Homemade Gravy (without Meat Drippings)
I’ve never understood why some Italians call tomato sauce “gravy.” Tomato sauce is red. Gravy is brown!
My Sicilian mom would make a huge pot of tomato sauce every Sunday, and we’d have whatever pasta struck her fancy with it. On Wednesday, “Prince Spaghetti Day” as it was known in the Boston area, we’d have pasta once again with the leftover sauce from Sunday’s meal. So, we had a meal that involved tomato sauce over 100 times a year.
Compare that to how many times we had a meal with brown gravy, and you’d come up with just one instance—Thanksgiving dinner. Brown gravy just wasn’t something that came naturally to my mom. Oh, she did a wonderful job of it on Thanksgiving but never attempted it the rest of the year. As a consequence, I grew up eating roast beef, meat loaf, and many other dishes without gravy and got used to it.
Fast forward to adulthood and my gravy-loving husband, Roger. Whenever I’d make meat loaf, he would say it was great but that it would be lots better if there were gravy, especially to pour over the mashed potatoes. I would look at the drippings in the pan and think how will I turn this into a nice brown gravy without a big production requiring lots of work? Then I’d think to myself, “Not this time but maybe next.”
At some point, I started looking at recipes for a brown gravy that was reasonably easy to make that didn’t require a big pan of drippings from meat. The first recipe I tried was OK, not great—and that discouraged me from looking any further. The other night, meat loaf was once again on the agenda; and Roger asked if I could find another gravy recipe we could try to go along with it.
I wasn’t too hopeful but found this recipe, and it was a huge success! Both of us were very happy with everything about it. It was relatively quick and easy to make while the meat loaf was in the oven, so there was no need to pour off hot meat drippings and skim fat and on and on. The gravy was sitting there ready to go when the meat loaf was done.
This recipe makes four generous servings unless you have a gravy-hound husband like Roger, who could eat gravy with a soup spoon. One caveat—if you’re watching your weight, don’t make a big quantity of mashed potatoes. With this gravy, you’re guaranteed to go back for seconds!
One year ago: White Fudge Cake
Two years ago: Hearty Beef Soup
Three years ago: Chinese Green Beans
Four years ago: Classic Pot Roast
Five years ago: Pork Tenderloin Medallions
Six years ago: Cassoulet
Seven years ago: Potato and Sausage Mini Frittatas
Homemade Gravy (without Meat Drippings)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
- 3/4 to 1 cup diced onion
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 cups broth or stock, any flavor (I prefer to use reconstituted Better than Beef or Better than Chicken Bouillon)
- 2 tbl. whole milk
- A few drops of Gravy Master, optional
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Directions
In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter. Once hot, add the onion and a big pinch of salt and cook until softened, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Sautéing for 10 minutes will soften the onions—you don’t want crunchy onions in your gravy, so go the full 10 minutes!
Stir in the flour and salt and cook for 1 minute.
Slowly whisk in the broth/stock and cook until thickened, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Remove from the heat and whisk in the milk. Serve while hot.
Makes 4 generous servings.
Fran’s Notes
You can make this ahead of time since no meat drippings are needed. It will thicken up in the fridge—so, when you are ready to serve, heat it back up in a sauce pan and whisk until smooth and hot. You may need to add more broth/stock to thin it out. I’m sure water would work here as well.
I made this using Better than Beef Bouillon as I wanted a brown gravy for the meat loaf we were having. I prefer Better than Beef Bouillon and its cousin Better than Chicken Bouillon over canned beef or chicken stock. It is a rich reduction that you reconstitute with water—you add one teaspoon of it to one cup of hot water.
Source: A slightly adapted recipe from Chocolate Moosey