No turkey dinner is complete without this rich, savory sauce—it's what ties the whole meal together. But getting it just right can be tricky. How to make gravy that's sure to impress your guests? Try our Basic Turkey Gravy Recipe and use our smart tips to troubleshoot and fix the most common conundrums home cooks face when making gravy. Whether your gravy is bland, tastes like flour, is lumpy, too thin, too thick, or you don't have drippings, we have solutions.
Gravy is a highlight of any holiday meal—except when it falls short on depth and flavor. Luckily, we have a few simple solutions.
How to Fix It
Add a scoop of store-bought demi-glace (we like D'Artagnan's duck-and-veal demi-glace) for meaty richness, or a splash of soy sauce for an umami infusion.
If the gravy lacks oomph, adjust seasoning as necessary with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. If you used canned stock instead of homemade, the gravy might not be as flavorful. Homemade stock, even made with chicken stock rather than turkey, will produce a superior gravy—so it's worth the effort.
Problem: Your Gravy Tastes Like Flour
Flour thickens your gravy, but if you don't allow enough time for the ingredients to come together, or if they're not combined properly, the end result can be disappointing—it can feel doughy, chalky, or taste like flour.
How to Fix it
How to make gravy that isn't reminiscent of dough? Make sure the flour has been cooked long enough: When flour is added to the pan drippings or butter, whisk constantly while the mixture cooks until it turns a deep golden brown and smells nutty. If you realize that your gravy tastes like flour when you're almost finished, turn up the heat to maintain a rapid simmer for several minutes; then thin it again with more stock or water if necessary.
While it may seem logical to add flour to stock that's been boiling on the stovetop, that can actually lead to a culinary mishap every home cook tries to avoid: lumpy gravy.
How to Fix It
If bumps appear no matter how well you whisk, it's probably because you've added flour directly to hot stock; starch granules swell unevenly in boiling liquid. Thankfully, there's an easy remedy. To save it, pour the sauce through a fine sieve.
How to Avoid This Issue Next Time
Start by mixing 2 cups of room-temperature stock with 1 tablespoon instant flour, such as Wondra (it's precooked and dried so it will dissolve easily). Then stir that mixture into the boiling stock.
Problem: Your Gravy is Too Thin
Gravy that lacks substance also detracts from the festive feast. Our French fix works wonders!
How to Fix It
Simmer the gravy over medium-high heat, allowing the liquid to reduce. If your gravy is still too thin, add a beurre manié (French for kneaded butter): Make a paste of equal parts flour and room-temperature unsalted butter, and add it a little at a time, whisking constantly, until the gravy thickens.
Problem: Your Gravy is Too Thick
Sludgy thick gravy is far from ideal. With a bit of patience and a smidge of stock, you can easily turn the situation around.
How to Fix It
Gradually whisk a little stock or water into the gravy until it reaches the desired consistency.
Problem: You Don't Have Drippings
If roasting a turkey is off the table this holiday, there's a simple solution for adding essential poultry flavor to your gravy.
How to Fix It
The liquid and juicy bits from the roasting pan form gravy's flavor base. If you're grilling or frying the bird this year, make drippings with a simple workaround: Roast chicken wings, and deglaze the pan with stock.
Watch our Kitchen Conundrums expert Thomas Joseph whip up a delicious gravy without drippings:
I only season my homemade gravy with salt and pepper, and it's delicious! If you want to add more spices, avoid anything with large pieces (such as dried rosemary) to keep gravy smooth. Thyme, onion powder, garlic powder, parsley, paprika, and oregano all taste great.
To make a good turkey gravy without drippings, you'll need to make a roux, or a combination of flour and fat that acts as a thickener for the gravy. Add a flavorful broth and some aromatics, and you've got yourself a Thanksgiving gravy that rivals gravy made from drippings.
Mix 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon arrowroot powder with 3 tablespoons water until dissolved for every 1 cup of gravy. While whisking the gravy constantly over medium heat, add the arrowroot mixture a little bit at a time. Cook, whisking often, until the gravy thickens.
Browning adds more flavor to the gravy and gets rid of the raw flour taste. You're basically making a roux. We find that a flour-based gravy holds up better and reheats better later, which is why we tend to prefer using flour over cornstarch to make gravy unless we have a guest who is eating gluten-free.
Add a dash of white wine (nothing too fruity; we recommend a dry Chardonnay) to boost the richness of the turkey gravy. All you need to do is put a couple of tablespoons of your chosen white wine while you're heating up your gravy and voilà! The wine should evaporate in just a couple of minutes.
To collect the drippings, place a large drip pan filled with a liter of water, beer, wine, or juice underneath the turkey while it is cooking. You will want to make sure that they turkey is not sitting in the pan, you can put the pan below the grate or use a roast holder for the turkey.
If your gravy is on the skimpy side, you can thicken it quickly with flour or cornstarch. But don't add your thickener directly to the gravy, which will create lumps. Instead, try stirring in three or four tablespoons of flour or cornstarch into a small amount of cold water until you have a smooth paste.
In nonstick pan over medium heat, toast ¼ cup of All-Purpose Flour Artisan Blend, Bread Mix, or Baking & Pancake Mix, whisking constantly until it colors from white to tan, 5 to 10 minutes. Melt butter in pan, add the toasted flour, and mix well. Add stock, whisking constantly to prevent lumps from forming.
Easy-to-access alternatives are wheat flour, arrowroot flour, and rice flour. These are good alternatives to cornstarch because they are more nutritious and contain fewer carbohydrates and calories. Xanthan and guar gum are much stronger thickeners than cornstarch, but they can be harder to obtain and use.
Fortunately, Shannon has several suggestions for fixing bland gravy, starting by adding a bouillon cube, herbs or a splash of wine or cognac. But if you have time to spare, add pan drippings from turkey, bacon or bacon drippings, caramelized vegetables (like onions, leeks, carrots and celery), herbs or garlic.
Another way to thicken gravy with flour is by making a roux. A roux is a mixture of fat and flour, and it's an easy way to thicken a sauce. If you make a roux, it should also be added incrementally. A final option is making a beurre manié, which is made by rubbing flour into butter to create a dough or paste.
(The classic ratio for gravy is three:two:one, so 3 tablespoons flour, 2 tablespoons fat, and 1 cup of hot stock.) You can add other flavors to the mixture, swap out the stock for another liquid, or use cornstarch rather than flour to thicken your gravy.
If the gravy lacks oomph, adjust seasoning as necessary with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. If you used canned stock instead of homemade, the gravy might not be as flavorful. Homemade stock, even made with chicken stock rather than turkey, will produce a superior gravy—so it's worth the effort.
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