken gravy.
5. There's no need to make a roux.

Can you use baking powder to thicken gravy?

No.

How do you make homemade gravy with turkey drippings?

You'll use the turkey drippings as the fat and use the broth as the liquid. Just follow the instructions in the recipe.

??‍? Variations

Once you understand that all gravy is basically fat + flour +liquid + seasoning it's easy to create all the tasty variations

• Turkey drippings and turkey stock.
• Chicken drippings and chicken stock.
• Butter and vegetable stock.
• For a vegetarian brown gravy use butter, dried mushrooms, and the soaking water.
• Beef drippings and beef stock.
• Gluten free gravy - use 2 tablespoons cornstarch instead of ¼ cup flour
• Vegan cream gravy - use almond milk, oil, and flour.
• Vegan brown gravy - simmer dried mushrooms in vegetable stock for liquid and use oil and flour as directed in recipe.
• Homemade sausage gravy - add 1 cup cooked bulk sausage to cream gravy.
• Red eye gravy - brown ham in a skillet. Remove. Pour ½ cup black coffee and ½ cup chicken broth in hot skillet, scraping the bottom with a spatula to make sure to get stuck on bits. Add 1 teaspoon brown sugar - thicken with 1 tablespoon cornstarch if desired.
• Here's a healthy version from UMass.

? Supplies

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A balloon whisk is great for most things but once you use this weighted ball whisk for gravy you'll be hooked. It takes much less effort!

☕️ Kaffeeklatsch

It seems like people are less and less able to cook from scratch. I had an interesting conversation in the grocery store right around Thanksgiving with a woman that was likely in her late 30s or early 40s. She was looking at the boxed pudding mixes and couldn't find the one she wanted. She asked if I happened to see it because she needed to make banana pudding.

Y'all would have been proud of me. I maintained my composure and took a deep breath. "You know you can make pudding, right?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "Well yeah! But I can't find the right kind! The flavor will be wrong if I use butterscotch!"

I smiled what I hoped was a tolerant smile. "Actually, you can make your own pudding with milk, flour, eggs, butter, and vanilla."

I'm telling you she was gobsmacked. She looked at me like I had sprouted horns and begun to levitate right there in the baking aisle. Pinky swear.

"I'm sorry, what?"

I sighed. Keep in mind, I have eight children. I was not a patient person at 20 but all of my pregnancies lasted 43 weeks, my kids were all stubborn like their mom, and by the time I was 50 I had learned that sometimes you just have to breathe through it.

"You. Can. Make. Your. Own."

I'll just cut off the dialogue there. It ended up with her taking home my instructions for banana pudding, hand written on a brown paper towel from the bathroom.

Of course none of that helps you know how to make southern gravy. My point is that we just tend to buy convenience foods without thinking.

Homemade from scratch often doesn't take much more time, is cheaper, and definitely yummier. Society seems to be losing the ability to be independent of the local supercenter and I fear that one day a hostile government will come in and take over merely by confiscating boxed pudding and jarred gravy.

Let's not let that happen.

📖 Recipe

First Published: January 6, 2016... last update March 1, 2020 for faster load speed and better user experience.