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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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Full Recipe Instructions
Country Sausage Gravy (Biscuits and Gravy)
CLICK TO PLAY RECIPE VIDEO
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)
- ¼ 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 INFORMATION
This post was originally created in March 2015 and has been updated for your reading pleasure.
Lana
Wonderful, flavor recipe and so easy to make. Definitely a keeper recipe.
Ken Bailey
Krissy, thank you for posting this recipe today!! I've been looking for a gravy recipe that looked similar to the way my wife made it. Finally, yours showed up in my e-mail today!! I always told my wife that the only person whose gravy was better than hers was my paternal grandmother's. And it would have been a very close fight. Unfortunately, neither of them taught me how to make it and neither of them ever wrote down a recipe. I do hope I can do yours justice and it will be as good as you say it is!! I will have to come back and rate it after I've tried it a couple of times.
Krissy
I'm making it on Christmas morning this year too! I hope you love it!!!
Alicia H
Can you use lactose free whole milk in this recipe? Thanks!
Krissy
I think it'll work just fine!
Bridgette Worring
super simple recipe. Had breakfast for dinner biscuits and gravy style. I will throw away the packages of the instant stuff and make my own from now on.
Barb Bahr
Wow this was good! Thank you for “the best sausage gravy ever” according to my husband.
Hershella
Very good and easy. I used Bob Evan’s sausages, time I will try Jimmy Dean. Chorizo sounds great as mention by Lauri, I'm going to try that too. Thanks for sharing.
Christine Hatton
Biscuits and sausage gravy has always been a childhood favorite of my husband. He loved this recipe, I did change the plain flour and used seasoned chicken flour instead , it was wonderful and a keeper!
Christy
I have made your recipe many, many times. It's my go-to sausage gravy recipe.I made it for sausage gravy biscuits for supper tonight and just wanted to let you know that my family loves your recipe!
Summer
All I have is 1%, will tht work?
Krissy
yep!
Lauri
This was amazing!! I used Jimmy Dean Hot Breakfast sausage and sprinkled some fresh ground pepper! Major hit with the hubby! Biscuits and gravy is one of his favs! Next time I might experiment with 1/2 -3/4 of hot breakfast sausage and 1/3 chorizo. 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!
Susan
Can this be made ahead and refrigerated?
Krissy
It can. Just reheat low and slow. Cream gravy can break if you reheat too hot and too fast.
Mary
Can you double the recipe. I have a lot of family coming in the morning.
Krissy
Of course!
Linda
The sausage gravy was easy and quick to make. I fried minced onion with the sausage but my sausage wasn't very flavorful so for the leftovers, I added 1/2 teaspoon of poultry seasoning and black pepper.
Janet
Took this for a breakfast at work and people kept telling me it was the best gravy they had ever had. Most definitely will make this again!!!!
Tiffany
This recipe is easy and delicious!! I've been intimidated to make gravy, but this is foolproof! Thank you!
Cindy Cantwell
Today I made sausage gravy for the first time in my life. My husband thought it was outstanding! This recipe is definitely a winner!
Rob
We make a breakfast we call a big M , named for my dad , breakfast home fried potatoes covered in sausage gravy then eggs any way you like them the a piece of cheese with a side of biscuits and gravy .
Lisa Davies
This is how I make my gravy. Very easy and have never heard a complaint yet! I do use Jimmy Dean regular sausage. It gives it great taste and all the spices. Also make sure to cook the flour taste off. Sometimes I will drop a minced clove or 2 of garlic in when frying the sausage
JB
I have made this many times for my family and they love it!
Nicholas
This recipe is great, I have forgotten how good sausage gravy is.
Anna
Amazing!! Easy and perfect.
Keeper for sure
Lisa Van Hugendong
Oh my lawd. This was so good I had to back back for a third serving and cancel the rest of my day. This is the new standard!
Kathy
I had a craving for sausage gravy and used your recipe. This was an amazing “dinner” breakfast with a side of scrambled eggs. My belly is very happy.
Side note: perfect meal to use up milk before it’s expiration!
Jen
Hi can you use regular sausage? I want to make this but I don't have breakfast sausage though
Krissy
Breakfast sausage has a unique taste. If you're referring to using something like Italian sausage, it will work but will taste different than breakfast gravy you're used to enjoying with biscuits and gravy.