My Perfect Beef Gravy is made either from pan drippings from a roast or from leftover bones. I mentioned that I’m a “bone collector” in my earlier post, Beefy Tuscan Vegetable Soup. The short version of why I go to this trouble is because I love gravy, but packaged and canned products in the grocery store give me a migraine. So, I save my bones!
Now I realize that many readers don’t have the time or inclination to make Perfect Beef Gravy from scratch or from saved beef bones, so I’m providing substitutions. Whatever works for you, I hope my few tricks will come in handy!
First, I want to share a picture with you of this amazing roasting pan! I bought this roasting pan/pot from Princess House during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Now this isn’t a “sponsored post” nor am I a Princess House dealer, but I just wanted to share in case other readers have been looking for a truly amazing and incredibly large roasting pan! Here’s a picture:
The pot on the left is also a Princess House pot. It’s a 4-quart stockpot. The one on the right is my giant new pot! I have no idea how large it is (can’t find the information that came with it – sorry!), but you can see the difference. It’s oval, has a lid, has a rack AND has another smaller (shallower) non-stick pan so that you can use the rack and lid in a different configuration. Also, the handles are “off-set”, which I guess is to make it ergonomically easier to handle.
Anyway, I think it’s great and I used it to cook our roast for our Christmas dinner. And, I decided to use it on this particular day to roast some of the beef bones that I had saved in the freezer, so that I could make some gravy for the leftover roast we had also saved in the freezer!
- Frozen bones
- Frozen bone in roasting pan
- Roasted bones
- Bones removed and set aside (I saved them and made beef stock)
- Pan drippings
- Flour added to pan drippings
- Beef broth added to pan drippings
- Stirring gravy
- Gravy coating the back of a wooden spoon
Here’s the recipe:
Easy-from-Scratch Perfect Beef Gravy
Perfect Beef Gravy made from the saved beef bones from a roast! A way to save money and get a delicious gravy!
- Prep Time: 1 min
- Cook Time: 1 hour 10 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 11 mins
- Yield: 2 1/2 cups 1x
- Category: Gravy
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 pound of frozen beef bones
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup of pan drippings (or use butter)
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (maybe; taste your gravy before you add salt)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Place frozen beef bones along with little bits and pieces of leftover saved beef into a roasting pan.
- Add 1/2 cup water.
- Roast the bones for 1 hour.
- Remove from oven and discard bones or set the bones aside to use to make soup stock.
- Eye-ball (measure) beef drippings in the pan and if it appears to be about a quarter cup, use the ratios above (in other words, keep your fat to flour ratio the same).
- Place roaster on the stovetop and heat pan drippings over medium heat.
- Add 1/4 cup of flour to the pan drippings and stir with spoon, getting all bits and pieces off the bottom of the pan and incorporated into the flour mixture.
- Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes (this is to cook away the flour taste).
- Add beef broth all at once, stir to combine and increase heat to high.
- Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, reduce heat and continue cooking and stirring until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
- Taste the gravy and correct the seasonings (add salt and pepper, if needed).
Here are a few of tips in case your gravy isn’t perfect:
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If you don’t have bones and just make your gravy with butter, flour and beef broth, it will still be tasty. It just won’t have the depth of flavor that beef pan drippings add to gravy.
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If your gravy is lumpy (because you didn’t get the flour and pan drippings combined into a smooth paste), strain your finished gravy through a fine-mesh sieve. No one will know the difference; it will be our little secret!
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If you have leftover gravy and you refrigerate it then put it in a pan and reheat it or reheat it in the microwave and it just doesn’t look very tasty, don’t worry! Just put it in a blender and whirl it a few seconds. Sometimes refrigerating and reheating causes gravy to separate and no matter how much you stir it, you can’t get it to look good! Just blend it! It will be our secret!
The above picture is Perfect Beef Gravy on a piece of leftover Garlic Rib-eye Roast! It was so yummy! Stay tuned for the recipe of the Garlic Rib-eye Roast on Thursday!
Tootles,
Related Posts:
(other beef recipes)
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