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This make ahead white wine gravy is my secret to a stress free and delicious Thanksgiving meal. Rich, smooth, and so incredibly easy, this gravy can’t be beat. Made with a base of butter, shallots, fresh sage, and broth, and finished with the drippings form your Thanksgiving turkey.
Did I ever tell you about that time that I throughly failed at make the gravy for the Thanksgiving meal? It was just last year, and I was serving not just my immediate family, but my grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins. So over thirty people.
I was cooking out of my grandma’s kitchen, which in my defense was not anywhere near set up to cook a Thanksgiving dinner for thirty plus people. Somehow, someway, we did, but the gravy? I messed that up, and bad. It was greasy and lumpy and I still cringe thinking about it.
This year, my gravy is going to be perfect. No lumpy, greasy gravy. I’m serving the same amount of people, but cooking in my kitchen at the new studio barn. It’s going to be great, I’m so excited. I perfected the best make-ahead gravy, that’s truly so delicious. It’s true, my family has already approved…because we’ve now had Thanksgiving dinner three times this past week…
Here are the details.
Start by making the gravy base. This is really just a simple mix of butter, shallots (the secret), sage, flour, and high quality broth (I use low-sodium chicken broth). It’s your basic roux, but it makes for the perfect gravy “base”. You can keep the base stored in the fridge for a few days, so it’s perfect to make-ahead.
When it’s ready to serve, and you’ve roasted up your holiday turkey, take the roasting pan and place it on the stove. Add a splash of white wine and scrape up all those delicious browned bits from the roasting pan. Let the wine simmer and reduce slightly, then add the gravy base, whisking until smooth. Adding the base right to the roasting pan with all the turkey drippings gives you the rich flavors that your gravy needs. But without any of the stress of making the gravy from scratch. Trust me, making this gravy ahead will relieve so much stress on Thanksgiving Day. It’s a game changer.
Check out our full 2018 Thanksgiving menu here.
If you make this gravy please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Make Ahead White Wine Gravy
Servings: 3 makes about cups
Calories Per Serving: 281 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons salted butter
- 2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken or turkey broth
- kosher salt and black pepper
- pan drippings from herb roasted turkey (optional)
- 1 cup dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio
Instructions
- 1. Melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook 5-8 minutes, stirring frequently, until softened and fragrant. Add the sage and continue cooking another 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the shallots, stirring for 1-2 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil, boil 5 minutes, or until thickened. Remove from the heat. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Strain, if desired. 2. Allow the gravy to cool, then store the gravy base in the fridge for up to 3 days. 3. To finish the gravy. Option 1: warm on the stove adding additional broth to think and a 1 tablespoon worcheshire or soy sauce. Optional 2: Once your turkey has finished roasting, remove the turkey from the roasting pan and strain the liquid into a glass measuring cup. Place the roasting pan over two burners. Add the wine and bring to a boil, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Simmer for 3-4 minutes or until the wine has reduced slightly. Reduce the heat to low and slowly whisk in the gravy base. Simmer until the gravy is smooth and thickened slightly, about 5 minutes. If needed, thin the gravy with the reserve broth from the roasting pan. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve warm.
Notes
To Make Gluten Free: Use an equal amount of your favorite gluten free flour blend in place of the all-purpose flour. I recommend Cup4Cup gluten free flour.
About how many people does this recipe serve? We have 10 to feed.
Hi Jennifer,
This recipe will make 3 cups, so it just depends if you have big gravy lovers or not! I hope you love this recipe! xx
I’ve made this before and it was outstanding! My new Go-To for Thanksgiving.
however, we are deep frying our turkey this year, so no drippings. Since this is the case, when is the best time to add the white wine? We reheating or when making the base?
Hey Hannah,
You can add the wine when you are re-heating, so option 2:) I hope this helps! xx
Tieghan
Your make ahead white wine gravy, can I freeze this gravy a few weeks ahead then warm up day of?
By the way I make and love so many of your recipes. You make me look good! Thank you
Thanks so much for your kind message, Val! Yes, you can totally freeze this! Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx
So this is supposed to be “no drippings” gravy with bacon…but the link requires drippings and no bacon is mentioned. Assume this needs to be corrected, thanks!
Hey LJ,
I like to use this recipe as base, the drippings are optional:) Then just sauté bacon and add it to the gravy! There’s 2 cooking options above for finishing as well as a gf option. I hope this helps! xT
Question: this was the link I clicked for the no dripping gravy with bacon, so is it the same recipe and you perhaps just add crumbled bacon at the end?
You bet!! Let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xx
We made this gravy for Christmas dinner, it was so easy and tasty and worked well with Anita’s GF flour. I strained the gravy as I prefer a smooth consistency, it was perfect.
Don’t skip the wine! Thank you for the recipe, this is my new go to!
Hey Tammy,
Awesome!! I love to hear that this recipe turned out well for you and appreciate you giving it a try! xT
Made it once and now I am the official gravy person for my family. Have made it 3 times it is so very easy. I know the gravy will be perfect. It takes that stress away.
Hey Susie,
Happy Holidays!! Thanks so much for making this recipe so often, I love to hear that it always turns out well for you!🎁🎅
Can I adjust this recipe to make with a beef tenderloin? Maybe use beef stock and beef drippings? Made it for Thanksgiving for my turkey and it was delicious.
Hey Yolanda,
Sure, I don’t see why not! I hope you love the recipe! Happy Holidays! xT
This gravy is the absolute best and makes Thanksgiving so stress free. This year I tripled the recipe as I had 23 people coming. I used all the drippings from the bird and the base and the flavor was perfect. I should note I used stock to deglaze the pan as I use wine to baste my turkey. It made a great amount of gravy so we had plenty for leftovers. I highly recommend!!
Hey Gwen,
Happy Friday!!❄️🧑🎄 I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your review, so glad to hear it turned out well for you! xx
This sounds amazing. If I’m hoping to use this gravy for a roast beef, should I just sub red wine & beef stock for the white wine and chicken stock? Thank you!
Hi Jessica,
I wouldn’t use red wine, but the beef stock would work for you. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx
This had wonderful flavor but mine turned out too thin. I think we used too much of the pan drippings. Any suggestion for measurement on drippings? I would love to perfect this recipe for next time!
Hey Heather,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try! I always use all of the pan drippings, to thicken you just need to simmer longer:) I hope this helps for next time!! xx
Made this for Thanksgiving this year…delicious!!! Made some adjustments cause I wanted the drippings but was making ahead of time so added some sweet sausage from my cornbread sausage stuffing recipe…blended to smooth and was AMAZING!!!
Hey Amy,
Wonderful!! I love to hear that this recipe was a hit, thanks for giving it a try! Have a great weekend:)
My daughter is vegetarian so I just used vegetable broth and a splash of white wine. With the sage… SO good! I’ve never been a great gravy person (usually don’t like it!) but this is a keeper! And to be able to do it ahead of time, all the better!!!
Hey Vickie,
Wonderful!! I love to hear that this recipe was a hit, thanks for giving it a try! Have a great weekend:)
The directions don’t say when to add wine or am I reading incorrectly.
Hi Michelle,
You are adding the wine once the turkey has finished after step 3:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx
This was great! I made it just as directed and everyone loved it!
Hi Gena,
Thank you so much for making this recipe, I love to hear that it was a winner! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! xx