How To Make Brown Gravy: Make your own homemade brown gravy with this easy recipe. This gravy does not need drippings as the flour thickens it.
It’s the perfect gravy for your beef roast sandwiches, pork chops, or sausages with mashed potatoes. The flavor comes from beef broth/stock while the texture comes from butter and heavy cream.
How To Make Brown Gravy – No Drippings
What Is Brown Gravy? Why Not Just Call It Gravy?
Cooked meat drippings and flour are the ingredients in brown gravy, which you usually serve with a roast dinner. Traditional brown gravy is prepared with roasted meat drippings. While gravy is the proper name in the UK, I refer to it as brown gravy in order to avoid confusion with white gravy typically used for biscuits and gravy and chicken fried steak.
Can you make gravy without pan drippings?
There is no need to use pan drippings in this recipe for brown gravy. It is rich, flavorful, and no one will guess you did not use them!
Brown Gravy Recipe
My gravy vision calls for pairing this recipe with just about anything. After all, I am going to use it for everything.
It works with multiple dishes. I decided when posting this recipe that it had to be perfect since I’m a huge fan of Poutine, Fried Chicken, Mashed Potato Casserole, Roast Chicken, Pot Roast, Steak…and you can pair this gravy with any one of your favorite foods.
I promise you, it is the best brown gravy recipe ever. Let’s talk about what makes it so special. NO DRIPPINGS NEEDED! (But, of course, it’s an option.)
Using a Roux vs. a Slurry for Gravy
A great gravy can be created in an array of ways. Let’s explore each technique and explain why I chose to use a slurry in this recipe.
What is a Roux:
Butter can also be used as a leau when drippings are used since a roux is just the combination of fat (drippings) and flour.
What is a Slurry:
In addition to thickening a warm liquid, corn starch and flour can help in preventing lumps from forming. When adding to a hot base, cold water eliminates lumps.
Why I chose a Slurry for This Recipe:
I love adding a swirl of cold butter in the final stage of making gravy to create a smooth, velvety finish using a chef’s technique called “monter au beurre”.
I decided to thicken the gravy with a slurry, rather than making the base from butter/flour, since I did not want the flavor of butter to overwhelm the rest of the ingredients.
Bonus: Those who have a wheat allergy or sensitivity to it will not be affected by corn starch as it is gluten free.
How to Make It?
- Stir together the chicken broth, beef broth, beef bouillon, onion powder, and garlic powder in a medium saucepan.
- Making gravy by combining beef and chicken broth with seasonings and bringing to a boil.
- Once the broth boils, whisk in the cornstarch/cold water mixture and decrease the heat.
- Continue whisking until the cornstarch is fully incorporated.
- Brown gravy should be brought to a boil, then slowed down and corn starch and water added until desired thickness is reached.
- Remove from heat and swirl in chilled unsweetened butter to achieve a smooth, velvety finish.
- Cooks call this technique “Monter Au Beurre.”. They use cold butter in a cold gravy before serving.
How to Make Brown Gravy More Flavorful
Brown gravy tastes amazing when made with these secret weapons, and they’re also responsible for the brown color.
Worcestershire Sauce:
The flavor of this simple, yet potent herb enhances the flavor of other ingredients in the gravy and adds a rich element.
Soy Sauce:
This ingredient is full of ‘umami’, which is basically a savory aroma that gives gravy its unique flavor. When used in the proper amount, you cannot detect it. Use a low sodium option if you can.
Kitchen Bouquet Browning and Seasoning Sauce:
I like the use of it in combination with the other two options noted above to add a hint of brown. It is sold in the aisle with the gravy packets (that we no longer need).
Help my gravy is lumpy!
As long as you whisk the gravy and heat it how it is directed, it will only take a very short amount of time to attain the correct temperature. Once you have reached the correct temperature, drain it through a fine mesh strainer and pour it into your gravy boat.
Despite the fact that the gravy may not be as thick as it normally is because some flour has been removed, everything will still taste great.
Pro Tips:
- I suggest adding beef broth more slowly next time and whisking between additions so there will be no lumps in the gravy.
- If your gravy has lumps on occasion, that’s okay. Even Delia Smith confessed to getting lumps in hers.
Why is Beef Better than Bouillon?
The beef paste or half a crumbled beef stock cube makes a great alternative to beef bouillon in this recipe. The beef paste adds a great beefy depth and saltiness to the gravy, preventing it from losing flavor when removed from the drippings.
Leaving it out will not make your brown gravy taste as good, but will require that you add more salt.
Meals that Go with Gravy
These are my top 10 foods that pair well with brown gravy. It’s so rich and delicious that it enhances so many meals.
- Chicken Schnitzel and Mash
- French Fries (drizzled over UK style or poutine/jazz fries style)
- Meatloaf
- Beef Manhattan
- Sausage and Mash
- Hamburger Steaks with fried onions
- Roast Chicken with the works (including Yorkshire pudding)
- Beef Dip Sandwich
- Seared Steak with mash and peas
- Pork Chops
- Toad in the Hole (Seriously good!)