This 10-minute ham gravy recipe is rich and creamy with leftover ham drippings and heavy cream (or milk). With just 4 ingredients, learn how to make it velvety smooth and lump-free for your holiday ham dinner. I’ll also show you a simple, budget-friendly ingredient swap to use if you don’t have any drippings.
This is the ham gravy recipe we choose to make every single Christmas and Easter with our home baked honey glazed ham. It’s delicious, last minute, and brings back memories of that last minute rush to get dinner on the table at Grandma’s every Thanksgiving.
To make ham gravy from scratch, you’ll need all-purpose flour, heavy cream, ham drippings, and water. Keep in mind that the flavor of your gravy comes directly from the ham and its glaze. If you bake a ham with a sweet brown sugar or pineapple glaze, those sweet flavors will naturally carry over into your drippings.
Need a gluten-free option? Make ham gravy with cornstarch, instead.
Why You’ll Love My Ham Gravy Recipe
- No Roux: Uses a cold slurry made from whisking the flour into heavy cream. This is a foolproof way to thicken gravy without making it lumpy.
- 10-Minute Cook Time: Whisk all the ingredients together right on the stovetop while your ham rests.
- Rich & Creamy: Made with heavy cream for a velvety smooth gravy that’s never watery.
- 4 Ingredients: Uses basic kitchen staples and ham drippings you’d otherwise throw away.
- No Drippings Option: Make this recipe with ham bouillon if you don’t have any drippings.
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
- All-Purpose Flour – By whisking the flour into the cream, you’ll make a smooth slurry that’s perfect for thickening the ham drippings.
- Heavy Cream – If you don’t have any heavy whipping cream, you can use milk, half-and-half, or even evaporated milk instead. Just keep in mind that you may have to whisk in a little extra flour to thicken it up properly.
- Ham Drippings – Most of the time, a whole, 8 to 10-pound spiral-cut or bone-in ham will produce 1-2 cups of drippings. Boneless hams tend to produce a little less. If you don’t quite have the 2 cups needed for a full batch of gravy, you can easily stretch it out by adding ham broth (from ham bouillon), chicken broth, or even plain water until it reaches the 2-cup mark on your measuring glass.
- Water – With most hams, the drippings will be pretty salty. This is why I add a little extra water to tame it down.
Never cooked a ham? Read my beginner’s guide on how to bake a ham in the oven.
How to Make Ham Gravy With Drippings
Before getting started, scoop your ham drippings into a 9-inch skillet over low heat on the stovetop. While the drippings are warming up, you’ll start on the thickening slurry.
Making the Gravy
- Whisk together the flour and heavy whipping cream in a small bowl or glass measuring cup.
- Add your slurry to the pan drippings. Take it slow, gradually pouring the slurry in and whisking it into the drippings as you go. Turn it up to medium heat, stirring constantly.
- Pour in the 1 cup of water, continuing to whisk the gravy slowly but constantly.
- Whisk the gravy until it thickens. It needs to approach a rolling boil, and then it will gradually thicken up.
Ham gravy is thickened enough when it coats the back of a spoon, but then leaves a trail when you drag the edge of your spatula through it. If it still won’t thicken even after boiling for a couple minutes, whisk 1 tablespoon of flour with 1 tablespoon of water, and then whisk into the gravy; give it a couple minutes for the starch to activate, and then add more only if it still doesn’t work.
Serving Ham Gravy
Pour the gravy into a gravy boat, and serve it with a glazed ham, mashed potatoes, and all the fixin’s! If you have any gravy leftover, serve it as a topping for a mashed potato bar or baked potato bar.
How to Make Ham Gravy Without Drippings
Don’t have ham drippings? Just like chicken gravy from bouillon, you can easily build a rich, savory base from scratch with ham bouillon. The label on the package calls for about 1 teaspoon of dried bouillon per cup of water, so for 2 cups of water, you’ll mix in 2 teaspoons of ham bouillon; then use your new ham broth solution in place of the ham drippings for this recipe.
Ham bouillon can be tricky to find in some grocery stores, so I recommend ordering it ahead of time. If you can’t find ham bouillon anywhere, chicken broth makes a pretty good 1:1 substitute in a pinch. I have also heard of some people using bacon grease, but I’ve not tried that myself.
Recipe FAQs
A good rule of thumb is to plan on about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of gravy per person. Gravy usually reduces by about 25 to 50% once it thickens, so this recipe will yield about 3 cups of finished gravy, or 8 to 10 servings.
Store leftover ham gravy in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. You can re-heat gravy by heating it in a microwave-safe dish in the microwave for a few minutes, stirring every 30 seconds until heated through. You can also heat it back up over low to medium heat in a saucepan, stirring it constantly so it doesn’t scorch.
Yes, you can freeze gravy. Just be sure to put it in a freezer-friendly airtight container, so it doesn’t get freezer burn. It should keep for 4 to 6 months in the freezer. Just give it a good stir when you reheat it to reincorporate any cream that separated when it thawed out.
More Side Dish Recipes for Your Ham Dinner
- Homemade Cranberry Sauce
- Instant Pot Southern Green Beans
- Honey Glazed Carrots
- Jiffy Corn Casserole with Cream Cheese and Bacon
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
- Whisk together the flour and heavy whipping cream in a small bowl or glass measuring cup.
- Add your slurry to the pan drippings. Take it slow, gradually pouring the slurry in and whisking it into the drippings as you go. Turn it up to medium heat, stirring constantly.
- Pour in the 1 cup of water, continuing to whisk the gravy slowly but constantly.
- Whisk the gravy until it thickens. It needs to approach a rolling boil, and then it will gradually thicken up. When it's ready, it should coat the back of a spoon, but then leave a trail when you drag the edge of your spatula through it.
- Pour the gravy into a gravy boat, and serve it with a glazed ham, mashed potatoes, and all the fixin’s!
Video
I use pineapples and juice to cook my ham in. This makes one of most delicious gravies ever. Keeps the ham moist and adds a tang/sweet to the gravy. Also, add some of the broth from cooking in the gravy instead of all the water. Might give it a try, it really is delicious.
That’s a great idea, Gayle! Pineapple and ham do go very well together.
We did not like this at all. I’ve never used heavy whipping cream in a gravy. I cooked the ham in a cooking bag and had lots of good drippings. The gravy had a weird consistency and was bland. I glazed the ham after pouring the juices off, so it wasn’t that. It was smooth though. Thanks for sharing.
I’m sorry you didn’t like it, Dee. We’ve always loved this recipe, but it does have a different texture that some people may not prefer.
I love ham gravy!! I don’t typically use cream. I use water from my potatoes (I do this with all gravy) and then just flour and cold water for the thickener. I am going to try yours with the cream! Thanks for sharing!!!
Thank you! That’s a great tip, using water from the potatoes.
Love ham gravy. This is the first time I’ve made it in years.So glad I DID it turned out so good and just heavenly on mashed potatoes! Thanks for sharing this recipe which will be a new old tradition at my table when a ham is cooked,!
Thank you so much, Patricia! I’m so glad you enjoyed the gravy.
I am living in New Mexico, transplanted from Minnesota. I grew up with my mom making ham gravy during the holidays. I was craving it this year, so made it for the first time on my own. My boyfriend, also a Minnesotan, had never even heard of ham gravy (oh, the horror!). I thought it was a Midwest thing, but after asking several people, it seems the general consensus is that not a lot of people have heard of it. I’m glad your sharing this recipe with the Pinterest world ☺️
Heidi, I had no idea it wasn’t a thing… Although, now that I think about it, I guess I don’t really remember making ham gravy all that much until I met my husband. He was used to having it every Christmas and Easter. Very interesting! Thank you, and I’m glad my recipe was able to help you bring back that holiday tradition.
This is so funny, I was just telling somebody at work about ham gravy. My mother always made it, and I love it . Only to avoid all lamps I always use cornstarch and water for my gravy never never never flour give it a try. This goes for any gravy. Not only do you have always a lump free and silky gravy, but you always maintain the color of the meat beef is brown poultry is blonde and so on. Using flour seems to always make it lighter in color. And I consider myself a gravy queen LOL.
Paty, all great tips! Thank you! We actually tried making it with cornstarch this year so it could be gluten-free, and it was delicious that way too.
Do you use the same amount of cornstarch as flour?
A general rule of thumb is to use 1 tablespoon of cornstarch for every 2 tablespoons of flour listed in the recipe.
Could I use half and half instead of heavy whipping cream and have it come out good?
Marie, you can. You may need a bit more thickener, but it should work just fine.
I came across a bit of a hint many years ago,in which you cook the ham(or rather bring it up to temp.) And instead of the normal glaze you can use apple juice. The amount of juice depends on how much gravy you want,if not sweet enough add just a touch of maple syrup. Hoping you enjoy this.
Andrew, that is a very interesting idea. I love the idea of apple juice. I bet that lends to a really delicious ham. Thank you for sharing!
If you don’t have that much in ham drippings is there anything you can do?
Dianne, you can cut the recipe down. You could also substitute bacon grease… Or you could add more water or milk to make up for the lack of drippings. I hope this helps!
When heating the ham in the oven, do I add two cups of water to the baking pan, and is that then considered the drippings? Otherwise, how do you get 2 cups of drippings from the ham, especially if it not a huge ham, and only about 10 pounds? Thank you! Linda
Linda, the ham will have its own juice, but we add water for steam and to keep the drippings from drying out. Generally, after cooking, the water will have evaporated and most of what is left is drippings. So add water, let the ham drip while cooking and let those drippings cook down, and then you’ll be able to use what’s left. It should still be close to 2 cups.
Really loved this recipe. This is the closest gravy I can find to my granny’s gravy. She never measured anything and she never wrote her recipes down so I’ve been looking for a recipe like this for years thank you so much enjoy the holidays!
That’s awesome! Thanks for trying the recipe.
Wow! Am so happy I came across this recipe – amazing! Had guests asking for the recipe. Thank you for sharing!
Kara, thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed the gravy!
Simply amazing! I have never really worked with ham stock/drippings before and did not want to wast that much (I cooked 25lbs of ham this morning!). This recipe looked easy and did not require a metric ton of exotic ingredients so I tried it. Best gravy EVER!
Thank you. You are in my Evernote!
Carla
Ps. Just as an aside, I rendered the bones as I was cooking the meat and other things and used the stock from it to cook rice for breakfast tomorrow. just about everything got used!
Carla, thank you so much! And now I’m craving ham. Sounds like a delicious breakfast too.