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This truly is the BEST giblet turkey gravy, that you can make-ahead! Silky, rich, and oozing with scintillating turkey flavor! This ain’t no boxed gravy my friends.
This has been my go-to turkey gravy recipe for about 8 years. I love it because you can make it ahead, it comes together so easily at the last-minute for a gravy that is bursting with flavor and depth! Or if you are really pressed for time, you can actually finish it completely a day or two ahead and heat it up when ready to serve (you may have to thin with a little chicken stock or turkey drippings).
BONUS! If you bought a frozen turkey and are in the process of thawing it, it’ll provide you a chance to remove the giblets and see whether your turkey is fully thawed!
How to prepare your giblets for gravy
Retrieve your giblets; (yes, you have to get your hands dirty) place your turkey in a sink on a plate and cut the package open. The neck is typically in the larger cavity while they usually put the sack of giblets in the other end.
Once you have the neck and giblets out, give your turkey a good rinsing with cold water and then using paper towels, dry it well, cover it in plastic wrap, place on a plate (or you’ll have turkey juice all over your fridge) and return to fridge until ready to prepare. Try my super easy, amazingly tender turkey recipe!
Chop up the giblets, smash your garlic, then chop up your onions, celery and carrots, a rough chop is fine for all, I ran out of regular carrots to chop, but had some fresh shredded carrots so just decided to use a generous handful of those! It’s ok to improvise!
Heat your olive oil in a large pan, nice and hot, over medium-high heat and toss in your giblets and your veggies; stand back it’ll spit and spurt at you!
Allow to brown for a minute, then turn the giblet pieces and give your veggies a stir.
Once they are nice and browned and you have some browned bits sticking to the bottom of the pan, increase the heat slightly and pour in your marsala, (or sherry, I’ve used both), deglazing the pan. Be sure to scrape up all of those browned bits.
Pour in your chicken stock…stir well. Add your pepper and bay leaves.
As well as your sprigs of rosemary and sage…
Give it all a good stir and bring to a simmer.
Cover and simmer for an hour. If you are putting it together right away, strain after you’ve simmered for an hour. If you are making the gravy a day or two ahead of time, then let it sit as is overnight in the refrigerator.
Straining the Gravy
When you are ready, strain through a mesh colander into a bowl or another pot, let sit for a few minutes to allow all of those yummy juices to drip out.
If you have a dog, give them the veggies and the giblets (not the neck) they can choke on the bones. Toss the rest away and keep that precious stock, will probably measure about 3 cups, you’ll need about 4 cups, you should get another cup from the turkey drippings which you’ll add later, but if you are making before you even cook your turkey, just add chicken or turkey stock to yield 4 cups. Set aside.
TIP | If you get a fat layer that develops and you have time to refrigerate, simply skim it off before reheating.
FINAL GRAVY INSTRUCTIONS
Once you are ready to assemble the gravy, melt the butter in a pan over medium-high heat…I left some of those yummy bits still in the pan, just did a quick wipe out of the chunkier items. Add your all-purpose flour (or sub Gluten Free All Purpose) to make a roux…
whisk for 1-2 minutes until slightly browned.
Slowly pour in your reserved stock whisking while you pour, which is hard to do when you are trying to take a picture with one hand and pour with the other.
Bring gravy to boil; whisking and cook 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cook 10 minutes.
Stir in vinegar and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.
Serve immediately or if making ahead of time, allow to cool completely, then store in fridge until ready to use. If cold, return to pot on stove, warming over low heat, adding chicken or turkey stock if too thick, adjust seasonings with salt and pepper if needed. Drippings from the roasted turkey are perfect to add in to continue to bring added flavor!
Pour generously over my tender turkey, this to-die for stuffing and definitely those creamy garlic mashed potatoes!
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This recipe for silky, smooth, oozing with amazing turkey flavor gravy is the last one you will ever need! Make ahead and save time on your busy holiday, while you wow your guests with this gravy.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 celery ribs, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 3 gloves of garlic, smashed
- Reserved giblets, turkey neck, chopped
- ½ cup dry Marsala wine, Sherry or apple juice
- 6 cups chicken broth or stock
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 dry bay leaves
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 sprigs fresh sage
- 1 stick butter
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
For the Turkey Stock
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat.
- Add celery, onion, garlic, carrot, next and giblets; cook until well browned about 10 minutes.
- Deglaze the pan with Marsala, Sherry or apple juice, scraping up the brown bits on the bottom, reduce until nearly evaporated.
- Stir in the broth, pepper, bay leaves, rosemary and sage sprigs. Reduce heat to low; simmer for 1 hour, covered.
- If making ahead, allow to cool completely then store in refrigerator until ready to use.
- Once ready to finish the gravy, strain out the veggies and giblets using a fine mesh strainer, be sure to place a pot or bowl under your strainer.
- Discard veggies and giblets, reserve stock, should be about 3-4 cups, you’ll want a total of about 4 cups, if necessary use drippings from turkey to attain 4 cups, or chicken or turkey stock.
For the gravy
- Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat.
- Whisk in flour; cooking 1-2 minutes.
- Whisk in reserved 4 cups turkey broth slowly, whisking until thick and smooth.
- Bring mixture to boil; cook 2 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low and cook for 10 minutes.
- Whisk in vinegar and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.
- Pour into gravy boat or bowl with ladle, serve immediately.
- If too thick, heat and add additional stock to thin to desired consistency.
- Try this gravy over my Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Tender Turkey and Stuffing!
Notes
Copyright 2017 | This recipe for The Best Giblet Turkey Gravy was featured first on The Fresh Cooky.
Keywords: gravy, giblets, make-ahead, Thanksgiving, Christmas, fresh herbs, flavorful
This worked great. I loved doing it ahead of time. Thank you for the recipe.