Homemade Brown Gravy Mix

There are so many items out there on the grocery store shelves produced for your convenience. You might use these products to make quick meals with pasta or rice and the sauce packets,  maybe to add additional flavor, or even to just make food look more appealing. A lot of these products are so easy to make at home with real ingredients that you probably already have on hand, or are readily available at your local grocery store.  More importantly, you can make these products without the chemical additives.

Homemade Brown Gravy Mix

This flavorful brown gravy mix is so easy to make and you wouldn’t think that after seeing it mixed up in the jar that it would turn into brown gravy, but trust me it does! The surprise ingredient in this mix is instant coffee. You can’t taste the coffee, but it’s what gives the gravy it’s rich brown color.  Now I know most of you don’t typically keep a jar of instant coffee in your cupboard, but that’s okay. The jars I buy are only a dollar at my local Dollar Store. I’ll post more Make Your Own recipes in the next few weeks for you to use up the rest of that coffee, so that jar doesn’t get buried and forgotten in the back of your cupboard.

There is a link to a printable recipe card at the end of this post.

Brown Gravy Mix

 

• 1 2/3 cup of cornstarch
• 6 tablespoons of instant beef bullion or broth base
• 4 teaspoons of instant coffee
• 2 teaspoons of onion powder
• 1 tablespoon of garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of paprika

Combine all of the ingredients in a jar or an airtight container. 

The hardest part of this recipe is getting the cornstarch in the jar without making a mess. If you don’t have a wide mouth funnel, use a large piece of paper to make a cone-shaped funnel.

This recipe makes the equivalent of 12 ready-made packages, or enough to fill a pint jar. I prefer to use a quart jar for mine, so that I have room to shake it well before using each time. Keeps for up to a year.

You could easily double this recipe,  if you wanted to do so. But there is really no need, as it just takes a few minutes to measure the ingredients into a jar.

To Use the Gravy Mix

Use this homemade mix just like a packaged mix, but instead of just opening the package and dumping it in, you will need to measure 3 tablespoons of the mix and add to 1 1/2 cups of water in a small pan.  Stir well to dissolve the gravy mix.

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for one minute.

The gravy looks golden brown in these photos, but it’s actually a darker brown. If you want a lighter brown color, just use 3 teaspoons of instant coffee instead of 4. If it’s then too light, you can always add another spoon to the jar and shake to mix. 

And that’s it….see how easy it is to make your own gravy mix?

    Printable Recipe Card here

Go here for Easy DIY Labels

Hubby made hamburger steaks with onions simmered in brown gravy, mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. Yum-yum!

What are you having for dinner?

Robin