Hawaiian Haystacks {From-Scratch Gravy}
This recipe for homemade Hawaiian Haystacks is truly the best. The creamy, from-scratch gravy is so easy to make and has great flavor!
A staple in my home growing up, Hawaiian Haystacks is a simple meal consisting of rice smothered in a delicious, creamy chicken gravy and topped with everything from chow mein noodles to mandarin oranges.
It sounds weird, but I promise: it is delicious!
From-Scratch Cream of Chicken Gravy
Hawaiian Haystack recipes notoriously use canned cream of chicken soup, milk and sour cream (or some such variation on this theme) for the creamy gravy.
Since I don’t normally keep cream of chicken soup on hand, this homemade recipe is perfect!
The from-scratch chicken gravy is super easy, and the flavor is fresh and delicious!
For this recipe, all you need to do is blend milk + flour + chicken broth together and stir it into the butter + onion + garlic mixture. It thickens beautifully and eliminates the stress of having to whisk out any lumps!
Once the gravy thickens, stir in cooked, cubed chicken (a rotisserie chicken or canned chicken works great here!).
But I also include a note in the recipe if you need/want to start with uncooked chicken.
The sauce is thick and creamy and flavorful and SO delicious!
Hawaiian Haystack Toppings
Serve the homemade Hawaiian Haystack chicken gravy over rice: brown or white. And then add toppings of your choice.
Some popular Hawaiian Haystack toppings are:
- shredded cheese
- tomatoes
- canned mandarin oranges or pineapple tidbits
- sliced olives
- green peas
- shredded coconut
- green onions or chives
What toppings am I missing? Any favorites that you serve with your Hawaiian Haystacks?
A Favorite Meal
We’ve been eating this version of Hawaiian Haystacks for over ten years, and it is still one of my kids’ favorite meals of all time.
The recipe has over 200 5-star reviews for good reason!
Pamela writes: What a game changer! These Hawaiian haystacks were so good. I am grateful to still be able make this recipe without using cream of chicken. A healthier version that is not only just as good but better. My family all gobbled it up. Thank you!!
Amy says: 100% recommend. I made this with gluten free flour and it was still so awesome. Definitely worth the difference in taste and it really wasn’t that much extra work.
Louise writes: This is so good! I’ve made it a bunch and everyone always loves it! So much better and almost as easy as the condensed soup version. Thanks Mel!
What to Serve With This
- Baked Brown Rice
- The Best Drop Biscuits
- Toppings of choice, such as olives, tomatoes, shredded cheddar cheese, green onions, mandarin oranges and chow mein noodles
Hawaiian Haystacks {From-Scratch Gravy}
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup finely chopped onion
- 3 cloves garlic; finely minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ⅓ cup flour
- 1 cup chicken broth (I use low sodium)
- 2 cups milk
- 3 to 4 cups cooked, cubed chicken (see note)
Instructions
- In a large skillet or saucepan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, 3-4 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook for about one minute, stirring, until fragrant.
- Combine the flour, broth, and milk in a blender (or use a handheld whisk and a bowl or liquid measuring cup) and blend until smooth.
- Pour the mixture into the pan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture simmers and thickens, 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in the cooked chicken, salt and pepper. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often.
- Season to taste with additional salt and pepper, if needed.
- Serve over rice with toppings such as: olives, tomatoes, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, green onions, mandarin oranges and chow mein noodles.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
Recipe originally posted February 2010; updated August 2022 with new photos, recipe notes, etc.
Did you do a one-to-one ratio of cornstarch to flour when you substituted cornstarch in to make it gluten-free?
Hi Mel! Do you think I could make this in a slow cooker?
From start to finish? Probably not (without some major adjustments) – but it keeps well in the slow cooker on warm after being made (I do that all the time).
i really liked this recipe. I wanted to make this for my quilt group because i know some of them are a bit more concerned about eating scratch made food rather than from cans. I also added celery to the pan when I cooked the onions and before adding the garlic. I think it tasted better when I made 1/2 recipe rather than doubling it but that might have been because i used 2 cans chicken from Costco and included the broth out of the can rather than draining them. When i doubled the recipe I used rotisserie chicken. I thought the sauce was not as flavorful so I opened a can of chicken and added it with the broth and it improved the flavor. I definitely will keep this recipe and use it again. My Quilt group really liked it!!
Hi Mel, I am making this for girls camp feeding 250. Have you made this for a bigger group? I need advice on how to convert it to feed a crowd. Thanks for any advice.
Hi Michelle, I’ve made it to feed about 100. For 250, you’ll probably want to 32X the recipe – if you have a pot big enough, you could do eight quadruple batches. It freezes *pretty* well…i can be a bit grainy after freezing due to the high dairy content, but it reheats ok.
Does this freeze well?
It freezes *ok* – the sauce might be a bit grainy after thawing, but we still think it’s fine.
Can you freeze this?
The high dairy content can make it a bit grainy out of the freezer, but it’s still doable.
Delicious recipe! Tasted just like the haystacks of my childhood:) Absolutely yummy!
I love this recipe! This is better than the cream of chicken version. And I am grateful because I’ve been cutting that stuff out and have never seen a replacement for this meal. Thank you!
We love to take these to lake Powell. I pre-make as much as I can, so could this gravy be made ahead of time? Frozen? Or just refrigerated?
Yes, it can be made ahead of time. It’s better made a day or so ahead of time and refrigerated…it can be frozen but it might be a little grainy after defrosting thanks to the dairy.
We love this recipe at our house, however, we do at least half the liquid as chicken broth rather that just a cup! If you thought it was bland, try this, it really ups the flavor! Thanks Mel!!
Where’s the old version? My family and I like that one much better 🙁
The original version is in the notes of the recipe. Melt 3 tablespoons butter, cook the onion and raw chicken pieces until the chicken is cooked through, add the garlic and 1/4 cup flour and cook for a couple minutes before whisking in the broth and milk and simmering until thickened.
I miss the original recipe. The newer version was a little too floury and not my favorite. But five stars for the original recipe.
I’m a super duper Mel fan, but this recipe was a pass for me. We love haystacks but this sauce was rather bland and just didn’t fit the right flavor profile that we are used to. If you love the cream of chicken soup concoction, this gravy may not be for you.
Could I use cornstarch thicken? Maybe mix it with some water and pour in the broth and milk mixture before bringing to a simmer?
I have one that is GF.
Thanks
Yes, absolutely! I do that whenever I’m making this for gluten-free friends. I make a slurry with cornstarch + gluten free broth and add it at the end and simmer to thicken.
This recipe is amazing, it’s part of my official cookbook!
This was really good. I doubled all of the ingredients except the chicken, using mushrooms in place of the extra chicken. My mistake was that I added the mushrooms too late. They gave off a lot of liquid, so it was tricky to reconcile that. All in all, my while family still loved it. We just ate it in bowls instead of on a plate. I will totally add mushrooms again (because I love them), but add them earlier. I served this with coconut rice.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that I used a can of coconut milk and used chicken broth as the rest of the liquid for a double recipe.
Decided to try this (at the recommendation of a friend) as an alternative to the cream of chicken soup version and will never go back! Super easy, very tasty. Good thing, because I was feeding a family who had never heard of Hawaiian Haystacks and they said they loved it. Winner winner chicken dinner!
This is pretty much how I used to make it, except now I add a couple Tbsp white wine and/or 1-2 tsp fresh lemon juice.
We’ve used this recipe multiple times, now, and still love it!! Thanks!!
about hoe many cups of chicken would I need for this recipe? I’m planning on using rotiserrie chicken instead of 2 chicken breasts.
Probably 3-4 cups
Love this recipe. I’ve made it with evaporated milk (it will do in pinch but made it almost too creamy tasting) and almond milk (tastes just like when I make it with regular milk). With the almond milk, I was worried it wasn’t thickening so I added 2 Tbs of corn starch. Now that it has cooled down more I’m not sure the corn starch was necessary.
Great to find this after having it 30+ years ago as a kid! Loves making the cream of chicken from scratch and with a bit of white wine (my own touch)! Kids love this recipe, fun all around!
This recipe is delicious, simple, and so much better than the haystack recipes that call for cream of chicken soup. Thanks for sharing, Mel!
What a game changer! These Hawaiian haystacks were so good. I am grateful to still be able make this recipe without using cream of chicken. A healthier version that is not only just as good but better. My family all gobbled it up. Thank you!!
Could this be made ahead of time (like for a reunion)? Or will it get runny as it’s sits?
Yes, I’ve made it ahead of time before and it reheats great (or stays warm well).
This recipe is wonderful. I’ve been making Haystacks since 1979 and the weakest link was always the sauce. Im neurotic in picking out the chicken from the cream of chicken soup because I can’t handle gristle on chicken. I’ve often thought there’s got to be a better, tastier way. This is it. Your recipe stands alone and can be made just as written. Since my family likes spicy, I made my chicken like I always have and it married great with your sauce.
Crockpot Chicken. I make a big batch and freeze for different recipes (like chicken spaghetti)
Chicken Breasts (frozen)
Rotels
Pkg Taco Seasoning (1/2 if only 2 Breasts)
Taco Sauce
Cup of chicken broth
I made your sauce a bit thicker (flour) so I could add some of the juices from the chicken.
Your recipes are so good!
made these tonight. House smelled wonderful, but there was NO flavor. What could I have done wrong?
Probably just needed more salt!
We were part of the 50% that hadn’t heard of this meal before, but we’re definitely glad to have been introduced to it! The store was out of chow mein noodles, but I’m looking forward to trying it with them next time. Thanks, Mel!
I made this with evaporated milk because I had more of that on hand than fresh milk. It was very good. It definitely changed the taste. It made it taste creamier which my husband preferred while I prefer the original recipe. I would definitely use evaporated milk again if I was low on fresh milk!
I WAS WONDERING ABOUT THAT thank you 🙂
I’ve been meaning to find a non-cream of soup gravy recipe for years. I finally tried this one and we loved it! I used coconut and almond milk for my daughter who is lactose intolerant. Yum! Any idea how this would freeze?
It has gotten a little grainy when I’ve frozen it, but that is with dairy milk (I still freeze it though).
See, I essentially do the same thing as this, but half of the milk is sour cream. It gives it more of the flavor I like on hawaiian haystacks.
Thank you for finding a healthier way to enjoy an old favorite! Delicious!!!
Loved it! Used one of your reader’s recommendations and replaced half the milk with coconut milk and it was great. May use even more coconut milk next time.
We LOVE these.
How would you do this in a crockpot? I have to feed 35 people (mostly teenagers) and need this to be gluten free as well (can use gluten free flour for that)
I would make it on the stovetop and keep it warm in the slow cooker.
Hi Mel! I don’t know how I just discovered your site – everyone I excitedly tell about this amazing source of recipes already knew about it. Oh well. I just wanted to share an idea for this recipe – I planned to make it for dinner one night but ran out of time before I had somewhere I needed to go. So I sent the recipe to my husband and told him the plan, and he made it, and when I tried the leftovers it was a flavor explosion. He followed the recipe but made one change – he used canned coconut cream instead of milk. If you’re curious, try it and it will take the already yummy Hawaiian Haystacks to another level. Thank you for sharing so many amazing things!
That sounds amazing, thank you for the suggestion. I’m definitely going to try it!!
I want to make this for a neighbor party we’re having and have everyone bring toppings, but I’m wondering how much sauce I need for 12-15 adults? Oh, and do you think canned chicken would work in this recipe? I know fresh is best, but . . . Thanks!
Yes, I think canned chicken would work. And for that crowd, I’d probably triple the recipe.
Perfect! Thanks so much!