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Forgot the gravy? This 5 Minute Maple Bourbon Gravy is whipped up with just a few ingredients from your pantry in less than 5 minutes. Don’t like bourbon? Leave it out, this gravy is completely customizable.
Happy Thanksgiving week, friends! Who was lucky enough to score the entire week off? But it’s not really a week off if you’re hosting dinner on Thursday, especially if you have any family weirdness to anticipate. Lucky for me, I have a low-key holiday on my agenda and I get to relax a bit….since cooking is what relaxes me. Now the dishes….let’s not even go there.
I’ve been busy thinking of everything I will need to stuff my family with and already started making some of the side dishes like this Super Simple Cranberry Sauce. The problem with working ahead is….I completely forget to serve dishes like cranberry sauce because they’ve been waiting patiently in the back of the fridge for a few days. And then there are things like…gravy, that have to be made right before dinner is served if you’re hoping to add in those coveted pan drippings. I always forget about the gravy and, let me tell you, my family….they LOVE their gravy. I can never….EVER…EVVVVVERR….let them know I forgot about the gravy.
So, I came up with a quick gravy recipe that I, actually, whip up all year long with all sorts of stock. Turkey stock was used for this version but I’ve made it with chicken and beef with great results. It’s not really rocket science but like most recipes…it’s all about technique. I even made a short video to show you how easy it is to make your very own gravy from scratch and how to eliminate those awful lumps. No need to serve gravy from a can or jar anymore. It’s absolutely perfect on this fool-proof roast turkey or my simple roasted chicken. Go ahead, give it a try and I bet you’ll never serve pre-made, store-bought gravy ever again. If you even remembered to buy it. 🙂
5 Minute Maple Bourbon Gravy
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 32 ounce box turkey stock, you can use chicken or beef, as well
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons bourbon
- kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Slowly whisk in the flour to create a roux. Turn the heat to low. Continue cooking until the roux begins to turn a golden brown and starts to smell nutty, approximately 1-2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the stock and stir until smooth. Stir in the garlic powder, onion powder and sage. Whisk in the maple syrup and bourbon. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Immediately turn the heat to low and simmer until thickened, approximately 1 minute. Transfer to a gravy boat and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
We’re not big on bourbon whiskey. I wanted to no if you can taste the alcohol in the gravy..
Not really but if you want to leave it out, you could totally use like a sherry or marsala just to give it a little depth.
I noticed on the first ingredients page it said 64 oz and on the instructions page it says 32 oz. I am assuming the 32 oz is the correct amount? What about the drippings in the pan I usually make the gravy with? Can I put them in also?
It is 32 ounces, however, if you like a thinner gravy you can add more stock until it’s the consistency you like. You can definitely whisk in the drippings with the cornstarch and butter before adding the stock.
I’m tempted to try this gravy this year, but I’d like to ask: with the bourbon AND the maple syrup, it “reads” as though it would be on the sweet side. I’m looking for a savory flavor. Can anyone address this concern?
It is a little on the sweeter side so if you want to skip the bourbon and whisk in worcestershire sauce I think you’ll get the flavor you’re looking for.
I made this gravy and I should have known better that using 4 tbls butter with quarter cup of flour and then using 64 fl ozs of stock would not produce a nice thick gravy. I let it simmer for 40 minutes. It evaporated a lot but did not produce a nice thick gravy. I had to use a slurry of flour and stock to thicken what was left. I ended up going back to my old recipe. Needless to say I threw this liquid away and started from scratch. I followed your recipe exactly. Just saying. You don’t have to respond. It’s part of cooking. Win some and lose some.
Hi Megan, I’m so sorry you had a bad experience making this gravy. I’m going to go back and test the recipe again to be sure it’s written accurately. I’m decreasing the stock amount with a note to add more to achieve the desired thickness until I can get to testing. There’s nothing worse than buying ingredients for a specific purpose only to have to throw them in the trash because it didn’t work out as planned. My deepest apologies and thank you for commenting.
This sounds delicious and so fast to make! Thanks for sharing!
You had me at “bourbon” 😉 This gravy looks fantastic, and I love the video 🙂
Thank you so much!
I bet the bourbon gives this a nice complex flavor.
It really does! Thanks, Cathy!
I was thinking about making my gravy with port on Thursday but maybe I’ll try bourbon instead. It sounds delicious!
Bourbon in gravy… oh my gosh!! How delicious!! This is definitely happening! It sounds incredible.
This is fantastic! Gravy is something that is a must on the Thanksgiving table, but so many times I see people skip over it because they are short on time. Great idea with this recipe being so quick and easy!
Thank you so much, Kacey! I’m one of those people that used to skip it or buy it in a jar because I’d run out of time. This recipe was created out of desperation one year and I’ve been making it ever since. 🙂