Homemade Gravy Mix Recipe - Brown Gravy Mix - Gravy Mix Recipe (2024)

You know the packets of dry gravy mix? The ones at the store? You can make your own Homemade Gravy Mix in just a few steps!

Brown Gravy Mix

I know folks hate perosnal stories from bloggers, but I want to share with you that I just realized many of my posts that use the word bouillon autocorrected to bullion.

So my beefy recipes are pure GOLD! LOL.

What is Brown Gravy?

Au Jus vs Brown Gravy

Au jus is generally just seasoned pan juices while gravy is a thickened mixture using a roux, cream or cornstarch slurry to thicken.

What is in Gravy?

Now onto the informational stuff. Most of what gravy mix is made out of is flour. Yep, a thickener. What you need for brown gravy mix:

• Thickening agent
• Seasoning
• Liquid

These three items can be customized to your preference and liking, but are the 3 essential things you’ll need to make a delicious homemade gravy mix.

Generally the thickening agent is flour, cornstarch or arrowroot. Since flour is the cheapest, most store bought gravy mixes use it. But you can certainly use one of the alternatives.

The second is seasoning. Beef bouillon (not to be confused with gold bars LOL) is the most common of the seasonings with the second being salt, of course.

What is beef bouillon?

It just dehydrated beef stock so you get all the flavor of the stock without any liquid. This makes it shelf stable with no refrigeration needed.

It comes in the form of a packed cube or also granular and is commonly mixed with vegetable stock, salt and a few other seasonings.

Some of the seasoning might also come from drippings from whatever dish you are making. That is fine too.

Additional Ingredients to add when making Brown Gravy

The last element is liquid. Since gravy mix already uses beef bouillon, you can also use beef broth or stock and add even more beefy flavor or just water.

Fat is the last piece of homemade gravy mix and totally optional. If you are using drippings, then you’ll get a little bit of this from that ingredient. Otherwise it takes the form of rendered bacon grease, butter and sometimes cream. All are totally acceptable.

Regardless of what type of gravy you are making, I strongly suggest waiting until the very end to season with SALT. Nearly all of the ingredients for making gravy have the potential to be salty and you don’t want to over salt the sauce!

How do you make Gravy from Scratch?

To prepare gravy, in a small saucepan melt butter or meat drippings and add in one cup of water. Next, add in two tablespoons of the homemade brown gravy mix and whisk until smooth. You can add salt and pepper to taste if needed.

Homemade Brown Gravy Recipe Substitutions & Variations

• Use seasoned salt
• Dry Italian seasoning
• Dry Ranch Seasoning
• Grated garlic
• Grated onion
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Minced giblets
• Pan drippings
• Fresh or dried herbs

How to serve Homemade Brown Gravy

From there, here are some items to serve your brown gravy on meatloaf, salisbury steak, cube steak, any type of beef, mashed potatoes, corn or anything else you want smothered in deliciousness!

How to fix salty Homemade Gravy

• Add potato chunks to absorb salt. Cook for 15 minutes, then remove potato.
• Counterbalance with sugar and/or ground black pepper.
• Dilute your mixture with additional turkey stock, water and unsalted butter.

More homemade gravy recipes:

• Homemade Turkey Gravy
• Easy Chicken Gravy
• Creamy Sausage Gravy
• Country Gravy Mix

Brown Gravy Recipe FAQs