Wide Open Table is a bi-monthly Montana Free Press column on all things food and cooking. Sign up for this newsletter here.
It’s not every Wide Open Table column in which a condiment plays the star, but this onion gravy is primed to elevate a plate near you in 2026.
Gravies usually start with meat drippings, and they can provide a critically savory complement to roasts and side dishes. Several centuries ago, British cooks figured out how to stretch those drippings with onions and feed even more hungry mouths.
Onion gravy has been further refined by other countries and cultures, with French techniques having the biggest impact. The French thickening process — using a roux coupled with slow caramelization — has its fingerprints all over this recipe. Eventually, onion gravy has evolved to the point at which the recipe requires no meat drippings at all, which is what you have here.
Maybe it’s just my partial British ancestry talking, but I think this modern version makes for a top-notch topping on a variety of main dishes and sides. The popular British combo of bangers and mash (traditional English or Irish sausages with mashed potatoes) wouldn’t work nearly as well without a rich and flavorful onion gravy. It makes a wonderful substitute for the cream gravy in my “bangers and biscuits” recipe, and it distinguishes my pretzel-crusted schnitzel recipe in a special way as well.
I’m strategically offering this recipe near the start of 2026 because I’ll offer at least one recipe this year that will require you to master this gravy ahead of time. While it can be achieved by the most basic of cooks, there is nothing basic about its taste. Start your new year right with this essential addition to your cooking arsenal.
ONION GRAVY RECIPE
Serves 4-5
20-24 oz. yellow onions
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1/3 cup red wine
14.5 oz. can of chicken broth
1 tbsp stone-ground mustard
1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 large sprig fresh thyme, or 1/4 tsp dry thyme
Slice the onions in half and peel the exteriors. With the cut side down, slice across them to produce strips no more than 1/4-inch thick. Preheat a large sauté pan on medium heat. Add the butter and onions. Stir to coat and spread evenly in the pan.
Place foil or a lid on the pan and cook for five to six minutes. You should start to see a little browning on the edges. Add 1/4 inch of water and stir until it evaporates. This starts to coat the onions with any browned contents from the pan. Repeat this process four or five times, checking on the onions every three minutes. At three-minute intervals, add 1/4 cup of water, stir, and allow the water to evaporate. With each step, you’ll see the onions getting smaller and browner. This is the caramelization process.
Once the onions are caramelized, add your minced garlic, thyme and flour, and stir everything together. Cook this mixture for about two minutes before adding the wine. The wine will help you scrape off any browned bits that are still stuck to the pan. Now add your chicken broth, continue scraping bits off the pan, and stir well to pull the flour off the onions, thereby starting the thickening process.
Add the Worcestershire sauce and mustard and stir. Drop the heat to low and let your gravy thicken until it can coat the back of a spoon. If you used a sprig of thyme, remove it from the gravy now. Adjust the seasoning to your taste.
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