How many calories in gravy? Granules, roasting tin and white gravy

Gravy has a bad name for something that is mostly water.

Gravy made from granules is about 35 kcal per 100ml. A normal pour is lighter than one roast potato. It goes on the mental list of things to cut, and it is one of the last things on the plate worth cutting.

There are two exceptions. Gravy made in the roasting tin with the fat left in is about 90 per 100ml. And the American white gravy served on biscuits is about 130, which makes it a different food with the same name.

The quick answer

Canned figures are per 100g, which is close enough to 100ml for a thin sauce.

Calories by the pour

Most people pour more than they think, and at 35 kcal per 100ml it barely matters. A carvery plate with 200ml of gravy has 70 kcal of it, out of a plate of about 1,531.

Gravy is not where the roast went wrong

This is the correction. Gravy gets blamed because it looks rich and it covers everything. On the plate it is close to the smallest number there.

In the roast dinner breakdown, 100ml of gravy is under 4% of a 938 kcal plate. Cutting it saves less than leaving one potato. A dry roast is a poor trade for 35 calories.

The fat is the only decision that matters

Here is one 400ml jug, enough for four people, made four ways. The flour and stock come to about 78 kcal in three of them. Everything above that is fat.

The gap between the second and last rows is about 23g of fat, or under two tablespoons. It costs about 205 kcal across the jug and 50 on each plate.

So pour the tin juices into a jug and wait two minutes. The fat rises to the top and the dark juices stay at the bottom. Spoon off the fat, and keep the juices, because they carry the flavour and almost none of the calories.

If you make gravy from granules and add a spoonful of the tin juices for flavour, the same rule applies. Take the juices from under the fat.

The granule trap

A tub of gravy granules says about 500 kcal per 100g, and that number is real. It just describes the dry powder.

Four heaped teaspoons, about 20g, make around 300ml. So 100ml of gravy has about 7g of granules in it. A search that returns the dry entry can overcount your dinner by about 14 times, on the one item that was never the problem.

Typical supermarket granules land between 31 and 34 kcal per 100ml when made up, so 35 is a fair round figure. Check that the entry says "as prepared".

Typical nutrition

Typical figures for granules made up with water.

There is almost nothing here except a little starch, a little fat and salt. Gravy adds flavour and moisture, not nutrition, and that is fine for something poured on top of dinner.

Salt is the real cost

Supermarket granules run from about 0.6g of salt per 100ml for reduced-salt versions to 1g for standard ones. The NHS sets the adult limit at 6g a day and names gravy granules among the sauces that can be high in salt.

A gravy at 0.8g per 100ml is below the NHS label threshold for high salt, which is 1.5g per 100g. The issue is what else is on the plate. Pour it over pigs in blankets or gammon and the salt adds up faster than the calories do.

What it adds to the things it goes on

Only the last row has a gravy problem. In every British dish the gravy is under 10% of the total. The chips in chips and gravy are 720 of the 795.

UK and US words that trip up logging

• Gravy. In the UK this is a thin brown sauce. In the US it can be brown or white, so check which one the database means.
• White gravy, country gravy, sawmill gravy. Milk and flour thickened with sausage or bacon fat, at about 130 kcal per 100g. It is served on buttermilk biscuits, which are not British biscuits either.
• Red-eye gravy. A thin Southern US sauce made from ham drippings and coffee. Log it by how much fat is left in the pan.
• Sunday gravy. Italian-American for a slow-cooked meat and tomato sauce. It is a pasta sauce, not a gravy.
• Gravy in Indian restaurants. In Indian English this often means the sauce of a curry. A "gravy" dish can be 110 to 200 kcal per 100g.
• Jus. Restaurant word for a thin sauce of meat juices. Usually light unless it has been finished with butter.
• Liquor. In London pie and mash, a green parsley sauce, not a drink and not gravy.
• Poutine. Chips, cheese curds and gravy. The gravy is the small part, so log the cheese and the chips.

Gravy mistakes to avoid

Logging the dry granules

About 500 kcal per 100g against 35 per 100ml. Make sure the entry is for gravy as prepared.

Skipping it to save calories

You save 35 and eat a drier dinner. One roast potato fewer saves more, and so does skimming a roasting tin.

Forgetting the fat on the tin

Tin gravy is the one version that can reach 90 per 100ml. If you cannot see the bottom of the jug through the fat, wait two minutes.

Using a British figure for white gravy

At 130 against 35, a US breakfast logged as "gravy, 230g" could be 220 kcal short.

Three ways to do it

The everyday jug (105 kcal)

• 20g granules and boiling water, for 300ml (105 kcal)

Adds up to: about 35 kcal per 100ml. Fast, and light enough to pour freely. Watch the salt if the meat is cured.

The Christmas jug (158 kcal)

• Tin juices, fat spooned off, leaving about 9g (80 kcal)
• 2 tbsp flour (58 kcal)
• 400ml stock (20 kcal)

Adds up to: about 40 kcal per 100ml, with all the flavour of the roasting tin. This goes with the turkey.

The lightest pour (81 kcal)

• 400ml stock (20 kcal)
• 2 tbsp cornflour (61 kcal)

Adds up to: about 20 kcal per 100ml. Thin, glossy and useful if you want gravy with everything. Use a low-salt stock.

The verdict

Gravy from granules is about 35 kcal per 100ml, and skimmed tin gravy about 40. A normal pour is under 4% of a roast dinner, which makes it a poor target for anyone cutting back.

Leave the fat in the tin and it rises to about 90. Cross the Atlantic and white gravy is about 130.

If you change one thing, wait two minutes and spoon off the fat.

Pairs well with: the roast dinner calorie breakdown, the Yorkshire pudding calorie breakdown, and the turkey calorie breakdown.