Biscuits and Gravy Recipe
Our easy homemade Biscuits and Gravy Recipe is true to the classic Southern breakfast of creamy sausage gravy over flaky, buttery biscuits. It’s simple to make and so satisfying.
This hearty dish is a staple meal in the South that has become part of Southern cuisine, similar to Banana Pudding, Shrimp Boil, and Mississippi Pot Roast. While everyone says their Grandma made it best, there’s one thing we can all agree on: it makes for one delicious start to your day.
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Homemade Biscuits and Gravy Recipe
We don’t go out to eat for breakfast often, but when we do, I love to order biscuits and gravy – it’s the ultimate breakfast comfort food, but now I make them even better at home!
This Biscuits and Gravy recipe, sometimes called Sawmill Gravy, uses flour, butter, milk, and sausage, staple ingredients found inexpensively at your local grocery. Here are more reasons why we love it:
- Simple to make so it’s perfect for beginner and seasoned chefs alike
- Crowd-pleasing recipe is loved by adults and kids
- Has a short list of ingredients
- Easy to make ahead for a quick meal
- Filling enough for breakfast or dinner
- Easy to adjust the recipe to fit your tastes
Classic Country Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
Homemade biscuits are easy to make and are amazing when freshly baked— warm and flaky just out of the oven. Using our Homemade Biscuits recipe, you can make the dough the night before, and bake the biscuits while you make the sausage gravy for a quick 15-minute meal.
To make the dough, you’ll need a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour or pulse together in a food processor. Once the ingredients are together, be careful not to over-mix.
Pro Tip
For the best Biscuits: make sure your butter and half and half are very cold. You can make half and half by combining equal parts of milk and heavy cream. I recognize that measurement is an odd duck, but it works. I’ve dialed it in so if you measure your ingredients correctly, they will be perfect every time!
Ingredients
Our classic Biscuits and Gravy recipe stays true to basic tried-and-true dishes using these simple, inexpensive ingredients:
- Homemade Biscuit Recipe – these are easier than you think and hands-down the best way to make this recipe, but the canned biscuits or mixes like Bisquick can work in a pinch
- Butter – unsalted helps you control the salt to your liking. Butter keeps the sausage from sticking and adds richness to the gravy
- Sausage – Sausage brands can vary a ton from sweet to spicy, so start with your favorite breakfast sausage and it’s ok to experiment with different varieties. They usually come in a rolled package, like Bob Evans’ brand.
- Flour – all-purpose flour thickens the sauce
- Milk – low fat or whole milk will give the best texture
- Sea salt and pepper – just these two seasonings flavor the gravy perfectly. Taste and season to your liking
- Red Pepper Flakes – optional for those who like a touch of heat.
Did you know…
The difference between Country gravy and Sausage gravy is the source of fat used to make the gravy. Country gravy uses butter to make the roux, similar to how we make our Chicken Pot Pie, while sausage gravy uses the fat rendered from cooking the meat to make the gravy.
Substitutions
Centuries of cooks have added their own tweaks to the classic recipe that dates back to the late 1800’s. Here are some of the variations that may inspire your adventurous side:
- Sausage – Hot, mild, or maple sausages are favorites. We’ve heard of cooks using ground beef, bacon, and even chorizo!
- Spices – Sage is a favorite spice to add. Also Thyme, rosemary, cayenne, or creole seasoning. Add to the cooked sausage before adding the flour and milk
- Vegetables – jalapeños add heat; mushrooms and caramelized onions can add earthy depth to the gravy right before serving.
How to Make Biscuits and Gravy
See how easy it is to put this homemade biscuits and sausage gravy recipe on the table for your next breakfast gathering.
- Make the biscuits. Make the biscuit dough and bake according to our easy homemade Biscuits Recipe. While the biscuits bake, start the gravy.
- Melt butter in the cast iron skillet over medium-high heat and cook sausage. When just cooked through, reduce heat to medium, and sprinkle flour over the cooked meat. Then stir constantly for 3 minutes or until the flour smell is gone.
- Slowly add milk while stirring occasionally. Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes (if using).
- Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for about 5 minutes or until the sauce has become thick and creamy, and then season again if needed.
- Serve the gravy over a split biscuit–yum!
Pro Tip:
To make the best gravy, be sure the flour smell has disappeared before adding the milk to remove the pasty taste. The flour should be lightly browned. Also, do not drain the sausage fat after cooking, because the fat helps to make the gravy roux.
How to Serve Biscuits and Gravy
To serve our homemade biscuits and gravy, split the cooled biscuit in half and spoon the sausage gravy over the top. It’s traditionally served for breakfast alongside other breakfast foods, but it is also delicious for dinner. Here are a few of our favorite sides:
- Fruit Salad with Citrus and Honey Syrup
- Scrambled Eggs or Poached Eggs
- Sautéed Apples
- Hash Browns
- Baked Bacon
- Waffles
- Cucumber Tomato Avocado Salad
- Marinated Tomatoes
Make-Ahead
Make the gravy and biscuit dough the night before. Then in the morning, it’s simple to reheat the gravy while the biscuits cook.
- To Refrigerate: Wrap the biscuit dough in plastic wrap to keep overnight. Let the gravy cool completely and then refrigerate in an airtight container for 2-3 days.
- Freezing: After completely cooled, freeze the gravy for 3-5 months.
- To Reheat: Let the gravy thaw in the fridge overnight. Then slowly reheat on the stove on low stirring occasionally. Add a splash of milk to thin.
Pro Tip
Serve the gravy warm, because it will get thicker as it cools. For feeding a crowd, leave it covered on the stove in the warm or low setting, but if it gets too thick, simply add a bit of milk to thin.
This Southern Biscuits and Gravy recipe is a hearty, comfort food that’s quick and easy to make. You’ll love the flaky homemade biscuits smothered in the rich gravy, so don’t wait to try this breakfast dish!
More Breakfast and Brunch Recipes
If you love this Sausage Gravy and Biscuits Recipe, then you won’t want to miss these other special occasion breakfast recipes:
- Easy Frittata Recipe
- Classic French Toast
- Perfect Omelette
- Easy Shakshuka Recipe
- Eggs Benedict
- Cinnamon Rolls
- Breakfast Tacos
Biscuits and Gravy Recipe
Ingredients
For the Biscuits:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder, (aluminum-free)
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 3/4 tsp salt, (we use fine sea salt)
- 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, (8 Tbsp)
- 1 cup cold half and half, less 2 Tbsp*
- 1/2 Tbsp melted butter, to brush the baked biscuits
For the Sausage Gravy
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 lb breakfast sausage, casings removed
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 cups milk, low fat or whole milk
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt, or to taste
- 1 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
- Make your biscuit dough and bake according to our Biscuits Recipe. While the biscuits are baking, make the sausage gravy so they are ready at the same time.
- Melt 2 Tbsp butter in a large heavy skillet or cast iron pan over medium-high heat and add sausage. Sauté, breaking it up with a spatula until just cooked through (5 min). Reduce heat to medium, sprinkle flour over the top and stir constantly for 3 minutes.
- Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, if using.
- Reduce heat to a simmer and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened up nicely into a rich and creamy sauce (about 5 minutes). To thin the sauce, add a little more milk. Season to taste at the end if needed.
- Break or cut biscuits in half and spoon sausage gravy over biscuits then serve.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Can’t wait to try this recipe! But girl, please dial down on the amount of ads on your pages. It’s impossible to scroll through the recipes and read them when there’s constantly a gazillion ads, popping up and loading constantly. I barely made it to the comment section without like 36 ads attacking me.
Thank you for sharing your concerns and feedback. The only way we can continue providing free recipes is by having ads on our site, so we are not able to remove those at this time. We find that most people would rather see the ads than pay to see the recipes. But we will definitely take note of your feedback and use it to improve our website.
I appreciate your feedback, and I hope you love every recipe you try.
Thank you for this recipe! I can’t wait to try it! With finding bioengineered ingredients in alot of foods I am trying to find homemade ingredients like the gravy in this one instead of the packets that now contain that. Do yiu have a cream of mushroom or chicken recipe? I haven’t seen one but hoping you do! Thanks!!
Hi Paulette! You can use the search bar the the top of the page to search for any of my recipes. I do lot have a recipe for either of those but we do make our Green bean casserole recipe from scratch, so you could reference that recipe for how we made our creamy of mushroom.
I made these biscuits and the taste was great, however I did not get the lift like I expected. I will try them again with new baker powder. thinking maybe that was the issue. i was careful not to overwork and used cold butter and 1/2 and 1/2 as directed.
Hi Margaret! I’m glad you loved the recipe. The baking powder can definitely make a difference in the rise. Some other helpful tips:
-Dip your pastry cutter into flour between each cut. This will create a cleaner cut for a better rise.
-Cut Biscuits straight down. Don’t turn your cutter side to side and do not use a sawing motion. Cutting straight down will help the biscuits rise better.
I hope that helps for next time!
We made this recipe today and it was fantastic! My husband says it’s the best he’s ever had anywhere. The biscuit recipe is super easy and delicious, too, even with using evaporated milk instead. So good!
So glad to hear that, Kathy!
Can you use half & half instead of milk for the gravy? I am excited to try this recipe and I love all of your recipes that I make! Thank you.
Hi Kim, I haven’t tested that but I think it could work. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
You can make gravy from the pan drippings of any breakfast meat. Bacon, ham, pork chops – heck I’ve had it made with the drippings from fried baloney! My favorite is bacon gravy though – even more than sausage.
Really enjoying your blog! Using unsalted butter, then adding salt? I have read a couple of reasons why this is done, but would love to hear Natasha’s reasoning for this, pls & thx. 😊
Hi AJ! I’m glad you’re loving the blog.
I prefer to use unsalted because it allows me to control the salt level in the recipe and adjust it per our preference.
I have company coming and i was wondering if this could be made the day before and then reheated?
Thank you.
Hi Karen, you sure can! We have a section titled “Make-Ahead” in the recipe, I recommend reviewing my notes there. I hope you love this recipe.
Sounds yummy! You will not believe it, I just made this for breakfast today, I will have to try your recipe soon. Thanks for sharing this.
You’re welcome, Adrienne!
One of my favorite breakfasts to make at home! I love the decadent, savory gravy.
I’m glad to hear that, Katie! Enjoy and I hope you’ll love all the recipes that you will try from us.
Simple, hearty, and so satisfying—truly the best way to kickstart your day! The ultimate Southern comfort breakfast!
Thanks for the awesome feedback, Katie!
Yummm, I’m originally from Texas, now living in California. I love biscuits and gravy, but not readily found in the West. I will definitely be making these this weekend with Mimosas. I prefer Tangerine juice in mine vs. orange juice. Sunday cannot get here soon enough!:-)) Thank you Natasha!
I hope you love this recipe, Rafaela!
Enjoyed this for breakfast this morning and started my day off right! Turned out easy, delicious and hearty; definitely, a new favorite recipe!
That’s great, Sara! Thank you for the feedback!