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This homemade Sausage Gravy is made from scratch and starts with ground pork and seasonings. The flavorful breakfast sausage is then turned into a delicious creamy gravy. This flavorful white gravy is the best comfort food when smothered over homemade buttermilk biscuits!
This recipe has been viewed well over 2 million times. You can see from the 100+ comments why so many people say it is the best sausage gravy recipe they’ve ever made!
Why I love this recipe
- Restaurant quality – only better! Not all sausage gravy is the same. I have frequently ordered biscuits and gravy at restaurants only to be disappointed.
- Quick and easy to make. Only a few basic ingredients are needed to make this homemade sausage gravy recipe.
- Made with homemade breakfast sausage. You can certainly pick up some pre-made sausage from the butcher shop or grocery store, but it is so easy to make with ground pork mixed with just the right seasonings.
Ingredients needed
The exact quantities are listed in the recipe card below, but here is a quick summary.
- breakfast sausage
- butter
- all purpose flour
- whole milk
How to make sausage gravy
Step 1: Prepare the sausage
If you are making your own homemade breakfast sausage, you’ll need to mix together the ingredients. Combine the ground pork with sage, salt, brown sugar, black pepper, red pepper flakes, marjoram, and cloves.
Step 2: Cook the breakfast sausage
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the sausage. Break up any large pieces and continue cooking until the sausage is sufficiently browned.
Cooking Tip
Any time you’re cooking ground pork (or ground beef for that matter), make life easier by using this inexpensive kitchen tool!
Step 3: Add butter to the sausage
When I make my homemade breakfast sausage, there is never a significant amount of residual sausage grease or rendered fat, so I add butter. If you have excess grease, you can skip this step.
Step 4: Add flour
Sprinkle about four tablespoons of flour over the cooked sausage, give it a stir and let the flour cook for a few minutes. This will allow the flour to absorb some of the fat and turn golden brown to create a wonderful roux to thicken the white sausage gravy.
Step 5: Add milk to create gravy
Pour the milk over the sausage mixture and stir well to combine. Reduce the heat, and continue stirring with a flat-bottomed wooden spoon over medium heat until the gravy thickens.
Recipe variations and substitutions
- For a little kick, make this recipe with spicy pork sausage. To make spicy sausage, you can increase the red pepper flakes, or add some cayenne pepper.
- Use fresh herbs instead of dried ones. If using fresh, be sure to mince them very small and double the amount of dried ground spices you would use. Breakfast sausage tastes especially amazing with fresh sage.
- Spicy or mild Italian sausage will work in place of the breakfast sausage. It will create a different flavor from traditional country sausage gravy though.
- Turkey sausage can be used in place of pork.
- Leftover or stored bacon grease can be used in place of the butter.
- Do not substitute the butter with margarine.
- I highly recommend using whole milk for a richer flavor, however skim milk or lowfat milk can be used. I do not recommend using heavy cream.
Storage and reheating
- Doubtful you’ll have any leftovers, but if you do, the sausage gravy can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The gravy should be consumed within 3-5 days.
- I recommend reheating leftover Southern sausage gravy in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Any kind of cream sauce or gravy should always be reheated low and slow.
- If you want to make this gravy ahead of time, you can just reheat it when you are ready to serve. This works great if you’re planning on making a classic Southern breakfast for a special occasion. Pro tip: for best results, let the gravy come to room temperature before reheating.
- Leftover sausage gravy can also be frozen. To freeze, store leftover gravy in a freezer bag and squeeze all the air out before placing it in the freezer. Allow the gravy to thaw completely in the refrigerator before reheating.
Recipe Tips for the best results
- You can buy seasoned breakfast sausage in bulk without any casing from most meat departments, however, I prefer to start with plain ground pork and make my own sage breakfast sausage. You can also use sausage links and remove them from the casings.
- Make sure to use a good pan that will brown the meat nicely. I always cook my sausage gravy in my favorite Staub dutch oven.
- Keep it warm: You’ll want to serve the gravy hot. Because it’s a milk-based gravy with a fair amount of fat, it will get thicker as it cools. To keep it warm, just keep it hot over low heat on the stove until ready to serve. If it still seems too thick, the best way to thin the gravy is to stir in a splash of milk.
Serving suggestions
- Make homemade biscuits and gravy. The best biscuits are my homemade buttermilk biscuits, however, you can use a mix (like Bisquick) to make drop biscuits. You can even buy the kind that comes in a tube.
- Serve this sausage gravy over eggs. It’s especially good over scrambled eggs.
- Top a breakfast casserole with sausage gravy. My family loves my biscuit and gravy casserole, but you can add the warm gravy to any kind of breakfast casserole.
- Serve over potatoes. Whether you make some easy breakfast potatoes, hash browns, or french fries, smother those potatoes with some gravy.
Other great biscuits and gravy recipes
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Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound pork breakfast sausage I highly recommend you make your own, recipe link in notes below
- 3 tablespoons butter *may not use all of this if sausage is greasy
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 cups whole milk
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium high heat, cook the bulk sausage until brown and crumbly.
- When the sausage is done, add the butter if there is little to no residual butter in the pan. If there is excess oil for the sausage, you may not need to add butter. Ideally, you want about 3 tablespoons of fat, either from the sausage or from the melted butter.
- Sprinkle sausage with flour, stir, and allow to cook for several minutes until the flour can absorb some of the fat and get golden brown.
- Add the milk and stir. Continue stirring occasionally over medium heat until gravy thickens, 5-10 minutes.
Notes
- Sausage: You can buy in bulk from the meat counter at the grocery store, you can buy links and remove them from the casing, or you can make your own homemade breakfast sausage from ground pork and seasonings.
- Keep it warm: You’ll want to serve the gravy hot. Because it’s a cream based gravy with a fair amount of fat, it will get thicker as it cools. To keep warm, just heat over low heat on the stove until ready to serve.
- To store: Keep the extra gravy in an air tight container in the refrigerator. Should keep for 3-5 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post was originally created in March 2015 and has been updated for your reading pleasure.
I made this gravy this morning. With a little adjustments, it came out perfect and delicious! Thank you for sharing your recipes 😊
This sausage gravy and biscuits recipe has spoiled us for any restaurant offerings! Perfect every time and everything goes together so easily! I found your recipes several years ago – probably 4 or 5 now – and have made it so many times. Good sausage definitely makes or breaks it – I use our favorite breakfast sausage from the local butcher shop and occasionally our homemade venison sausage (1/2 venison, 1/2 pork) and the pan is scraped clean everytime!
So glad you like the recipe! And YES – the quality of the sausage makes all the difference.
I tried making it without sausage (forgot to get some and don’t have any homemade), and it was very plain. Definitely needs the sausage! 🙂
Ugh. Definitely need sausage when making sausage gravy!
Best sausage gravy recipe ever, made it this morning ! Thank you for the recipe !
Love these biscuits! One of the easiest preps ever. They consistently turn out so good and I love the quantity. Perfect for two. I always make them for my biscuits and gravy.
The best sausage gravy recipe! It took mine a while to thicken up, but once it did it was perfect!
It was super delicious 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌I couldn’t believe I could make it I did go back and add a tad pepper & salt not much ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was easy to make but it just didn’t have the flavor
I’m sorry you didn’t like it. Did you make my homemade breakfast sausage or buy pre-made? Anytime I feel that something is lacking flavor, I usually try increasing the salt and am always amazed that’s what was missing. Perhaps that’s what it needed?
Thank you for this recipe… After having this favorite at many restaurants, I said ‘Self, you can do this…!’ And your recipe made it super easy…! Followed the directions (no time to make my own sausage) and added a little seasoning salt, black pepper, onion powder and smoked paprika… This will definitely be served again…!
I was never a fan of sausage gravy until this recipe. Delicious and easy to make. Thanks for the detailed instructions.