Make Ahead Turkey Gravy

Make your holiday meal a little easier by preparing this delicious rich gravy ahead of time. It can be stored up to 3 months in the freezer or a week in the frig. On turkey day just heat it up, add the drippings from your freshly baked turkey and enjoy! This recipe originally came from Women's Day magazine.

Make Ahead Turkey Gravy

4 turkey wings -- about 3 lb.

2 medium peeled onions -- quartered

1 cup water

8 cups chicken broth, divided

3/4 cup chopped carrot

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Planning Tip: Make up to 3 months ahead and freeze in an airtight container. Refrigerate 2 days to thaw. Reheat in a saucepan, whisking often.

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Have ready a large roasting pan.

2. Arrange wings in a single layer in pan; scatter onions over top. Roast 1-1/4 hours until wings are browned.

3. Put wings and onions in a 5 to 6-qt pot. Add water to roasting pan and stir to scrape up any brown bits on bottom. Add to pot. Add 6 cups chicken broth (refrigerate remaining 2 cups), the carrot and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 1-1/2 hours.

4. Remove wings to cutting board. When cool, pull off skin and meat. Discard skin; save meat for another use.

5. Strain turkey broth into a 3-qt saucepan, pressing vegetables to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard vegetables; skim fat off turkey broth and discard (if time permits, refrigerate broth overnight to make fat-skimming easier).

6. Whisk flour into remaining 2 cups chicken broth until blended and smooth.

7. Bring turkey broth in pot to a gentle boil. Whisk in chicken broth-flour mixture and boil 3 to 4 minutes to thicken gravy and remove floury taste. Stir in butter and pepper.

At this point the gravy is ready to serve*, or pour into containers and refrigerate up to 1 week or freeze up to 3 months.

Makes 8 cups. Per 1/2 cup: 52 cal, 2 g pro, 6 g car, 0 g fiber, 2 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 4 mg chol, 516 mg sod.

*I like to add the drippings from the turkey just before serving, but this is a great way to have delicious gravy if you opt to fry or smoke your turkey this year.