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Degreasing Liquids
The best way to remove fat from pan drippings.
Among the fats found in nature, certain saturated fats qualify as public enemies. They interfere with the conversion of fat to energy and therefore raise the risk of obesity by making it harder to burn calories. They may even make us eat more than we otherwise would by interfering with satiety signals from our brains. In addition, they increase LDL (bad) cholesterol and then join forces with it to build up harmful substances inside the cells lining our arteries. This build-up can lead to cardiovascular disease.
Since our saturated fats come primarily from animal sources, one way to cut our intake is to degrease the liquids produced when meat and poultry are cooked. You’ll find these liquids in the bottom of your roasting pan, in a skillet that you’ve deglazed, and on the surface of your soups and stews. Of the various approaches to this problem, none is more useless, in my opinion, than those plastic degreasing cups, and none is more helpful than the zip-lock bag method. It’s more effective than tipping your pan and spooning, and it’s faster than cooling and scraping. You can put it into practice as soon as your roast comes out of the oven or your stew has finished simmering. With your trusty bag and skewer, healthy gravies, sautés, and stews will be a snap, and you can serve roasted meat au jus with a conscience as clear as your sauce.
Note: In response to a request for a written summary of this technique, I have posted a written guide to degreasing pan drippings. Also, if you are de-glazing your pan, do so before the straining step.
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Peggy
I love the video! It was very informative and I can’t wait to try this method soon!
Deborah
Peggy,
I look forward to hearing what you think of it. It might come in handy around Thanksgiving when you’re making the gravy for your turkey.
Deborah
Nancy
That is SOOO cool! I’ve always grumbled about getting rid of the fat when prepping to make a soup!
I’ll try it in the next couple of days! NT
Deborah
Nancy,
I’m so happy to have added something to your healthy cooking arsenal. Let me know how you like this technique. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. BTW, you can snip a tiny hole in the corner of the bag instead of piercing it with a skewer or knife if you prefer. Just be careful not to make too large a hole or you’ll lose it all in a flood and have to start over. Have a great holiday!! Deborah
Maggie
Great technique! Thanks for sharing, can’t wait to give it a try.
Deborah
Maggie,
I’m glad you like the technique. I was sure that other people used it, but I had never seen it demonstrated and thought there was a need for it. Thanks for being so open-minded!
Deborah
Anna
I am so pleased to have been walked through such an effective technique. I look forward to using it. Could you recommend healthy side dishes for Thanksgiving? Thank you!
Deborah
Anna,
Sorry, I missed the question about the side dishes initially. I’m serving: 1) Salad of Roasted Beets, their Greens, and Chives that you can find by clicking the Recipes button in the nav bar, 2) roasted cauliflower with olive oil, garlic, and rosemary (not yet on the site, 3) haricots verts with pancetta, shallots, and Balsamic vinegar (also not posted). Instead of the beans, I sometimes roast Brussels sprouts with whole garlic cloves and then drizzle them with Balsamic vinegar. Over time, these recipes will appear here but I’ve only been live for a month and there’s only so much I can post at one time. If you sign up for the newsletter (right hand corner of the Home Page), you can be notified of new recipes when they appear. Thanks again for your visit and your comment.
Deboah
Madeline
This sounds like a wonderful, simple, and timely (at the time of preparation!) method. I followed the link to your site from the New York Times. I suggest a *written summary* in addition to the video.
Deborah
Maddy,
Thanks for your comment on the video. I actually have a written summary which I’ll post in response to your request. My only reason for not posting it previously was concern about redundancy, but perhaps the upside is greater than the downside.
Have a great holiday!
Deborah
The Healthy Apple
This is a wonderful video; very educational and insightful content. I’ll be sure to use your advice for my turkey drippings this week when I’m cooking away in my little kitchen. I am surely going to pass along this tip to all of my friends and family for the upcoming Turkey Day. Happy Thanksgiving and thank you again for a fabulous video!
Best,
Amie
Deborah
Amie,
Thanks very much for your kind words about the video. I had hoped that people would find it helpful and apparently they do. I’m thrilled!! Happy Thanksgiving to you to!!
Deborah
Zuzette
Thank you. What is a healthy way to thicken the juices for gravy.
Deborah
Zuzette,
For 3 cups turkey stock, blend together 3 tablespoons cornstarch with 1/4 cup cold chicken broth or wine (your choice). Bring your turkey stock to a simmer. Beat in the cornstarch mixture and simmer 2 to 3 minutes. The liquid should be lightly thickened. Degrease your pan drippings according to my video (Degreasing Liquids, under Techniques). Beat together the thickened turkey stock and the degreased pan drippings. Strain into a saucepan and rewarm if necessary. If you plan to deglaze your roasting pan with broth or wine, do so before degreasing the drippings. Hope that helps. Happy Thanksgiving! Deborah
Lisa
This looks Great! My family always leaves too much fat in the gravy and I can’t stand to eat it. Everyone is in such a hurry to eat. I’m so glad I took the time to look this up. I will for sure use this method on Thanksgiving Day! I will let you know how it turned out, the taste and the time it took to do it.
Looks very simple.
Thanks
Deborah
Lisa,
I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Let me know how it goes. If you like it, I hope you’ll pass my link along to any health-conscious cooks you know. Happy Thanksgiving!!
Deborah
elena
So simple!! Can’t believe it took this long for someone to come up with that! Awesome. Will try it tomorrow on Thanksgiving! Thank you! Gobble, gobble!!
will
I wish I had seen this 2 days ago! I had a terrible(and messy!) time trying to skim off the fat from a turkey soup broth made with the carcass and some vegetables. The bag-in-container technique is ingenious. I’ll try soon!
Thanks
Carmen
This was soooo awesome and seems soooo simple! It puts all the other ways to shame! Great job! I am going to try it tomorrow on Turkey Day! Thanks so much. Happy Thanksgiving!
Signora
I found your link on epicurious.com This is fabulous! I use the zip lock bag in place of a pastry bag all the time, it works great for deviled eggs, I never thought of this method though! I will be using it from now on, starting tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving, thanks for the tip!
Deborah
Signora,
Go for it!! you won’t be disappointed.
Deborah
Deborah
Carmen,
I’ve been doing this for over a decade and I haven’y been able to figure out why more cooks don’t do it. I’m so glad that you can see it’s usefulness!
Deborah
Ann Vogel
Great technique! Do you need to cool the liquid before pouring it into the Ziploc bag? Also, any concerns about chemicals leaching from the plastic into the liquid you’re saving for gravy?
Deborah
Hi, Ann. By the time you remove your turkey from the oven and transfer it to a platter, the
drippings will be cool enough to pour into the bag. Re the question of leaching: I am currently inveestigating this matter. I can tell you that I’ve used this method with all of my pan drippings, sauces, and braising liquids for 20 years with no untoward effects. Meanwhile, I have a call in to the bag manufacturers for more info on the chemical and heat stability of the bags. Since they are approved for re-heating, I believe they are ok for my purposes but I can’t guarantee it. I’ll report back when I hear from them.
Deborah
Suzanne
Hi Deborah,
I had my parents check out this video for degreasing liquids and they LOVED IT. They were blown away at how clever it was and they can’t wait to try it on today’s Thanksgiving Day gravy. Thanks so much and I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. :)
Suzanne
Whitney
THANK YOU! I am using a turkey recipe from Epicurious.com and saw your link for this method on the reviews. Just degreased for my gravy and it worked great!
Deborah
I’m thrilled, Whitney. Thanks for letting me know.
Have a great day!
Deborah
John (Suzanne's Dad)
WOW! This was easy and what was astounding was that after eating, I love a lot of gravy with my stuffing and mashed potatoes, I did NOT have any of the “upset stomach” feeling that I had always experienced in the past.
Great job & web site!
Thanks!
Deborah
John,
I’m SO happy you benefited from my method. One of the things you may also notice is that, if you have any gravy left over, it will keep longer and better in the fridge.
Anyway, I’m thrilled to have made a contribution to your Thanksgiving!!
Best wishes to your entire family.
Deborah
Yvonne
Thanks for the tip – having spent quit some time trying to degrease a friends turkey drippings (which had been mixed with water) I would have loved this video – she had no ladle or degreasing container. Thanks again.
Elaina
Kept thinking that there must be a better way when trying to separate the oil from the good stuff on Thursday. Thanks for showing us the way! Can’t wait to use this next year for Thanksgiving if not sooner.
Deborah
Suzanne,
Thanks for the vote of confidence. If you presented this video to your parents, you must really trust me!! I’m glad to know that and hope to give you many reasons beyond this one to do so.
Warmly,
Deborah
Cathy
Awesome technique! I will try this soon! I saw your comment on Epicurious regarding the short rib recipe for Hannukkah. thanks!
Deborah
Cathy,
I’m thrilled that you like the technique– and you’re really going to need it with short ribs! One additional thing you might want to know (just in case it isn’t clear from the video): after you strain and degrease, you can return the solids to the defatted liquid if you want. I often do that.
Deborah
Valerie
Great tip! I’ll be sure to use it and share your site with others.
Deborah
Valerie,
I’m very pleased that you like this idea and delighted to have you share my link with other cooks. Thanks very much!
Deborah
Clui
Fantastic tip. Will definitely try for my Christmas Turkey.
Quick question – is it ok to pour the hot juices from the pan into the zip lock bag? As I want to serve the gravy within 30 minutes of the turkey coming out of the oven, have you tried your technique safely with hot liquids and fat?
Deborah
Hi. Thanks for writing. Yes, I use it on hot liquids. There’s usually a 5 minute lapse between when I remove the pan from the oven, transfer the turkey, set up the ziplock bag
with the strainer and cup, so a little cooling takes place. If you deglaze your roasting pan over a burner on top of the stove, you may want to let the liquid cool slightly before straining it, but I’ve never had a problem. Let me know how it goes.
Deborah
Michele
How cool is THIS! I absolutely agree about how inefficient it is to use fat separator cups or try to skim fat off the surface. So normally that means I make things ahead so they can cool in the fridge for the fat to be able to be lifted off. Which means I sometimes avoid serving certsin dishes on certain occasions when I can’t take the time for the dish to chill for fat removal. This is a great tip for the ability to really remove a good amount of fat “real time”. Brilliant idea and the video is so clear to demo it!
Deborah
Michele,
Thanks for your kind words about my technique. I’m thrilled that you found it useful. I hope you get some serious mileage out of it over the holidays.
Best wishes,
Deborah
Scott Ragland
I must confess, I don’t really see the difference between this and the plastic cups that pour the juices from the bottom. Could you explain to me what the difference is? Also, it seems like the plastic cups are reusable whereas your method ends up with tossing plastic bags every time, which is not very earth-friendly. Am I missing something? Thanks!
Deborah
Hello, Scott. In my experience, the plastic fat separators do not do an effective job. To keep all of your meat juices, you have to leave a fair amount of fat in the drippings; if you really get rid of all of the fat, you end up losing drippings. So, my method is more effective because you can get rid of all of the fat without losing any of the juices (which are very precious). Nevertheless, you make a good point about the plastic bags and I don’t have a great response to your concern. I am a fanatical recycler (including recycling storage bags) and take the issue seriously. In fact, in my town almost everyone has 1 recycling barrel, but I have 2! Meanwhile, there are situations in which I do use ziplock bags– probably about twice per month– and the ones used for degreasing cannot be recycled because of the holes. You’re absolutely right about that.
Scott
Thanks for the quick response. You’re right that the plastic cups don’t work so well when it comes to getting the last little bits out. Think you could develop something like a Melitta coffee filter cone (except clear)? Although I haven’t seen one, I’ve heard about a cone-shaped coffee maker (like a Melitta) that has a flat circular stopper at the bottom that slides in or out to plug the drain hole — idea being to let the coffee steep (like a French press) but also get filtered to keep out the really tiny grounds. Something along those lines but clear/see-through might be really useful for degreasing (and no filter necessary).
Deborah
Scott,
I think your idea is brilliant and will discuss it with people who know more about these sorts of things than I do. Thanks very much for your suggestion and for your original thoughtful question.
Deborah
Annie
Wow this is incredible. I love to cook and am trying to stay healthy. I’m always looking for ways to cut out the fats and cals of my normal dishes without losing the flavor. I will definitely try this, it looks like a keeper! Brilliant!
Deborah
Thanks, Annie! Glad you like it!
Deborah
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