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.
I was not home and we wanted to make “Hawaiian Haystacks” I was disappointed to see that you “re-invented” this recipe. The sauce in the original is the best EVER! I use it in many recipes as a replacement for campbells chicken soup. So grateful I have it printed, I’ll need to make a back-up copy so I don’t ever lose the original.
Love your site, it’s my go-to for the best recipes! Keep up the great work.
Hey Annette – I haven’t changed this recipe since I posted it way back in 2010?? So I’m not sure why your printed copy would be different, but I can do some digging if that’s the case. Hmmm, odd!
yummy. we had the best hawaiian stackups tonight thanks to you. and easy! i’ll make it again.
I love this recipe. I make it gluten free with gluten free flour and it turns out fabulous. Definitely a win! So easy & quick.
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.
My family loved these Hawaiian haystacks! I found this because we were out of cream of chicken soup. We made it with almond milk. I will be using this again in the future instead of the traditional recipe.
We absolutely LOVE this recipe! I know there was one comment about freezing it. But does anyone else have experience with freezing this recipe?
I love this sauce. Any chance anyone has tried to make this dairy free? I am wondering how almond milk would be as a substitute…if anyone has tried it, is the flavor of the almond milk over powering? I don’t cook with almond milk – ever, but need a meal for someone with allergy
I’ve made a similar version of this with coconut milk and it is delicious. You could experiment with that to make it dairy free.
Has anyone tried making this a day or two ahead? Wondering if that would be OK…
I’ve made it 2-3 days ahead of time and kept it refrigerated – it’s a bit thicker upon reheating, but it tastes great.
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!
Does anyone know how to thicken without flour? I need to make this gluten free and with probably use cornstarch but trying to figure out when to add. Or if I should use another flour. (I’m not gluten free but am doing this for a church activity with people that are)
I made it tonight and used arrowroot starch. I am not sure how much I added though. It did thicken it :). I added it at the time it calls to add the flour. Hope that helps!
This is the best Hawaiian Haystack recipe I have ever had. The sauce is lovely and is a perfect base for all the yummy toppings! We have this often in our house. Thanks for the delicious recipe!
Mel–I love this recipe! I was about to make it tonight when I wondered if I could make it in my pressure cooker. Have you ever tried it? Do you think you could make the sauce with the rice and have it turn out alright?
I haven’t tried it since I’m a little leery of creamy sauces in the IP (I’ve had a couple burn). Let me know if you try it!
Love this sauce! My husband would never eat Hawaiian Haystacks before. He still doesn’t like to pile the toppings on but he loves the chicken and this sauce over rice.
This is one of our go to quick meals.
This is SO much better than the canned soup version. We love it! Thanks!
How many people does this recipe serve?
Never mind, I just saw you already answered that question below. 🙂 On a side note, it turns out this is a pretty Utah/mormon thing to make! I grew up in Provo and I thought everyone made it. But I’m conducting a cooking group with OT clients in Boston (where I live now), and no one has ever heard of hawaiian haystacks! They were intrigued, so we’re making it on Monday. Hopefully they like it! 🙂
Haha yes! I grew up in Utah too and we had this fairly often but when I moved to CA not many people had ever even heard of it. I do love this recipe and it tastes better than the canned soup version 🙂
How many does this serve? I’ll be making this for a ward dinner and planning on about 100 adults.
It serves about 5-6.
make chicken a’ la king — its a great creamy sauce w/o processed soup …. and I would use pineapple, mandarin oranges and coconut and cherry on top along with sliced grewn onions ,peas ,cheese
I am in charge of dinner one night for an upcoming reunion, and I am debating how much of the sauce to make. I am feeding 23 people (10 adults, 13 kids). I want enough, but I don’t want a ton leftover, as we drive home the next day. How much would you make? Also, could I make the sauce ahead and freeze it??? Or would that be a bad bad idea?
I haven’t frozen this sauce so I can’t say for sure but you could definitely make it ahead of time and refrigerate (2-3 days ahead of time). For that many people, I’d probably 4X or 5X the sauce. That’s just a guesstimate but should get you pretty close.
I have frozen it lots and lots of times (in quart size bags). I purposely make extra to freeze so I don’t ah e to make sauce the next time.
I put frozen bag in a large bowl of hot water to thaw – then dump it in pan and heat (and whisk like crazy). I will say texture is better fresh – but my kids/hubby/guests never know when I’ve frozen it first – it is not quite as creamy, but taste is still amazing and after all toppings are on you really don’t notice (unless you’re the one cooking it). 😉
Hi. Love this and so many of your other recipes! Just a logistic request … As I make shopping lists I usually just quickly scroll through ingredient lists. However to really make this dish pop, you need toppings such as those you list in the directions. My request for recipes like this is to make note of those suggested toppings in the ingredients list so I can quickly make my shopping list and am not stuck up the creek when I get set to cook. Many thanks for all your efforts!
Made this tonight and it was so so delish! Def going on the family menu!
Has anyone ever tried adding a little lemon-pepper to the sauce? Curious to know.
I make my sauce differently every time. I often use leftover cooked frozen turkey. It’s nice to see a recipe with no cream soup. I thought I’d share what toppings my friends and I have come up with. I love making the gravy and rice for a big group and assigning out toppings potluck style!
The Make-A-Mix Cookbook lists the following as topping ingredients to serve 6:
8-12 oz of “crunchy” chow mein noodles
3 med. tomatoes, sliced
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green or red bell pepper
1/2 c. chopped green onions or red onion
1 (20 oz.) can pineapple tidbits, drained
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 c. slivered almonds or sunflower seeds
1/2 c. coconut (Cassie prefers it toasted)
1 (2 oz.) jar pimento drained & diced (opt)
(in 30 years I have never used pimento)
My friends and I have also used:
frozen peas, thawed in warm water
sliced water chestnuts, chopped
1 can of beans, drained
cauliflower broken into small pieces
raw sliced mushrooms
grated carrots
peanuts
dry crushed Top Ramen noodles
drained mandarin oranges
raw or canned bean sprouts
Love that you posted the recipe from the Make-A-Mix cookbook! My mom always used those toppings too. So now I use the topping ideas from the cookbook and Mel’s sauce recipe. Excellent combination!
When I was in school we had Hawaiian Haystacks but I think it was a ground meat sauce!? Served with a churro! I really enjoy the homemade sauce and I like making them!
We are gluten free at our house but love Hawaiian Haystacks. I made the sauce with sweet rice flour and it turned out great. I made the sauce and poured it over a few pieces of frozen chicken breasts in a crock pot and let it cook away. It tasted amazing. Today I’m going to make it into a few freezer meals. Thanks for the recipe.
Mel- I’m wondering what’s the best way to make this for a large group (say, 30 people). It would need to be prepped ahead of time (for a luncheon after a baby blessing). Would a crock pot work? Would I need to change anything?
Lafayette – I think making the sauce on the stovetop according to the recipe (and increasing as necessary) and keeping it warm in the crockpot would work great – just be sure the crockpot doesn’t cook it at too high of heat; just a little warming action.
We had this last night for dinner; I used no milk (just more chicken broth) in your awesome recipe. Also used whole grain flour as we have eliminated all the “white stuff” from our pantry, and a pint of home-canned chicken[+ its juices] (which is ridiculously easy with a pressure canner and a good source for fresh chicken). We had it over brown rice and added red pepper, pineapple and sliced, toasted almonds to toppings. Delicious! Thanks so much for contributing a re-do recipe that can now be reinstituted into our recipe rotation.
Made this tonight for 5 families (including mine) and it was a hit! Multiplied the recipe by 6 and although it took awhile to thicken, it sure did and got rave reviews from my fam! Made it gluten free by using corn starch instead of flour. Thanks for another fab recipe Mel!
My family has never been a fan of the can soup gravy either. We started putting sweet and sour sauce on top. I think I will give your recipe a try also.
I thought I would post a comment since this is probably the 15th time I have used this recipe! My family loves it! 🙂
Just wanted to say thank you for this recipe! We’ve been using it since 2011 and we are so glad to get away from the cream of chicken soup – tastes so much better! Recently lost my hard copy and had to search again for your post and just so glad its still here! Many thanks for sharing.
I don’t love chicken gravy of any kind, so I bagged it altogether and we top our Hawaiian Haystacks with Coconut milk. It’s a little bit of heaven. Give it a try.
Another grand slam thanks to you 🙂 I had never made this dish before but it was my favorite hot lunch in grade school and my mom used to make it too! I made this version tonight and my husband said that it was the best meal I have made for him ever and we have been married for almost three years! He said I should make it weekly. There is nothing I love more than making people happy with delicious food so thank you, thank you, thank you! P.s. we added salsa and sour cream to the toppings you suggested and it was delicious!
haha, just saw that I already commented on this one.
I love this meal! We make it all the time!
Hawaiian Haystacks!! My most favorite meal! We also add shredded coconut and slivered almonds to your list of yummy toppings. I even like it meatless. Will try your recipe. Sounds very tasty.
So I just have to leave a comment about this recipe…. A couple of years ago I was searching for ideas for this meal because I was in charge of a family reunion dinner for about 40 people. I came across your blog and this recipe, thought it looked great but not practical as we were camping on the beach and I needed super easy, dump it in and be done. Fast forward to now: tonight I made your sauce for dinner and it was delish!! The only thing I added was a dash of curry to the sauce (that’s what I always did when I used C of C soup). We all loved the sauce and I loved making it from scratch instead of the can. And in the intervening years, I’ve used dozens of recipes from your blog, so yummy and amazing! Our family’s favorite is recipe is the outrageous eskimo bars! So anyway, thought I’d share my thanks to you for all your amazing recipes. From another Mom of 5 to you, you’re amazing and appreciated!! 🙂
Hi Mel, I have now made this several times, and we LOVE it! Such a yummy healthy dinner that the kids love too! We put it over brown rice.
I used coconut oil instead of butter and it was to die for!!!!
GREAT RECIPE. MY FAMILY LOVED IT.
I love this. I adore the idea of hawaiian haystacks, but I just can’t do the cream of soup things. I searched all over for a from scratch recipe when I found this and it’s now my go to. It’s been delicious every time.
Thanks!
I made this last night for dinner and my hubby and I loved it! Thanks for a great, easy recipe. I’m wondering if the sauce would freeze well – what do you think? 🙂
Kellie – I’ve never frozen this but I think it’s probably worth a try (sometimes cream-type sauces get a little grainy after being frozen).
Hi Mel! If I’m going to use leftover cooked chicken – how many cups should I use? maybe about 1 or 1.5? roasting a chicken (your honey one) this week and will have lots of extra cooked chicken.
Hey Katie – I’d say anywhere between 1-2 cups would be good.
Thank you so much for this! I haven’t made these in years because I didn’t want to make the cream of chicken gravy. This was a fantastic alternative!!
Sometimes to add a bit of depth to the flavor of the gravy I add a dash or two of soy sauce. It gives it a bit more savory flavor. I may try adding some pineapple juice as others suggested. My kids love this standby and it’s fun for company if you don’t know if they are picky. I love meals where everyone can add or leave out what they want.
I bet you haven’t heard these called “Javonese Montains”. Have a printed recipe that goes back 30+ years. I also wanted to make for a group gathering, but just would not consider using canned cream of mushroom soup! I googled “Javonese Mountains” to no avail, but while pinning another recipe from your site stumbled onto your Hawaiian Haystacks.
Thanks for sharing this new take and I will make a trial run this week.
Hawaiian hay stacks
Ashley – I use a variation of this creamy sauce in recipes that I want to sub out the cream of chicken soup. Usually I just make a flour roux (like in this recipe) with onions or garlic or whatever other spices might compliment and use chicken broth and/or milk to help thicken it up. I’m working on actually getting the amounts down pat so I can post how to sub it in but for now, I just vary it for each recipe and it usually works great.
Hi…love that this can be substituted for cream of chicken soup in this dish. Out of curiosity, have you tried to use this sauce in other dishes that call for cream of chicken? I love love love casseroles and they’re in just about every casserole recipe I have (we’re in the deep south!).
Love your blog…look forward to reading it every week when I’m at work.
Hey Mel, I had to let you know, that once again I have shared one of your recipes on my blog, this time it was this recipe. Thanks for sharing! I have seriously been making this for a while now. http://brittsapron.blogspot.com/2012/08/hawaiian-haystacks-w-homemade-chicken.html
I must admit to never commenting on a recipe but just can’t help chiming in. I made a recipe like this called Javan Sundae in the 80’s and 90’s usually when we had company. We used a rice or chow mein noodle base, grated sharp cheddar, chopped celery and green onion, chicken cubes, spicey gravy followed by the “sundae” part consisting of coconut, pineapple and a maraschino cherry. Surprisingly delicious as your dish sounds! Thanks for reminding me of it and making a homemade gravy! I, too, have not used the condenses soups for years now. LOVE YOUR SITE!! THANK YOU!!