Last Updated on 4th August 2022 by
One of the easiest items to forget when you’re making family feast is gravy. If you forgot to pick it up at the grocery, you can make it at home on your own, using cornstarch.
I’ll give you a method for how to make gravy with cornstarch and break the recipe down for you in step-by-step directions. Once you season it, it will be as good as any gravy you buy in the store- simply much cheaper and made the way you want it.
Cornstarch gravy is made with cornstarch instead of using flour as a thickener. Why would you use cornstarch instead of flour? Well, cornstarch has no gluten. If you’re looking for a gluten free way to make gravy, then it makes sense to learn how to make chicken gravy with cornstarch or any other kind of gravy using cornstarch rather than something that has gluten in it.
How to Make Brown Gravy with Cornstarch
Ingredients
- 2 cups of beef stock or broth
- ¼ cup of milk
- 2 tbsp of cornstarch
- ⅛ tsp of garlic powder
- ½ tsp of poultry seasoning
- Salt
- 2 tbsp of butter
Instructions
- Use a medium saucepan and add broth and butter to it. Heat on high until your liquid begins to boil. Then, remove the saucepan from heat.
- Combine milk and cornstarch in a small bowl.
- Mix the cornstarch into your broth while the broth is hot. Mix together well.
- Boil the mixture on high until it starts to simmer. Then, add in garlic powder, poultry seasoning and pepper.
- Taste the gravy and add salt as necessary.
Now you know how to make gravy with beef broth and cornstarch, and there are lots of other ways you can change up this recipe and use different ingredients, such as beef broth substitutes. I may change it up based on what I have available in my cupboard at the time, and you may want to change it based on your dietary requirements. Some people leave out salt in order to keep the sodium levels low.
A common addition to gravy is sage, but sage is an acquired taste so try out some sage substitutes to add flavour to your beef gravy.
Once you know how to make beef gravy with cornstarch, you can modify your gravy by increasing the beef stock or use chicken stock instead.
How to Make Turkey Gravy with Cornstarch
If you’re making gravy for Thanksgiving, you may want to know how to make turkey gravy with drippings and cornstarch. This is a great use of your turkey when you bake one for Thanksgiving or any other time you have people over for a big meal. When you roast the turkey in a pan, you end up with a lot of turkey drippings left in the pan. If you don’t want to be wasteful, you can use those drippings to create homemade gravy that’s really flavorful and is rich with the taste of turkey meat.
How to make gravy with cornstarch and milk and turkey drippings? I showed you a method above for how to make homemade gravy with cornstarch, and you only have to make a slight modification to that recipe in order to make it with your turkey’s drippings.
All you have to do is switch out the turkey drippings for the stock. If you were using beef broth or chicken stock or bouillon in the gravy, you can simply leave those out and put in turkey drippings instead. This beef stock would work perfectly well alongside our slow cooked beef brisket in the oven.
This method for how to make gravy from turkey drippings with cornstarch is fairly simple and makes for super flavorful gravy that is perfect for Thanksgiving dinners. I just love the rich flavor it offers and how well it goes over mashed potatoes or even on turkey meat and how well it complements the turkey.
This method for how to make gravy from turkey drippings with cornstarch is just one way you can use turkey drippings in your gravy. The drippings can make the gravy a little thick already, and you may not need much cornstarch. How much cornstarch you should use will depend on how thick the drippings are and how thick that makes your gravy; so watch that carefully.
How to Make Gravy with Chicken Broth and Cornstarch
If you want a chicken flavored gravy, you can use the recipe up above and modify it slightly. Simply use chicken broth rather than a beef broth, and you may not need poultry seasoning. It’s up to you whether you want them, and the gravy already pretty salty without adding a salty poultry seasoning to it. You can use the same process as I provided up above for how to make gravy with cornstarch in beef broth.
How to Make Ham Gravy with Cornstarch
I want to share another modification as well. In this version of the gravy, we can make a ham flavored gravy. Once again, will use cornstarch as a thickener to keep this gluten free, and of course we’re going to add some ham to it.
What we need to do is leave off the broth and use ham drippings instead. You can get ham drippings by cooking up ham in a roaster pan in the oven or in a skillet on the stovetop. Like the turkey and chicken gravies, this one will be pretty salty. You may not want to add any poultry seasoning or other bouillon cubes to it, as they can make it overly salty.
How to Make Sausage Gravy with Cornstarch
Ingredients
- 1 pound of pork sausage
- 1 tbsp of cornstarch
- 1 ½ cups of half and half
- ½ tsp of black pepper
- 1 tbsp of butter
- ½ of salt
Instructions
- Use a skillet to pick up the ground sausage until it turns brown. Then, use a wooden spoon to break it into small pieces.
- Mix together half and half and cornstarch until there are no clumps left.
- Add this to your sausage and add in half a cup at once. Cook on medium heat and stir until it thickens. Then, take the saucepan off the heat.
- Add in your butter and stir until it melts. Season the gravy with black pepper and then add salt as necessary.
I'm Pauline, a mother of four grown children, my passion for cooking stemmed from the joy i get cooking for my family. I love to try new dishes, especially when dining out but creating and sharing my own recipes is my favourite thing to do!
