I have come to believe that with a good chicken gravy recipe, ANYthing is possible. And if said chicken gravy recipe is crazy easy and doesn’t require any drippings from cooking a real chicken myself--I mean, it just doesn’t get better than that!  I have gotten in the habit of always picking up one or two rotisserie chickens from Costco every time I go and I have the easiest meal that I always seem to whip up on our first night of eating the rotisserie. That is one of my favorite things about getting these rotisserie chickens is that not only are they only $5 for a very large, perfectly seasoned chicken, they always stretch and feed my family between 2-3 meals each time. 

The first time around we love to just carve it and eat it with a couple of sides. Usually there is enough chicken on the bones that we can do this a whole other night by reheating the chicken in the oven and it tastes just as tender and juicy as it did the first night. I like to put the rest of the chicken in a 9x13 glass Pyrex dish with a cup of water in the bottom, cover it in foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or so, or until the middle of the chicken is hot.

I love to make any of these sides or any combination of them like mashed potatoes, buttermilk biscuits, rice and something like green beans, Brussels sprouts, broccoli or a green salad to go with it. This last time I made some rice on the stovetop while the chicken was reheating in the oven and it was so easy and the perfect side. I love this gravy with rice and chicken. It makes for a fantastic rice bowl the next day for lunch with leftovers.

If there is any chicken left at this point, I pull it all off and use it for something like a soup, like chicken tortilla or use it for chicken pot pie (or chicken pot pie soup--yum!). 

Now, let’s talk more about this gravy. It is pretty straightforward where you simply bring a few ingredients to a boil--chicken broth (or the equivalent amount of liquid with chicken drippings), a chicken bouillon cube, seasonings and the secret umami ingredient, which is just a teaspoon of soy sauce. You can’t taste it but it really just enhances the flavors and brings more umami. You can alternatively use Worcestershire sauce if you’d rather. After that is boiling, you add your slurry of cornstarch and cold water and after it is thickened, add in 1 tablespoon of cold butter, which brings a lovely silky, velvety finish.

I learned you can thicken gravy with either a slurry or a roux. A slurry is the cornstarch/water mixture that you add in at the end to thicken the gravy whereas a roux is a mixture of melted butter and flour that you make at the beginning of your gravy and add to it and it thickens as it cooks. In this recipe the author chose to use a slurry to not make it too buttery since she added that tablespoon at the very end to give it the silky flavor and texture.

Notes:

• Drippings can be used in addition to or in place of some of the broth in this recipe. Keeping the liquid measurements the same won’t impact the thickness of the gravy. If you use more liquid, consider using ¼ cup cornstarch  + ¼ cup cold water.
• Using fresh seasonings: If you prefer to use fresh seasonings, add them toward the end of the cooking process.
• Optional Ingredient Additions: Sauteed onions, shallots, and/or mushrooms make a great addition to gravy.

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