Chocolate Gravy Recipe
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Using pantry staples, this Southern-style chocolate gravy recipe is so quick and easy to make and tastes absolutely incredible served with homemade biscuits.
Does a chocolate gravy recipe sound a bit odd to you? Well, for me, a professed chocolate lover, nothing with chocolate is ever ruled out but I was intrigued as to what this recipe would taste like when I whipped it up. For me, this is perfect: not too rich, but has that silky smooth chocolate flavor I adore.
Chocolate gravy’s roots are in the South for sure. Anywhere from Louisiana to Tennessee has claimed its origin even dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries. Anything that lasted that long just has to be good!
A Little History About the Chocolate Gravy Recipe
In days of old, with flour in abundance and other resources scarce, biscuits made a great breakfast and filling snack any time of day. Sweets were not a regular occurrence, so waking up in the morning to find fresh buttermilk biscuits and a boat of chocolate gravy was a wondrous treat. It was poured over the buttered flaky biscuits, then the tender bread soaks it up and as I found out when I tried it – you are then on your way to heaven no matter what the day has in store for you.
Here is the old-fashioned chocolate gravy recipe I used. Don’t try this unless you want the flavor to linger in your mind for the rest of your life. It was purely divine. Also, scroll down to find some suggestions about what else you can do with this special biscuit and chocolate gravy recipe.
Recipe Ingredients
- Sugar
- Flour
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Milk
- Butter
Put the (the , , and ) in a heavy saucepan.
Add the milk.
Whisk together well.
It will be a little lumpy but those will cook up so don’t worry. Just keep stirring. We want to stir this constantly, over medium heat. The goal is to bring it slowly to a boil.
We need to be careful though because if you stop stirring it the milk will scorch rather easily.
When it comes to a low boil, turn the heat off and continue stirring for a minute or two. This will thicken up rather suddenly to the consistency of a thin gravy.
Add butter and stir well.
Pour your chocolate gravy into a gravy boat and then get ready to pour it over your warm biscuits.
If you’re looking for a homemade biscuit recipe, here it is!
I hope you can smell this. If not, get into your kitchen and make up some quick!
Chocolate gravy is super easy, but such an indulgent taste! Scroll down to see what you can do with this delightful dessert.
Storage
Store chocolate gravy leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Just reheat in the microwave before serving.
Recipe Notes
- Use whichever cocoa powder you prefer in this gravy recipe. I like the natural unsweetened cocoa powder but if you like Dutch-process cocoa powder, go for it!
- For more flavor, add a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt at the end, just before serving.
Recipe FAQs
What else can you do with this chocolate gravy recipe?
Well, I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture of this but add some custard filling in the biscuit or some vanilla ice cream for a chocolate gravy eclair or ice cream sandwich. YUM! You could also serve it over buttermilk pancakes, vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries, or a slice of pound cake. The possibilities are endless with this beautiful creamy chocolate sauce aka gravy.
You may also like these other delicious dessert recipes:
Grandma Pear’s Flaky Chocolate Icing
Chocolate Cobbler Recipe Food Allergy Options
Chocolate Depression Cake No Milk or Eggs!
Ingredients
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 T flour
- 1 T unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Combine everything except the butter in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.1 cup white sugar, 2 T flour, 1 T unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 1/4 cups milk
- Once boiling, cut the heat down and stir for a minute more (it will get pretty thick rather suddenly). Take off the heat and stir in the butter.1 tablespoon butter
- To serve, pour over homemade biscuits. I tear my hot biscuit up in a bowl first and then pour it over.
Nutrition
My Nani used to make this for us and we called it chocolate syrup and biscuit hoecake. I can’t believe other folks were eating this too. Thought we were the only ones.
Love your site….it truly southern unlike some other southern cooking sites I have visited. Being born and raised in south Georgia surrounded by women who know how to cook I can say this is the real thing!
Thank you
We grew up on this stuff! That is why I’m too sweet and so fluffy! LOL! The recipe I use can be considered “chocolate syrup”. I use 2 cups sugar, 4.5 heaping tablespoons of unsweented cocoa. Stir unti thoroughly mixed. Start with 1/4 cup of milk and stir until well blended, adding milk as needed. BUT WAIT! You want your mixture to be a thick soup, not thin. Cook on medium heat stirring occassionally. I usually jut let it cook while the biscuits cook and the bacon fries on the stove. Cook until the sugar dissolves and the mixture looks glossy. But be careful because it you cook it too long, it will harden. Take those home made buttermilk biscuits out of th oven, add butter to the biscute and then spoon over the biscuit! Yummmy!
Hey Christy!
Thank you so much for posting this chocolate gravy recipe. It was just like Granny’s! I never knew it was so easy to make and I sure never thought I could make it myself, but I did and it was GREAT! My husband isn’t much of a chocolate fan (he’s weird) so I had the whole pot to myself (of course I halved it)! I made it yesterday morning and just finished it off as dessert tonight… and it was still just as amazing as yesterday! Thank you again!
~Heather~
Christy, my ex’s grandmother, Mamaw Mangino, made Chocolate Gravy EVERY morning we visited her. Even though my husband left me to raise three little children alone (this was years ago) she stayed close to me and was a dear, dear friend. Mamaw lived in Russellville, AL. She was known all over the county for her generosity and she and her husband had money during the Depression when no one else did. So, she did what Mamaw did best…reached her arms out to her community and took care of it with food, clothing, whatever they needed. This is her legacy…love, compassion and generosity, not to mention she was an incredible Southern cook! Two of the greatest compliments she every paid me were that she thought I was “the best little mother she had ever seen” and she frequenlty wanted me to make “my” specialties for her (she LOVED my meatloaf and several casseroles I made and would have me make enough for her to freeze for future meals.) She introduced me to Chocolate Gravy and it was on her breakfast table EVERY morning! Thanks for your recipe and a sweet memory of a woman I love and miss with all my heart.
Christy, Just had to comment on the chocolate gravy. I used to make this sll the time, but then I had Weight Loss Surgery and I thought I’d eaten my last bowl of this delicious warm gravy, But I’ve adapted it so I can now eat it. I make it with Splenda and fat free milk. To anyone else this might seem unholy, but to someone like me, it makes perfect sense. Thanks CHristy for bringing back great family memories with this one!!
Veronica
When I make it for me, I use splenda too 🙂 Great minds think alike! or in your case, your great mind thinks like my inferior one, lol!
how much splenda do you use. i am diabetic and would like to try with splenda.
thanks.
Wow, I didn’t know it could be made with Splenda. That would be great.
My mom made this for us growing up and I was just thinking the other day I think it is time to pull out the recipe and have it one day soon! I have twins that are 3 and a husband that has never heard of it so one day real soon this is on the list!! Thanks for the reminder and all the great memories that this recipe brought back!
I grew up eating this and my grandma called it, “Cocoa Joe” and she said the same thing, “just add in some flour, sugar, chocolate and milk , then cook til it’s done”. I could never figure out how to make it. I ran into a recipe on a blog somewhere and promptly made it, but it wasn’t the same as I remembered. I will be trying this out though. I am from Oklahoma, born there and raised in San Diego, CA. People there thought we were real strange to be eating a sweet gravy over biscuits, lol. Thanks for the post as this is another one of those recipes about to be lost.