Supermarket gravy tastes so much better with 1 added ingredient

Gravy from a supermarket can be sneered at by some Sunday dinner snobs. But did you know it can be vastly improved if you simply add one ingredient to it?

Gravy is a staple of British meals such as and a classic . While many home cooks make the effort of from scratch, this is a time-consuming job and it is not a task that everyone has the freedom to do. However, there are a number of ways you can make your shop-bought instant gravy taste ten times better and one of them is to simply add a dash of this one extra ingredient.

Foodies have shared their tips and tricks online when it comes to improving the taste of gravy - and one of those hacks is to add some red wine to the mix. Red wine, often used as cooking , adds a richness and full-bodiedness to many dishes, but most Brits don't realise that it can be used to vastly improve the flavour and texture of instant gravy.

Some of the experts at Real Simple suggested this hack, among others, to improve the taste of store-bought gravy. They say that adding a splash of cooking wine can "liven" up your gravy.

They also suggest that you can add things like cognac, brandy, or sherry. Whether you decide to use cooking wine, such as red wine, or spirits, it is advised that you only use a couple of tablespoons. The wine is meant to enrich the flavour of the gravy, not overpower it.

BBC Good Food also says that wine, whether it's white or red, can make a great addition to gravy.

Some of the most popular wines to cook with are red wines such as Merlot, Pinot Noir and Cabernet. If you have any of these in the house, or if you plan to enjoy a glass of it with your dinner, then consider saving a teaspoon or two of it to add to your gravy, whether you are making it from scratch or using gravy granules you bought in the supermarket.

There are many ways you can make gravy taste better, even if you are using cheap stuff from the supermarket. is adding Dijon mustard, as explained by cookbook author Sarina Kamini.

She says that the addition of the Dijon mustard adds "mouthfeel" to the gravy which is then enjoyed with a roast dinner.