Name: Make Ahead Homemade Turkey Gravy
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 10 min
Ingredients: 6 turkey wings, or left over parts of turkey; 2 onions, peeled and cut in half; 4 sticks celery, roughly chopped; 4 carrots, roughly chopped; 1 shallot, chopped; 10 garlic cloves; thyme, several sprigs; sage, several leaves; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 teaspoon salt; black pepper; 1/2 cup white wine; 6 cups chicken broth; 1/2 stick butter; 4 tablespoons flour

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OK, I need to confess…I’m a bit of a cheater when it comes to making Turkey gravy on Thanksgiving. To be honest, I don’t make it. Instead, I buy it from Gelson’s deli. It’s delicious , plus having to make gravy always happens during the most intense, and stressful part of the Thanksgiving meal preparation. The part right before dinner, when everyone is hungry, surrounded in the kitchen, pots and pans are everywhere, and you are dripping sweat trying to remember how to make the gravy without messing it up.

This year, thank goodness for TikTok, yep TikTok, that controversial new app most of us have become addicted to during COVID quarantine. News flash! TikTok isn’t all about dancing and goofy videos, it is full of cooking videos too!

It all started on the eve of Thanksgiving, while I was doing most of my pre-Thanksgiving cooking, that my Gelson’s delivery somehow missed bagging my gravy. I’m in too deep to make a run to the grocery store, deciding that I will make that package of gravy mix in my pantry instead, All of a sudden, I receive a text from my husband of a TikTok post. He sends them to me all the time, so I click on the post and laugh, then the second post (Mealtime with Melissa on TikTok) comes up and it is a quick few seconds video on make ahead turkey gravy. Genius, because earlier in the week, I had tested cooking a 7 pound turkey and had left overs. Lucky for me, I had all the ingredients required, plus made some additions of my own.

What resulted was a velvety smooth, delicious homemade turkey gravy, that I refrigerated and heated up the next day, on Thanksgiving. From now on, I’m going to pre-cook this Make Ahead Homemade Turkey Gravy a couple of weeks or a month early and freeze. No more purchased (or packaged) gravy on my Thanksgiving table again.

Make ahead!

Allow the gravy to cool to room temperature. Transfer it to an airtight container and freeze for up to 1 month. The gravy can be served right away or refrigerated for up to 2 days.

What is in make ahead homemade gravy?

6 turkey wings, drumsticks, combination, or left over parts of turkey
2 onions
4 sticks celery
4 carrots
1 shallot
10 garlic cloves
thyme
sage
olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
6 cups chicken broth
1/2 stick butter
4 tablespoons flour

How easy is it to cook make way ahead turkey gravy?

Roughly cut your onions, celery, and carrots. Place all ingredients in a large roasting pan and place turkey on top. Throw some olive oil, salt and pepper on top and place in oven. Roast at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour. Remove from oven, pour white wine and chicken broth over turkey, return to oven and cook an additional 45 minutes. Strain broth and heat until warm. Heat skillet, melt butter, add flour and whisk. Start adding broth while continuing to whisk until broth is gone. Heat to a boiling, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes, or until gravy coats back of spoon.

Have you had any gravy making disasters or successes? Let me know, I would love to hear about them.

Make Ahead Homemade Turkey Gravy

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Author: Dori
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes

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Description

A velvety smooth, delicious turkey gravy that you can make 1 month or 2 weeks ahead and freeze until ready to eat.

Ingredients

Scale

6 turkey wings, or left over parts of turkey
2 onions, peeled and cut in half
4 sticks celery, roughly chopped
4 carrots, roughly chopped
1 shallot, chopped
10 garlic cloves
thyme, several sprigs
sage, several leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
black pepper
1/2 cup white wine
6 cups chicken broth
1/2 stick butter
4 tablespoons flour

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Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large roasting pan, add onions, celery, carrots, thyme, and sage. Place turkey on top of the vegetable mixture, add salt, pepper, and olive oil on top of turkey and vegetables.
Place roasting pan in oven and cook for 1 hour. Remove from oven, add white wine and chicken broth. Return to oven and cook for an additional 45 minutes.
Remove wings from the pan and place aside. Strain contents of the roasting pan through a large strainer into a large saucepan and keep warm. Press on the vegetables to extract any remaining liquid and discard vegetables.
Pour all of the liquid, including the fat into a gravy separator. Allow the fat to separate from the juices. You should have approximately 4 to 5 cups of liquid stock remaining for your gravy. In a saucepan, reheat broth to a low simmer. Keep warm and continue below.
In a skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the flour, and whisk until the mixture is smooth, approximately 2 minutes, until toasted to a deep golden brown. Slowly pour in the warm broth a little at a time, whisking continuously, and continue adding additional broth and whisking until the broth is gone. Bring gravy to a boil, reduce heat and allow to simmer 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Allow the gravy to cool. Transfer it to an airtight container and freeze for up to 1 month.
To serve, reheat the frozen gravy in a saucepan. Be sure to whisk vigorously as the gravy heats up to keep lumps from forming. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.