Kitchen Wisdom

How to Make Turkey Gravy From Drippings

By Christian Gill

Greasy, Thin Or Pasty? Let's Fix That.

Great turkey gravy comes down to four moves: scrape up the pan, save the fat, cook the flour, and bloom your seasoning before adding the liquid.

Get those right and your turkey gravy recipes won't turn out greasy, thin, or pasty. Watch this Kitchen Wisdom episode, then read on for the ratios, the science, and the full method.

Key Takeaways

  1. 01Deglaze the roasting pan with stock to capture the browned bits before separating the fat from the juices.
  2. 02Use 2 tablespoons each of fat and flour for every cup of liquid, then cook the roux until golden.
  3. 03Bloom the seasoning in the roux for about 30 seconds before whisking in the liquid.
  4. 04Taste before adding salt, and leave the gravy slightly loose because it thickens as it cools.

What Is Gravy Made Of?

Gravy is a sauce made from meat drippings, thickened with a roux (cooked fat and flour) and loosened with stock. This classic gravy recipe has four parts, and each one has a job:

Part What it is Its job
Fond The browned bits stuck to the roasting pan Flavor
Fat Rendered turkey fat from the drippings Carries flavor, cooks the flour
Flour All-purpose flour Thickens
Liquid Pan juices plus turkey or chicken stock Body and volume

The difference between gravy and a jus is mostly thickness.

 

How To Make Gravy

Most gravy recipes go wrong in one of three ways. All three happen in the first few minutes, and all three are fixable.

Too greasy.

Too thin.

Tastes like flour paste.

All three are fixable.

The Foundation

Start With The Pan: The Flavor Is Stuck To The Bottom

Great turkey gravy starts with the fond, the dark browned bits stuck to your roasting pan.

Deglaze the hot pan with stock, scrape up every bit, and pour everything, fat included, into one container.

That fond is hours of flavor. As meat roasts, heat breaks proteins and sugars apart and they "regroup in browned, flavorful bits," Food Network explains. That's the Maillard reaction, plus some caramelization, and it's the same process that browns toast and sears steak. If you dry brined your turkey, the fond also carries all that seasoning.

 

How To Deglaze A Roasting Pan

  1. Step 01

    Rest And Heat

    Move the turkey to a board to rest, and set the roasting pan over one or two burners on medium heat.

  2. Step 02

    Add Stock

    Pour in about 1 cup of stock while the pan is still hot. It should sizzle.

  3. Step 03

    Scrape Hard

    Scrape with a wooden spoon or flat spatula until the bottom of the pan is clean.

  4. Step 04

    Pour It All Off

    Pour every drop, fat and all, into a fat separator or a heatproof measuring cup.

Mistake 01

Recipe Mistake 1: Greasy Gravy

To keep gravy from being greasy, separate the fat from the pan juices.

Nobody likes overly greasy gravy, but it's easy to lose the sauce if you're dealing with an especially plump turkey. A fat separator is the easiest option, and a frozen ladle works in a pinch. Here's our take on both:

Option A

A Fat Separator

Even if you only use it once a year, a fat separator earns its spot in the drawer (yes, really). Pour in all the pan liquid and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Fat floats, so the spout comes off the bottom. Pour off the flavorful juices, leaving the fat behind.

(You'll thank us later.)

Option B

The Frozen-Ladle Trick

No separator (or not convinced)? Put a metal ladle in the freezer for two to three minutes, then fill it with ice. Gently skim the bottom of the ladle across the liquid's surface. The fat firms up on contact with the cold metal and clings to the underside. Wipe it off and repeat.

It's a move your grandmother probably did right in front of you. You just weren't paying attention because you were eating all the biscuits… or was that just Chef Christian?

Mistake 02

Recipe Mistake 2: Thin Gravy (Aka How To Thicken Gravy)

To thicken gravy, use two tablespoons of turkey fat (or butter) and two tablespoons of flour for every cup of liquid.

That's your roux, and that ratio gives you gravy that coats a spoon without turning into paste.

This method uses equal volumes of fat and flour. The Culinary Pro explains how roux thickens sauces. Scale it to however much gravy you need:

Gravy you want Turkey fat (or butter) All-purpose flour Stock and pan juices
1 cup 2 Tbsp 2 Tbsp 1 cup
2 cups ¼ cup ¼ cup 2 cups
4 cups ½ cup ½ cup 4 cups (1 qt)
6 cups ¾ cup ¾ cup 6 cups

Plan on about ⅓ to ½ cup of gravy per guest, more if you want leftovers. Short on fat? Make up the difference with unsalted butter.

Leave it thinner than you want it. Roux-thickened gravy keeps thickening as it cools, The Kitchn notes. Thin it with a little warm stock if needed. Gravy that looks perfect on the stove will be thicker by the time it reaches the table.

 

Mistake 03

Recipe Mistake 3: Gravy That Tastes Like Flour Paste

Cook the fat and flour together for two to three minutes, whisking constantly, until it turns golden and smells like popcorn.

Gravy tastes like raw flour when you don't cook the roux long enough. This mistake hurts because it's pure impatience. Raw flour tastes chalky and flat. As it toasts in hot fat, it loses that raw edge and picks up a roasty, nutty flavor from the same browning reactions that built your fond. The Kitchn's test kitchen gives the same cue: cook the roux "until it smells nutty" and looks dry.

How To Make A Roux For Gravy: Know When To Stop

Roux color Roughly how long Flavor Use it for
White 1 to 2 min Neutral, still a little raw Cream sauces
Blond to golden Stop here 2 to 3 min Toasty, like popcorn Turkey gravy
Brown 10+ min Deep, roasty Brown gravy, gumbo

Don't push turkey gravy past golden. Color costs you thickness: a brown roux loses up to 50 percent of its thickening power, and a dark "chocolate" roux has only about one-fourth the thickening power of a white one. Add your stock before the roux reaches caramel color.

The Flavor Move

How To Season Gravy: Bloom It In The Fat

Season gravy in the hot roux, before the liquid goes in, not at the end.

Thirty seconds in hot fat wakes up dried herbs and aromatics so they flavor the whole pot. That step is called blooming. Many of the flavor compounds in dried herbs, garlic and onion dissolve in fat rather than water. If you stir them into a finished gravy, they mostly sit there. Stir them into hot fat instead, and they release their aroma and spread through every spoonful.

Classic spices for gravy include sage, thyme, rosemary, black pepper, garlic, and onion, which is most of what's in a good turkey rub or poultry seasoning. For extra depth, Kenji López-Alt adds a splash of soy sauce, a trick he says "some people consider cheating - whatever, I don't care." It deepens both the flavor and the color.

 

Our Favorite Blend To Add

Spiceology Turkey Rub blends fresh-ground herbs, garlic, onion, salt, and a little brown sugar. It's built for the bird, so it tastes like it belongs with the drippings. Start with about ½ teaspoon per cup of gravy.

The Official Spiceology Gravy Recipe

How To Make Turkey Gravy From Drippings

Fond, fat, a golden roux and a 30-second bloom. Everything above, in one pot.

Makes

About 4 cups

Serves

8 to 12

Active time

About 20 min

What You Need

  • Drippings and fond from one roast turkey
  • About 4 cups warm turkey or low-sodium chicken stock, divided
  • ½ cup turkey fat from the drippings (top up with unsalted butter if needed)
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp Spiceology Turkey Rub, plus more to taste
  • Optional: 1 tsp soy sauce, a splash of dry sherry or white wine

Step By Step

  1. 1Deglaze. Set the hot roasting pan over medium heat, add 1 cup stock, and scrape up all the fond.
  2. 2Separate. Pour everything into a fat separator and let it settle for 10 minutes. Measure out ½ cup of fat. Add the defatted juices to the remaining stock to make about 4 cups of liquid total, and keep it warm.
  3. 3Make the roux. Heat the fat in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes, until golden and smelling like popcorn.
  4. 4Bloom the seasoning. Whisk in the Turkey Rub and cook for 30 seconds, no longer.
  5. 5Add the liquid slowly. Add the warm stock ¼ cup at a time, whisking until smooth before each addition. Once it's loose and smooth, you can add the rest in larger pours.
  6. 6Simmer. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for at least 5 minutes, whisking often. Simmering helps the gravy thicken and cooks out any remaining raw flour taste.
  7. 7Taste, then season. Taste before you add anything. Turkey Rub contains salt, and if you dry-brined the turkey, the drippings are already seasoned. Add salt, pepper, or a splash of soy sauce only if needed.
  8. 8Serve slightly thin. Pull it off the heat when it's a little looser than you want. It will thicken on the way to the table. Thin with warm stock if needed.
Spiceology Turkey Rub

Blend

Turkey Rub

Fresh-ground herbs, garlic, onion, salt and a little brown sugar

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Roux, Roux, Roux, Your Gravy Boat: Put Your Skills To Work

On The Stove

Scrape up the browned bits from the pan and save some turkey fat for your roux. Cook the flour until golden, then stir in the seasoning, then whisk in the liquid. Taste before adding more salt, especially if you dry-brined your turkey.

Before You Serve

For a Thanksgiving gravy recipe that holds up at the table, take the pan off the heat while the gravy is still a little thinner than you want to serve it. It will thicken as it cools, so aim for a sauce that coats a spoon but pours easily.

The repetitive whisking might even get stuck in your head, but it's worth it.

 

Gravy FAQ

How Do You Make Gravy From Drippings?

Deglaze the roasting pan with stock, separate the fat, cook equal parts fat and flour into a golden roux, then whisk in the defatted drippings and stock and simmer for 5 minutes. Use 2 Tbsp each of fat and flour per cup of liquid.

How Do You Thicken Gravy That's Too Thin?

The cleanest fix is a little more roux: cook 1 Tbsp each of butter and flour in a separate pan until golden, then whisk it into the simmering gravy. For a quick fix, whisk 1 Tbsp cornstarch into 1 Tbsp cold water per cup of gravy and simmer until it thickens (Food Network).

How Do You Fix Lumpy Gravy?

Do it right from the start. Add the liquid slowly, a little at a time, and whisk constantly. That's what prevents lumps. If lumps still form, pour the gravy through a fine-mesh strainer or blitz it briefly with an immersion blender.

How Do You Make Brown Gravy?

Brown gravy uses a darker roux, cooked for 10 minutes or more until it's the color of peanut butter, plus beef or dark turkey stock. Because a darker roux thickens less, use about 50 percent more roux than the ratio above.

How Do You Make Giblet Gravy?

Simmer the neck, heart, and gizzard in about 4 cups of water or stock with an onion, carrot, and celery for an hour, and use that liquid as the stock for your gravy. Add the liver for the last 10 minutes only, since it turns bitter if cooked too long. Chop the cooked giblets and neck meat and stir them into the finished gravy.

How Do You Make Gravy Taste Better?

Start with fond, bloom your seasoning in the hot roux, and simmer for at least 5 minutes. Then adjust with small amounts: a splash of soy sauce for depth, dry sherry or white wine for brightness, or fresh chopped sage or thyme at the end.

What Is The Best Gravy Seasoning?

A blend of herbs like sage and thyme, plus garlic, onion, and a little salt, works well with turkey. That's why we use Spiceology Turkey Rub, bloomed in the fat before adding the liquid.

Can You Make Gravy Ahead Of Time?

Yes. Make the roux and gravy with store-bought stock a few days ahead, refrigerate it, then reheat and whisk in the fresh pan drippings on the day. Thin it with warm stock as it reheats.

How Can You Make This A Vegan Gravy Recipe?

Replace the turkey fat with olive oil or plant-based butter, and use vegetable stock instead of turkey drippings and poultry stock (or whatever you use for a vegan or vegetarian stuffing).

Browned mushrooms and onions add savory depth (and intrigue the carnivores), while sage, thyme, garlic, and black pepper give it that traditional holiday flavor. Keep the flour roux to thicken the gravy, and taste before adding salt.

For creamy gravy recipes with a different seasoning profile, try Greek Freak Brown Country Gravy. Explore our Thanksgiving recipes to plan the rest of the meal.

Your Next Batch

Built for the bird. Bloomed in the fat.

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Sources

 

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