All-Purpose Homemade Brown Gravy Recipe

This homemade brown gravy recipe can be made without drippings. And it tastes delicious! Just make a roux and add a few herbs and spices with beef broth. A little cooking time develops intense flavors in the gravy.

Brown Gravy Without Pan Drippings?

Making gravy is not that hard. I try to always have some gravy with chicken, pork, and beef. But a lot of the time there’s not much for pan drippings. When there isn’t much for drippings, that means there’s not much flavor. This recipe post will show you how to make brown gravy without drippings.

(And here is how to make Chicken Gravy from broth).

I’ve finally come up with a combination of ingredients that will fool you into thinking it was made with drippings. Mary Jo said that we should make this gravy for Thanksgiving! It’s that good.

Homemade Brown Gravy Recipe from Scratch

To develop flavor, finely chopped celery and onion get sautéed in butter. Cook this on low temperature to soften which takes 4 to 5 minutes. 

Next, add the flour and whisk this around to absorb the butter. This is the roux. Let this cook for at least 1 minute in order to get rid of the raw flour flavor. I usually stir it around for 2 minutes. You can continue to cook it until it turns a light brown color or even darker. Your gravy will be a bit darker too.

The broth gets added in and I start out with about a cup which gets quickly whisked to form a paste, then another cup is added. Whisk this back and forth to break up any lumps. Keep whisking as long as it takes to make the gravy smooth then add the remaining broth. 

Throw in the rosemary and thyme sprigs and a couple of bay leaves. Turn your stove to low and slowly boil the gravy for 20 minutes. stirring every few minutes. This is where deeper flavors are formed.

Remove the herbs and add the red wine vinegar and grainy Dijon mustard. Taste the gravy and add salt and pepper as desired.

Help, My Homemade Brown Gravy has Lumps

No need to panic. Even the best cooks end up with lumps occasionally. Just continue to cook your gravy so it develops flavor. Just before you serve it, run the gravy through a sieve to remove the lumps. The gravy will still taste great and no one will know that you had lumpy gravy.

What goes with Brown Gravy?

Potatoes:  Baked Potatoes   Mashed Potatoes   Roasted Potatoes

Meats:  Meatballs   Meatloaf   Pork Loin Steaks   Grilled Chicken

Turkey:  When you roast a turkey, many times you don’t have a lot of drippings for gravy. No fear. this homemade brown gravy recipe would be terrific with turkey. (I’m making this next Thanksgiving).

French Fries:   Sound kind of weird? The Canadian dish, Poutine …french fries, cheese, and gravy.

Give this a try and let me know what you think with a comment.

All-Purpose Homemade Brown Gravy

All-purpose homemade brown gravy, made without pan drippings. All the flavor is from beef broth and a combination of spices. You won't believe there are no pan drippings.

5 from 2 votes

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Course: Condiment, Sauce, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: all-purpose gravy, homemade brown gravy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 145kcal

Author: Joe Boyle

Ingredients

• 6 tbsp butter
• 1/2 medium onion, finely minced
• 1/3 cup celery, finely minced about an 8 inch stalk
• 6 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 3 cups beef broth, no salt or low-sodium like Swanson's
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 2 bay leaves
• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tsp coarse ground Dijon mustard
• salt and pepper

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Instructions

• Melt butter in a large skillet on low to medium-low temperature. Add the onion and celery and cook to soften 4 minutes.
• Add the flour and use a whisk to mix with the butter. Let cook for two minutes while occasionally stirring.
• Increase the temperature of your stove to medium and pour in about 1 cup of the beef broth while whisking. The flour will get pasty. Then pour in another cup and aggressively whisk back and forth to remove any lumps. Then add the remaining broth. The gravy should be smooth.
• Add the rosemary, bay leaves, and thyme and stir in, (see notes). Reduce the heat to low and softly boil for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste the gravy and add salt and pepper as desired.
• Remove the herbs. Add the vinegar and grainy mustard. Serve hot over potatoes, rice or meats.

Notes

1. I used no salt added broth and added about 1 teaspoon of kosher salt to the gravy. Also about 1/2 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper.
2. You could make a sachet out of cheesecloth for the herbs. My newly planted rosemary and thyme broke apart and were hard to remove. If you have that problem, the gravy could be pressed through a strainer.
3. Try this recipe using chicken or vegetable broth. 
4. Store leftovers refrigerated and add a bit more broth to thin when reheated.

Nutrition

Calories: 145kcal

This recipe post has been updated on December 13, 2021.