Onion gravy is a much desired partner to many dishes – from bangers and mash to grilled chicken or pork chops and of course – Yorkshire puddings and savory bread puddings. This one is exquisitely flavored by the addition of sweet, dark Porter ale.
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Read on for relevant information and video showing how to make onion gravy with beer (1 min).
About This Onion Gravy with Dark Ale
Anyone who is even remotely interested in cooking with beer knows of the strong affinity onions and beer have for each other. This gravy is also a great way to include beer in your breakfast – just drizzle it over hot biscuits or breakfast sausages.
The longer you cook down the onions, the better, but that does not mean that the process must take hours. In fact, our recipe barely takes thirty minutes.
With support from the beer, enough flavors develop to create a delicious, sweet and savory sauce that can take many dishes from plain to exquisite.
Suitable Beer Styles for Beer Onion Gravy
The onions’ caramelization is enhanced by the caramel notes often present in beer styles such as these below. Or the other way around, the point being that cooking onions with beer works and it does so to a very desirable effect.
- porter (especially English porters)
- stout (you may want to increase the brown sugar, some stouts are too bitter)
- brown ale
- amber ale
- English mild
- Dunkel
- Schwarzbier
- German amber lagers
Unless you deliberately want to introduce bitterness to your beer onion gravy, choose a brew with low IBUs and a confident malty character and look for it among the styles listed above. We often make beer onion gravy with porters, which is the case with the batch in the pictures and video of this post.
How to Make Onion Gravy
The workflow is completely stress free and all you need is a good skillet and your stove top. Watch our instructional video for a step by step demonstration.
Tips on Making Beer Onion Gravy
We prefer to leave the tender, cooked down sliced onions untouched. However, if your preference is for a smooth consistency, by all means take out your handheld blender and puree the onions and herbs once the gravy has finished cooking. If pureeing in a regular blender be careful – work in batches to avoid the steam from the hot gravy ‘exploding’.
Other Recipes You Might Enjoy
Beer Brats and Onions
Beef in Guinness
Irish Champ
Baked Onions with Dark Ale and Balsamic
Onion Pie (Zwiebelkuchen)
Onion Gravy with Porter Ale
Beer onion gravy is a staple sauce complementary to a number of dishes. Bangers and mash, Yorkshire puddings, grilled chicken, pork chops or portabello mushrooms, even steamed rice welcome its sweet and savory goodness.
Ingredients
- 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
- fresh sage, 5-6 leaves, finely chopped
- fresh thyme, leaves of a few sprigs
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp flour
- 12 oz dark, malty beer (porter, stout, brown ale, Dunkel lager, amber lagers)
- 1 cup beef stock
Instructions
- In a sauce pan over medium heat melt the butter.
- Add the thinly sliced onions, brown sugar, salt and pepper, sage and thyme and mix well.
- Cook until the onions are translucent and are beginning to caramelize.
- Add the flour and stir to incorporate, about one minute.
- Add the beer, stir and let reduce for a couple of minutes.
- Add the beef stock, stir and let reduce.
- In about 7-10 minutes the gravy will have thickened enough. Remove from the heat and transfer to a suitable container.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 1 Serving Size: 1 1/2 cupAmount Per Serving: Calories: 613Total Fat: 24gSaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 61mgSodium: 684mgCarbohydrates: 68gFiber: 3gSugar: 32gProtein: 11g
Lori Putnam says
Can I make this ahead and freeze it? It looks great, and I’ll have some fresh herbs leftover from Thanksgiving, so I’d like to make this and have with schnitzel in the future…once the Thanksgiving food is gone. 🙂 Thx!
CraftBeering says
Hi, Lori, you shouldn’t have problems freezing it:) When you thaw, first let it sit in fridge, then scoop into a sauce pan and reheat on very gentle heat before serving.
Dr Wolf says
Nice job! This is the essence of a great beer gravy – totally awesome ‼️‼️‼️
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CraftBeering says
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed!
Sue from Sizzling Towards 60 & Beyond says
I love gravy! Thanks for the recipe and sharing at #BloggersPitStop. Have a great week!
Miz Helen says
Thanks so much for sharing your post with us at Full Plate Thursday. Have a great week and come back soon!
Miz Helen
Leslie says
MMMM! Definitely a fan of beer + onions. If only we’d had this recipe at Thanksgiving. Definitely going to save for next year. Thanks so much for sharing at the #happynowlinkup!
Mary says
Yes! A gravy recipe, I never mastered gravy. I didn’t realize onions and beer was such a staple. I think the bitterness of the beer would go well with the sweetness of the caramelized onions. Thank for the recipe! can’t wait to try it. xoxo Mary
CraftBeering says
Yey:) Hope you make it! You don’t have to use a bitter beer, opt for one that is sweeter and has pronounced caramel notes. Many porters fit the bill:)
Christina says
My mouth is straight up watering all over my keyboard at the moment. This beer onion gravy looks reDONKulously amazing!
CraftBeering says
Mmm:) It tastes even better than it looks:) Thank you, Christina.
Jennifer @ Seasons and Suppers says
Oh yes! A classic 🙂 And I can’t wait to see what this lovely gravy goes with.
CraftBeering says
Thank you, Jennifer:) The partner dish is coming up.
Kelsie | the itsy-bitsy kitchen says
I really think I could make a meal out of just this gravy. It looks that good! But I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what you’re serving it with 🙂 Hope you had a great weekend!
CraftBeering says
I am with you, Kelsie. Some freshly baked bread sticks would be perfect to dip in it and it would be enough for dinner.
Dawn - Girl Heart Food says
You always have the cutest dishes!!! Great video and catchy little tune 😉 Can’t wait to see what you bring us using this gravy! I absolutely love onions (and beer, of course) so this would probably taste delicious on a shoe, lol. Imagine this on poutine? Now I’m hungry 😀
CraftBeering says
Haha, I find a lot of cute stuff at Goodwill. Thank you, Dawn!