Rich Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy Recipe - Allrecipes.com
Rich Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy Recipe
  • READY IN 3 hr

Rich Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy

Read Reviews (16)

"If you're like me, I can't stand the last minute rush and expectations in making the turkey gravy. You have one shot and it better be good! Well, this takes out all the stress of that last minute dash. Can be frozen or refrigerated for five days. This is honestly the best turkey gravy I've ever had. You dirty a few pots and pans, but it sure beats the last minute rush Thanksgiving Day. Let me know what you think. Bon appetite!" —  

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Original recipe makes 6 cups Change Servings
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Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
  2. Place the turkey wings, onions, celery, carrots, and garlic into a roasting pan, and roast until the turkey wings turn a deep golden brown color, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Transfer the cooked wings and vegetables to a large pot. Place the roasting pan over 2 stove burners on medium-high heat, then pour the white wine into the roasting pan. Scrape off and dissolve any browned flavor bits from the bottom of the pan into the white wine; heat and scrape the roasting pan until the drippings and wine have reduced to about 1/2 cup. Pour the wine mixture into the saucepan with the turkey wings.
  3. Pour chicken broth and water into the pot, and season with thyme. Push the turkey wings down into the liquid; bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 45 minutes. Skim off any foam that collects on top. Pour the broth mixture through a colander into a large bowl; pick meat from the wings, if desired, to add to gravy, or discard the spent wings and vegetables. Allow the gravy base to stand for several minutes for the fat to collect into a layer on top, and skim as much fat as possible. Transfer the skimmed fat into a saucepan. There should be at least 1/2 cup of turkey fat; add butter to make this amount if necessary.
  4. Whisk the flour into the turkey fat over medium heat until the flour mixture becomes smooth and golden brown. Gradually whisk in the broth until the gravy comes to a boil and thickens. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Allow the gravy to cool, then refrigerate or freeze. Reheat almost to boiling to serve.
Kitchen-Friendly View
  • PREP 30 mins
  • COOK 2 hrs 30 mins
  • READY IN 3 hrs

Footnotes

  • Editor's Note
  • The nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of the stock ingredients. The actual amount of the ingredients consumed will vary.
  • Cook's Note
  • For richer flavor, add turkey pan drippings to the gravy at serving time.
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Reviews More Reviews

Dec 02, 2010

This recipe was a life saver for me, I struggle with gravy and get so stressed out! I made this the day before Thanksgiving as I was prepping as much as I could for the meal. It roasted and simmered for hours and the house smelled just like a glorious turkey was in the oven. I did add some poultry seasoning to the blend. The gravy came out awesomely delicious and all I did at serving time was reheat in a saucepan and whisked in a spoonful or two of the turkey drippings from the roasting pan. Excellent recipe, thanks!

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Nov 24, 2010

This is 5-Star Restaurant kind of Gravy! The only reason that I'm giving this a 4 instead of a 5 is because you need to change your recipe description to warn that this isn't for beginning cooks. The instructions nor ingredients aren't difficult, but this took me (an ntermediate cook) over four hours, and five pots/pans/bowls, to complete. Scrumptious! Delicous! Best ever gravy! But a LOT of work.

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20 Ratings

Nov 24, 2010

A little work intensive, but worth it in the long run. I had to make a few revisions. I used a 1/2 a turkey breast as my local market didn't have wings OR legs, which made for less fat at the end. I used a whole stick of butter to substitue and spelt flour for wheat allergic family members. I think that gave it a nice, earthy flavor. I also kept the onions from the roasting in the gravy for continued flavor. I also used lots of fresh thyme as it grows in my kitchen. I will keep and use this recipe again. Very nice!

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Dec 01, 2010

The best gravy ever. I used turkey thighs and turkey broth instead of chicken, and added garlic to the roasting pan, but did not make any other changes.

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Oct 11, 2011

I scaled this back to 6 because there were only 4 of us. I wish I'd kept it at 10 or 12 because for all the work this took to prepare, I got only about 1.5 cups gravy! I ended up having to add a package of gravy mix and additional pan drippings in. However! Having said that, it was easily the best gravy I have ever tasted! I used most of a small Butterball turkey I had in the freezer (could not find wings anywhere!) but still did not get a lot of fat out of it. I had to use a lot of butter. SO, because I cannot seem to make gravy out of turkey drippings, I will probably use this recipe again. It did get rave reviews, but it was a lot of work, even when prepping the day before the big meal.

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Nov 19, 2010

I am so grateful for this recipe as I struggle every year to "get the gravy done"! We are attending a Turkey Fry party this year and friends will be deep frying our bird so I was forced to make my gravy ahead of time and boy am I glad I did! "Rich" is an understatement! I did add a little Rosemary when I added the Thyme but that is the only change I made!

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Nov 08, 2011

This is a really delicious gravy. I re-sized the recipe to 12, and my gravy came out a little thin, so I had to do the cornstarch thing. I'd adjust the fat/flour upwards even when sizing downwards in the future (and sometimes you just can't get exactly 3 lbs of meat without making a special request!) I'd never used wine in gravy before and I really liked it. Thanks for the recipe, this will be a hit this Thanksgiving!

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Nov 23, 2010

First, let me say I have never , ever made gravy that didn't come from a jar or powder mix. This turned out great. Reminded me of my Gram's gravy. I'd give it 4.5 stars, as I thought it needed some other seasoning beside S&P, but I don't know what would improve the taste. This will definately be tradition from now on

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Nutrition

  • Calories
  • 108 kcal
  • 5%
  • Carbohydrates
  • 4.9 g
  • 2%
  • Cholesterol
  • 24 mg
  • 8%
  • Fat
  • 4.6 g
  • 7%
  • Fiber
  • 0.5 g
  • 2%
  • Protein
  • 7.7 g
  • 15%
  • Sodium
  • 59 mg
  • 2%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

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