This may well be the only recipe I ever give you that totally WINGS IT. Because who on earth knows how much turkey juices you’ll get out of your turkey?? Not me. So enjoy every moment of this previously unheard-of recipe event!
Also, I *highly* recommend that you do not share the ingredient list with any members of your friends and family tribe who are a little squeamish in the food department. And lest that last sentence worry you – and have you scrolling as fast as possible to scour the ingredients – let me assure you that I am famed throughout my old Seattle neighborhood for making the Best. Turkey. Gravy. Evah.
I used to roast several turkeys on Thanksgiving morning and deliver them around the neighborhood along with several pints of this gravy. And then one year I even had people texting me – while I was away over Christmas – to find out how they could get into my house to purloin all the Turkey Gravy that they knew was languishing in my freezer.
If you need the recipe for the turkey itself you’ll need to grab a copy of Keto for the Holidays. It will be the juiciest, tastiest turkey you’ve ever eaten. It will also likely be the fastest turkey you’ve ever roasted.
Now, onto the gravy. There are no pictures. So in your mind just picture a huge jug of warm, glossy, smooth, thick, brown gravy. That’s what this will look like.
And trust me on this: as long as you do not divulge to anyone what’s in it they will think you are the best cook on earth after pouring this stuff all over their turkey and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Mash (also in Keto for the Holidays).
Holiday Turkey Gravy
Author: Carrie Brown | Prep time: 15 mins | Cook time: 15 mins | Total time: 30 mins
What You Need
- A turkey roasting in the oven (See below Top Tips if you are not roasting a whole bird!)
- The bag of ‘bits’ that came in the turkey
- Water
- Ground black pepper and sea salt
- Heavy cream or thick coconut milk for dairy-free
- Konjac flour / glucomannan powder
- Guar Gum
What You Do
- Roast the turkey per the instructions in Keto for the Holidays.
- While the turkey is roasting, empty the contents of the bag of ‘bits’ from the turkey into a pan, and add enough water to cover them.
- Place pan over a medium heat and bring to the boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer the ‘bits’ for 15 minutes until cooked.
- Remove the ‘bits’ from the pan of water and allow ‘bits’ to cool.
- Pour the cooking water from the pan into a blender.
- Remove the meat off the neck from the ‘bits’.
- Chop the rest of the ‘bits’ into pieces and add to the water in the blender along with the meat from the neck.
- When the turkey is 30 minutes from being cooked, VERY CAREFULLY remove it from the oven. Pierce the foil at the bottom of the turkey in a couple of places to let all the juices run into the roasting pan.
- VERY CAREFULLY tip the juices from the pan into a bowl. You might find it easiest to life the turkey out onto a chopping board, tip the juices out into a bowl, then placing the turkey back in the pan. If you have a huge turkey, tipping the juices out while trying to hang onto the hot turkey can get a bit tricky. Unless you are a licensed Turkey Wrestler I suggest removing it from the pan first, then tipping the juices out.
- Put the turkey back in the roasting pan and then back into the oven.
- Pour the turkey juices into the blender with the chopped ‘bits’ and water.
- Blend the living daylights out of all the things in the blender.
- Add sea salt and ground black pepper to taste.
- Taste it. (See Top Tips below.)
- For a richer, creamier gravy add 1/4 cup heavy cream or thick coconut milk.
- Blend until completely smooth.
- Turn the blender to low speed.
- Take the middle out of the blender lid and tap 1/2 tsp guar gum into the gravy while the blender is still running and blend for 15 seconds. Don’t over blend once the guar gum is in. DO NOT OVER BLEND.
- Stop the blender and decide if you want it any thicker or if it’s thick enough at this point.
- To make the gravy thicker, turn the blender to low speed and tap 1/2 tsp konjac flour into the gravy while the blender is running and blend for 15 seconds. Don’t over blend. DO NOT OVER BLEND.
- Stop the blender and wait for 2 minutes. Test thickness of gravy.
- Repeat steps 19 and 20 until gravy is to your desired thickness.
- Pour that hot, creamy, deliciousness into a jug and prepare to have everyone at the table tell you that it’s the best part of the entire meal.
- Refuse to let them know what’s in it and giggle quietly because you do.
Top Recipe Tips
- Once you’ve added that first 1/2 tsp of konjac flour…WAIT for 2 minutes to see how thick it gets. Seriously. WAIT. Konjac takes a couple of minutes to fully thicken.
- This gravy is seriously rich from all the roasting juices so I highly recommend you taste it before adding cream. You may find you don’t want it any richer.
- Before y’all start yelling at me for using a little bit of guar gum in the Holiday Turkey Gravy (because I’ve taught you that guar is not the right thing for hot sauces…) let me explain. The turkey juices are very fatty. Thus the gravy doesn’t just need thickening, it also needs emulsifying. Enter a little bit of guar gum. The guar gum will hold all the fat in a smooth emulsion. Just using a thickener will not accomplish that so well. So a LITTLE bit of guar gum, and then the konjac will give you the best result here. But too much guar gum and you’ll have a bowl of slime. It also will not reheat well, or be good the next day. So DO NOT just put in extra guar gum if you have no konjac flour. You’ll be sad.
- Did I mention DO NOT OVER BLEND once the guar gum is added?
- If you are not roasting a whole turkey, you can use chicken livers and boxed turkey stock instead. It will not be anywhere near as rich, so you may want to add extra heavy cream. Cook the chicken livers as if they were the bag of ‘bits’, then add 2 cups of plain turkey stock and continue with the instructions.
- Check out the Ingredients Guide for information on ingredients.
- Where Are The Macros and Nutritional Info?
Helpful Cooking and Recipe Links
- Come laugh and learn with us over at The Kitchen Podcast
- Come hang out in The Keto Kitchen Facebook Group
- For lots more great recipes check out our scrumptious cookbooks!
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