The best Turkey Gravy Recipe begins with a good, hearty stock. One of our favorite Thanksgiving recipes, a homemade gravy from scratch with the family turkey stock recipe. The Turkey Stock Recipe we use for the Best Gravy on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Whenever I think about Thanksgiving recipes, how could I possibly talk about Thanksgiving Preparations without sharing our Turkey Gravy Recipe, which we use to make the very best homemade gravy on Thanksgiving day and for soup anytime. Most importantly, a good, hearty turkey stock is the key. It’s so easy to make this stock ahead of time and put it in your freezer until you need it and then whip it up into a wonderful homemade turkey gravy or use it for soups.

Turkey Stock Recipe for Homemade Gravy

Yield: 3 quarts

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours 10 minutes

Total Time: 8 hours 30 minutes

Homemade turkey stock is the basis for outstanding gravy, as well as soups.

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Ingredients

• 4-5 pounds turkey wings
• 2 onions, , chopped
• 2 carrots, , chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 6-8 sprigs of thyme
• 15 cups water, divided in half

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450'
2. Place turkey wings on roasting pan, brush with olive oil and roast for 45 minutes until golden brown.
3. While wings are roasting, put 7-8 cups of water in your stock pot. You will add more water and reduce it down and it’s helpful to have a sense of where the level of water should be once reduced enough.
4. Remove the turkey wings and reduce temperature to 350°
5. Add wings to stock pot with water
6. Add chopped vegetables to the fat that was rendered while your wings were roasting, put in oven and roast for 15 minutes.
7. Then put the veggies into the stock pot with the wings. At this point, I measured from the top of my pot to the water level because that’s where I’m going to want the level to be when it’s adequately reduced.
8. Add 8 more cups of water, put it on the stove and simmer for 5-6 hours very slowly until the stock has been reduced to 7-8 cups.
9. Once it cools a bit, strain it and pour it into your fat separator and let it sit for a couple of minutes so that the fat can rise to the top. 
10. I save the fat and freeze it for future use. If I have a turkey breast and Terry is hankering for some gravy, I can use the fat to make the roux for a quick gravy.
11. Pour your stock into freezer-safe jars, making sure to leave a good inch plus to allow for expansion, and freeze until the day before Thanksgiving. Take them from your freezer, put them in your fridge and send up a little thanks when you taste that amazing gravy on Thanksgiving Day.

Nutrition Information:

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 425 Saturated Fat: 6g Cholesterol: 141mg Sodium: 168mg Carbohydrates: 6g Fiber: 1g Sugar: 2g Protein: 41g

Here is a quick video tutorial on how to make turkey stock for the best homemade turkey gravy. You’ll want to add this to your list of Holiday and Thanksgiving recipes!

Homemade Turkey Gravy Recipe from Turkey Stock:

As far as making the turkey gravy, there are 2 methods I use.

• One is to make a roux with equal amounts of flour and fat (about 4 TBSP each) and whisk it until it is a nice light brown and smells a little toasted. Then I’ll slowly whisk in 4 cups of my turkey stock and add salt and pepper to taste.
• The second is to use the drippings from the turkey. I bring that to a simmer and slowly whisk in a slurry of 1/4 cup flour and 1 cup water/broth and about 3-4 cups of the stock. This seems to be a richer and more flavorful gravy.

We also use this stock for hearty and nourishing soups. If you are looking for a light in fat and calories, but hearty in taste, check out this Creamy Turkey Soup. You may be surprised at the secret ingredient that makes it so creamy.

Have you started your Thanksgiving recipes and Preparations? What do you do ahead of time to make Thanksgiving day a tad easier?

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Thanks again for spending a few minutes of your busy day with me today.