Translation guide
Gravy is a savory sauce made from meat juices, often thickened with flour or starch. In Japanese cuisine, there is no direct equivalent, but several sauces serve similar roles. This guide covers how to express 'gravy' in Japanese depending on the context.
The classic brown sauce served with roast meat, mashed potatoes, etc.
Loanword from English, used for Western-style gravy. Common in recipes and restaurant menus.
Please pour gravy over the roast beef.
Literally 'meat juice sauce'. A descriptive phrase that can be used when explaining what gravy is.
This is a meat juice sauce, called gravy.
Japanese sauces that are used in a similar way to gravy, though not identical.
Generic word for sauce. Often refers to Worcestershire-style sauce or tonkatsu sauce, but can be used for any sauce including gravy in a broad sense.
Pour sauce over the hamburg steak.
A thick, sweet-savory sauce used for grilled meats, teriyaki, etc. Not exactly gravy, but serves a similar role as a meat-accompanying sauce.
Alternate spelling of グレイビー, less common.
When emphasizing the thickened, flour-based nature of gravy.
Literally 'sauce made with roux'. Useful when explaining the cooking method.
This sauce uses a roux.
There is no single Japanese word that perfectly matches 'gravy'. Using グレイビー is the safest for Western-style gravy, but in many contexts, ソース or たれ is more natural.
If you need to explain what gravy is, you can say: 肉汁に小麦粉などを加えてとろみをつけたソース (a sauce made by adding flour to meat juices to thicken it).
Dip grilled meat in sauce and eat it.
グレービーソースのレシピを探しています。
I'm looking for a gravy sauce recipe.