Sausage Gravy
Biscuits and gravy was a staple breakfast item when I was growing up. It’s food that sticks with you during long work days.
My daddy loved these, my grandpa loved these! I remember my mom and my grandma getting up early in the morning on the weekends to pull together breakfast of big fluffy biscuits, sausage gravy, fried eggs and bacon.
It’s the kind of breakfast that lets you skip lunch!
My grandma made biscuits from scratch, a process that eludes me to this day. So I cheat. The Pillsbury Doughboy is my best friend. Shhh. Don’t tell.
My equipment
My husband bought me this great 15 inch cast iron skillet for Christmas. It takes up nearly my whole stove. He also bought me a flat whisk. The combination was perfect for gravy making. I make a lot of gravy. We eat a lot of biscuits and gravy, too.
Brown one pound of bulk sausage over medium heat. Any bulk mild or hot, country or breakfast sausage will do. I buy mine at a local German meat market. It’s so much better!
See all these bits stuck to the bottom? Make sure you scrape those up!
Once the sausage is cooked, add flour. I turn the heat down so I don’t burn the flour. Burned flour ruins everything. Yuck.
I used about four tablespoons here. Stir to combine and cook the flour. You have to judge based on how much grease your sausage (or bacon, or ham) leaves you. In the end, you want a bit of a roux (most of the flour sticks to the sausage) that is the color of peanut butter.
Add some milk. Again, no exact science. I used three cups, but it will depend on how much gravy you want and how thick you want it.
Turn the heat back up, bring the gravy to a low boil, whisking all the while.
Babysit this. Don’t walk off. Don’t set the table. Don’t even get more coffee or you’ll end up with wallpaper paste instead of gravy. Trust me. I know this from experience.
Ladle over biscuits or toast or potatoes or hash or waffles. Whatever you like!
Now, I’m hungry again.
If your gravy gets too thick, just add a little more milk. If it’s not thick enough, add a slurry of cornstarch and milk and bring to a low boil. I usually end up with 5-6 cups with this recipe.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. It will be a thick gloppy mess, but makes great starter for another small batch. To reheat, just plop it into a skillet on low-medium heat, add some milk to loosen it up and whisk until hot. Add more milk if necessary.
Sausage Gravy
- 1 pound bulk breakfast sausage (mild or hot)
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 3 cups whole milk
- Salt and pepper to taste (optional)
- Brown sausage in skillet over medium heat. Reduce heat to low once sausage is cooked.
- Stir in flour to make a roux. Reducing the heat prevents flour from burning.
- Add milk in slowly, whisking as you pour. Increase heat to medium. Bring to a low boil. Keep whisking, making sure to scrape up the sausage bits on the bottom of the skillet.
- Gravy will thicken as it boils, so watch carefully. Once thickened, reduce heat.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Ladle over hot biscuits.
Looks much better than what we had at the dive!