KFC Gravy Recipe
This KFC Gravy Recipe tastes just like the famous restaurant, maybe even better! It’s so easy to make from scratch at home with a handful of ingredients, plus it freezes well too. We love it served on chicken, turkey, pork, and even steak.
In the South, we love Kentucky Fried Chicken and for good reason, it’s so delicious! This is our family’s copycat KFC Gravy Recipe that we love to serve on all sorts of dishes. It’s so simple to make with ingredients we always have in our kitchen.
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The best part about this homemade gravy is it’s full of so much flavor, just like the restaurant. We like to use a combination of beef and chicken stock for lots of flavor, it’s our tried-and-true tip after testing this recipe many times.
Serve it over our KFC Fried Chicken Recipe with a side of Coleslaw, and you’ll have the best comfort food right at home!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Simple recipe that has big flavor. If you’re looking to take your meal up another flavor notch, this KFC gravy recipe will add another layer of comforting goodness to every bite.
- Perfect for any time of the year. In the South we eat gravy all the time, not just during the holidays. Serve it over any protein for a gourmet addition to a weeknight dinner.
- Customize with any type of stock. We love using a combination of beef and chicken stock in this recipe to yield the same flavor as Kentucky Fried Chicken, but you can use whatever flavor you desire.
Ingredients
Scroll Down to the Bottom of this Post for Ingredient Amounts Listed in the Printable Recipe Card
- Boiling water: Used to dissolve the roasted beef base and chicken base to make stock.
- Reduced sodium roasted beef base: Also called bouillon, this can be found in the soup aisle.
- Reduced sodium roasted chicken base: Similar to above just with chicken flavor.
- Salted butter: Adds a hint of richness and also forms the roux that helps to thicken the gravy perfectly.
- All-purpose flour: The starch that thickens the gravy.
- Onion powder: Adds a little bit of onion sweetness.
- Black pepper: Pairs perfectly with the saltiness of the stock.
Tools You’ll Need
How to Make KFC Gravy Recipe
- In a bowl, dissolve both the roasted beef and chicken bouillon base in the boiling water. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan or skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Once melted, add flour, whisking occasionally for about 2-3 minutes until combined and the mixture light golden brown.
- Gradually whisk the prepared broth mixture into the skillet, ensuring no lumps form. Continue to whisk until smooth.
- Stir in the onion powder and black pepper, and bring the mixture to a simmer. Allow it to cook for about 6-8 minutes until it thickens, stirring occasionally.
- Taste and adjust the seasonings if desired. If you’d like it thicker, let it simmer a bit longer, whisking in a cornstarch/water mixture if needed. If you’d like it thinner, add water to your desired texture.
- Serve hot over fried chicken, mashed potatoes, or any dish you prefer.
Expert Tips
- Be sure to cook the butter and flour into a paste before adding the stock. This is called a roux and is a technique professional chefs use to make sauces. The paste thickens the sauce to the best consistency.
- We like to use a combination of beef and chicken stock. This balances the flavors for just the right amount of richness to serve with chicken, pork, or beef.
- If your gravy is too thin, make a paste using 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon flour. Whisk half of the paste into the hot liquid and allow it to simmer until slightly thickened. Add more as needed.
What to Serve with KFC Gravy Recipe
Where do we begin with our recommendations! We have so many delicious recipes to serve with this copycat KFC gravy, here are some great pairings:
- Oven-baked Fried Chicken
- Copycat Kentucky Fried Chicken
- Copycat KFC Coleslaw
- Easy Homemade Biscuits
- Crockpot Mashed Potatoes
Storage
Store any leftover gravy in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. We love to freeze this as well to use at a later date for up to 2 months.
Reheat on the stove until simmering and hot and serve.
FAQs
You want to use good quality stock as well as the drippings from whatever protein you’ve cooked previously in the pan.
Butter, flour, stock, and aromatics such as thyme or garlic.
We love to serve it with biscuits, a protein like turkey or chicken, over mashed potatoes, there are many options.
More Delicious Condiments
KFC Gravy Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups boiling water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons reduced sodium roasted beef base
- 1 1/2 tablespoons reduced sodium roasted chicken base
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- In a bowl, dissolve both the roasted beef and chicken bouillon base in the boiling water. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan or skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Once melted, add flour, whisking occasionally for about 2-3 minutes until combined and the mixture light golden brown.
- Gradually whisk the prepared broth mixture into the skillet, ensuring no lumps form. Continue to whisk until smooth.
- Stir in the onion powder and black pepper, and bring the mixture to a simmer. Allow it to cook for about 6-8 minutes until it thickens, stirring occasionally.
- Taste and adjust the seasonings if desired. If you’d like it thicker, let it simmer a bit longer, whisking in a cornstarch/water mixture if needed. If you'd like it thinner, add water to your desired texture.
- Serve hot over fried chicken, mashed potatoes, or any dish you prefer.
Notes
- Be sure to cook the butter and flour into a paste before adding the stock. This is called a roux and is a technique professional chefs use to make sauces. The paste thickens the sauce to the best consistency.
- We like to use a combination of beef and chicken stock. This balances the flavors for just the right amount of richness to serve with chicken, pork, or beef.
- If your gravy is too thin, make a paste using 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon flour. Whisk half of the paste into the hot liquid and allow it to simmer until slightly thickened. Add more as needed.
Nutrition
About Laura
Taught by some of the best, cooking and entertaining has always been my favorite hobby. Food is my love language! The conception of Dinner in 321 came from my family talks that sharing our dinners would help others learn new skills, tasty recipes, and make cooking fun! Read more…
Really great as are all of your recipes! I didn’t have reduced sodium base so I used regular base and unsalted butter instead of the reduced sodium base. Perfect! Thank you for sharing!
AWESOME!! This flat out makes my heart so happy!! Thank you SO much!!!🥰
Can a oxo cube for beef and chicken work?
Yes that works as well. I like to use low sodium 🙂
Absolutely disgusting Gravy. 1 – too salty, 2 no flavour. Cut recipe back to 2 servings, so tell me how do you get 0.6 of a teaspoon???? no spices???? Thyme, Sage, Rosemary or anything.
Will not make this again. Just a waste of time and product.
Sorry you didn’t realize this is a replica of KFC and is intended to taste like theirs, as it does. If it’s too salty, you could use the reduced sodium products like I do, or simply make every element from scratch. As far as seasoning, season it to your heart and palettes desire. Easy peasy. Thanks for trying and for the review. Other folks can read this and know that they can make these adaptations when making it as well.
I love this gravy I’ve had to tweak it a little. we don’t have low sodium better than bullion. this is for 2x batch, I use no sodium chicken broth in the box. add 1 c water and 3 tbsp beef better than bullion. for the roux I use no salted butter. it works for me
That sounds like a great way too!
I only have the chicken & beef cubed bouillon, would I use 1/2 of each ?
Yes. If it’s not low-sodium, I would definitely use less. You can always taste and then add more if needed. I hope you love it! 🙂
I couldn’t find the low sodium boullion so I used the regular and it was way too salty. I added some low sodium chicken broth to try and balance it out. This is a pretty basic gravy recipe.
Yes, regular is too concentrated for my palate too. Happy to hear you made it! 🙂