Homemade Kitchen Bouquet

You can make a simple Kitchen Bouquet–style browning & seasoning sauce at home with just a few pantry ingredients. It adds rich color and savory depth to gravas, stews, soups, and sauces—just like the store-bought version.

🥣 Homemade “Kitchen Bouquet” Browning Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

½ cup water

½ tsp salt

½ tsp onion powder

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp celery seed (optional, but classic)

½ tsp soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce (for umami)

Directions

Caramelize the sugar

Add sugar to a saucepan over medium heat.

Stir constantly as it melts and turns dark brown (like cola). Don’t let it burn.

Carefully add water

Slowly pour in the water (it will bubble and steam—be careful).

Stir until smooth.

Season it

Add salt, onion powder, garlic powder, celery seed, and soy/Worcestershire.

Simmer 5–10 minutes until slightly thick.

Cool & store

Let cool, then strain if desired.

Store in a sealed jar in the fridge up to 2 months.

👉 How to Use It

Add ½–1 tsp at a time to:

Gravies

Soups & stews

Meatloaf

Roast drippings

It’s mainly for color + subtle savory flavor, just like Kitchen Bouquet.

If you want, I can give you a version with no sugar or one that’s extra savory for beef gravy 😄