How To Make Sausage Gravy
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Learn how to make sausage gravy with 3 simple ingredients: milk, flour, and sausage. It’s so creamy and flavorful and best served over a fluffy homemade biscuit.
Today, we’re going to make a real Southern staple. This sausage gravy recipe is going to separate the men from the mice, as they say. Nothing beats fluffy homemade buttermilk biscuits smothered in homemade sausage gravy for breakfast on a special occasion (or just because). It’s Southern comfort food at its finest. The ingredients might be simple, but the flavor is anything but. The combination of milk, flour, sausage, and salt and pepper is deliciously creamy.
Don’t you just love simple recipes? That is one of the best things about Southern cooking. It’s just plain simple and just plain good. Always unnerves me when I see a recipe for sausage gravy with an ingredient list that reads like a scientific classification. I think Southerners are just trying to show off to folks of the northern persuasion when they do that. There’s no need.
Milk, flour, and sausage = sausage gravy. That’s all there is to it!
Now, who’s ready to learn how to make sausage gravy?
Recipe Ingredients
- Milk
- Flour (self-rising flour, plain flour, almond flour, or coconut flour)
- Sausage
- Salt and pepper
- Biscuits for serving
How to Make Sausage Gravy
Slice your sausage in whatever thickness you prefer. I usually go for about half an inch but some people like it thinner.
Place sausage in a pan or skillet over medium heat.
Cook until browned.
It will look something like this.
Remove the cooked sausage from the pan and place it on a paper towel-lined plate to drain.
You will have a good bit of grease left in your skillet. You need about two tablespoons, so if you have more drain it off to leave about that much.
Sprinkle three to four tablespoons of flour in your skillet.
Cook this over medium-low heat until the flour is brown.
Scrape the bottom of the skillet to stir the sausage bits into your gravy, then salt and pepper to taste.
Add milk. I added about a cup and a half here.
Stir well until smooth and creamy.
Take a piece of sausage or two and crumble it up in your gravy.
I made a small amount of gravy so I just used one sausage.
There you have it: you now know how to make sausage gravy It’s that easy.
Now, most folks will take a biscuit, set it on their plate, and spoon gravy onto it.
They might cut it in half first and spoon gravy on both halves.
That’s not how we really like it though. We REALLY like to tear our biscuit up in our bowl, because that’s what our mamas did when we were little! Spoon the creamy sausage gravy all over it. At this point, you can use a fork or get a spoon and really pretend your mama is there.
Storage
- Store homemade gravy leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop.
- You can also freeze leftovers for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge before reheating as above.
Recipe Notes
- You can use either ground pork breakfast sausage, spicy pork sausage, or Italian sausage.
- For heat, add a pinch of cayenne or crushed red pepper flakes.
- For added flavor, add 1/2 teaspoon each of garlic powder and onion powder.
Recipe FAQs
What do you serve with sausage gravy?
Besides some homemade drop biscuits, Southern sausage gravy also tastes great with fried potatoes, hashbrowns, grits, and even just toast.
Can I make this easy sausage gravy recipe ahead of time?
If you like, you can make sausage gravy the night before, store it in the fridge overnight, and quickly reheat it on the stovetop before serving it for breakfast.
How do I make gluten-free sausage gravy?
Simply use your favorite gluten-free flour alternative and you have yourself gluten-free sausage gravy.
Check out these other gourmet gravy recipes:
Chicken Fried Steak Recipe With Gravy
Recipe For Turkey Gravy (Easy and Delicious)
Southern Cubed Steak and Milk Gravy
Crispy Breaded Pork Chops with Milk Gravy (and MeMe’s Mashed Potatoes)
Garlic Cream Biscuits with Bacon Gravy
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups milk
- 3 tbsp flour
- sausage
- salt and pepper to taste
- biscuits for serving
Instructions
- Slice your sausage in whatever thickness you prefer. I usually go for about half an inch but some people like it thinner. Place sausage in a pan or skillet over medium heat and cook until brown. Remove the cooked sausage from the pan and place it on a paper towel-lined plate to drain.sausage
- You will have a good bit of grease left in your skillet. You need about two tablespoons, so if you have more drain it off to leave about that much.
- Sprinkle three to four tablespoons of flour in your skillet. Cook this over medium-low heat until the flour is brown. Scrape the bottom of the skillet to stir the sausage bits into your gravy, then salt and pepper to taste. Add milk and stir well until smooth and creamy.3 tbsp flour, salt and pepper to taste, 1.5 cups milk
- Take a piece of sausage or two and crumble it up in your gravy. Serve over a warm biscuit.biscuits for serving
Wouldn’t it be nice if most of the comments were from those who have tried your recipes and want only to communicate that experience. It is also good to hear of slight alterations. However, I’m sure most of us can do without the “looks Yummy, can’t wait to try!” comments.
Terry Bee
Hey Terry!
Oh goodness, that would not be nice at all, really :). After spending hours photographing a recipe, cooking it, typing it up, uploading photos, creating a post, doing all of the writing, and then creating a newsletter to send out to everyone, I can’t tell you how much I enjoy the kind people who take time to stop by and tell me thank you or that something looks good.
I would never want to do anything but express gratitude for kind people who take time to encourage and chat back with me in the comments.
This is the second time you’ve commented on my site so I haven’t had an opportunity to get to know you really, but both times you’ve pointed out how much this bothered you. I’m afraid you’ll always find this to be the case on SouthernPlate, because that is the type of website this is. It is a community, not just a standard recipe-only website. There are plenty of those on the net. This is my little virtual front porch online and I encourage and greatly appreciate all of the wonderful people who take time to comment, even if it is just “this looks yummy.” As the one doing all the work, I gotta tell ya that I can’t keep doing it without those comments :). They are generous and good hearted folks and I’m glad to have them here.
Gratefully,
Christy
Amen! I love southernplate.com it makes me smile and nowadays we need something to smile about!
Pretty much how I do it, but my Momma taught me to put a pinch of sugar in the roux. Love the story!
World is getting too politically correct. Northernly persuation type folk need to get and keep a sense of humour. The South will rise again. 🙂
This “Yankee” loves your recipes. Funny how us northerner s don’t seem to realize there’s still a war waging down south! I guess I need to cross over that Mason -Dixon line a bit more and visit our neighborly south.
Ack! This post was written during the first few months of southernplate, when my fondest dream was having five readers who weren’t related to me ;). I’ve since grown wiser, more diplomatic, and am able to draw humor without having to rely on civil war boundaries ;). Another time I’d like to go back and give myself a hug, tightly, with both hands, around the neck. 🙂
I’m about as Yankee as they come, and I can say I love your humor, ya, some people just take life too serious! Then I have lived south of the Mason Dixon line for almost half of my life. I got a bunch of great sausage from a friend who makes it, and wanted sausage and gravy for breakfast. DOH, I have no milk! 🙁 So its either just eat eggs… again (I have chickens) or take a trip to the store in the morning.
With all the recipes I looked at today, yours made me smile the most and made me say something, a rare thing.
Made this this morning and it was great! Added a little sage to the gravy to mimic the flavor of the sausage. Not too shabby for a Southerner by choice!
what yall know about some chip beef gravy and cat head biscuits?
The gravy on sliced tomatoes is great! Husband thinks I’m weird but all my family do this when eating biscuits and gravy.
Well I personally see NOTHING weird about that! Yummm