How to make delicious chicken gravy from bouillon, no drippings needed! Whether you need a last-minute backup when your Thanksgiving turkey comes up short or a rich, make-ahead gravy for Sunday night dinner, this easy recipe comes together quickly with 6 simple pantry staples.
My husband introduced me to the world of gravy when we got married. I grew up eating biscuits and gravy, but special gravies like ham gravy and turkey gravy were reserved for holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter dinner. Chicken gravy without drippings is especially easy to make with chicken broth or bouillon, making it a stress-free substitute for nearly any meal.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “I will never open another can of chicken gravy again!”
“I am 65 and ashamed to say I have never been successful at making gravy. I made your recipe and it is perfect and delicious. I will never open another can or jar of chicken gravy again! Thank you for teaching an old dog a new trick.”
-Becky, Flour on My Fingers reader
Why You’ll Love Making Gravy with Chicken Broth
- Simple Pantry Ingredients: Made with just 6 basic kitchen staples, including simple seasonings like onion powder, salt, and pepper.
- Quick & Easy: Takes only a few minutes from start to finish on the stovetop.
- No Drippings Needed: Made with broth or bouillon, it’s a stress-free solution when your roast chicken or turkey doesn’t yield enough pan drippings.
- Freezer-Friendly: Unlike cornstarch gravies, this flour-based recipe freezes beautifully for make-ahead holiday prep.
Ingredients and Substitutions Notes:
To make this chicken stock gravy, you’ll need 6 simple ingredients.
- Water: You’ll need 1/4 cup water to make the thickening slurry.
- All-Purpose Flour: You’ll whisk this with the water to make your thickening slurry. I’ve tried making chicken gravy with corn starch, and it did not go well. Flour makes a silky smooth gravy that freezes well. And yes, you can use a good gluten-free flour to make it gluten-free.
- Chicken Broth: You can use straight up chicken broth, bone broth or homemade chicken stock. You can also make your own chicken broth with chicken bouillon, which is basically dehydrated broth. To make the 2 cups of chicken broth from bouillon, whisk 2 teaspoons bouillon (or 2 cubes) into 2 cups hot water, then use as your chicken broth.
- Onion Powder: Or crush dried minced onion into onion powder. I cook gluten-free, and I haven’t been able to find gluten-free onion powder in store, so this works in a pinch.
- Salt & Pepper: Season to taste because some broths are saltier than others. I’ve found it usually needs quite a bit of salt, but I only add a dash of black pepper.
How to Make Chicken Gravy from Bouillon
For this gravy, I prefer to make a slurry rather than a roux. I’ve found that chicken gravy thickened with a slurry is less likely to get lumpy, since the flour is already dissolved into the little bit of water.
How to Make the Slurry
Whisk together the water and flour in a small bowl or glass measuring cup, making sure there are no lumps and no flour sticking to the bottom. Then just set it aside ’til you need it.
Then Make the Gravy
- Pour chicken broth into a medium sauce pan, and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Add the onion powder, whisking ’til dissolved, and cook another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Whisk your slurry mixture into the boiling broth, stirring constantly ’til the gravy thickens. It should start to thicken right away, but if for some reason your gravy is too thin, you can whisk another tablespoon of flour into a tablespoon water (making another slurry), and add that to your gravy to help it thicken up more.
- Add your salt and pepper, to taste.
How to Serve Chicken Gravy from Bouillon
Serve the warm gravy with your dinner. Chicken gravy always tastes best right before you’re ready to eat, but you can also make it ahead and reheat it right before supper time. Drizzle your gravy all over an Instant Pot whole chicken, baked chicken drumsticks or a whole chicken in the slow cooker, or you can serve it as a side for your mashed potato bar or baked potato bar.
As stated earlier, it also makes a great Thanksgiving substitute gravy for your roasted turkey if you come up short on turkey drippings. The same goes for an oven-baked ham.
Holiday Variations & Flavor Tips
- How to Stretch Turkey or Chicken Drippings: If you have a small amount of pan drippings, but not enough for a full batch, pour them right into your saucepan with the broth. The drippings add real roast flavor while the broth-and-slurry base ensures you have enough volume to feed the whole table.
- Spices & Seasoning: For a boost in flavor, you can add a pinch of poultry seasoning, rubbed sage, dried thyme or rosemary, garlic powder and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.
- Doubling or Tripling for a Crowd: You can scale it up for a large gathering. Simply double or triple all of the ingredient amounts, and use a larger saucepan or stock pot so it doesn’t boil over.
Expert Tips and Recipe FAQs:
Store leftover gravy in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.
Yes, since this is a flour-based gravy instead of using cornstarch, it freezes very well. Once completely cooled, transfer it into an airtight container or freezer bag and freeze for up to 4 months. Let it thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
You can reheat gravy in a saucepan on the stovetop over low-medium heat, stirring frequently until hot. Or you can reheat in a microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between each cycle ’til heated. If the gravy is too thick after cooling, you may need to add just a splash of water to thin it back out.
If your chicken gravy is too thick, whisk in warm chicken broth or water 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time until it reaches your desired thickness.
Yes, you can still use lumpy gravy. Simply pour it through a fine-mesh strainer or blend it up with an immersion blender before serving.
Yes, gluten-free flour works like a charm with this chicken gravy. Just be sure to check all your other ingredient labels and verify they are truly gluten-free, especially seasonings.
Good Recipes to Make with Chicken Gravy:
If you love this easy chicken gravy recipe as much as I do, you’ll love pairing it with these dishes:
- KFC potato bowl
- Creamy homemade mashed potatoes
- Baked potatoes in the Instant Pot
- Oven roasted pork roast
- Roasted pork tenderloin
If you try this recipe, why not leave a star rating in the recipe card right below and/or a review in the comment section further down the page? I always appreciate your feedback. You can also follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. And subscribe to my email list too!
Chicken Gravy from Bouillon
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour*
- 2 cups chicken broth* or 2 cups hot water plus 2 tsp chicken bouillon/2 cubes
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- Salt to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Whisk together the water and flour in a small bowl or glass measuring cup, making sure there are no lumps and no flour sticking to the bottom. Set this thickening slurry aside until needed.
- Pour chicken broth into a medium sauce pan, and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Add the onion powder, whisking ’til dissolved, and cook another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Whisk your slurry mixture into the boiling broth, stirring constantly ’til the gravy thickens. It should start to thicken right away, but if for some reason your gravy is too thin, you can whisk another tablespoon of flour into a tablespoon water (making another slurry), and add that to your gravy to help it thicken up more.
- Add your salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve the warm chicken gravy with your dinner.
Thanks for the easy recipe! I didn’t realize how easy it was. I was about to buy a container of McCormick Premium Poultry Gravy Mix and suddenly thought about making it myself with bouillon powder I had. Found your recipe and will make it next time I overcook chicken breasts or pork chops. lol
Thanks so much, John! That’s actually a really good tip for overcooked meats. Gravy saves the day!
This recipe is great and very easy to make. I used it with leftover veggies and rotisserie chicken for a pot pie. Thanks for sharing!
SO GOOD I MADE THIS
I couldn’t use onion powder and I had to use an alternate salt/pepper, but it was still good! Was used as a dip for chicken and potatoes, will make again! (Hopefully with proper seasoning!)
This is a fantastic recipe.You can doctor it up how you want but it tastes better than store by for sure.
I love your recipe ,I use it all the time !
How many times have I chosen to forego gravy because I had trouble with it? Well, not anymore. The process outlined in this recipe works perfectly. I didn’t add anything except for some black pepper because I had no onion powder on hand. It was still just fine. Using this as a basic starting point, one could play around with whatever seasonings desired, but what counts is the system which is simple, quick and foolproof. I like that it uses flour instead of cornstarch because it freezes better with the flour. Cornstarch isn’t recommended for freezing gravy. Thanks a lot for this recipe!