How to Fix Gravy (and How to Make Gravy Without Pan Drippings) (2024)

FAQs

What to do when you run out of gravy? ›

Take equal amounts of flour and butter -- melt butter until it bubbles and starts to turn golden. Whisk in the flour, course black pepper and some stock. In minutes, you have gravy! For a deeper color and added flavor, add in a little Worcestershire sauce and you're done!

(The classic ratio for gravy is three-two-one: 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.

One easy way to thicken gravy is to simply reduce the liquid. Add any pan drippings you have to a small or medium-sized saucepan. Then, add in 1 cup of liquid, and simmer on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the liquid reduces by at least a third and the flavors are more concentrated.

Some cooks add butter to thicken or add body, while others may even whisk in a little beurre blanc (a classic French sauce made with wine, vinegar, shallots, and butter), but all this butter tends to make gravy very rich, so if you choose to add butter, use a light hand.

Water, broth, or milk: Any of the three will work here. I actually like gravy made with water best, but experiment and see what works for you. Broth will give you a really flavor-packed gravy and gravy made with milk will be richer (but a little sweet for my taste).

Brown Gravy Mix: Recipe Size: 1 cup; Brown Gravy Mix: 3 tbsp; Hot Water: 1 cup.

Sprinkle 4 tablespoons of flour onto the drippings: Quickly stir with a wire whisk so that the flour gets incorporated. Let the flour brown a bit if you want, before adding liquid in the next step. (You can also start with a slurry of flour and water—equal amounts flour and cold water whisked together—if you want.)

To use flour as a thickening agent: Use two tablespoons flour mixed with ¼ cup cold water for each cup of medium-thick sauce. Thoroughly mix in the water to prevent lumps. After stirring the combined flour and water into the sauce, cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly.

Not cooking the gravy long enough.

In order to thicken up, gravy needs to cook for at least a few minutes.

What is the healthiest way to thicken gravy? ›

The gravy is too thin

Simmer the gravy until it reduces and thickens, which might take an hour or more. If that doesn't work (or you don't have time), thicken the gravy with a cornstarch slurry, which you make by whisking 1 tablespoon of cornstarch into 1 tablespoon of cold water in a small bowl until smooth.

The Gravy Is Too Salty: You'd think that adding too much salt to gravy would be an unfixable problem, but actually, there's a simple fix. Just add a pinch of brown sugar, and your salt problem will disappear.

Adding Cornstarch or Flour to Your Gravy

Flour or cornstarch will help to thicken any sauce, and gravy is no exception. As long as you can avoid making lumps this option is the fastest way to thicken your gravy. Mix cornstarch or flour with a little water. You should put slightly more water than cornstarch or flour.

By combining the two, you end up with a mixture that has the flavor of butter, but allows you to sear at higher temperatures than you ever could with pure butter.

Making a roux with flour and butter “boosts flavor and gives the gravy a silky texture and rich flavor,” she says. Flour also gives the gravy a traditional opaque look, she adds, whereas cornstarch will make the gravy shiny and clear.

When you add baking powder into sauce, the active ingredients will react with the liquid and heat in the same way they would if they were added into a cake batter. The cornstarch in it will cause your sauce to thicken in the process, but too much sodium bicarbonate will also contribute a bitter taste.

Add Herbs. Try thyme, sage, chopped parsley, a teeny bit of tarragon, some chives. When using fresh herbs, add toward the end of cooking.

When making gravy do you use cold water or hot water? ›

You need the water to be hot so the gravy granules dissolve. Also, to ensure the gravy is thick, the water should be boiling.

Grease poured down your drain can stick to the inside of the pipes where other wastes cling to it to form clogs. Don't pour any kind of melted fat from meat, bacon, sausage, poultry or even gravy down the drain. The same applies to cooking oils, olive oils, salad dressings and mayonnaise.

When making gravy or other sauces, the drippings or other ingredients often contain a lot of fat. While this adds a lot of flavor as it cooks, it's too much for the final product—and it's certainly not healthy. So the best way to make flavorful gravies and sauces that are lean is to remove the fat before serving.

If you want to use flour, mix 2 tablespoons of flour per 1 cup of cool liquid. Whisk the slurry until it is smooth and lump-free, then add about 1 tablespoon at a time to your hot pan drippings and liquid mixture, using a whisk to thoroughly combine.

You will need about 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to thicken about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of gravy. Don't add powdered cornstarch directly to a hot liquid; it will clump. The gravy also needs to be whisked briskly to ensure a smooth texture, and must be heated long enough to cook off its starchy flavor.

Creamy Brown Gravy: Use 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup water instead of 1 cup water to prepare gravy.

Every recipe has different requirements, but as a rule, if you want a medium-thick sauce or gravy, you should add about 2 tablespoons of flour per cup of liquid.

The Best Flour for Making Gravy Is Wondra - Eater.

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.

Can you add plain flour to gravy? ›

Add flour. Sprinkle 3 tbsp plain flour into the tin and mix until well blended. Continue cooking, stirring continuously, for 2 minutes allowing the flour to cook through to make a 'roux' (a thickening base for your gravy).

Thickening properties: Cornstarch is typically used to thicken liquid-based sauces. Even a half of a tablespoon of cornstarch will thicken a sauce into a translucent, silky slurry in under a minute. Flour's thickening abilities are much weaker and you will need larger quantities of it to thicken liquids.

So long as you're not gluten-free, flour is an excellent option that you'll likely always have on hand. Not only can you use it to thicken sauces, but it makes an excellent thickener for gravies and soups as well. When added to liquid, the starches in the flour expand, helping to thicken whatever you add it to.

The easiest way to thicken a sauce is by reducing the amount of liquid. This can be done by simmering your sauce or bringing it to a full boil—do this uncovered, so the steam can escape.

All natural, aqueous-based polymeric thickeners are derived from polysaccharides with the most common being sourced from cellulose (wood, cotton) and starch (corn, potato). Other important polysaccharide sources include seaweed, plant seeds/roots, and those derived from fermentation.

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.

Answer: Most sauces and gravies are thickened with some kind of starch. The most common are flour and cornstarch, though potato starch, arrowroot and tapioca flour also work well.

Cornstarch Versus Flour for Gravy

Cornstarch does have more thickening power than wheat flour (because it's pure starch, while flour has some protein in it). So usually you need a little less cornstarch than flour for the equivalent thickening power.

To use flour as a thickening agent: Use two tablespoons flour mixed with ¼ cup cold water for each cup of medium-thick sauce. Thoroughly mix in the water to prevent lumps. After stirring the combined flour and water into the sauce, cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly.

What ingredient makes gravy thicker? ›

Similar to flour, cornstarch is another ingredient that can be used to make gravy thicker. With cornstarch, making a slurry is also an option, but with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch whisked into cold water. Again, you'll want to add the slurry in increments so you don't over-thicken the gravy.

Grease poured down your drain can stick to the inside of the pipes where other wastes cling to it to form clogs. Don't pour any kind of melted fat from meat, bacon, sausage, poultry or even gravy down the drain. The same applies to cooking oils, olive oils, salad dressings and mayonnaise.

Chefs and home cooks often use pan drippings and other cooking liquids, such as chicken broth, wine, or milk, to thicken and flavor the gravy.

Water. In an absolute pinch, water can sometimes be used as a substitute in a recipe that calls for milk…but you might experience some changes in flavor and texture. (Think: Less creamy, less fluffy and less rich.)