How to make an easy homemade ham gravy recipe, made last minute with leftover ham drippings. This gravy makes a delicious side dish with ham, mashed potatoes, and all the fixings at your holiday or family dinner!
Homemade ham gravy (like its counterpart turkey gravy) is a staple side dish whenever we cook a ham in the oven, which is mostly on holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter. Family dinner and holiday dinners just wouldn’t be the same without gravy to smother over our sliced ham and mashed potatoes.
Now it's important to remember… The main flavoring for ham gravy comes directly from the ham itself. So if you glaze your ham, like with a brown sugar glaze or something like this sweet pineapple honey baked ham, the sweet flavoring from the glazed ham will go into your gravy for ham, and the end result will be a sweet gravy.
It's so easy to make homemade gravy, and it's super quick too. It's delicious and definitely worth the minimal effort.
Why You'll Love Learning How to Make Ham Gravy
There are a lot of reasons to love this delicious gravy recipe…
- It's an easy condiment to make, takes less than 30 minutes to make, and it's something you can make last minute just before serving the main meal.
- It takes a very minimal amount of ingredients to make gammon gravy. In fact, they're all pretty simple, and you likely already have them on hand.
- It's a delicious ham gravy!
- Ham gravy is so versatile and can be used in so many delicious ways. Not only does it complement a ham dinner, but it makes a very tasty addition to your next baked potato bar or mashed potato bar, as well as a tasty dip for leftover ham crescent rolls. And you can use it in place of brown gravy or chicken gravy in a mashed potato bowl.
- It's a fantastic addition to your holiday dinner spread. I’ve added this ham gravy recipe with drippings to my collections of favorite Thanksgiving recipes, Christmas recipes, and Easter dinner recipes, where you’ll find all the holiday inspiration you need in one place.
Ingredients and Substitutions Notes
You'll need just a handful of ingredients to make gravy for gammon (or ham). While you should have most of the ingredients on hand, you'll likely need to purchase a ham at the grocery store, in order to have leftover ham drippings.
- All-Purpose Flour – I prefer to use an unbleached all-purpose flour; you can also use a good gluten-free flour, although it's important to note that gravy made with gluten-free flour doesn't stay thick as long as with regular flour… In other words, it won't store well. If you need a good gluten-free ham gravy alternative, ham gravy with cornstarch is just the thing.
- Heavy Cream – You can skim heavy cream off of raw milk, or you can use store bought heavy whipping cream.
- Ham Drippings – You can scoop the ham juices and pan drippings from the roasting pan after baking a spiral ham, bone-in whole ham, or boneless ham. You should have enough drippings to at least make a small batch of homemade gravy. These leftover ham drippings will likely give you all the delicious flavor you need without any extra seasoning, salt, or black pepper.
- Water
How to Make This Old-Fashioned Ham Gravy Recipe
Making this easy gravy for ham is actually really simple, but there are a few tips and tricks that will ensure you make a really good gravy from ham drippings.
How to Avoid Lumpy Gravy
Before we get started, here are 3 tips for preventing lumpy gravy…
- It's important to start with a roux, and you do this by mixing together the flour and heavy whipping cream in a small mixing bowl or glass measuring cup. Whisking this together in the beginning will help prevent lumps in your gravy.
- Use a whisk to stir your gravy while it's cooking. It’s pretty much a given that you may have a few lumps, but you can minimize them by whisking the gravy.
- Take your time to avoid any lumps in your gravy. To me, this right here is the secret to good gravy… Patience and being willing to take your time. Work on medium-low heat, and don't get in a hurry, and you'll make a good gravy.
Now Let's Make Ham Gravy
- Mix together the flour and heavy whipping cream in a small mixing bowl or glass measuring cup.
- Gradually whisk together the flour/cream mixture with the pan drippings in a large saucepan or skillet on medium heat.
- Add in the water.
- Continue whisking and stirring the gravy until it begins to thicken and is ready to serve.
Then just pour the gravy into a gravy boat, and serve it with ham, mashed potatoes, and all the fixin's! It will add such a rich flavor to your mashed potatoes, you'll wish you had that ham flavor the next time you eat potatoes.
Expert Tips and Recipe FAQ's
The answer to this will really depend on the consistency of your gravy. When we make this recipe, we usually have a lot of leftover gravy. You want to plan on about 1/3 to 1/2 cup per person, again depending on how thick your gravy is.
Store leftover gravy in an airtight container in the fridge; it should keep for about 3-4 days. You can re-heat gravy by placing it in the microwave in a microwave-safe dish for a few minutes, stirring between every 30-second increments of time, 'til heated through; or put the gravy in a saucepan, and heat it up over low to medium heat on the stove, constantly stirring so it doesn't scorch.
Yes, you can. Just be sure to put it in an airtight freezer-friendly container, so it doesn't get freezer burn. It should keep for about 4 to 6 months.
More Side Dish Recipes to Serve with Ham Dinner
Whenever we make a ham dinner or turkey dinner, we usually serve it with sides like Instant Pot southern green beans, honey glazed carrots, or Jiffy corn casserole. Of course, homemade cranberry sauce is a must at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
If it's more gravy recipes you're looking for, Moscato Mom has a delicious recipe for slow cooker short ribs with gravy (also a keto recipe). And 918 Plate has a very yummy recipe for jumbo drop biscuits with brown butter gravy.
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!
Ham Gravy Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 cups ham drippings
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Mix together the flour and heavy cream in a small mixing bowl or glass measuring cup.
- Gradually whisk together the flour/cream mixture with the pan drippings in a large saucepan or skillet on medium heat.
- Add in the water.
- Continue whisking and stirring the gravy until it begins to thicken and is ready to serve.
Very smooth and easy to make. Don’t have to worry about making a roux . Just keep the heavy cream to flour 2:1 and you can adjust to how much drippings you have
I’m so glad you liked it, Mike! Thanks for the great feedback.
Thank you for this recipe! I have a ton of dripping that I saved from about 15 pounds of ham. Here’s my question. They are refrigerated. So I need to reheat the drippings before I start?
-Sharon C. (Not to be confused with the Sharon above. :). )
Yes, it would be best to warm the drippings back up, especially if they have solidified in the refrigerator. I hope this helps!
Sounds good, but I’m making a small ham for 3 people. What if I don’t have 2 cups of ham drippings? Also, can I make a slurry with corn starch?
Natalie, how many cups of drippings you get depends on the weight of the ham. How much does it weigh?
So easy and absolutely delicious! My family loved it! Made me promise I’d add it to our holiday meals.
That’s great to hear, Robin! I’m glad you liked the recipe.
Thank You For A Simple ,Easy And Delicious Recipe
Thank You for the kind review, Ashna!
Way to much crap to even find the recipe. We don’t need a 20 minute explanation.
Sharon, there is a “Jump to Recipe” button at the top of the post if you wish to skip the story.
Simple recipe which properly stresses the whisk
Thank You, Patrick!