This is a great recipe for gravy that is so easy to make and can be made now and frozen for up to six weeks!
I love getting most of my Thanksgiving meal done in advance so I don’t have to stress on turkey day. This way I can relax and enjoy the company of my guests.
For this gravy, assemble the ingredients.
Basic Gravy
makes about 4 cups
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
32 ounces low-salt chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
optional: browning liquid, like Gravy Master
Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Sprinkle in flour. Whisk to incorporate. Keep stirring for several minutes to develop the color of the roux
When the roux is tan and smells nice and toasty, pour in the chicken stock slowly while whisking like a son of a gun. When the gravy approaches boiling, it magically thickens.
If the gravy is too pale, add in a browning liquid like Gravy Master a few drops at a time until you have a nice brown color you like.
Add salt and pepper to taste. (Definitely under-season if you are going to add turkey drippings before serving.)
Allow to cool, transfer to a freezer-safe container. This gravy can be frozen for six weeks or stored in the fridge for a day or two before using. You can double this recipe and use half for Thanksgiving and half for Christmas!
Allow frozen gravy to defrost in refrigerator before using. Reheat in saucepan shortly before dinner is served, while the turkey rests after roasting. Sometimes as it defrosts and heats up, the gravy looks grainy. Just keep heating and stirring and it will be fine.
At this point you can add a few tablespoons of the turkey drippings (separated from any fat) and adjust the seasonings. Add in the drippings slowly and taste frequently, especially if you brined your bird. The drippings may be very salty.
This recipe is from Diane Philips’s cookbook, Happy Holidays from the Diva of Do-Ahead. It’s a useful book all year ’round, and the same place I got my make-ahead mashed potatoes recipe.
If you give this gravy recipe a try, let me know how it works out. I’ve made this for several years and it’s always turned out well.
This recipe can be made vegan by substituting olive oil and vegetable broth. Still tastes delicious!
I like simple, basic gravy from scratch. How do you do gravy on Thanksgiving? Packet, jarred, simple from scratch, or fancy with giblets?
I use the drippings from the smoked turkey, the homemade turkey stock I’ve made in advance, and cream, with meat from the neck.
Yes, I’m a gravy over-achiever.
You wouldn’t expect anything less, now, would you?
I think it’s thrifty!
The words “neck meat” remind me of Napoleon Dynamite.
I only touch the neck meat to throw it away.
Except for that first time I cooked a turkey, when I didn’t know it was there and cooked it inside the bird.
Thanks!! I NEVER would have thought you could freeze gravy. I would have thought it would separate or something. I will definitely do this!
I use the drippings from the (brined) turkey and I also simmer the neck meat (hehe) and use that, plus my own chicken stock. I never let giblets (shudder) anywhere near my gravy. When certain family members make the gravy, if we do a big multi-family meal, I always make and bring my own gravy for my family and whoever else wants it because they load theirs with giblets and I can’t deal. I’m sorry if this offends any giblet-users out there, but giblets floating in gravy make me queasy. Yeah, I have issues.
Happy anniversary, Bex!
Americans (me included) just aren’t used to eating organ meat anymore.
And that’s just offal. *ba-dum-ting*
Blah-ha-ha! I just saw this comment and laughed right out loud!
Thank you! I’ll be here all week!
This is genius! always mess up gravy. Always. It’s like the thing I do the best: horribly ruin gravy. I’m do this for Thanksgiving this year. Thanks Anne!
I don’t want to brag (too much), but I make perfect gravy. Think of it as a science experiment. You are creating certain ratios of ingredients and waiting for certain chemical reactions.
And since it’s made in advance, you aren’t making it under pressure.
I hope you enjoy it!