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Prep time
15 minutes
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Cook time
1 hour 10 minutes
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Makes
1½ to 2 cups
Author Notes
Yes, we know that turkey and gravy coincide with Thanksgiving traditionally, but the best part about gravy is you can make it with chicken too, and it's equally delicious. For Thanksgiving, Christmas, or beyond, you'll find many uses for this thick, silky, unforgettable gravy. This recipe calls for the neck, heart, liver, and gizzards of the chicken, so you are using every part of the chicken you can, as well as the drippings from roasting, which gives the gravy an unbelievable amount of flavor. As well as the chicken parts, the rest of the ingredients is pretty straightforward, including onion, celery, carrot, thyme, bay leaf, and flour to make a roux with the pan drippings. It'll blow store-bought gravy right out of the window.
Of course, you can try making this gravy with other herbs and even other meat parts that you have on hand, whether it's beef or turkey or whatever you've been roasting. It's a wonderful addition to stuffing, potatoes, even fries and meatballs and pasta—the possibilities are endless. You'll always want to have some on hand as an accompaniment to your meal, regardless if you're serving a whole bunch of guests or you just want it for the everyday. It does take over an hour to simmer, but the flavor payoff is well worth the extra time, and the recipe is foolproof and simple to make. Freeze a batch, which can be stored for months, so you can get to it quickly whenever the temptation strikes. —Cara Nicoletti
Watch This Recipe
Chicken Giblet Gravy
Ingredients
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1 1/2 tablespoons
unsalted butter
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1/2
small yellow onion, finely chopped
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1
celery rib, finely chopped
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1
carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped
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1 sprig
thyme
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1/2
bay leaf
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Chicken giblets (neck, heart, liver, and gizzards)
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Drippings from 1 roasted chicken carcass
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1 tablespoon
all-purpose flour
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Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions
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In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion, celery, carrot, thyme, and bay leaf and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, until the onions are soft and lightly browned.
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Add the giblets to the pan. Pour in water until the mixture is just covered. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 1 hour.
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Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl; reserve the giblets and discard the remaining solids. Pull as much meat from the neck as you can. Finely chop the meat and giblets.
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In a medium skillet over medium heat, heat the pan drippings. Add the chopped meat and giblets and cook for about 2 minutes.
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Start whisking the flour into the pan drippings, 1 teaspoon at a time, until a thick paste forms. Cook over medium-low heat until golden brown and smells toasty like a biscuit.
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Add ¼ cup of the strained liquid to the roux, whisking constantly to incorporate before adding another ¼ cup, and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture is thick and smooth (like gravy!). Season with salt and pepper.
Cara Nicoletti is a butcher and writer living in Brooklyn, New York. Cara started working in restaurants when she moved to New York in 2004, and was a baker and pastry chef for several years before following in her grandfather and great-grandfathers' footsteps and becoming a butcher. She is the writer behind the literary recipe blog, Yummy-Books.com, and author of Voracious, which will be published by Little, Brown in 2015. She is currently a whole-animal butcher and sausage-making teacher at The Meat Hook in Williamsburg.
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