Turkey Gravy

Turkey Gravy

Turkey Gravy is the ultimate home cooked goodness.  Rich, creamy gravy from drippings accompanied with butter and all the best seasonings, makes this Turkey Gravy recipe mouth watering good.

Don’t worry if you don’t know how to make Turkey Gravy.  This Turkey Gravy recipe is straight forward, easy to follow, and results in the most decadent, delicious gravy perfect for topping your Thanksgiving bird. 

Serve with The Perfect Turkey, Easy Corn Casserole, Easy Stuffing, Homemade Sweet Potato Casserole, and Mom’s Dinner Rolls.

This Turkey Gravy with drippings makes a great topper for turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, or really anything your heart desires.

I have to say Turkey Gravy with mashed potatoes is like the peanut butter to my jelly.  They just go hand in hand. And once you try this homemade Turkey Gravy recipe, you will NEVER want to settle for store bought again.  

Also be sure to check out this guide for How to Make Homemade Turkey Stock!

How To Make Turkey Gravy:

Sometimes we settle for things like store bought stuff because homemade just sounds like it is going to be so time consuming and difficult.  Making your own gravy may sound too hard, but trust me it really isn’t and the pay off is so worth it my friends.

Steps to Make Turkey Gravy:

Step One:  Save Those Precious Turkey Drippings.

First off make sure you don’t throw away those precious turkey drippings from cooking your turkey.  Those treasures will be the base to your gravy. I will explain later how to best collect those.

Step Two:  Gather Some Killer Spices And Other Key Ingredients.

For this recipe I use thyme, fresh sage, salt and pepper, shallots, flour, butter, chicken or turkey broth and the optional element of dry white wine.

Step Three:  Let’s Get Cooking.

• Over medium heat add butter and shallots.  Melt the butter.
• Once butter is melted, whisk in flour and cook until golden (about 1 minute).
• Slowly whisk in pan drippings.
• Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently until slightly thickened.
• Stir in fresh herbs.
• Whisk in 1 c of broth and return mixture to a simmer.
• Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
• Simmer for 10 minutes, gradually adding more broth if gravy is too thick.
• Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to your preference.

Follow these simple steps and you will have an amazing gravy that everyone will rave about.

How To Season Turkey Gravy:

For this Turkey Gravy recipe I chose to use sage and thyme to season the gravy.  They compliment each other well and result in a gravy that is seasoned to perfection.  In addition to those spices, I of course used the fundamental salt to help bring out the flavor and pepper for a little kick.

However, if you want to take this recipe as a base and change things up a bit, there are some general tricks for seasoning gravy.

4 Ways To Season Gravy:

1. Taste as you go and make the necessary adjustments (adding more salt etc.).
2. Use sautéed veggies in your gravy.
3. Add more bouillon.
4. Make life simple and just follow this recipe.  The seasonings have been tried and tested already for you.

Whenever making gravy I recommend adding some seasoning to your gravy so it won’t be bland.  This recipe offers the perfect balance of flavor, making the gravy tasty but not overwhelming in flavor.  

You want the gravy to compliment your sides and dish, not take over.  This Turkey Gravy recipe does just that. It compliments the food and adds a splash of flavor without overpowering the dish.

How Do You Collect Turkey Drippings For Gravy?

As already mentioned, turkey drippings are the foundation to this whole homemade gravy thing.  So, you want to make sure not to just discard them after cooking the turkey.  

Throwing away those fantastic drippings pains me to even think about.  It feels like you are throwing away gold. So make sure to collect them and make fabulous homemade Turkey Gravy.

How To Collect The Drippings:

Remove the turkey from the pan.

Once the turkey is done, remove it from the pan so you can access those drippings.

Remove as much of the fat as possible and set aside.

Separate the fat and the rest of the liquid.  I will discuss in a minute the different methods of doing so.

Combine the right portion of fat to liquid.

Add about 2 tbs of fat to 1 cup of liquid.  Depending on how many cups of liquid or big of a batch you will make will determine how much fat you will need to save. However, the general ratio is 2 tbs of fat to 1 cup of liquid.

Once you have done all that, you are ready to make delicious, unforgettable gravy.

Straining Drippings:

Okay now that you know the simple steps needed to get your drippings, let’s talk about how to separate the fat from the rest of the drippings.  Did you notice I kind of glossed over that part earlier?  

Don’t worry I’m not going to leave you hanging.  I promised I’d tell you how to do this.

Methods of Straining Drippings:

• Use a Gravy Separator.
  This is the easiest and most efficient way.  Pour drippings into a separator and fat will separate from the rest of the liquid and float to the top.  Easy Peasy.
  If you don’t have one, try the Fat/Gravy Separator
  However, whether you have a gravy separator or not, don’t let that keep you from making this Turkey Gravy recipe.  Don’t worry Friend there are other ways.
• Use a ladle.
  Using a ladle isn’t as quite as easy as the gravy separator, but it will do in a pinch, straining the liquid as you spoon it out.
• Use A Mesh Strainer.
  Pour all the liquid into a mesh strainer and let the strainer separate the fat and liquid for you.

Serving Suggestions:

This gravy is specifically for turkey, but goes great with many things.  Make up some Juicy Roast Turkey, Easy Roasted Carrots, some Super Easy Mashed Potatoes, along with Sausage Stuffing and then literally pour this creamy, Turkey Gravy over EVERYTHING!

Your belly will be thanking you after that meal.  But why stop there? Finish the meal off right with some decadent Homemade Buttermilk Pie or Cranberry Walnut Pie.

Forget Store Bought Gravy.  Make Some Delicious Turkey Gravy Instead!

This Turkey Gravy recipe really takes your meal to a whole other level and will just inspire you to make a fabulous feast.  Serve with chicken, turkey, on a sandwich, as a topping to so many sides, the possibilities are endless with this great Turkey Gravy recipe.

And if you’re looking for some other great gravy partnerships, look no further.  

Great Sides For Gravy:

• Herb Butter Mashed Potatoes 
• Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes 
• Easy Homemade Stuffing
• Cranberry Sauce
• Sweet Potato Casserole
• Green Bean Casserole

Wait not longer to make this delicious Turkey Gravy from drippings.  You will be so glad that you did.

Turkey Gravy

Rich, creamy gravy from drippings, accompanied with butter, and all the best seasonings, makes this Turkey Gravy recipe mouthwatering good.

4.80 from 5 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Turkey Gravy

Prep Time: 3 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 18 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 3 Tablespoon butter
• 3 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 Cup turkey pan drippings
• 2 Cups low-sodium chicken broth or turkey stock
• Kosher salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon freshly minced thyme
• 1 teaspoon freshly minced sage
• ½ teaspoon minced shallot
• splash dry white wine optional

Instructions

• In a small saucepan over medium heat, add butter and shallots to the pan.
• Melt butter, once melted, whisk in flour and cook until golden, about 1 minute.
• Slowly whisk in pan drippings.
• Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently until slightly thickened.
• Stir in fresh herbs.
• Whisk in 1 cup broth and return mixture to a simmer.
• Taste, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
• Simmer for 10 minutes, gradually adding more broth if gravy is too thick.
• Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to your preference.

Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.

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