How To: Roux (Plus 3 Uses)

This is the first post in a new “How To” series that is kicking off today! It’s going to last about two weeks and five “How To’s” all together, covering ultra basic cooking 101 things like this (roux), scrambled eggs, basic marinara, etc…I won’t give them all away here 😉. This is for those of you out there who are either learning how to cook from the ground up, or are used to cooking, but don’t know how to make things from scratch and want to venture into that fun category of food awesomeness.

So, starting us off in our series is roux (pronounced “roo”)! If you don’t know what roux is, it’s a super simple, two ingredient little mixture of fat and flour. Usually butter is used as the fat; you can also use oil to make a roux, but…butter makes everything better, so why not go with that? If I am trying to lighten up a recipe, I’ll often times use olive oil instead of butter in my roux.

Roux has one single purpose: to thicken stuff. Whether it be a sauce, a soup, a gravy – its job is to go in there and make things thick, velvety, and delicious. Roux is by far my preferred thickener over cornstarch because the texture is way better, in my opinion. Cornstarch can make things have almost a gelatinous thickness, if that makes sense, while roux kind of gives you a creamy thickness.

If you have wondered what makes things like mac and cheese sauce, baked potato soup, gravy, and things like that so thick and luxurious? 👀 We’re lookin’ atchu, roux. In this series, we are doing videos instead of pictures so you can get an extra clear idea of how to make this stuff, so check this one out below to see how roux is made plus three recipes that utilize it! The recipes are going to be super basic since the main point is learning what roux is and what you can use it for.

So the first recipe you saw in there was alfredo sauce. Ohhh man, is there anything better than a good alfredo sauce?? I could basically bathe daily in alfredo sauce and not even be mad about it…😳. It is SO EASY to make yourself, and the jarred, store bought versions don’t even compare to homemade. So next time you want some fettuccine alfredo, definitely make the super simple sauce yourself instead of buying the jar!

The next recipe is for a basic gravy. I don’t make a ton of gravy, buuutt gravy is basically my husband Seth’s love language. I think he sees it as its own individual food group. He loves it. On mashed potatoes? Absolutely. Chicken? Sure. Ice cream? Probably.

So I do make it occasionally for him, and again, it is WAY too simple not to make yourself. Literally roux and chicken stock. That’s it. Plus salt and pepper, of course. Don’t buy the little powder mixes or jars of pre-made gravy…JUST MAKE IT! It’s way yummier! Promise 😀.

I have to tell you a funny gravy story real quick. Since Seth loves gravy so much, I taught him how to make it our freshman year of college. He went home on break and made dinner for his family and tried to make gravy. So he called me in the middle of it and was like “…it’s not thickening, and it tastes weird.” We talked it through for a little bit and ended up figuring out that he used powdered sugar instead of flour 😂. His super sweet family ate the whole thing anyway and acted like it was still good (it wasn’t…). So make sure you are using FLOUR when you make these roux recipes!

This next one might be my fave. My family has a famous recipe for biscuits and gravy, but that’s just slightly more complicated, so I’m sticking with the ultra basics here. But this one is absolutely mouthwatering as well, and again – couldn’t be easier.

Sausage, biscuits, and gravy is proobbss my all time favorite breakfast, but only when it’s homemade. It grosses me out big time at cafeterias or restaurants when we’ve got some “mystery gravy” going on with highly unknown ingredients. Not a fan. But homemade sausage gravy? YASSSS!!! Gimme it erryday.

And that’s it, internet friends! How to make roux – the easiest thing in the world – and some stuff you can do with it! These three examples only scratch the surface of what roux can do in your cooking – there are a million and one roux-y (😉) things you can use it for.

Have a wonderful Friday and an amazing weekend!!