This is our family’s favorite turkey gravy recipe, made from scratch with pan drippings. It’s flavorful, creamy, and perfect for the holidays!
This is one of the best turkey gravy recipes I’ve ever made. I love it so much that I use it every year during the holidays to go with my favorite roasted turkey.
This gravy is 100% homemade and gets its incredible flavor from the rich turkey pan drippings. The final result is a wonderfully creamy gravy that’s perfect for drizzling over mashed potatoes and other holiday dishes. If you don’t have pan drippings, you can use this easy gravy recipe instead.
Key Ingredients
- Turkey Offal and Neck (optional): Don’t throw away the neck and offal (giblets) from your turkey! They add lots of flavor to our gravy. Be sure to remove them before brining or roasting your bird, then save them in the fridge for this gravy later on.
- Stock, Onion, Thyme, and Bay Leaf: We use chicken or turkey stock, finely chopped onion, fresh thyme, and a bay leaf as the base of our gravy.
- Turkey Pan Drippings: This is the secret to a truly incredible gravy, and it is especially true if you use our garlic herb butter in this roast turkey recipe.
- Flour: To thicken the gravy, we make a roux with all-purpose flour and some of the fat from the pan drippings, resulting in a thick, silky gravy. You can also make this gravy gluten-free by substituting cornstarch for the flour. I’ve included tips on how to do this below the recipe.
- Cream: Since I usually make this gravy for holidays and special occasions, I like to add a bit of cream to it. It makes the gravy rich, more velvety, and really special.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make the Best Homemade Turkey Gravy
Tip 1: Make our onion broth. For the best gravy, make our onion broth. It’s simple and takes about 1 hour. To make it, you’ll simmer stock with onion, thyme, a bay leaf, turkey neck, and the giblets. It’s easy, and you can even make this a couple of days in advance, then store it in the fridge for when you are ready to finish the gravy.
Tip 2: Use the pan drippings. The secret to the most delicious gravy is using those flavorful pan drippings left at the bottom of the roasting pan after roasting your turkey. You can see all the flavor in our pan in the photo below.
You will separate the fat from the broth. Then, use some of the fat to make the roux and some broth to thin out the gravy and add flavor. A fat separator is handy, but you can also use a measuring jug and a turkey baster to skim the fat off the top. The one shown in our photos/video is from OXO.
Tip 3: Thickening gravy. To finish your gravy, you’ll combine the onion broth made earlier with some of the separated broth from the roasting pan. Finish with cream for extra richness, and whisk in a roux made with flour and turkey fat. It will thicken the gravy beautifully.
Serving Suggestions
I make this gravy every year for Thanksgiving and love it with Roasted Turkey or this Roasted Turkey Breast. Here’s all of our Thanksgiving Recipes for you to browse through. Some of my favorite holiday sides that work beautifully with this are below:
- Homemade Mashed Potatoes
- Scalloped Potatoes
- Potatoes Au Gratin
- Creamy Green Bean Casserole
- Perfect Herb Stuffing
- Mushroom Stuffing
- Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- Roasted Butternut Squash
- Cranberry Sauce
Our Favorite Turkey Gravy
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
My favorite turkey gravy is made from scratch with roasted turkey pan drippings. It’s packed with incredible flavor, making it the perfect addition to any Thanksgiving Turkey.
Assume ⅓ cup to ½ cup of gravy per person. This gravy recipe makes enough to serve 16 people.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
Turkey offal and neck, see notes
4 cups chicken stock (950ml)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
3 to 4 cups broth from the roasting pan, strained and skimmed (950ml)
½ cup turkey fat from the roasting pan, strained and skimmed (120ml)
10 tablespoons all-purpose flour (80g)
¼ cup heavy cream or more, optional (60ml)
8 twists black pepper
Salt, to taste
Scallions or chives, chopped, optional
Directions
1Make onion broth: To make the base broth for gravy, add the offal, turkey neck, 4 cups chicken stock, onion, thyme, and bay leaf to a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer, then cover and simmer for 1 hour. Remove the offal and neck, saving them if you plan to chop the meat to add to the gravy later. Discard the thyme stems and bay leaf. You can make the broth ahead of time. Store it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, ideally while the turkey is brining.
2Prepare pan drippings: After your turkey has finished roasting, strain the pan drippings to remove any large vegetables or herbs. Use a fat separator to strain and separate the fat from the broth. (See our video for reference.) You will need ½ cup of fat and 4 cups of the separated broth. Save leftover fat/broth in the fridge for another dish.
3Make roux: Add the turkey fat to a small skillet over medium heat. Add the flour and stir until it forms a smooth paste. Turn the heat down to low and allow the roux to cook slowly to remove any graininess from the flour. It should still look blonde, 2 to 3 minutes.
4Make gravy: In a medium pot, combine the onion broth made earlier with 3 cups of the broth saved from the pan drippings and the heavy cream. Bring to a simmer. Once simmering, whisk in the roux and simmer for 10 minutes until thickened and silky. We like our gravy on the thinner side, so we add the remaining cup of broth.
5To finish: Taste the gravy, and then season with salt and pepper. Depending on how salty the pan drippings were, you will need to add ¼ to 1 teaspoon of salt, possibly a bit more. Stir in the chopped scallions or chives (optional). You can also add the meat from the turkey neck and offal, if you saved them, remove and chop the meat, then stir into the gravy.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Let the gravy cool completely. Pour into an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Or store in a freezer-safe container and freeze the gravy for up to 3 months. Thaw frozen gravy overnight in the fridge before reheating.
- Reheating: Reheat gravy over low heat, whisking often.
- Turkey offal and neck: Many fresh or frozen whole turkeys come with the neck and offal inside the cavity. Remove them before brining or roasting. We use these ingredients to add turkey flavor to the gravy. After they are cooked, you can pull meat from the neck, chop it up, and chop up the offal. This meat can then be added to the gravy.
- Gluten-free gravy: Use cornstarch. Use 5 tablespoons of cornstarch and mix it with 10 tablespoons of cold water or broth until it is smooth before whisking into the hot gravy. Simmer for 10 minutes. I still add most of the turkey fat for flavor.
- No fat separator: Let the pan drippings sit in a measuring jug for a few minutes so that the fat floats to the top. Use a turkey baster to suck up the fat and squeeze it into another container.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
Hi Joanne! This is the best gravy ever! In reading the recipe again for this year, in step one do we make the onion broth with all four cups of chicken stock? And in step four do we add all of the onion broth to the three cups of pan drippings and cream before adding to the roux? Want to make sure I have my liquid ratios correct. Thanks so much! We love Inspired Taste!
Hi Elaine, Yes, you will use all 4 cups of the chicken broth in step one. Then, you will use all of the onion broth for the gravy in step 4.
Thanks! I have the same Q, do I use the chicken stock to make the onion broth? Thanns
Hi Mariana, Use all 4 cups of the chicken broth in step one. Then, use all of the onion broth + 3 cups pan drippings for the gravy in step 4.
Oops, I threw away the giblets and cooked the neck with the turkey before reading this gravy recipe! Now what?
Just continue on, the gravy will still be quite delicious.
So far so good. Turkey in the bag and in the refrigerator with the broth. Can I substitute sour cream for the cream?
Hi Larry, I prefer cream for this recipe, but you can try stirring in a spoonful of sour cream, just make sure that you do it over low heat (or off the heat) to prevent it from curdling.
Hi Lisa, You add the cream with the pan drippings. I am sorry the recipe was confusing! I have edited it to be more clear. I hope this helps.
We do two turkeys every year, one the day before and one the morning of. I have struggled every year with gravy. So Wednesday evening we followed a recipe I found on you tube and it was awful – turned out burnt & just terrible! After following your brine recipe, we decided to try your favorite turkey gravy recipe. It was fabulous! So smooth & tasty!! Thank you! It will be our Thanksgiving gravy recipe from now on.
We used this recipe last year and it has become our family favorite! Of course we’re doing it again this Thanksgiving. Absolutely the best tasting turkey you could ever imagine! Love love love it!
That’s amazing, Kay. Thank you so much for coming back and letting us know!