Sausage Gravy is a simple and tasty recipe made from pork sausage and cream and a few other simple ingredients. Serve over warm biscuits or fried chicken!
Sausage Gravy is a way of life in the south. Traditionally made for breakfast, you can serve it anytime of the day or for brinner (breakfast for dinner). Sausage gravy is the ultimate comfort food! I like it best served over freshly baked Buttermilk Biscuits, but it’s just as good over country fried chicken and alongside breaded chicken tenders for dipping.
SAUSAGE GRAVY
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Learning to make a sausage gravy recipe is almost a rite of passage in the south. You attend cotillion, have a coming out party, and then learn to prepare sausage gravy. Sausage Gravy is a cooking basic. There are the 5 French mother sauces… and then sausage gravy. Entire restaurants are judged based on their gravy alone.
What is sausage gravy
- The basic recipe for homemade sausage gravy is a simple combination of sausage, flour, milk, salt, and pepper.
- If the recipe is so easy, what makes them all so different? There are a couple of answers and the most basic is the type and quality of sausage you use. This is pure preference. Sweet, spicy, smoky, whatever you please! The rendered fat from your sausage will serve as the base for a roux.
Roux, traditionally made with butter, is nothing but a mix of flour and rendered fat. If you purchase precooked sausage, you can use reserved bacon fat, but also butter. The roux will deepen in flavor depending on how long you allow it to brown. A “white roux” is basically just mixed with butter and flour. A “blonde roux” is cooked slightly longer resulting in a blonder hue. And lastly, the mother of all roux with the maximum amount of flavor is the brown roux, which smells nutty and is packed with flavor.
How to make sausage gravy
- Make a white-blond roux for this creamy sausage gravy.
- The next step is easy but overlooked by so many. Add the milk slowly and whisk like your life depends on it. Just like combing cornstarch or flour with any sauce, you want to add a small amount and allow it to become fully incorporated and creamy. This prevents lumps from forming in your gravy. No one wants lumpy gravy.
- Lastly, you can make some small changes to your basic Sausage gravy by adding fresh herbs or spices. Some of the more popular include rosemary, thyme, sage or smoked paprika.
- Label your gravy over freshly baked biscuits for the best sausage gravy and biscuits ever!!
You can also try Sausage Gravy smothered over my super secret chef recipe for ultimate Buttermilk Fried Chicken or even Chicken Fried Bacon!
Want more must make brunch recipes?
- Cheesy Bacon Oven Potatoes
- Apple Cinnamon Puffed Pancake
- Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole
- Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
- Ham & Egg Baked Taquitos
- Monte Cristo
- Sausage Cheese Balls
- More breakfast recipes…
Tools used to make this Sausage Gravy recipe
Cast Iron Skillet: This cast iron skillet is one of my most treasured pieces of cookware. I’ve had mine for years and make everything from breakfast to dinner and dessert in it!
Large Skillet: This skillet is my go-to kitchen tool. It’s large circumference and high sides make it perfect for cooking anything from one pan meals to soups and sauces.
Wooden Spoon: Wooden spoons are a kitchen essential. I keep a bunch of them on hand for every meal from breakfast to dinner.
Whisk: This is my favorite set of whisks. There’s a size for every job and the thicker handles give me a good grip.
Ingredients
- 1 pound breakfast sausage
- ¼ cup flour
- 3 cups milk
- ¼ teaspoon Seasoned salt plus more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon Black pepper plus more to taste
- 1 teaspoon Fresh herbs finely chopped, optional (ex. sage)
- 12 biscuits
Instructions
- In a large frying pan or skillet, cook breakfast sausage over medium heat, breaking apart into crumbles as it cooks. Once cooked and no longer pink, approximately 10 minutes, remove meat using a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate. Reserve rendered pork fat in the pan.
- Reduce heat to low and stir in flour. Continue to stir until it makes a paste and turns a light brown. (If needed, add 1 to tablespoons butter to make sure there's enough fat for a paste.)
- Add 1/4 cup milk, whisking (or stirring well using the back of a spoon) to break apart the flour clumps. Whisk until smooth. Add remaining milk in 3 additions, whisking after each to prevent lumps, until gravy begins to thicken.
- Add cooked sausage back to the pan, stirring until combine and coated in gravy.
- Add seasoned salt and pepper to the gravy. Taste gravy and add more seasoning to your tastes. (I like my gravy peppery, so I add 1/2 teaspoon.) Add fresh herbs, if desired.
- Spoon over freshly baked biscuits while gravy is still hot.
Nutrition
P. Sellars says
Delicious! I made a half recipe with Bob Evans sausage and leftover Popeye’s biscuits. I’ll definitely do this again.
mark l wood says
Now your talking! I’m a 66 yr. old man but I love your site. I used to make gravy out of anything. Even fried bologna. Not bad over bread if your hungry.
Aubrey Cota says
Thank you so much, Mark. I’ve never tried Bologna Gravy, I’ll have to think about that one. 🙂
Cletus Stufflebarge says
Lots of possibilities. A chicken bouillon cube is popular. A little bit of crushed Fennel is good, some people like to add a little coffee (freeze dried) too. I like Cayenne too, just a pinch or two. Not enough to make it real hot, but bring out the flavor. 1/2 & 1/2 in lieu of whole milk makes for a a fine sausage gravy.
Aubrey Cota says
Thank you!
Marni says
This is also a favorite in our house .. I have never used season salt in mine, this I will definitely have to try!! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Aubrey Cota says
Can’t go wrong with sausage gravy right!! I think you’ll find that the seasoned salt just adds that little extra something!