RealGravy

Onion Gravies

Onion Gravy for Bangers and Mash

Built in the sausage pan so nothing is wasted, with thick cut onions, three separate deglazes and a cornflour finish that keeps it loose enough to flood a plate.

  • Contains meat
  • bangers and mash
  • sausages
  • pan gravy
  • cornflour
  • midweek
Illustration of Onion Gravy for Bangers and Mash
Prep
10 min
Cook
45 min
Total
55 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy

Bangers and mash needs a lot of gravy. Not a polite spoonful, a proper flood that fills the crater in the mash and creeps out to the edge of the plate. This one is deliberately generous and a little looser than a roast gravy, and it is built in the pan the sausages came out of, which is where all the good stuff is.

Ingredients

Makes about 700ml, a generous four platefuls

Scale

Kit

  • Large frying pan
  • Small bowl
  • Wooden spoon

Method

  1. Fry the sausages slowly for about 20 minutes until browned all over, then lift them out onto a plate and keep them somewhere warm. Leave every scrap of fat and every brown fleck in the pan.

  2. Add the dripping if the pan looks dry, then tip in the onions with a pinch of salt. Keep the heat at medium, a bit higher than you would for a classic gravy, because you want a slightly harder catch here rather than a gentle melt.

  3. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes. When the base starts going properly brown and threatens to burn, splash in 3 tablespoons of water and scrape it clean. Do that three times across the cook. Each deglaze puts another layer of colour into the onions and this is where the depth comes from.

  4. Stir in the sugar and let it go sticky for a minute. The onions should be dark, floppy and reduced to about a third of the volume you started with.

  5. Pour in the hot stock and the Worcestershire sauce, scrape the base one final time, and bring it up to a simmer. Let it bubble for 8 minutes.

  6. Stir the cornflour paste until it is completely smooth, then pour it into the simmering gravy in a thin stream while stirring. It thickens within 30 seconds and turns glossy. Give it 2 more minutes of simmering to lose any starchy edge.

  7. Season, then slide the sausages back in for the last 2 minutes so they pick up a coat of gravy and warm through.

Tips worth knowing

  • Thicker onion slices are on purpose. They survive a long cook and you still get something to bite on, which thin slices lose completely.
  • If your sausages are lean and the pan is dry, a spoon of dripping or butter is not optional. Fat is what carries the onion flavour.
  • Cornflour rather than a roux keeps the gravy glossy and pourable, which is what you want against mash. A roux gives you something thicker and more matte.
  • Make more than you think. Nobody in the history of bangers and mash has ever complained about too much gravy.

Change it up

  • Use Cumberland or Lincolnshire sausages and add half a teaspoon of dried sage with the onions to echo the seasoning in the meat.
  • Stir in a tablespoon of Bisto powder along with the cornflour if you want that specific chip shop colour and savour.

Keeping and reheating

Fridge for 3 days in a sealed tub. Cornflour thickened gravy can go slightly gluey when chilled, so reheat with a splash of water and stir it briskly and it comes straight back. Freezing works but the texture is a little looser after.

Questions people ask

Should I cook the sausages in the gravy?

Not from raw, because they will not brown and the gravy will go greasy and pale. Brown them first, take them out, build the gravy in their pan, then return them for a couple of minutes at the end to glaze.

How much gravy do I need for bangers and mash?

Allow around 175ml per person as a minimum, which is a lot more than a roast dinner needs. Mash absorbs gravy and people always want a second pour, so 200ml a head is safer.

Can I make this gravy in advance?

Yes, make it up to the point before the sausages go back in, cool it and keep it in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat it in a wide pan with a splash of water while the sausages cook, then bring the two together at the end.