The Best Homemade Beef Gravy Recipe (How to Make Brown Gravy) (2024)

FAQs

What makes brown gravy better? ›

How can I make brown gravy better? My beef gravy recipe is delicious for sure – but it's also bare bones. There's so much you can do to spice things up! One easy way to improve your gravy is to add a good balance of flavors — mustard, wine, or vinegar for acidity and some herbs for freshness, for example.

When making home cooked gravy, the (flour and fat) roux is cooked until it turns brown, to ensure a dark gravy color. Some cooks use a smidge of instant coffee granules or something called Kitchen Bouquet or Gravy Master (or gravy browning, generically) for some added color.

The real gravy starts with the fats and drippings from what ever protein you cooked. Then on med-high heat sprinkle all purpose flour onto the pan. Stirring until the liquid and flour is a really think paste. Now the longer you cook the Rue, the darker it becomes.

Boost the flavor of gravy by simmering it over low heat with fresh herbs, like thyme, sage, parsley, or bay leaf. Strain the gravy before serving.

Browning adds more flavor to the gravy and gets rid of the raw flour taste. You're basically making a roux. We find that a flour-based gravy holds up better and reheats better later, which is why we tend to prefer using flour over cornstarch to make gravy unless we have a guest who is eating gluten-free.

The difference between brown and beef gravy is that brown gravy can be made with any type of meat drippings or stock, while beef gravy is specifically made with beef drippings or stock.

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.

It turns out, the biggest difference between the two is brown gravy is broth-based, while white gravy typically has a milk or cream base. Garcia said both types usually have flour or cornstarch for thickening and they both contain some sort of “fat or meat drippings.”

A traditional roux uses roughly an equal amount of flour and fat, but gravies often call for a bit more flour than that, to ensure the gravy is thick enough. (The classic ratio for gravy is three:two:one, so 3 tablespoons flour, 2 tablespoons fat, and 1 cup of hot stock.)

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).

What is traditional gravy made of? ›

At its most basic, gravy is a thickened sauce made of meat drippings + stock + seasonings.

Make sure the flour has been cooked long enough: When flour is added to the pan drippings or butter, whisk constantly while the mixture cooks until it turns a deep golden brown and smells nutty.

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.

The color of the finished roux will determine the color of the gravy. To make a roux, cook the flour in oil, butter or pan drippings. Heat the roux long enough for the color to deepen a little darker than the desired color of the gravy. Darker roux produces a deeper, richer flavor.

The color of your final gravy is correlated to the color of your roux, so if you like a nice, light gravy, just cook your roux until its lightly browned. If you like a deeper, richer gravy, cook it until it's a little darker. Cooking it longer will also take out the slightly raw taste of the flour.