Best Fat Separators for Turkey Gravy: What the Test Kitchens Found

Gerzsi’s day off: Biscuit doesn’t plan walks. He follows his nose, and on Sunday his nose walked us both straight into Chef Tamás’s kitchen, where a turkey was resting. I was in charge of the drippings. I poured them into a measuring cup and tried to spoon the fat off the top. Ten minutes later I had a greasy spoon, half a cup of gravy base and a basset with gravy on both ears. Chef Tamás stopped laughing long enough to hand me a fat separator. Thirty seconds. Clean juice. Biscuit was very disappointed.

Gerzsi and friends are made up. The gear and the test results are real.

A fat separator is a measuring pitcher with a trick. You pour in hot drippings or stock, wait a minute for the fat to float, and then pour or drain the good juice out from underneath. It is the quickest way to get gravy that tastes like turkey instead of like grease.

There are two kinds. A pitcher has a spout that starts near the bottom, so the juice pours out first. A bottom-drainer has a valve in the base that you open with a squeeze or a lever. America’s Test Kitchen tested both kinds with chicken stock poured from a ladle, from a roasting pan and from a saucepan full of herbs and peppercorns. They also ran the separators through the dishwasher and clicked the valves open and shut 150 times. Reviewed’s tester, chef Lindsay D. Mattison, rated how well each one separated, strained, poured and measured. Milk Street compared pitchers, bottom-drainers, fat-skimming ladles and plain paper towels.

Quick picks

Four fat separators, side by side

Fat separator	Type	About	What the testers found
OXO Good Grips Good Gravy, 4 Cup · See today’s price	Bottom-drainer	$33	ATK winner, Reviewed Best Overall. Fine strainer, clear red lines, no leaks after 150 clicks. The valve takes a firm squeeze.
OXO Good Grips 4 Cup Fat Separator · See today’s price	Pitcher with plug	$20	ATK Recommended, Reviewed Best Value. Comfortable handle, easy-to-read lines. Big strainer holes let a few peppercorns through.
Cuisipro 4 Cup Fat Separator · See today’s price	Bottom-drainer	$40	ATK Recommended. Removed the most fat in every ATK test. Markings are hard to read, and Reviewed found it slow to drain.
Trudeau 4 Cup Gravy Separator · See today’s price	Pitcher	no price listed	ATK Best Buy. Largest strainer, nearly as good as the winner. Small handle, faint lines, loose strainer.

1. OXO Good Grips Good Gravy Fat Separator: the one both testers picked

America’s Test Kitchen named it the winner, at about $33. The strainer on top has lots of small holes, the red measurement lines are easy to read, and the release valve stayed sealed after 150 open-and-close cycles and repeated trips through the dishwasher. The one drawback in their notes: you need a strong squeeze to open the valve.

Reviewed also called it the Best Overall and listed no cons. Their tester liked that the trigger is easy to control and that the silicone-lined drain hole keeps splashing down.

Good for: anyone making gravy for a crowd, and anyone who makes stock often. Not for: people with weak hands who will struggle with a stiff trigger.

2. OXO Good Grips 4 Cup Fat Separator: the cheap one that works

This is the classic pour-spout pitcher, at about $20. A silicone plug sits in the spout while the fat rises, then you pull it and pour. ATK recommends it for its comfortable handle and easy-to-read lines. They noted the plug works well with big batches but less well with small ones, and that the large strainer holes let some peppercorns slip through.

Reviewed named it the Best Value and called it one of the most effective spout-style separators they tried. Their only complaint was the same: the strainer could be finer.

Good for: a once-a-year gravy maker, or a gift for a first Thanksgiving host. Not for: small amounts of drippings, where a pitcher lets fat into the spout near the end.

3. Cuisipro 4 Cup Fat Separator: for the leanest stock

Another bottom-drainer, about $40. In ATK’s tests it removed the most fat every single time, and it was the easiest to wash by hand. The markings are hard to read. ATK’s first sample cracked after ten washes and 150 uses, so after reader complaints they tested it again and found no cracks or leaks.

Reviewed agreed it separates fat very well with very little waste, but found it somewhat slow to drain and its measurements a little off.

Good for: stock and soup people who want every bit of fat gone. Not for: anyone who needs to read the lines across the kitchen.

4. Trudeau 4 Cup Gravy Separator: big strainer, low price

ATK’s Best Buy and a former favorite of theirs. It is a low pitcher with the largest strainer in the test, and it performed nearly as well as the winner. The downsides: measurement lines that are hard to read, a small handle, and a strainer that warped slightly after washing and sits loosely. ATK didn’t list a price, so check the button.

Good for: pouring drippings with lots of herbs and bits in them. Not for: people who wash everything in the dishwasher.

Skip these: ATK didn’t recommend the Catamount 4-Cup (narrow spout that spilled, and it doesn’t hold 4 cups) or the Küchenprofi Gravy Separator (slow strainer, lines off by up to half a cup). Reviewed found the Swing-A-Way Easy Release can’t hold a full 4 cups either.

Fat separator FAQ

Pitcher or bottom-drain, which is better?

ATK preferred bottom-drainers. The fat stays on top while the juice drains from the base, so less fat sneaks out. With a pitcher, some fat can get into the spout near the end of the pour. Milk Street’s favorite, on the other hand, was a glass side-pour pitcher, because it gave them precise control. Both work. The bottom-drainer is just more forgiving.

What size do I need?

Four cups. ATK found that several separators sold as 4-cup models hold less than that, which means pouring in batches. Every pick in this guide held a true 4 cups in their test.

Can it go in the dishwasher?

Many say they can, but ATK recommends washing them by hand with soap and hot water. In their tests the dishwasher often caused cracking, warping and faded measurement lines.

Can’t I just use a spoon?

You can. Milk Street found a plain spoon worked almost as well as their favorite separator, it just took longer. On Thanksgiving, with everyone waiting and the turkey resting, those minutes count. Paper towels were the worst option in their test.

Is a fat separator a good gift?

For someone hosting their first Thanksgiving, yes. It is cheap, it fits in a drawer, and it fixes the most common gravy problem. Pair it with a good instant-read thermometer and they’re set.

The bottom line

Buy the OXO Good Grips Good Gravy Fat Separator. Two separate testers put it on top, it doesn’t leak, and it costs about $33. If you only make gravy once a year, the $20 OXO pitcher does the job. If you make a lot of stock and want it as lean as possible, look at the Cuisipro.

Test-kitchen tested. Beaver-approved. Basset-disappointed.

Sources

• America’s Test Kitchen: The Best Fat Separators, by Miye Bromberg (June 11, 2025)
• Reviewed: The Best Fat Separators, by Lindsay D. Mattison (updated March 12, 2024)
• Milk Street: Fat Separators (November–December 2024 issue)

Prices are the ones the testers listed, checked in November 2026. Prices change often, so tap a button for today’s. Wirecutter and Serious Eats weren’t readable for this topic when this guide was written, so nothing here is attributed to them.