How to Make Homemade Sausage Gravy

Is there anything better for breakfast than creamy sausage gravy on top of some hot fresh out of the oven biscuits or some toast? I know when I am craving comfort food, this is a meaty breakfast recipe that comes into my mind.

sausage gravy and biscuits



Who doesn’t love to go out for breakfast and get some fluffy buttermilk biscuits covered in meaty sausage gravy? When I go to Bob Evans or the Cracker Barrel I love to get biscuits and gravy, but sometimes the restaurant is too busy, so what should you do? You can make delicious sausage gravy at home!

Ingredients to Make Sausage Gravy

Did you know this recipe takes a few simple ingredients that are easy to find in your pantry? This recipe can be made when you don’t have much on hand! You will need:

  • breakfast sausage
  • flour
  • milk
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
sausage gravy ingredients

How do you make sausage gravy from scratch?

Even if you aren’t an experienced cook, you can make delicious sausage gravy in just minutes. It’s easier than you could ever imagine.

  1. Brown the sausage in a skillet. – Grab a large skillet, turn the heat onto medium, break up the sausage, cook, stirring every couple of minutes. Cook until the sausage has browned, and there is no more pink pieces in the sausages
  2. Remove the sausage from the skillet, now you could have just the sausage drippings, you will want to add flour now, add two to three tablespoons of flour to the skillet.
  3. Stir the flour and the sausage drippings until they form a paste (roux), and cook this for about 1 minute.
  4. Add the milk, and grab a whisk if you have it, now stir until this roux thickens. It may take a couple of minutes, but it will thicken. If you stir frequently, your gravy will be smooth.
  5. Add the cooked sausage back to the mixture stir, and taste. You may want to add some salt or pepper.

What’s Next?

Top those biscuits or toast with this creamy sausage gravy, and enjoy your breakfast!

cooked crumbled breakfast sausage
white gravy in a skillet

How do you reheat sausage gravy?

Best of all you can reheat this gravy by simply heating in a pan and adding a little more milk to the gravy. It will thin out just a bit and be perfect to serve again. If you know you are going to reheat the sausage gravy, I like to use heavy cream when I make this recipe. Heavy cream can withstand the reheat better than skim or 2% milk.

What can you add to sausage gravy?

You can add almost anything you desire to this homemade sausage gravy, did you know if you don’t have any sausage, you could add ground beef? Here are more ideas for you to mix into your sausage gravy.

  • A dash of hot sauce
  • You can make this with creme frache for tangy rich flavor
  • A small pinch of cayenne pepper

How can you serve sausage gravy?

So everyone knows about biscuits and sausage, but there are other ways to serve your sausage gravy. You may want to pour this over hashbrowns, homefries, grits, or even cooked eggs. Years ago I used to go to a diner, and they would make a magic mountain, it was two buttermilk biscuits covered with two eggs, a couple of sausage patties, two slices of bacon, and they would pour sausage gravy over all of it! You would need a nap when you finished it. Think outside of the box!

sausage gravy in a bowl and on top of biscuits

In a pinch? Homemade sausage gravy makes a delicious dinner!

Want to learn how to make other types of gravy? Try these recipes

More Sausage Recipes

Find quick and easy breakfast recipes and hearty comfort foods.

sausage gravy and biscuits

How to Make Sausage Gravy

You don’t need to go out to a restaurant to make sausage gravy.  
5 from 11 votes
Print Pin Rate Add to Collection
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Sausage Recipes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 4
Calories: 495kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground sausage
  • 2 tablespoons of rendered grease from sausage or 2 tablespoons of butter
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups whole milk

Instructions

  • In a large skillet brown sausage over medium heat. Crumble sausage as it browns so you have many small pieces of sausage. When sausage has browned and cooked thoroughly remove sausage from pan. Measure out rendered fat in the pan. 
  • Add butter if necessary so the amount of fat is equal to two tablespoons. For example, if you render only 1 tablespoon from the sausage, add 1 tablespoon of butter. If adding butter allow butter to melt completely. Add 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour to skillet. Stir flour and fat together, and cook over medium heat for about two minutes. The flour will begin to brown and become fragrant. Add 1/2 cup of milk to the pan, stir until the milk thickens. Add 1/2 cup to milk to the pan, and stir until the second addition thickens. Add remaining milk to pan, allow to thicken and add sausage. 
  • Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, and taste gravy and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper if necessary. Serve gravy over toast or biscuits.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 495kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 41g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 100mg | Sodium: 784mg | Potassium: 442mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 285IU | Vitamin C: 0.8mg | Calcium: 148mg | Iron: 1.4mg

About Stephanie Manley

I recreate your favorite restaurant recipes, so you can prepare these dishes at home. I help you cook dinner, and serve up dishes you know your family will love. You can find most of the ingredients for all of the recipes in your local grocery store.

Stephanie is the author of CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home, and CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home 2.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. gregory anderson

    Just saying that in SOS, the last S stands for shingle. Toasted bread loaf slice is like a shingle, while a biscuit never could be. A rose is still a rose no matter what other people call it.

    In the PacNW I loved eating the local breakfast in our town for the Timber workers, loggers, tree-planters, etc. It was this style of biscuits & gravy, with hash browns, two eggs, two bacon, two sausages, orange juice, coffee and a slice of bread toast with preserves. Even in 1983 at $6 a plate this was worth it for us college students as well. One meal a day, whether we liked it or not. hahaha

  2. Tim

    He is right about the SOS, a lot of cooks used what they had but SOS was primarily a chipped beef and there is a difference in flavor texture and most of the time they put it over toast. the wording has come and gone through the years and a lot of people just call it whatever they want I have been making gravy and trying to find good gravy spots to eat at for many years and I know that the few that have the best gravy I know where they are if I don’t feel like making it very few places make good gravy and biscuits it worth eating in the army a lot of cooks used mushroom soup to spread it a little thinner and they also use that for chipped beef when you have that many miles to feed you do what you can. As far as to coffee now you’re getting closer to the red-eye gravy it’s a Yankee favorite and it’s made a little bit different but they used coffee in it. Chick-fil-A has a gravy they call gravy that is to me nasty but it’s close to the red-eye gravy. It is hard to find a place that makes a good gravy and biscuit I did say good gravy and biscuit I make mine at home so I am not disappointed.

  3. Brent Sanders

    For added flavor, I add some crumbled bacon and a little is the bacon drippings as well. I have also used bacon sausage which is available pre packaged in the grocery store or can be fresh ground to order at my local meat market. The combination makes for a great flavor and is a family favorite.

    • Da'Von Dorsett

      Yes Im looking to start my breakfast menu at my subshop and this was a great addition as well. Will try and find this product or have it fresh ground bacon if not I have a machine that’ll grind it up..

  4. NATALIE PETERSON

    First and foremost sausage gravy is not SOS, I am former military and SOS was frequently serves in mess hall it is usually made with chipped beef or even ground beef, sausage gravy is sausage gravy just that nothing else. Also leave sausage in the pan I have never ever had to add batter, sprinkle flour over the cooked sausage stir until sausage is coated with flour, add milk, cook until thickened, no need for butter at all and no extra dish to clean. My family has been sausage gravy this way for at least 3 generations.

    • Stephanie Manley

      Natalie, girl, I love your well thought responses. My Grandfather who was in WWII called this SOS. He was also a cook in the army. I understand in your house you don’t call it this, but hey, he did. I am not one to argue with what he called things. Thank you for your dish saving tips! You are the best. I would love to try your cooking.

      • Baltisraul

        5 stars
        This is the Army version for sure. The Navy version has tomatoes and served in a bowl with no biscuits. We have 3 Army and 3 Navy in our family and both versions are good but the best part is fighting over which one to serve.

    • Ann

      Natalie, I totally agree with you. I am also former military (Vietnam WAC vet). When SOS was served in the mess hall, it was always made with creamed chipped beef & the shingle was toast. My husband likes SOS, but I was burnt out on it & haven’t eaten any since basic training. If it showed up in my MRE, I would trade it with someone who like it. I have been making sausage gravy (grandmother’s recipe) for almost 50 years & like you, I never take the sausage out to make gravy & then put it back in the skillet. I make my sausage gravy with 1 lb. of Oldham’s country sausage. Once the sausage is cooked, I slowly sprinkle about 1/3 cup of flour over the sausage. Once the flour is absorbed by the sausage & grease, I slowly add milk, until I have the consistency I like. It is much easier, not to mention faster, to make it this way & not extra dishes or paper towels to mess with. I also don’t measure my flour, so the 1/3 cup is an estimate. I’ve been making it long enough, that I know I have enough flour, just by eyeballing it.

  5. Nycole Westover

    add chorizo to the sausage and cook thoroughly , drain of course. add chopped ham and you have the best gravy ever….put over a biscuit topped with eggs and hash browns on the side…yummm

  6. dmreed

    I would suggest adding (according to taste) a small amount of curry powder…not so much as to make a curry taste but just to add a nice “undertone” of flavor.

  7. Nana

    I too love sausage gravy but on hash browns. When I make mine, I add a little chicken broth to the gravy (about 1/4 cup ). It gives a “something” that is not tasted, but seems to take the gravy to the next level. It is also a trick that is used in my son’s restaurant.

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