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My guide on How to Make a Roux will teach you how to make the perfect starter for your favorite gravy recipes, cheese sauces, and more. If you need the ideal roux recipe, you’ve found it! This is the perfect easy recipe to elevate your cooking game.
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What is a roux?
A roux (pronounced “roo”) is a mixture of flour and fat, such as butter or meat drippings, used to create a base for thick sauces, gravies, and even gumbo recipes.
Many recipes call for making a roux, whether you’re making classic macaroni and cheese, sausage gravy, or shrimp bisque. The most common reason to make a roux is to make the perfect gravy!
Featured Comment
Honestly, I can not exaggerate how much this roux Enriched and elevated the soup I used it in. Thirty minutes at the stove were seldom more productively spent. Thank you!
Roux Recipe Ingredients
- Butter or fat, such as meat drippings, bacon grease, vegetable oil, etc.
- Flour
You only need butter and flour to make a perfect roux for gravy, mac and cheese, gumbo, and more.
If you have bacon fat or meat drippings on hand (like from making roast beef or steak), those will work, too!
How to Make a Roux
- In a pan or cast iron skillet, melt butter over medium-low heat. Once melted, whisk in the flour with a wooden spoon.
- Cook until combined and the mixture starts to thicken and bubble, about 3-5 minutes.
How to Make a Roux for Gravy
- Pour 2 cups of strained broth from roast beef or beef stock into a slow cooker and set to high heat. In a pan, melt butter over medium-low heat.
- Once melted, whisk in the flour. Cook briefly until combined and starting to bubble, about 3-5 minutes. Do not let the flour darken.
- Slowly pour about 1 cup of the hot broth into the flour mixture, whisking well. Once smooth.
- Whisk to combine until smooth, then cover and cook over low heat until thickened, for approximately 12 to 15 minutes.
- Uncover and allow to cool slightly—season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve warm with desired meal.
Roux Ratio
The ratio of flour to butter in a roux is 1:1. For example, if you use four tablespoons of butter, you would use four tablespoons (or ¼ cup) of flour.
Types of Roux
You can make four types of roux: white roux, blond roux, brown roux, and dry roux. The only difference is how long each one is allowed to cook, except a dry roux. Here’s how to make a roux four ways:
- White Roux: Ready in 5 minutes or less. Best for thickening and is perfect for making a white sauce like Béchamel or cheese sauce.
- Blond Roux: Ready in 10 minutes. It is slightly browned with a nutty flavor and is just what you need to make a sauce like velouté (a velvety white sauce). Try it in our Espagnole Sauce!
- Dark Brown Roux or Dark Roux: Ready in up to 30 minutes. Brown roux is full of flavor, which makes it ideal for dishes like gumbo.
- Dry Roux: You can make a “dry roux” by leaving out the fatty element and instead browning the flour in a pan or oven. Typically, you would do this for gumbo if you aren’t using a brown roux.
Roux Tips
- If making a blond roux, cook it for about 10 minutes and stir as necessary to keep it from burning.
- If making a brown roux, cook for up to 30 minutes and stir frequently to keep the roux from burning.
What is roux used for?
You can make a wide variety of dishes once you know how to make a roux, depending on what type you’re making (white, blond, or brown roux).
In particular, in French cooking, a roux serves as the base for three of what are known as the “mother sauces”:
- Béchamel sauce: A creamy white sauce made with a white roux and milk.
- Velouté sauce: A velvety, savory sauce made with a white or blond roux and stock, such as chicken stock.
- Espagnole sauce: An enormously flavorful brown sauce made using a brown roux, stock, meat, vegetables, sugar, and seasonings.
Recipes with Roux Sauce
- Slow Cooker Beef Gravy uses this roux as a base, perfect for topping mashed potatoes and roast beef recipes.
- Portuguese Shrimp Empanadas (Rissóis de Camarão) use a roux to make the creamy shrimp filling, and they are delicious. One of my favorites!
- Roasted Vegetables with Cheese Sauce uses a roux to make the cheese sauce. So cheesy and flavorful, it’s a perfect way to get kids to eat veggies!
- My Shrimp Bisque uses a roux that cooks with shrimp, celery, and garlic for an incredible base for one of the best soups you’ll ever try!
- Creamy Parmesan Sauce for Chicken Cordon Bleu uses a roux and tastes incredible on many dishes.
Gravy Roux Recipes
Mac and Cheese made with a Roux
Almost all macaroni and cheese recipes start with a roux! Try some of our favorite homemade mac and cheese recipes:
- Easy Creamy Mac and Cheese
- Ina Garten Mac and Cheese Recipe
- Southern Baked Mac and Cheese
- Sausage and Peppers Mac and Cheese
Recipe
How to Make a Roux for Gravy
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter or fat drippings
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
See my Cooking Conversions Chart for help converting measurements!
Instructions
- In a pan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Once melted, whisk in the flour.
- Cook until combined and the mixture starts to thicken and bubble, about 3-5 minutes. If making a blond roux, cook for about 10 minutes and stir as necessary to keep from burning.If making a brown roux, cook for up to 30 minutes and stir frequently to keep the roux from burning.
Video
Notes
- You may want to use vegetable oil instead of butter if making a brown roux.
Zendegy says
Thank you for this excellent post. I have an autistic, vegetarian daughter who is addicted to a soup I make her from a veggie broth that I make. I was really just looking for the correct ratios of fat:flour for a roux to the soup and, so, happened upon this post. I was immediately sucked in.
I had no clue that there are varieties of roux! 40 years of cooking and I’d no clue! Well, being a glutton for punishment, I decided I had to make the brown roux, no matter how challenging my severe ADHD would make that. Wow! Just the evolving aroma of the roux as it cooked held my interest! Buttery, caramel, toasted, nutty. And not a lump to be found.
Honestly, I can not exaggerate how much this roux Enriched and elevated the soup I used it in. Thirty minutes at the stove were seldom more productively spent. Thank you!
Isabel Laessig says
Thank you so much for leaving a comment and a review. This made my day to read. I am so happy you found my post informative and that it worked out so well for you and your daughter! I would love to know what kind of soup you made with it. Take care, and thank you again!