The Thanksgiving planner

Make-ahead turkey gravy

Make the gravy on Wednesday from roasted turkey wings, then whisk in the drippings on Thursday. No lumps and no panic at the last minute.

30 min hands-on3 hr start to finishNo oven on Thursday
Dairy-free
Cooking for46810121620
Make-ahead turkey gravyA photo like it

Photo: Prayitno, CC BY 2.0

When to make it

Make it up to 3 days ahead and refrigerate. Reheat Thursday and stir in the turkey's pan drippings.

Add it to your plan and Chef puts these on the right days, and fits it into your oven on Thursday.

For 16

  • 4¾ lbturkey wings or wings plus the neck
  • 1½yellow onions quartered
  • 3carrots in chunks
  • 3celery ribs in chunks
  • 12¾ cupslow-sodium chicken stock
  • 6½ sprigsfresh thyme
  • 1¼ sticks (10 tbsp)unsalted butter or turkey fat
  • ¾ cupall-purpose flour
  • 1½ tbspsoy sauce for depth; it won't taste of soy
  • 1½ tspblack pepper

How to make it

  1. Roast the wings

    Heat the oven to 425°F. Roast the wings, onion, carrots and celery on a sheet pan 1 hour, until deep brown.

  2. Make a stock

    Move everything to a big pot, scrape the pan's brown bits in with a splash of stock, add the rest of the stock and the thyme and simmer gently 1 hour. Strain; you should have about 6 cups. Pull the wing meat off for sandwiches.

  3. Thicken

    Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, whisk in the flour and cook, whisking, 4 minutes until it smells nutty and turns peanut-butter colored. Slowly whisk in the hot stock. Simmer 10 minutes, until it coats a spoon. Add the soy sauce and pepper. Cool and refrigerate.

  4. Thursday

    Rewarm over medium heat. Pour off the fat from the turkey's roasting pan, set the pan over a burner, pour in a cup of the gravy and scrape up every brown bit, then pour it all back through a strainer into the gravy. Taste for salt.

Chef's notes

  • Too thick? Whisk in stock. Too thin? Simmer it down for 5 minutes.
  • Gluten-free: thicken with 3 tbsp cornstarch mixed into cold stock instead of the flour and butter roux.

More for the table

Buttery mashed potatoes1 hr · Vegetarian, Gluten-freeSweet potato casserole with pecan crumble1 hr 45 min · VegetarianBaked mac and cheese1 hr 15 min · VegetarianCrispy Brussels sprouts with bacon and maple45 min · Gluten-free, Dairy-freeKale, apple and pecan salad20 min · Vegetarian, Gluten-freeRoasted butternut squash soup1 hr 10 min · Vegetarian, Gluten-free

Every recipe here is Chef Amazing's own, written for this planner, with real quantities. Scale it with Cooking for, or add it to your plan and Chef scales it to your guest list.

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