3 Turkey Neck Gravy Recipes

3 homemade turkey neck gravy recipe ideas are here! If you hate to waste, want to use turkey drippings in gravy plus a bit of meat this is great.

Gravy From Turkey Neck

Ok so you have defrosted your raw turkey and grabbed all the stuff out of the cavity. Now what? You can make goodness out of that long “thing” shoved in there. We are here to show you how to do it, three different ways.

First thing first, you’re going to need to boil it/them to get the meat nice and tender. Just like if you were to make boiled chicken all you need is hot broth to get the protein to pull right off with a fork. The rest you in fact will discard and won’t feel guilty about doing so about that. Even if you were to use the carcass for soup you don’t want the neck bones.

Turkey Necks with Gravy

When boiling any sort of meat you will want to season it well, adding large chunks of celery and carrots are great to throw in there too. If you are only cooking one moist turkey recipe that is okay, you will just have a little less meat. NO worries.

• 2 turkey necks were used this go around
  • you could chop the giblets and add those in the same pot if desired for neck giblet gravy
• Onions, 1 diced, 1 quartered
• Turkey stock, broth or drippings from turkey are best
• 1-3 bay leaf
• 2 stalks celery cut into large chunks
• 1 carrot peeled and cut into chunks
• 1/3 tsp salt
• Some granulated garlic or garlic powder
• Paprika
• Olive oil or butter
• Tomato paste ONLY if you want a tomato base to it
  • otherwise whisk in 2 tbsp flour + 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce instead to thicken

This is two of the versions. If you want a rich tomato base flavor to it then use the paste. If you want more of a brown gravy then skip that but use flour + Worcestershire instead for richness. Served over slices of your Butterball turkey breast or mashed potatoes is amazing.

Turkey Neck Meat

You can see what you’ll get once it is fork tender here. Quite a bit actually, more than you’d think just by looking at it raw for sure. Size will vary of course but still worth the hour to boil and make a sort of onion gravy with it.

Before you go any further or jump to the printable recipe card below you might have a few questions in mind. We have answers and if you have others just let us know below in the comments.

For a smoother final product you’ll want to strain the mixture and could use the boiling “broth” instead of drippings or packaged too. There are SO many ways of making homemade turkey gravy it just comes down to preference really.

How to Make Gravy with Turkey Neck Meat

Rinse turkey necks and cut into 2-3 inch pieces, or leave whole (can boil neck and giblets together). Put them in a roasting pan or stock pot over medium heat. Add chopped celery stalks, carrots, onion halves, bay leaves and pour in your beef broth or drippings from turkey. Bring to a boil, cover with a lid and cook for an hour on low heat.

• After 1 hour, the necks will be fully boiled and you can proceed to the next step. Remove them from the broth and separate the meat from the bones, transfer to a deep bowl.
• Remove the remaining vegetables and bay leaves with a slotted spoon from the broth. Strain the remaining broth through a sieve.
• Fry the diced onion for three to four minutes in olive oil on the stovetop in a skillet until lightly golden brown.
• Add 5 tablespoons of broth, as well as tomato paste and spices (photo of that at bottom)
  • OR if you don’t want a tomato base to it instead add the flour and use that as a thickener with the fresh herbs. Whisk constantly until it is smooth. (photo of this at top of post)
  • After adding in flour cook another 5 minutes.

Transfer the sauce to the pan with the remaining broth. Add the turkey neck meat, mix and heat for 20 minutes on low heat. Taste, season with salt and pepper if you think it needs a little something and serve.

Recipe with Turkey Necks

If you wanted to make another simple Instant Pot gravy you could use these instructions. Of course since it’s a pressure cooker it will cook faster. Just add the meat once that is pulled off into the mix once this is done.

The photo below is if you omitted the tomato base. Both are great it is just preference really. The biggest part of this is getting the necks tender, directions for that is below for you. If you have your own family recipe for the base and just want to add this meat into it then by all means just follow directions up ’til that point.

You can and should save leftovers in a jar, wait until it cools off first though. Use a sealed mason jar or container and leave in your fridge. It will save well for 3-4 days. To keep longer you should freeze in freezer bags for up to 3 months. Allow to defrost in the fridge when ready to enjoy again. Another idea is to make air fry turkey necks.