I'm super excited to share this awesome weeknight dinner hack: how to make rotisserie chicken gravy from store bought rotisserie chicken drippings!
Yes, it's true. You can actually make a really delicious and creamy gravy from scratch using rotisserie chicken drippings!
★ Why You’ll Love this Recipe ★
Every rotisserie chicken has juices that make an excellent gravy!
Ever noticed the juices or gel that's in the bottom of the rotisserie chicken and in the tray when you pull out the chicken? If you're buying your rotisserie chicken fresh and warm, you'll be looking for the juices. Save all those juices and that's going to be the base for your gravy!
If your chicken has been chilled, then the drippings will be more gel-like and could be stuck to the bottom of the chicken itself. You're going to want to check both the chicken itself and the tray. Scrape all the gel into a bowl. That's the GOOD STUFF, buddy! This is the start of your gravy.
Add just a few other ingredients to your juices or gel, heat everything up in a pot, and BAM. You've got yourself a thick and creamy, flavorful gravy that's made from scratch yet only takes a short amount of time. I love to use this little gravy hack to whip up a homemade dinner in no time for weeknight dinners.
★ Ingredients You’ll Need ★
Here are all the ingredients you need to make gravy from rotisserie chicken.
You'll need some base ingredients plus a few optional ingredients for extra flavor.
The base ingredients are: rotisserie chicken (the bones plus the drippings), butter, flour, water, and chicken bullion.
The optional ingredients for added flavor are: onion, carrots, celery, and herbs of your choice.
This is a great use for a leftover rotisserie chicken.
You can still make gravy even if you've picked over the meat of the chicken as long as you have some of the juices or gel left. I usually make this gravy to serve with the chicken, but sometimes we'll have a few slices of the chicken for another meal first and there is still enough chicken leftover for another meal for us. So, you can decide depending on the size of your family and how much you think everyone will eat, how much chicken you want to reserve and serve with this gravy.
★ How to Make this Recipe ★
If you've never made any kind of gravy, don't worry. It's not complicated.
If you've made gravy many times before but never from a rotisserie chicken, then you're going to love how much time this saves vs. cooking your own whole chicken.
Here's an overview of the steps. (Full recipe and how-to video is below)
- First, start by scraping the gelled chicken broth from a cold rotisserie chicken into a pot. Or if using a fresh rotisserie chicken, the broth will be a liquid. Pour the liquid from the black tray into a pot on the stove.
- Add bones, chicken stock, onion, celery, carrot, herbs.
- Bring to a boil then simmer.
- While broth is simmering, create a roux. To do this, melt butter then whisk in flour. Cook again once combined then add the roux to the broth and bring to a boil to thicken.
- Remove from heat, add shredded chicken, or use as a plain gravy for mashed potatoes or dumplings.
Watch the video located after the recipe below to see step by step how to make this easy gravy.
★ FAQs & Tips ★
Need a lot of gravy?
This recipe easily doubles or triples to feed a crowd. You can get away with doubling this recipe yet still use just one chicken if you add extra bullion.
Is this bone-broth gravy?
You're going to be using not just drippings, but the bones as well, so yes, you'll enjoy the coveted health benefits of real bone broth.
You can use your slow cooker to let your broth steep and get all the good stuff out the of the bones.
You do not need to break the bones since bones are porous. The longer you simmer, the more you'll extract from the bones.
If you don't have that long, don't worry. You can still make an excellent tasting gravy, you just may not get all the nutrients out the bones. If you're short on time but you want to get similar nutrients as you would if you boiled your bones, check out powdered collagen. It's tasteless and you can add it to anything liquid so it'll mix right in with your gravy.
Can you roast the bones first for more flavor?
Yes, you can. Many people like to roast the bones before boiling them to make stock because they have more flavor and produce a darker colored stock.
To roast your chicken bones, arrange the bones on a baking sheet and bake at 450˚for about 45 minutes or until bones are browned.
You do not have to roast your bones. This is completely optional.
What can you make with chicken gravy?
Chicken and Gravy Dinner!
Try this chicken and gravy served over mashed potatoes with a side of candied carrots and better than Boston Market's creamed spinach!
This also makes a great base for soups or a simple gravy for mashed potatoes (without shredded chicken).
★ More Recipes You’ll Love ★
Looking for more ideas? Browse all my easy dinner ideas and side dish recipes.
This recipe for rotisserie chicken gravy was featured on South Your Mouth.
How to Make Rotisserie Chicken Gravy
Ingredients
- 1 whole rotisserie chicken
- 3 cups water add less for thicker gravy
- 3 teaspoon chicken bouillon
- 3 tablespoon butter
- 3 tablespoon flour
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Instructions
- Scrape the drippings, which will be in gel form on cold chickens or liquidy if you're working with a freshly cooked rotisserie chicken, into a small pot.
- Remove the chicken meat from the bones and set bones aside.
- Add water to the pot with chicken drippings and place several of the bones (or you can use the whole chicken carcass) in the pot as well. I just use the smaller bones and I don't worry if there is some meat of skin still attached, that just adds to the flavor. Bring to a boil then let simmer for at least 30 minutes but ideally for an hour or more. The longer you can let it simmer, the more flavor you'll get out of the bones but if you're in a hurry, 30 minutes will do the job.
- If you want to add additional flavor to your stock, try adding a wedge of onion, a rib of celery and a carrot. You can also spice your broth with herbs that pair nicely with chicken such as rosemary, basil, thyme, parsley, cumin, mustard, and/or cayenne pepper if you like a little heat.
- Remove bones from the pot and strain out any extras you added.
- In a small bowl, microwave butter and flour for about 30 seconds. Stir and then microwave for an additional 15-30 seconds or until mixture becomes bubbly. Add this to your chicken stock to thick it.
- Then stir in chicken bullion. Bring to a boil one more time while stirring, then remove from heat. Shred and add chicken to the gravy.
- Serve chicken and gravy over mashed potatoes, rice, biscuits, or egg noodles.
Video
Notes
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Connie DeGiorgis says
So easy and delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Angela G. says
So glad you enjoyed it Connie!
DT says
Awesome chicken gravy! I used butter and olive oil. Added this one to my collection of recipes. Thank you!
Angela G. says
So glad you enjoyed it!
MB says
The ultimate gravy! Amazingly delicious! Embarrassed I never thought to do anything with those container drippings in all the decades I’ve been purchasing these chickens 🤦♀️
Mickey Cashen says
Best gravy I've ever tasted!
I added 1/4 onion, stalk of celery, 2 baby carrots, cut into small bits but large enough to be caught by a strainer. I also added 1 tbsp of dry Italian Seasoning. I put all the leg, thigh, and wing bones and carcass in as well as the skin on the carcass covering the carcass plus the drippings from the tray under the rotisserie chicken. I used 4 tbsp of butter and of flour.
At first I used 4 cups of water (seen in other online recipes) but it was too thin. I simmered it down to 2 1/2 cups and its perfectly thick! I'll use 2 1/2 cups from now on for this great gravy! Look how it hugs the breast bits in my dinner of chicken with gravy bread (40 Cal/slice Schmidt's 647 bread), French stryle green beans, and stewed tomatoes - all only 596 Calories!
Katie says
Hi - does this gravy freeze well? I am considering making it ahead of Thanksgiving.
Angela G. says
Hi Katie,
Yes, this gravy freezes well. To reheat, just pop the block of gravy into a pot on the stove and heat on low. Stir occasionally until the gravy is warmed all the way through. You can also use the microwave to defrost it. Just stop and stir it every 30 second to a minute to prevent hot spots.
Patricia Bunnell says
I used the whole carcass and some of the skin! Also used the onion, carrot and celery along with herbs. This was the best gravy ever! Thank you!
Angela G. says
That sounds lovely! So glad you enjoyed the gravy, Patricia.
Tracey says
Talk about a winner winner chicken dinner! This is it! Boiling the bones/carcass down with some veggies is the best & this gravy couldn’t be easier. Makes your house smell so warm, cozy & inviting, like you’ve been cooking all day. This is definitely going in rotation at my house. Thank you soo much for sharing this recipe. Mmm Mmm Good!
Angela G. says
Hi Tracey, so glad this was a hit for you! Thanks for the feedback. 🙂
Tibbi says
So good and a real plus that it is fast and easy....thank you!
Angela G. says
Glad you liked it! It's one of our go-to quick weeknight dinner tricks because it's so easy. I find it really satisfying too because I love not wasting food. It's pretty neat you can use the juice from the chicken too and the juices make an excellent broth as well. I always add them into my chicken soups.
Betty says
I am a ”old senior” married for many many years, and have never made a good gravy!! Loved your recipe!! Thank u so much!!!!
Angela G. says
Hi Betty! I'm so glad you enjoyed the gravy. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!