Take comfort food staples like pot roast and mashed potatoes to a new level of deliciousness in 10 minutes with this Homemade Brown Beef Gravy Recipe!
This easy beef gravy is smooth, savory, and boasts the perfect smothering consistency! Keep this recipe on hand for sprucing up family dinners and wowing the crowd at holiday gatherings. Serve it up alongside braised beef chuck roast and mashed potatoes, and you've got yourself comfort food heaven!
Today we'll cover how to make homemade beef gravy to absolute perfection, but if you're looking for more awesome sauce recipes to try, bookmark our country gravy for next time!
Table of contents
Why You'll Love This Brown Beef Gravy Recipe
If mashed potatoes are hitting the table (and they do at least once a week in our house), you can bet your bottom dollar our family is whipping up a gravy to go with them. From simple blonde gravy on weeknights to turkey gravy for Thanksgiving dinner, this kitchen has pretty much nailed the foolproof gravy formula.
Over the years, I've tested every route — cornstarch slurries, pre-made gravy packets, you name it — but the keys to a smooth, homemade brown gravy with the perfect consistency comes down to three things:
- the thickener,
- the liquid,
- and the whisking.
Whether you're using drippings or not, making perfect brown beef gravy from scratch is easier than you think:
- Speed | Ready in about 10 minutes on the stovetop.
- Simple Ingredients | Butter, flour, beef broth, and pantry staples you already have.
- No Drippings? No Problem | This recipe works beautifully with just beef broth, so you can make it any night of the week.
Brown Beef Gravy Ingredients
- Butter (or beef drippings) | If you have beef drippings on hand, by all means, measure out your reserves and use it! Drippings will add great flavor to this gravy. However, if you're starting from scratch with no meaty remnants left behind, melted butter is the next best thing!
- Flour | Flour serves as the thickener for this easy beef gravy recipe, ensuring it reaches the perfect consistency!
- Beef Broth | Make sure you use unsalted or low-sodium beef broth for this recipe. Otherwise, your gravy will turn out overly salty.
- Worcestershire | Worcestershire sauce can be described as sweet, sour, and even spicy. This condiment adds a complex richness perfect for beefy recipes.
- Seasoning | The dry seasoning needed to make brown beef gravy is simple, and you probably already have them in your spice cabinet. Bonus! All you need is kosher salt and pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
Roux vs. Cornstarch
Roux may sound like one of those scary cooking words, but do not fear! A roux is just a simple mixture of fat (or oil) combined with flour, and it is what helps gravy to thicken.
In my personal experience, using a roux to thicken your gravy rather than a corn starch slurry is more reliable and provides consistent, delicious results!
For this recipe, we will be using unsalted melted butter and all-purpose flour for the roux.
Why the Broth Matters
The liquid added to the roux affects both the flavor and the consistency of the gravy. It is the type of broth that you add that determines whether or not the gravy will be cream gravy, a blonde gravy, or beef gravy!
In addition to the type of broth you use, how much you use will also make a big difference! The less broth you use, the thicker your brown gravy will be and vice versa.
How to Make Brown Beef Gravy from Beef Broth (Step-by-Step)
Start the Roux
To kick off your Brown Beef Gravy recipe, add unsalted butter to a large pan over medium heat and allow it to melt. If you would like to use meat drippings, see below!
Once the melted butter is ready to go, sprinkle in the all-purpose flour. Whisk until the flour appears dampened, and then whisk for about an additional 30 seconds more!
Add the Beef Broth Without Lumps
At this point, you will begin adding in the beef broth or stock. Slowly add the broth one big splash at a time (about a ¼ cup-worth of liquid), whisking well after each and every splash until the pan mixture appears completely smooth.
After you have added about 1 ½ cup of the beef stock, your beef gravy will have taken on somewhat of a pudding-like texture. At this point, you can begin slowly adding in the remaining broth, whisking all the while.
Hack for Perfectly Smooth Brown Gravy
The last key to an absolutely perfect Brown Beef Gravy is whisking! Rather than slowly streaming in the broth, I like to use a different method, and have found my strategy for adding in the liquid makes for a smooth, lump-free, no-fail brown gravy every single time!
Rather than streaming in the beef broth, you will add the broth one big splash at a time, and whisk until smooth after each and every addition.
Once you have about a cup and a half of broth added to the roux, then you can slowly begin streaming in the remaining broth, whisking all the while.
Season, Simmer, and Adjust Thickness
After all of the broth has been incorporated, you'll add in the Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
Now, we'll allow the Brown Beef Gravy to reach a simmer, reducing the heat as necessary to maintain that simmer. Allow the gravy to simmer for about five minutes stirring occasionally.
As soon as the brown gravy is thick enough to thinly coat the back of a wooden spoon, it is ready!
How to Adjust Thickness of Gravy
If your gravy gets a little too thick, just whisk in 1-2 tablespoons of warm beef broth or water at a time until it reaches your desired consistency. If it's on the thin side, let is simmer a few extra minutes until it thickens up, whisking occasionally.
Be sure to give our Homemade Sausage Gravy a try as well! Or, if you have a sweet craving, try our Chocolate Gravy!
Using Beef Drippings for Brown Gravy
It is very common for a gravy recipe to call for pan drippings, and if you've got them, use them.
If you have a roast or a large piece of beef that you have seared or roasted, and there are leftover meat drippings (that flavorful fat plus those browned bits stuck to the bottom), use those drippings in place of the butter for this recipe.
Using meat drippings instead of butter will add a beefier, more savory element to your homemade beef gravy recipe. If you have them on hand, I highly encourage you to use them, or even a combination of butter and drippings, to total a ¼ cup of fat.
- If you have more than ¼ cup drippings:
Spoon off and discard the excess drippings, leaving behind a ¼ cup in the pan. Leave those browned bits — they're delicious. - If you don't have quite enough drippings:
Just add enough butter to the pan to bring the total measure of fat to a ¼ cup (butter and drippings are both considered "fats"), then proceed with the recipe as written. - About salt:
Note, drippings are seasoned so if using them, start with half the salt the recipe calls for and adjust to taste at the end.
Make-Ahead & Storage
- Make-Ahead + Store | Make this brown beef gravy up to 3 days in advance. Allow to cool to room temperature and transfer to an airtight container to keep in the fridge.
- How to Reheat | Add gravy to a saucepan over medium-low heat and whisk until warm or cover and microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring between each stint. If gravy has thickened, add a 1-2 tablespoons of warm broth, milk, or water and whisk until smooth.
- Freeze | Allow to cool to room temperature and transfer to an airtight container or freezer-safe zip-top bag. Freeze for up to 2-3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight.
How to Serve Brown Beef Gravy
Once you've got this beef gravy recipe under your belt, chances are, you won't be able to stop making it. If you're looking for more delicious ways to put brown beef gravy to use, try whipping up a batch of our creamy mashed potatoes, beef tips, or even Salisbury steaks. It's also delicious over meatloaf or even pork steaks!
Beef Gravy FAQs
Simply using beef drippings over oil or melted butter will give your gravy a deeper, meatier flavor. However, if you don't have any meat drippings on hand, dry spices will do the trick! Garlic powder, onion powder, and even paprika are great candidates for adding flavor to brown beef gravy.
Yes. Use unsalted butter in the place of drippings.
When it comes to making a foolproof, easy beef gravy, flour is the most dependable thickener to use.
Canned beef consommé is less of a broth and more of a soup containing gelatin and loads of salt. It has a very concentrated flavor and a thicker texture than broth. It should not be substituted for broth in this recipe.
First, try whisking vigorously off heat to break up as many lumps as possible. Then, pour the gravy through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean saucepan.
Yes, you can freeze beef gravy for up to 3-4 months. Allow to cool to room temperature, transfer to an airtight container or freezer-safe zip-top bag, and place in the freezer.
More Beef Recipes You'll Love
Boneless Prime Rib Recipe
Rump Roast Crock Pot Recipe
Cowboy Steak Recipe (Bone-In Ribeye)
Roasted Beef Tenderloin
Beef Tips and Rice
Salisbury Steak Recipe
Brown Beef Gravy Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (or beef drippings)
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 ¾ cups unsalted (or low-sodium) beef broth
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¾ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
Instructions
- Add the butter or the meat drippings to a saucepan over medium heat. Immediately after the butter has melted, sprinkle with the flour and whisk to combine. Allow to cook and whisk constantly for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- Begin adding the beef broth a splash at a time (about a ¼ cup), whisking well after each addition. Once the mixture begins to resemble a pudding-like texture, you may begin streaming the remaining broth in slowly, whisking all the while.
- Once all of the broth has been incorporated, add the Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Adjust the heat to maintain a simmer, and simmer for about 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Notes
Nutrition
Jessica B says
Thank you for this recipe! This was the easiest recipe to follow and my gravy actually turned out perfectly. The taste and the consistency were excellent.