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Home Made Onion Gravy. Simple, quick easy recipe, made from scratch. Rich, full of flavor with no additives or colorings. A great addition to casseroles, steaks, and popular British foods such as bangers and mash, toad in the hole and many more. Freezer friendly

Home Made Onion gravy is really easy to make! In fact, it will take you less time than if you were to go to the shop and buy yourself some gravy granules and add hot water.

Jump to:

• 💭 Top tip
• How to make onion gravy without stock?
• What can I serve onion gravy with?
• ⏲️ Prep time
• ⏲️ Cook time
• 👪 Serving size
• 🥘 Ingredients
• 🔪 Instructions
• 📋 Recipe

I don’t need to tell you the benefits of homemade do I ? Or shall I anyway?!

It’s cheaper, you use fresh ingredients and you know what you’re putting in the gravy, so there’s a control over salt, no chemicals or additives or colorings, and it sure tastes good!

In this recipe, I will show you how to make an easy basic Onion gravy. I have added a handful of sliced mushrooms to mine, as I like the added texture, but you don’t have to of course!

This is the main recipe I go to when I make gravy, and change it accordingly, depending on what I am eating.

💭 Top tip

A tip to get sauces and gravies a shine, add a knob of butter just at the end. This gives the gravy a nice shine and also adds to the richness. 

For this recipe, I’ve used beef broth, you can use an OXO cube, and add the quantity of water listed in the ingredients. 

How to make onion gravy without stock?

What if you don’t have any stock to hand?

You can easily make this gravy without stock, or without a stock cube.

You can use the meat juices from the pan, or make up a quick vegetable stock, using a variety of vegetables you might have in your fridge or pantry.

For example, add a carrot, a few celery sticks, a parsnip, broccoli, and any other vegetables and a sprinkle of mixed herbs in a pan with water, bring to the boil for 10 minutes, season with salt and pepper and drain.

Be flexible and see what odd bits of vegetables you have.

That is a very basic vegetable stock! 

What can I serve onion gravy with?

So with my Classic British Toad in the Hole, it’s a given that you would have onion gravy with it.

If you were to have a chicken meal, you could add chicken stock/broth as opposed to beef, so you can swap it around a little.

You can also use this onion gravy with traditional bangers and mash meal. (That’s British for sausages and mashed potatoes). We have a great Creamy Cheesy Mashed Potatoes recipe you can use which would go well. 

Stick to the basics and as you get more confident with choosing flavors that would match your new gravy recipe, you can add things like a sprinkling of herbs or spices.

This gravy will also freeze nicely and can be reheated in the pan no problem at all!

⏲️ Prep time

5 minutes

⏲️ Cook time

20 minutes

👪 Serving size

Roughly 3 cups / 750 ml

🥘 Ingredients

2 medium onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp sugar (optional)
1 tsp balsamic vinegar or Worcestershire Sauce
3 cups or 750 ml beef stock/broth (note, if you are having chicken you can swap the broth flavor!)
4 tsp cornflour/corn starch
4 tsp cold water
Salt and black pepper

🔪 Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over a gentle heat.

2. Add the onion, and turn the heat down and cook for 10 minutes with the lid on, until the onions are soft and translucent. Do not brown the onions as they will begin to taste bitter. Add the 2 Tbsp butter & allow to melt.

3. Add the balsamic vinegar / Worcestershire sauce to the onions and stir well. Cover with the lid and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes.

4. Add the stock/broth and boil gently uncovered for 5 minutes.

5. In a cup, mix the corn starch/flour with the cold water to create a thin paste then add this to the gravy and stir to avoid the gravy getting lumps.

6. Turn the heat to high and boil for 10 minutes or until the gravy is slightly thickened.

Season with salt and pepper and keep warm until ready to serve.

Note: To create a shine on the gravy whisk 1 tsp of ice-cold butter into the finished gravy before serving.

📋 Recipe