Cooking the roux for this turkey gravy recipe. It starts out as light golden color and is done for this turkey gravy recipe when caramel colored

Classic Creamy Turkey Gravy Recipe

Basic Scratch-Made Turkey Gravy Recipe

Essential, basic, simple and wholesome: This modern take on a classic creamy turkey gravy recipe is perfect over a roast turkey breast, or made as a massive batch for a holiday feast.

This recipe is a successful 2-serving formula that you can cater to your tastes by adjusting how dark you cook the roux (flour + butter + coconut oil) and what liquids, herbs, and spices you use to flavor it. For example, you could make:

  • beef gravy by cooking the roux until medium brown and using beef stock instead of turkey drippings;
  • non-dairy gravy by using 100 percent coconut oil and substituting stock or broth for the milk;
  • extra-rich gravy by substituting half and half for some or all of the milk.

My recipe is a little better for you than traditional gravy recipe since you're making it from scratch. It will be free of artificial flavors and colors.  The trick that makes it better for you is that it doesn't use cream, and it calls for coconut oil to be used in combination with the butter.

For a demonstration, see our Thanksgiving for Two episode and start at 14:09.

If you don't have refined (not virgin) coconut oil, you can substitute light olive oil or butter. Please don't use shortening or vegetable, corn, or canola oils as these tend to be made from GMO plants, which means they typically contain high amounts of the known carcinogen glyphosate. As science is still sorting out how the human body responds to this potent herbicide, as well as seed-based oils, I highly advise you limit these ingredients in your diet.

Turkey Gravy Recipe Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp Butter
  • 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil
  • 3 Tbsp Flour
  • 2 cups Organic Milk
  • ½-1 cup Turkey Drippings (sub or augment with chicken or turkey stockchicken or turkey stock if needed)
  • 2-3 tsp Salt
  • ¼ tsp Cayenne Pepper
  • A pinch of celery salt or dehydrated ground celery stalks
  • Black Pepper to taste

Yield: 2-3 cups of gravy (about enough to accompany a turkey breast)

Mise en Place

  • Medium Saucepan with Lid
  • Wooden Spoon
  • Whisk

Turkey Gravy Instructions:

  1. Melt the butter and coconut oil in the pan over medium heat.
  2. Stir in the flour. Cook the paste until it turns dark golden and smells like slightly over-done popcorn.
  3. Remove from the heat for a minute or two to cool the pan slightly then whisk in the milk.
  4. Return the pan to the heat and continue whisking until it is smooth.
  5. Add half the drippings, half the salt, cayenne and celery element. Add black pepper until you're happy.
  6. Bring to a boil and cover with a lid. Reduce heat to simmer over medium-low for 10-20 minutes, stirring regularly.
  7. Uncover and evaluate:
    1. If it is too thick, add more drippings (or milk).
    2. If it is too thin, turn up the heat and simmer uncovered, while stirring, to boil off enough liquid to thicken it.
    3. If it's just right, taste it and add more salt and pepper until the flavor pops — gravy should be a tad on the salty side.
  8. Remove from the heat and keep covered until dinner.
    1. If it will be more than 2 hours until dinner, cool it a bit, then move onto step 9 for the sake of food safety.
  9. To save and reheat it:
    1. Pour the leftovers into a container and refrigerate.
    2. Reheat in small amounts on the stovetop as needed.
    3. You may need to add a bit of water, milk, or stock to thin it, but please wait until it is heated through before you add any more liquid.

Get the ULTIMATE cookbook for two!

$9.99 USD
or 3500 Dogecoin

Compatible with any device, our interactive cookbook for two includes nearly 300 recipes from the show and is organized into 70+ menus that are scaled down for two. Each recipe links to the original episode so you can watch and learn | Learn more >

Get Date Night at Home on Apple Books


Leave a Reply