Au Jus Recipe: The Classic French Pan-Drippings Sauce for Prime Rib and Roast Beef

Quick answer. Au jus is a thin, savory sauce made from beef pan drippings, stock, and aromatics. To make it, pour off the fat from a roasting pan, set the pan over two burners on medium heat, deglaze the fond with a half cup of dry red wine until it reduces by half, add two cups of warm beef stock, simmer 8 to 10 minutes, season with kosher salt and black pepper, then strain. The finished sauce should pour like coffee, not gravy. It is served alongside prime rib or French dip sandwiches for dipping, never poured over the meat like gravy.

This guide covers what au jus means in French, how it differs from gravy and demi-glace, three working recipes, the defatting and wine questions home cooks get wrong, and the pairings.

What Au Jus Means (French for “With Juice”)

“Au jus” is French for “with juice.” In classical French kitchens, jus is the natural cooking liquid released by a roast, captured in the bottom of the roasting pan and lightly enriched with stock. Larousse Gastronomique defines jus as the unthickened cooking juice of a roast, distinct from a sauce, which is built and bound.

The phrase on a steakhouse menu, “prime rib au jus,” literally means “prime rib with its juice.” It is not the name of a sauce. It is a serving instruction. In American kitchens the phrase collapsed and “au jus” became the noun for the sauce itself. Both usages are fine. When you order au jus at a French dip counter in Los Angeles and when you read jus de rotie in Escoffier’s Le Guide Culinaire, you are pointing at the same thing: a thin, intensely beefy liquid, served in a small ramekin for dipping.

A real jus is never thickened with flour or cornstarch. The whole point is to taste the roast itself, concentrated. The Culinary Institute of America’s The Professional Chef notes a jus can be enriched without becoming a gravy through long reduction, a touch of jus lié (bound with arrowroot), or a spoon of demi-glace stirred in at the end. Reduction is the cleanest move.

Quote placeholder, Circle 7 cooking lead. “Au jus is the easiest sauce in a French kitchen and the most commonly wrecked one in an American kitchen. The whole job is to not get in the meat’s way. You are not making gravy. You are making liquid prime rib.”

Au Jus vs Gravy vs Demi-Glace

These three sauces get used interchangeably on holiday tables. They are not the same thing.

Au jus is thin and unthickened, roughly the viscosity of strong coffee. Built from pan drippings and stock, reduced briefly, seasoned, strained. Served on the side for dipping.

Gravy is thickened with a flour-and-fat roux, then whisked with stock until it coats the back of a spoon. Served poured over the meat or mashed potatoes.

Demi-glace is long-reduced. Classical demi-glace starts with veal stock and espagnole sauce, simmered for hours until it reduces by half and coats a spoon like syrup. Restaurant cooks use it by the spoonful to glaze plates. It is not what you want next to a Christmas prime rib.

If you want a thin sauce that lets the beef speak, make au jus. If you want a thicker sauce that coats potatoes, make gravy. For 95 percent of home prime rib dinners, the answer is au jus.

Ingredients

The base recipe yields about 2 cups, enough for 6 to 8 servings alongside a prime rib.

• 1/4 cup beef pan drippings (or 2 tablespoons unsalted butter)
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 2 cups warm beef stock
• 1 small shallot, minced (optional)
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed (optional)
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (optional, adds umami)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

No flour. No cornstarch. No bouillon cube on top of the stock. If you reach for thickener, you are making gravy. Recipes that pile on tomato paste or soy sauce are compensating for weak stock. Fix the stock instead.

Method 1: Au Jus From Real Pan Drippings

This is the method to use after you have just roasted a prime rib, beef tenderloin, or chuck roast. The drippings carry the deepest flavor: rendered fat plus the dark crust of fond (browned, stuck bits at the bottom of the pan, formed by the Maillard reaction).

Step 1. Remove the roast from the pan, transfer to a carving board, tent with foil, and let it rest while you make the sauce.

Step 2. Pour the pan contents into a heatproof measuring cup. Settle 2 to 3 minutes. Skim off the fat, reserving 1 tablespoon. Discard the rest. The dark layer at the bottom is what you want.

Step 3. Return the reserved fat to the roasting pan. Set the pan over two burners on medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic, if using, and cook 1 minute until fragrant.

Step 4. Pour in 1/2 cup of red wine. Scrape the bottom vigorously with a wooden spoon to lift the fond. Reduce by half, 2 to 3 minutes.

Step 5. Add the dripping concentrate, 2 cups of warm beef stock, the thyme sprig, and the bay leaf. Simmer over medium-low 8 to 10 minutes, until reduced by one-third.

Step 6. Taste. Add a teaspoon of Worcestershire for umami depth if you want it. Season with kosher salt and black pepper. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a warm gravy boat.

Serve immediately in small ramekins, one per guest, with a bone-in prime rib roast or bone-in ribeye. The same method works for a smoked prime rib; the smoke will perfume the sauce, which most people consider a feature.

Quote placeholder, Circle 7 ranch kitchen note. “If your roasting pan has a quarter inch of dark mahogany crust on the bottom after a 4-hour cook, you have all the flavor you need. The work is just to lift it into the liquid.”

Method 2: Au Jus From Beef Stock

Use this when you are serving sliced roast beef from yesterday, making French dip, or you skipped the roast and just want a dipping sauce. No pan, no drippings, no problem.

Step 1. In a small saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter over medium heat. Add a minced shallot and 2 smashed garlic cloves. Cook 2 minutes.

Step 2. Pour in 1/2 cup of dry red wine. Reduce by half, about 3 minutes.

Step 3. Add 2 cups of beef stock, a thyme sprig, a bay leaf, and 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire. Simmer 12 to 15 minutes, until reduced by one-third.

Step 4. Season with salt and pepper. Strain.

This method is only as good as your stock. Homemade beef stock from roasted marrow bones and mirepoix is restaurant-grade. A box of low-sodium organic beef stock is acceptable. The watery shelf-stable stuff labeled “beef broth” is not. If that is all you have, switch to Method 3.

Method 3: Au Jus From Better-Than-Bouillon (Shortcut, Honest Take)

This is the method most home cooks actually use, and it is fine. Better-Than-Bouillon Roasted Beef Base is a concentrated paste; Cook’s Illustrated has rated it the best of the supermarket beef bases.

Step 1. Bring 2 cups of water to a simmer.

Step 2. Whisk in 2 teaspoons of Better-Than-Bouillon Roasted Beef Base. Add a thyme sprig, a bay leaf, a smashed garlic clove, and 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire. If you have any pan drippings, stir in 2 tablespoons.

Step 3. Simmer 10 minutes. Taste (it is already salty, so go carefully) and strain.

This will not pass for restaurant jus de rotie. It will pass for a Tuesday-night French dip with kids at the table. Do not use it on a $200 Wagyu standing rib roast. At that point, make Method 1.

How to Defat Drippings

The most common au jus mistake is leaving the fat in. Fat floats on top, breaks the surface tension, and gives every sip a greasy film. Defatting fixes it.

Fat separator (best). A measuring cup with a spout that starts at the bottom. Pour drippings in, settle 3 minutes, pour off the dark layer below. The fat stays behind.

Spoon-and-skim (acceptable). Pour drippings into a clear measuring cup, wait 3 minutes, skim the top fat layer with a wide spoon, stop when you hit the dark liquid.

Refrigerate-and-peel (next-day). Refrigerate the drippings overnight, then peel off the solidified fat cap in one disc. The move for next-day French dip.

Reserve 1 to 2 tablespoons of the fat for sauteing aromatics, then discard the rest. Beef fat is not the enemy. Beef fat in your sauce is.

The Wine Question

Half of au jus arguments online are about whether to add red wine. The honest answer: wine is optional, but it helps.

What wine does. Dry red contributes acidity (which balances the salt and fat), deglazes the fond more effectively than stock alone, and adds aromatic complexity. It reduces almost completely during the cook, so the finished sauce does not taste “winey.” It tastes deeper.

What wine to use. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, or a dry red blend. Avoid anything labeled “cooking wine” (loaded with salt) and anything sweet (port, sweet vermouth). A $12 bottle is fine.

Substitutes. Dry sherry, dry Madeira, or dry white wine all work. If you cannot use alcohol, replace it with 1/4 cup of stock plus 2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar. Cook the vinegar off for 30 seconds before adding the rest of the stock.

Salting and Adjusting

Au jus lives or dies on final seasoning. The mistake most home cooks make is salting at the start, reducing the liquid, then ending up with sauce that tastes like seawater.

The rule: season at the end, after reduction. Stock that has reduced by one-third has concentrated all its sodium. Salting unreduced stock guarantees over-seasoning.

When you taste at the end, look for three things:

1. Salt balance. The sauce should taste deeply beefy, not salty. If it tastes salty first and beefy second, cut it with a splash of water or unsalted stock.
2. Acidity. A drop or two of red wine vinegar or fresh lemon juice wakes up a flat sauce.
3. Body. Thin and watery, reduce 3 to 5 more minutes. Sticky, add 2 tablespoons of stock to loosen.

Crack pepper fresh at the end. Pre-ground goes stale fast and adds a dusty note that competes with the beef.

Quote placeholder, Circle 7 customer note. “The first time I made au jus from a Circle 7 prime rib, I salted at the start out of habit and ruined it. The second time I followed the rule and waited. It was the best sauce I have ever made at home.”

Best Pairings

Au jus is built for specific cuts and dishes. It is not a universal beef sauce.

Prime Rib

The classic match. A bone-in standing rib roast produces 1/2 to 1 cup of drippings, exactly enough for a small batch. Serve in individual ramekins next to thick slices of medium-rare prime rib. The full roasting method is in our prime rib cooking guide, and the smoked version is covered in our smoked prime rib guide.

French Dip Sandwich

The American invention that put au jus on the national menu. Thin-sliced leftover roast beef on a chewy French roll, dipped in warm au jus. Two Los Angeles restaurants (Philippe’s and Cole’s) have each claimed to invent it around 1908. We cover the full sandwich in our leftover prime rib French dip guide.

Roast Beef Tenderloin

A whole roasted beef tenderloin gives off less fond than a prime rib because the cut is leaner. Supplement Method 1 with extra stock and a tablespoon of butter at the end. The lighter sauce suits the tenderloin’s milder beef flavor.

Skip These

Steak. Au jus is a roast sauce, not a steak sauce. A ribeye or strip is better with compound butter or a pan sauce. Pork or poultry: use chicken or pork jus instead. Burgers: no.

Storing and Reheating

Strained au jus keeps 4 days refrigerated in an airtight container and 3 months in the freezer. USDA FSIS guidelines on cooked beef and stocks apply.

Reheat gently in a saucepan over low heat, stirring. Do not boil. If the sauce thickens on standing (some gelatin sets from the stock), thin with a tablespoon or two of water or fresh stock.

For French dip the next day, reheat the au jus, slice the cold leftover roast beef thin, then warm briefly in the hot jus before plating on the sandwich. The method Cole’s in downtown Los Angeles has used since 1908.

FAQ

What is au jus made of? Beef pan drippings (or stock), aromatics (shallot, garlic, thyme, bay), usually a splash of dry red wine to deglaze, and salt and pepper. Not thickened with flour or cornstarch.

Is au jus the same as gravy? No. Gravy is thickened with a roux and pours like cream. Au jus is unthickened and pours like strong coffee. Gravy goes over the meat. Au jus is served alongside for dipping.

Can I make au jus without drippings? Yes. Use Method 2 (beef stock) or Method 3 (Better-Than-Bouillon). Lighter without the fond, but good stock plus careful reduction works.

Do I have to use wine? No. Substitute 1/4 cup of stock plus 2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar. The vinegar replaces the acid wine provides.

Why is my au jus greasy? Underdefatted drippings. Use a fat separator, settle 3 minutes, pour off only the dark liquid below the fat layer.

How much au jus per person? Plan 1/4 to 1/3 cup per guest. A 2-cup batch serves 6 to 8 alongside a bone-in prime rib roast.

Why does my au jus taste weak? Three usual causes: thin watery stock, salting before reducing, or skipping the deglaze so the fond never enters the sauce.

Can I make au jus ahead? Yes. Up to 3 days ahead, refrigerated. Reheat gently. With real drippings, the flavor deepens overnight.

The Bottom Line

Au jus is a 20-minute sauce that elevates a 5-hour roast. Deglaze, reduce, strain, season. No flour. No cornstarch. No beef base stacked on beef stock. Let the roast and the fond do the talking.

If you have a real prime rib, use Method 1. Stock but no drippings, Method 2. Tuesday-night French dip, Method 3.

The roast matters more than the sauce. A Circle 7 dry-aged or Wagyu-cross prime rib produces deeper fond because the marbling renders cleanly and aging concentrates muscle proteins. We cover the source difference in our dry-aged vs wet-aged beef guide and across our full beef catalog.

Ready to make au jus the right way? Order a Circle 7 dry-aged prime rib roast, a bone-in Wagyu-cross ribeye, or a Wagyu tomahawk. Shipped frozen, vacuum-sealed, from our family ranch in Mount Pleasant, Utah. Cuts, weights, and delivery on the how it ships page; common questions on our FAQ.

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Image Specifications

Hero image. Glossy mahogany au jus pouring from a small white pitcher into a ramekin next to thick slices of medium-rare bone-in prime rib on a wood carving board. Natural window light from the left. Sprig of thyme on the board. Shot from a 30-degree angle. Alt text: “Glass gravy boat of glossy mahogany au jus next to a sliced bone-in prime rib roast on a wood carving board.”

Image 2 (under “What Au Jus Means”). Overhead shot of a roasting pan with dark mahogany fond stuck to the bottom, a wooden spoon scraping a corner clean. Alt: “Roasting pan with caramelized fond being deglazed with red wine and a wooden spoon.”

Image 3 (under “Au Jus vs Gravy vs Demi-Glace”). Side-by-side three small glass ramekins: thin au jus (left), creamy gravy (middle), thick syrupy demi-glace (right). Top-down shot, white background. Alt: “Three small ramekins comparing au jus, brown gravy, and demi-glace consistency side by side.”

Image 4 (under “Method 1”). Stainless fat separator on a white counter, dark drippings visible at the bottom, golden fat layer floating on top. Alt: “Fat separator showing dark beef drippings beneath a layer of golden rendered fat ready to pour off.”

Image 5 (under “The Wine Question”). Bottle of dry red wine, a quarter-cup measure, and a roasting pan with simmering wine and bubbles. Alt: “Dry red wine reducing in a roasting pan during au jus deglazing step.”

Image 6 (under “Best Pairings”). Classic French dip sandwich on a chewy roll, plated next to a small ramekin of au jus, dipping in progress. Alt: “French dip sandwich on a French roll being dipped into a ramekin of warm au jus.”

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