Plus, my cheeky tip for how to darken gravy to make it a beautiful deep brown colour, as well as how to make gluten-free gravy. This turkey gravy recipe is for oven roasted turkey OR slow cooker turkey!
Turkey gravy recipe
When it comes to turkey, there are those in the Cranberry Sauce camp, and those in the gravy camp. Me – I’ve got a foot in both camps. There’s nothing quite like the combination of turkey with sweet-tart cranberry sauce. But on the other hand, gravy and I are very good friends. You’d be hard pressed to find a roast on this site that doesn’t come with a gravy recipe!! I have a regular “formula” I use for all my gravies which I also apply to turkey gravy:
Oven Roasted VS Slow Cooker
The best way to make turkey gravy depends on how you cooked your turkey.
1. Turkey gravy recipe – for OVEN ROASTED Turkey
This is how I make gravy for roasted turkey. I almost always place garlic and onion in the base of the pan as this adds terrific extra flavour to the turkey gravy. I also usually include a bunch of herbs – whatever I’m using in the turkey also goes in the pan. Next, it’s important to add some kind of liquid into the pan, otherwise you’ll end up with a burnt mess under the turkey. I use 1.5 to 2 cups of white wine or water. I do not use chicken or turkey broth because I use broth later when making the gravy. If you use it both in the pan and when making the gravy, the savoury flavour of the gravy is too concentrated. Proceed to roast the turkey per the recipe. Once cooked, remove the turkey and the liquid and fat left in the pan is the flavour base for the gravy – this is called drippings. I make the gravy in the roasting pan as this ensures that none of the flavour from the drippings is wasted. It’s ideal to use a double burner but even a single burner stove is fine (which is what I use in the recipe video). We only need 2 to 3 tablespoons of fat from the pan drippings to make gravy. With fattier cuts of meat, like roast lamb and pork, you usually need to scoop off excess fat from the drippings otherwise the gravy is too greasy. You don’t need to do this with turkey because it’s not as fatty. Leave the onion and garlic in the pan, we’re going to extract all the flavour out of it later when we strain the gravy. Add flour and mix, then add chicken or turkey broth. Simmer to thicken, season to taste with pepper. Once the gravy has thickened to your taste – remember that it will thicken as it cools – strain it into a bowl then pour into a jug for serving. Tip: Keep it warm in a thermos or similar! Saves having to reheat and also prevents skin forming on top.
2. Turkey Gravy recipe – for SLOW COOKER turkey
Here are slow cooker turkey recipes I’ve shared: Classic Juicy Slow Cooker Turkey Breast and Slow Cooker Garlic Herb Turkey Breast.
2 tsp of cornflour mixed with 2 tsp water for every 1 tbsp of flour called for in a gravy recipe; or 2 tsp of cornflour mixed with 2 tsp water for every 1 cup of liquid used in a gravy;
Add the cornflour slurry into the liquid then simmer until thickened to taste. The steps depicted above for making gravy using pan drippings is the classic way to make gravy. Making gravy for slow cooker turkey is different because we do not have a pan of browned pan drippings to use as the starting point. Instead, I either skim fat off the strained slow cooker liquids OR use butter as the starting point (if there’s not enough fat in the liquids). Then mix in flour and use the slow cooker juices as the broth for the gravy.
How to darken gravy
Because we don’t get caramelisation in slow cookers, Slow Cooker turkey gravy is pale unless you use a gravy darkener of some sort. The taste is great, it’s just a visual thing that bothers some people (like me!). You can buy gravy darkeners, but my cheeky tip to darken gravy as well as add seasoning is to use dark soy sauce. I know what you’re thinking – “that’s so Asian!!” 😂 And sure, I thought of this because I know Asian condiments well. But it’s 100% effective. It darkens the gravy as well as seasons it but it does not make it taste Asiany! Soy sauce nowadays is used as a means to add salt and flavour into many non-Asian recipes. It’s a better version of salt because it has more umami (savouriness) than salt. Try it – you’ll be converted for life! Alternative: Worcestershire sauce can also be used but approach with caution because the flavour can overwhelm. You won’t achieve the same dark brown colour (or if you do, the gravy flavour will be dominated by Worcestershire sauce). Here’s a comparison of the two gravies. On the left is the gravy for Juicy Roast Turkey made using the pan drippings. A natural deep brown colour. And on the right is the gravy from the Slow Cooker Garlic Herb Turkey Breast I shared recently. Both are delicious! While the two methods are different, both yield an intensely savoury, can’t-stop-mopping-it-up delicious gravy that you’ll want to pour over everything! Enjoy! – Nagi x PS All my turkey recipes come with a gravy recipe, but in case you’re wanting to browse, here’s a list of them. 🙂
Turkey Gravy recipeWATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Video tutorial for how to make turkey gravy for ROASTED Turkey (see below for SLOW COOKER turkey): Video tutorial for how to make turkey gravy for SLOW COOKER Turkey:
LIFE OF DOZER
This is how I typed up this post….
