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
I am just making my way thru your post and OMG Chocolate Gravy is one of my favorite things. growing up I had a friend whose mom always made this for us. Now that I am grown it is a special treat that I always request from hubs for my mother’s day breakfast!
PS–
I cook mine in the microwave–stir it every two minutes, and it’s done in 6-8 minutes. No standing over the stove stirring stirring…
Christy, I am so glad I came across this. I know it’s an old post, but I’m happy to find it nonetheless.
This was a favorite of us grandkids at my Gramma’s house. She would fix breakfast for the adults, then would ask us what we wanted, and of course, it was chocolate ‘n biscuits–and she already had it done and waiting on the stove for us. We would eat it w/ fresh cow’s cream poured over top–yummmmm!
I wrote a cookbook author last year, as I had read her book that she had spent four years researching all over the south, and I was curious if she had come across this recipe in all her travels, and she said no! I sent her my recipe, and she asked on her website, as well as asked around, and she posted the recipe she liked best, (which wasn’t mine! 🙂 ). I reckoned that maybe folks were a little embarrassed to admit that they like to pour chocolate gravy over a biscuit–some have asked me in shock–“You feed that to your children for breakfast?!” To me, it’s no different than a pop-tart.
Anyway, I’m thrilled to be a Southerner, and even more proud to be a Southern cook–chocolate ‘n biscuits and all! Love your blog, your recipes, and the Southern charm!!
Thanks!
♥Susan
Just a little tweak to your recipe, this what I grew up eating in eastern Oklahoma for breakfast, so try this;
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Mix dry ingredients well and add
1 1/2 cup milk
Cook over medium heat in thick bottomed sause pan until it thickens, about 10 or 15 minutes, I use a wire wisk, it will get very thick. Remove from heat.
Then add 1/2 to 1 stick of butter or margarine and 1 tsp vanilla.
Them spoon it over drop biscuits made from boxed biscuit mix.
Ah-h-h-hh to bring back the old memories….when my husband and I got married we could barely afford the license, and as time and children came along things didn’t get nay better, but you could always depend on a good day when we had homemade biscuits and chocolate gravy! Good sausage gravy was fine for a solid work day breakfast (and some times supper!!) but chocolate gravy ment we were having a ‘special’ occassion! Thanks for the memories! I think for Saturday morning breakfast, I’ll make him a batch of homemade biscuits and chocolate gravy.
Hi Christy,
My grandmother (from Athens) made this all the time for us although we called it cocoa and I have a cousin who calls it “soppin’ chocolate”! Now that’s country! My grandmother made homemade biscuits but my mother mostly made it with canned biscuits. When I made some recently on a camping trip with homemade biscuits, my brothers all loved it but we agreed that it felt like it ought to be eaten with canned biscuits! LOL! My aunt recently showed me your articles in the News Courier (She showed me a recipe for peach fried pies that were made just like my grandmother’s YUM!) and we found the website through that article. I can see I’ll be checking it out regularly!
Thanks.
I found your website from a couponing site, so glad I did! I’m born and raised in KY and had never even heard of chocolate gravy ’till I entered my husband’s family many years ago. MIL makes it whenever we are all together. I still find it odd and more dessert like, but it sure is good 🙂 thanks for the post, it brought a smile to my face. Your website looks great!
Vicky,I am also from Kentucky, my family has always eaten and loved chocolate gravy and biscuits. I am a little surprised to find that being from Kentucky, you had never heard of it. In my hometown, there is a small commercial chocolate gravy mix maker. …..but, then again, my wife’s family who are originally from the Kentucky-Virginia border, surprisingly, had never heard of it either until moving into this area. Anyway, my wishes are many years belated, but welcome to the joy of chocolate gravy and biscuits.