Perfect Gravy

Whether you’re drizzling it over your roast turkey, mashed potatoes, or flaky biscuits, homemade gravy is an absolute must-have during the holidays. It’s delicious added to almost every single component of your Thanksgiving dinner, from the main course to all of the classic sides. Since it’s such a staple, we decided to perfect homemade gravy in this easy, classic recipe. Your holiday deserves nothing less than the very best—here’s how to achieve it: 

How to make the best homemade gravy:
At its most basic, gravy is a thickened sauce made of meat drippings + stock + seasonings. Our gravy starts off with a classic roux: Equal parts fat (in this case butter) and flour are cooked in a skillet until it becomes golden and bubbly. This creates a base for your sauce’s texture, which will add the desired thickness and body to your gravy. After creating your roux, you’ll add in the key to the best homemade gravy: turkey drippings. 

Tip: If you don’t have a full cup of drippings, just add more stock. The reverse is also true: If you have more than a cup of drippings, use that and reduce the amount of stock. 

All about the turkey drippings:
The essential ingredient to perfect gravy? Fat! As your turkey bakes, it renders a ton of fat that'll be leftover in the roasting pan. Don’t—we repeat, don’t—pour that fat into the garbage. Those drippings are packed with flavor, all of which you want in your Thanksgiving gravy. After you take the turkey out of the roasting pan, set a colander or fine-mesh sieve over a large bowl or another pan. Pour the contents of the roasting pan through the colander—the drippings you want to keep will end up in the large bowl. You can discard the bits left in the colander. 

If you’d prefer to not deal with the drippings (or want to make gravy without having to cook a turkey), check out our gravy without drippings recipe. 

Gravy variations:
If you’re looking to amp up your gravy’s flavor even more, you’ve got options. Roasted garlic is a no-brainer and requires basically no effort: Simply lop off the top of a head of garlic, place in foil, drizzle with olive oil, and wrap it up. Throw into your already-full oven alongside the turkey and stuffing until it caramelizes into sweet, tender cloves. Coarsely chop once cool and stir into the gravy with the herbs. If you're not a fresh herbs person, you can totally use dried, or swap out the thyme and sage for the same amount of poultry seasoning, rosemary, or even Italian seasoning. 

If you’re gluten-free or vegetarian, our gluten-free gravy and vegetarian gravy will ensure that no one has to miss out on this holiday staple. 

Storage and freezing:
Gravy is perishable, so it will only last 2 days in the refrigerator; however, you can freeze leftover gravy up to 3 months in an airtight container or plastic bag. Thaw the gravy in the fridge the day before you plan to reheat it.  

Made this recipe? Let us know how it went in the comments below!