This is a really easy recipe for how to make gravy using just water. The secret is to use both chicken AND beef stock cubes for the best flavour and a nice deep brown colour. Takes 4 minutes flat, tastes like KFC gravy – but so much better. No pan drippings required.
Made a turkey and want a gravy? Use my Gravy for Turkey recipe!
Gravy
This gravy recipe tastes like what you get in those tubs of KFC Potato and Gravy. Those of you who abstain from all forms of fast food may not know what it tastes like. But all you need to know is that it’s everything that you’d expect from KFC – reliably tasty, well seasoned, can make anything delicious!
The secret ingredient that makes this gravy better is to use both chicken AND beef stock cubes (bouillon cubes).
What you need for gravy
Here’s all you need to make a really great gravy from scratch: chicken and beef stock cubes, butter and flour.
Chicken AND beef stock cubes (aka bouillon cubes) – for flavour and colour. Chicken is the base flavour, beef gives it oomph and gives it a nice deep brown colour rather than an unappetising pale brown. Using both also makes this gravy suitable to use for any protein – white meats (chicken, pork), red meats (beef, lamb, game), potato and vegetables. Can substitute with powder;
Hot water – to dissolve the cubes;
Flour – to thicken the gravy (gluten free cornflour/cornstarch sub in the recipe notes);
Onion or garlic powder – optional, for hint of extra flavour.
Why stock cubes instead of liquid stock/broth?
Great question! 🙂 Stock cubes and powder have a more intense flavour than liquid stock (broth), so they make a tastier gravy when you make gravy from scratch like in this recipe.
Liquid broth is more appropriate to use when you’re making gravy starting with pan drippings from roasts – because the pan drippings add extra flavour into the gravy.
How to make gravy in 4 minutes flat
Dissolve stock cubes or powder in boiling water;
Melt butter in saucepan and mix in flour;
Pour in stock water while whisking and cook 1.5 minutes until thickened. DONE!
PS The reason this is faster than most gravy recipes is because the water is already HOT and the flavour is already concentrated so there’s no need to cook down for flavour.
Now, douse everything and anything with it.
Oh, and here’s the photo that started it all – Fried Chicken. Upon spying this, there were many (many) (MANY!) requests for the potato and gravy recipe.
All the possibilities….!!!
Here’s some suggestions for dishes to serve with gravy. Some obvious ones, some not so obvious ones, all good!
Potato and gravy – KFC style! Dunk in Fried Chicken, warm bread rolls or bread (try this No Yeast Irish Soda Bread!), hot chips, wedges, serve on the side of sausages, as part of a Southern Dinner with BBQ Pulled Pork, any roast;
Roasts – any and all!
Rotisserie chicken dinner – make a meal out of a store bought roast chicken. Steam some veg, make some mash, douse everything with this gravy!
Steamed vegetables – guaranteed way to make bland, boring steamed veg completely scoff worthy;
Pan seared chops, steaks or anything – chicken, lamb, pork, beef! Sprinkle with salt and pepper, pan fry in butter or oil, douse with gravy;
Meatballs – Make these Beef meatballs or these Chicken Meatballs, skip the sauce and serve with this gravy instead;
Poured over an omelette;
Chicken Rolls – shred chicken, toss with gravy, pile generously onto hot rolls;
As a Sauce for any of these:
Use gravy as a sauce for these dishes
I need to stop. There’s too many possibilities!
But enough about my ideas. Tell me what YOU douse with gravy!! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Gravy recipe (tastes like KFC – but a million times better!)
Ingredients
- 1 chicken stock cube / bouillon cube (sub 2 tsp powder) (Note 1)
- 1 beef stock cube / bouillon cube (sub 2 tsp powder) (Note 1)
- 2 1/4 cups (565ml) boiling water
- 60g/ 4 tbsp butter , unsalted
- 4 tbsp flour , plain / all purpose
- 1/2 tsp onion powder (ok to omit or sub garlic powder)
- 1/4 tsp finely ground black pepper
- Salt , if needed
Instructions
- Crumble cubes into boiling water, mix to dissolve.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Add flour, onion powder and pepper. Mix into butter with a wooden spoon or whisk.
- While stirring, slowly pour in half the liquid. Once incorporated into the flour butter roux (it will thicken quickly), add remaining liquid and mix.
- Stir for 1.5 – 2 minutes until it thickens to a gravy consistency (it's quick as water is already hot). Taste, add more salt and pepper if needed.
- Serve over chops, steak, sausages, veggies, roast chicken, pork, beef, lamb. Pictured – KFC Potato and Gravy copycat!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Even at the vet, all he can think about is FOOD. Just like his owner 😂
PS Nothing major, just getting an old-man wart removed that had grown quite large and was bothering him. He was, of course, a total sook once he realised he was there for more than just pats and treats. Quivering and pressing up against me for protection!
Jay says
This recipe is a 10/10 no question. I hate when people say I used “this recipe” but changed so and so and make it sound like they changed so much it’s not the same recipe. Having said that, not all brands are the same so you have to make those adjustments. MY beef bouillon needed an extra cube to the one chicken and I wanted the darker tint so I added about 1/2 tsp of gravy browning.
That in no way turned the gravy into something else. It tasted exactly like KFC’s gravy. And I had a huge bowl of it to go on my mashed potatoes and meatloaf.
Thank you to the author of this copycat recipe!
Nagi says
Wahoo, I’m so glad it worked for you Jay! Thanks so much for the feedback ❤️ N x
Staceyo says
So yummy! Mine turned out lighter in colour not sure how to correct it
Mezza says
Hi Nagy!
First off, your recipes are amazing. I’m a hopeless cook but your recipes are so easy and tasty! I made this gravy and loved it, but my gravy was lumpy. What’s the key to making sure it’s smooth like yours?
mollie says
Without knowing exactly what you did, I would have to guess that you went wrong with your roux (flour and butter mix)
When you add the flour to the butter you need to be stirring constantly to ensure it doesn’t burn. Cook it for 2-3 minutes so that your sauce doesn’t end up feeling floury, and then add your liquid a little at a time. Make sure its all absorbed before then adding in a bit more and don’t stop stirring at any point.
When it stops balling up into a paste and becomes a very thick sauce, you can just add the rest of the liquid in.
TL;DR- I think you added the liquid too quickly
Nagi says
Hi Mezza, did you whisk it to remove any lumps? N x
Helen says
Just love your gravy recipe..and the fried chicken!
Been a weekly event here. Looking forward learning more from you.
Thanks so much
Cheers
Helen
Alana says
OMG….I made this tonight and it was amazing!!! It was so easy yet so flavourful, you would have thought it took hours to make! Perfect over mashed potatoes and chicken too! Thank you again for another fantastic recipe!
Sheri says
This is wonderful, I absolutely love it. I made it along with you’re fried chicken, and oh my it was the best. I will make this more often.
Nagi says
Sounds like you nailed it Sheri! N x
Antoinette says
Unbelievably great sauce. I made it with the mashed potatoes & my first time ever using fresh cream in my mash. Exclusively brilliant Nagi. Your recipes are perfection indeed. The chicken is marinating waiting for the big KFC spices to smother it into a fried crunch. I am everyone’s favourite person right now. 😉🙏♥️Thank you so much & of course no recipe is complete for me without Dozer’s update. He is adorable 🥰
Tracy says
Thanks for another AMAZING recipe. Your slow cook beef shredded chilli bolar beef is personally my favorite way to cook this meat but my boys (aged 5, 7 and 41 🙂) LOVED this much more. These were the BEST roast potatoes I have ever made! Delicious. Wont be cooking roast potatoes any other way from now on. Thanks so much for sharing xx
Michele Foster says
WoW…made this gravy (as per recipe) simply delicious. Tasted just like KFC gravy only better. Mine was a little blonder than yours, but it tasted great. Thanks for sharing xx
Andrea Lindsay says
Hi! Would you tweak the gravy recipe for roast lamb?
Nagi says
This would work on roast lamb too! Enjoy! N x
Rakel says
Made this with a Sunday roast that I made on a Monday (don´t like rules) and it was really easy and nice, will make again x
Marianne says
I only made the gravy. I used it for dipping the fried chicken, like in the fried chicken video you made. Wow!! This gravy is incredibly simple and delicious – and 10x better than the stuff at KFC. I didn’t have bouillon cubes or powder but do have chicken and beef base which I used instead.
Suzanne Kuzma says
Nagi, I just made your chicken and rice recipe with the gravy. My family Loved it!!! It was so flavorful and delicious. Thank you. I need to check out some of your other recipes.
Steve says
Hi, Nagi. Looks great! What size bullion cubes do you use? Cubes are different sizes in different countries. The ones here are 11 g. Is that what you used?
Nagi says
Hi Steve – they are 2 tsp worth of powder each 🙂 N x
Zoran says
Hi, I am very grateful for this recipe. However, I am very confused about the amount of water and cubes.
Namely, you say two 1/4 cups of water which is about 125 ml of water, several times less than the listed 565ml as equivalent to two 1/4 cups.
Secondly, here you say that each cube is worth 2 tsp (teaspoons) of powder (crushed cube stuff). One teaspoon of powder is 5.69 grams which is about the amount shown in the video (on the pack it says that 12 cubes are 71 grams => 1 cube is 5.91 grams). So how many teaspoons or grams of crushed cube stuff fits in the listed recipe, one or two teaspoons of each cube powder?
Barb says
Oh yea, what a ripper Rita!
I’ve made it a few times and it doesn’t disappoint. Today’s lunch was meat pie, mash & peas smothered in gravy and it was so good.
Thanks so much Nagi.
Laura says
Just made this so quick and easy and really delicious….. thank you
MaryMargaret says
Quick, easy, and tasty. I used my stick mixer to blend it after everything was first mixed, then poured it back into the pan to finish thickening and brown up a litt.e
Laura says
Im not sure what i did wrong, it looks right but all i can taste is butter.
Nagi says
Hi Laura, sorry you are having issues here – what stock powder are you using? N x
Margarita says
Can I use Better than Bouillon concentrate instead of cube or granules? 1tsp = 1 cube
kevin pieper says
hi nagi ime kevin i just tried your gravy recipe for the first time & it was deliciouse i should get better as i go i used the dripping from the roast very tasty thanks for sharing i also made your brocoli caserole & that also is a great recipe i cooked up a mothers day roast & mum & everyone loved it,i look forward to trying out your recipes