I’d like to apologize in advance to any Southerners reading this. Yes, your Grandmother’s biscuits and gravy were better than anything I’ll ever make. I don’t deserve to even call this biscuits and gravy. I’m a damn Yankee, and I should stick to beef stroganoff and croutons.
Good, that’s out of the way?
Now, if you don’t already have your own tried-and-true sausage gravy recipe, this one should do just fine for a start.
Ingredients
2 pounds bulk breakfast sausage
2-4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons all purpose flour
4 cups cold milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Cook the sausage over high heat in a stainless or cast iron pan. Don’t use non-stick, you want to get brown bits. Crumble the sausage up as much as possible.
That’s the Pampered Chef Mix ‘N Chop
Once the sausage is browned all over, remove it to a bowl using a slotted spoon. (Use the same serving bowl you’re going to put the finished gravy in.) Leave the rendered fat — okay, the grease — in the pan. You’ll need it to make the roux.
Now you can see those brown bits I mentioned. That’s pure flavor right there.
You can also see I didn’t have much grease left, so I upped the butter. You want about one tablespoon of fat for each tablespoon of flour. Add the butter and return the pan to low heat. Seriously, turn it down. You don’t want to burn your roux.
When the butter is nearly melted, add the flour and stir. Keep stirring until the flour is completely incorporated, and the roux starts to turn the barest shade darker.
Add the milk, turn the heat up to medium, and scrape up as much as you can of the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
Add a generous helping of fresh ground pepper and, depending on how salty your sausage is, add salt.
Keep stirring over medium until the gravy starts bubbling steady.
Add the sausage back in and stir until the sausage is warmed back up.
Transfer the sausage gravy to a serving bowl and cover it with a plate to keep the heat and steam in.
Rip the biscuits in half and cover them with sausage gravy.
Because it was my first time making them — and yes, because I’m a damn Yankee — my biscuits weren’t flaky enough to cut easily with a fork. Good buttermilk biscuits are light and fluffy all the way through. Mine had a delicious, but slightly chewy, crust. Great for a dinner roll, not so much for biscuits and gravy.
So I used them for scoops instead.
And that’s it.
If this recipe offends the memory of your Nana … If you’d like to list all the things I did wrong … If you want to tell me I forgot to put the milk in the ingredients picture (yeah, I noticed) … Comments are open, let’s see what you’ve got.
34 Comments
Man, now I want biscuits and gravy. But I make mine the lazy way. I’ve certainly never been ambitious (or patient) enough to make the biscuits on my own.
Of course, rip the biscuits up before pouring the sausage over, that’s what I should have done. Thanks for the tip.
Hey Drew,
I LOVED IT SO MUCH!
I just tried your gravy and it Rocks! I didn’t use as much meet as you, but IT turned out great. I loved it!! Now that being said.. This was my first time ever cooking gravy and the direction were so easy to follow.
I though I had gravy mix in the cupboard already, but to my surprise there wasn’t any.
Which is sad since I LOVE Biscuits and Gravy ( it reminds me of my Grandpa taking me out to get some).
I got to say it Flaky biscuits are the way to go from the can… I am lazy too
Thanks again for the recipe I will keep this one.
Trac
Tracey, there’s no shame in only making half a meal from scratch. I still keep some stuff in the pantry for when life gets too hectic and I need something fast. But the more I make things from scratch, the easier it gets.
One by one, I’m adding things to the list that I don’t buy any more. It doesn’t happen all at once.
My grandmother never made this (New Orleans is actually one area of the south where gravy and such are not prevalent–it’s the Cajun thing), but . . . NO. NO SOURDOUGH BISCUITS WITH SAUSAGE GRAVY. Totally ruins the gravy. Besides, baking powder biscuits take about 5 minutes to make and will be flaky. And they taste better. But that’s just MY opinion, of course.
Oh, but yum, biscuits and gravy . . . that will give me something to dream about today as I slave in the garden.
Hi kids. This is Kristin.
“Hi, Kristin!“
Kristin doesn’t like sourdough. Does Kristin like sourdough, kids?
“No, she doesn’t!“
Does she like sourdough bread?
“No, she doesn’t!“
Does she like sourdough biscuits?
“No, she doesn’t!“
Does she like sourdough biscuits with her sausage gravy?
“No, she doesn’t!“
Okay, so now we all know that … Kristin doesn’t like sourdough!
[cheers ... clapping ... whistling ...]
Now now, settle down kids.
And now that we all know Kristin doesn’t like sourdough … what does that mean?
“She doesn’t need to keep SHOUTING IT AT US EVERY TIME WE POST A FREAKIN’ RECIPE.“
That’s right, kids. You sure are smart.
I agree with Jenn. Those biscuits in the can are just fine for the 2 of us! They would be just fine if all 17 of us were to eat them for breakfast.
FYI: I just ordered 4 of the Pampered chef tool…Stocking stuffers for my girls, my sis, and ME!
You asked for it . . . You keep posting sourdough recipes, I keep posting comments about my dislike of All Things Sourdough. I can’t help it–it’s an instinctual reaction.
But thank you for introducing me so kindly to your readers.
I don’t normally comment, but I would suggest that you leave the sausage in when you make the roux. A lot of fat sticks to the sausage when you pull it out and you can end up with a nice pool of it sitting on top of your gravy after adding it back in.
If I’m also making bacon I use the grease from that instead of butter. But pretty much any fat will do.
You might also point out that you shouldn’t make this in a sauce pan unless you want to be standing at the stove for a while. The extra surface area of a skillet allows quicker evaporation and thus thickening of the gravy.
Just my 2 cents.
I think this looks fine! and good! Hard to imagine a bad plate of biscuits and gravy – from a southern born and bred girl now living in…Omaha, NE???
Trish
Linda, I knew I should have set up that Amazon affiliate link sooner.
Richard, I’ve burned the roux once or twice because I’m impatient. I didn’t want to take any chances with this one. I’ll probably save the step next time, though.
I don’t know that the thickening really came from evaporation. I suspect it was more because of the gluten in the flour. It thickened up in less than five minutes on low heat. I just don’t think there was enough time for much evaporation.
Trish, if you can’t imagine bad biscuits and gravy, you’ve clearly never been in the military.
To me this looks perfect! Simple to do when I’m trying to make breakfast before I’m fully coherent which usually doesn’t happen until after noon.
I do the lazy drop biscuit and this will be a good partner for those. I just drooled on myself a little bit..sorry about that.
Hi Kristin. I’ve heard you don’t like sourdough.
)
I learned to cook my great- grandmother’s sausage gravy in Kentucky. Your gravy looks fine, although the amount of sausage surprised me. I generally make a thinner gravy with less meat in it because I like the sweetness of the milk when it cooks down–but to each his own, of course. I agree with Richard about leaving the sausage in, but then, I’m usually dealing with about 1/2-1 lb. in a batch.
Well, I happen to LOVE sourdough. And there’s no way in H-E-double-toothpicks that I’d mix sourdough and gravy. So it’s not just “weird kristin” who thinks that
(I’m not debating her being weird, just that she’s not the only one)
That said, I don’t add butter. What would be the point of keeping all that bacon grease if I had no place to use it? It’s mighty hard to hide from the husband though.
Biscuits and gravy is my husband’s absolute favorite breakfast dish. He’s going to be very happy come Saturday morning when I make this! I cheat on the biscuit part though – I buy White Lily frozen biscuits – they are amazing (not the same as homemade, but still very good)!
April, drool is okay.
Kerry, the recipe I started from called for a half-pound. Whoever thinks that would be enough have never seen my girls work their way through cooked pig products.
Meadowlark, do you have to hide it because he’ll throw it out, or because he’ll eat it all?
Any, half a meal from scratch is better than getting the whole thing in a box.
Throw it out. Isn’t that sad.
It would be sadder if he knew that his favorite loaf of italian olive bread – yup, that’s where it gets the kick a#* flavor.
Yes, that is sad. I just read your comment to my wife, and she said you should tell him what’s in the bread. She used to think it was gross when I used it, but now she uses it for cooking all her eggs.
Tell her it TOTALLY would not happen like that. He is so weird in that he hears “fat” and is like “oooh. can’t eat that”. As he polishes off a piece of pizza.
I’m working on him. I’m making him eat food closer to its original form and avoiding all things processed. We’re at about 70%.
Hey, Drew,
I got my Pampered Chef mashing tools today! Now I need to get busy and start cooking!
Linda, isn’t that supposed to go in the stocking for Christmas?
Yes, Drew, they will go in the Christmas stockings…for the girls. I get MINE NOW! LOL!
Im making biscuits and gravy tonight, except I’m making good ol sourcream drop biscuits- which are very flavorful, and, if you wanted to be like Red Lobster, you could throw in some cheese and a few dashes of garlic when you make the dough, then slather with butter when they’re done (You could slather them with garlic butter… mm).
I think you did us Southerners well. (Although, I have to ask- would you like some gravy with your sausage? I’ve never seen so much sausage in gravy! Bet it tasted good though!)
Also have to say ditto to Kristins note on no sourdough biscuits unless using as a roll. And, her recommendation of baking powder biscuits is a good one. Not a lot of ingredients. Hard to screw up. (Not that you would, of course.)
Mandy, I must have read that wrong, because it almost looked like you were saying there was too much sausage. And that clearly wouldn’t make any sense.
Thanks for the reminder about Red Lobster’s biscuits. I’ve been wanting to try something like them.
great recipe. thanks! i also leave the sausage in pan when i make the roux. for a diner variation i have made it with beer brats over cheddar bisquits. yum.
Ooh, that opens up all kinds of ideas for other kinds of sausage and other kinds of biscuits. Kind of reminds me of the polish hot sausage hash browns I made a while back. Swap out biscuits for the potatoes, maybe swap sauerkraut for the onions … lots of ideas here.
So I planned on making sausage gravy and biscuits tomorrow morning and searched until I found what might be the bvest recipe, needless to say I’m done reading. I will let you know how it turns out, thank you for the post. And I;m a yankee myself!
From one Yankee to another, we can say this is good, just don’t tell any southerners it’s authentic.
NEVER EVER use sourdough for anything to do with bisquits and gravy……are you insane? ;{>
I hate sourdough.
You and Kristin both. I'll just have to live with your disapproval, because I found them pretty doggone tasty.
From a Californian's point of view (please don't lump me in with the wierdos), sourdough can do anything. I've always gone with baking powder biscuits though because I like them so much.
I sometimes add red pepper flakes/or powder to the gravy for a good kick and I usually leave the sausage in the pan during the rue making process for laziness sake, but the facts are that this recipe will have you making great biscuits and gravy.
I must also say that biscuits and gravy will make you a better person than counting carbs and trans fats will. I also like the idea of breaking the biscuits into pieces; sourdough will now be even more omnipotent. Sourdough is so great at complimenting so many flavors. I must rush to my stove to experiment…. and eat. Thankyou Mr. Drew Kime for this write-up; I believe I have a few good meals ahead because of the ideas and your commentors you have introduced.
Oh no, you're not one of those San Francisco sourdough snobs are you? (Lookit me, the Philly cheesesteak snob worrying about someone else's food snobbery.)
all sausage and gravy is not complete without some ground sage mixed in with the gravy, it makes it sooo much better!
Or you can get sausage that already has the sage in it.