Make The Most Flavorful Turkey Gravy With One Extra Step

Turkey is the centerpiece of most Thanksgiving dinners, and while its size is more apt than that of a chicken to feed a crowd, it does tend to get dry. While cooking methods like brining or deep frying can help bring tenderness and moisture to white meat, gravy is the ultimate guarantee for succulent, flavorful turkey. It's also a way to repurpose all the tasty drippings from the roasting pan. In a recent interview with Tasting Table, Freda Sugarman, executive chef at Sarabeth's Greenwich Village shares how you can bring a conventional turkey gravy to the next level with one extra step: using chicken stock.

"Making a rich chicken stock from roasted chicken bones is a great way to deglaze the turkey roasting pan and get your gravy headed in the right direction," says Sugarman. "The stock is also great for reheating leftovers."

The turkey drippings are often used as the base for your gravy, providing both the flavor agent and the fat needed to make the gravy's roux. However, instead of using store-bought chicken stock or even turkey stock made from the innards of your freshly roasted turkey, scratch-made chicken stock is the key to the tastiest foundation and cooking liquid for gravy. The bones are the primary source of flavor that sets it a cut above the rest. Using the chicken stock to help scrape up those browned bits of turkey from the roasting pan makes for a full-flavored foundation. Plus, reducing it with the roux will concentrate its richness.

Making chicken stock way ahead of time is technically the first step you take. If you're using chicken stock to deglaze your turkey pan and for your gravy's reduction liquid, you'll need at least one whole chicken carcass for your stock. Try this homemade chicken stock recipe that's made on the stove, or perhaps this instant pot chicken stock recipe for a much quicker cooking time. If you're using the stove-top method, you'll need a 10-pound bird to make enough stock for 8 servings, while an instant pot recipe requires only a 4-pound bird to render the same amount of stock.

For both methods, making chicken stock is a hands-off process that involves simply throwing seasonings, vegetables, and aromatics whole into the stock pot with the chicken carcass, adding water, and simmering. It's best to make the stock ahead of time and freeze it (these Clearwear gallon-sized double-ziplock freezer bags will do the job). Then all you have to do is defrost it and use it for gravy-making on Thanksgiving Day. If it's your first time, you may need to invest in a good-sized stock pot, like this Cooks Standard 6-quart stainless steel one. They come in handy for other jobs like jam-making and cooking large quantities of pasta, too.

Even when the gravy has been poured over slices of white meat and mounds of buttery mashed potatoes, any leftover chicken stock will be the gift that keeps giving. Add a few spoonfuls to leftovers like this chorizo cornbread stuffing for a side dish that's even more flavorful and moist than it was when you first pulled it out of the oven.