Homemade Biscuits and Gravy
on Oct 08, 2018, Updated Oct 02, 2024
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Make the Best Homemade Biscuits and Gravy with just a few simple ingredients and in just a few steps. It’s the ultimate comfort food and a classic recipe you’ll come back to again and again.
If this is your first time making biscuits and gravy, have no fear. This recipe is so simple that even non-cooks can make it. This was the first recipe I made in 7th grade Home Economics Class. Over two decades later, I’m still making it regularly. If a rowdy class of seventh graders can manage it, so can you!
Biscuits and gravy are a staple in the Hoosier diet, and I’ve been eating, making, and loving them since I was a kid. Since I’ve moved out west, I have found that lots of people don’t make them, and in fact, they seem a little intimidated by the recipe. I am here to tell you that biscuits and gravy are one of the easiest dishes to put together, and I’m sharing my simple recipe for this hearty dish of hot biscuits and the best sausage gravy!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Homemade Biscuits and Gravy Recipe
- Few things are more delicious and comforting than simple homemade creamy sausage gravy spooned over sturdy buttery biscuits. I hope you make this recipe over and over again like we do.
- Biscuits and gravy are celebratory food in our family. We make this recipe for birthday breakfasts when friends come to stay the night and even on Christmas morning, along with my favorite Homemade Cinnamon Rolls! I’m so excited to finally share with you something that is a big part of the food culture in my home.
- I love these fluffy biscuits, as well as this Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe and this yummy Sourdough Biscuit Recipe.
Recipe Ingredients
- Flour – all-purpose
- Baking powder
- Sugar
- Cream of tartar
- Butter
- Milk – whole
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Biscuits and Gravy
- Make your biscuits by whisking the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cream of tartar. Add the butter and milk and mix.
- Pat the mixture together, cut the biscuits and bake
- Make sausage gravy by cooking sausage, then sprinkling flour over it and stirring.
- Whisk the milk slowly into the cooked sausage and flour mixture and cook over medium heat until thickened.
Recipe FAQs
After you add the milk to the sausage, you have to sit and stir for a long while so that the milk doesn’t burn and stick to the bottom of the pan. This is a great job for little helpers with some supervision.
Yes. I have a pro tip up my sleeve for feeding biscuits and gravy to more people and how to make one pound of sausage stretch. When the sausage is done browning, add a few tablespoons of butter. Let the butter melt, and then double the rest of the recipe (make sure your skillet is huge!). Add 1 cup of flour and then 8 cups of milk. Double the biscuit recipe, too. Still tastes great, uses less meat (that’s where the expense is), and is a very hearty breakfast to feed a crowd!
You can use just about any kind or flavor of breakfast sausage. I love using hot or maple sausage as well as traditional sausage.
Expert Tips
- Here’s how to stretch one pound of sausage to make more gravy and feed more people. When the sausage is done browning, add a few tablespoons of butter. Let the butter melt and then double the rest of the recipe.
- Do not drain the grease that the sausage made while cooking. This is what you will use to make your gravy.
- Gradually add milk while stirring continuously to avoid lumps. Whole milk is ideal for a rich and creamy gravy.
How to Store Leftovers
Leftover gravy can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a few days. Reheat it in a pan on the stove over low heat until warm, adding a splash of milk if needed to thin out the gravy.
Store leftover biscuits in plastic wrap or a ziptop bag either at room temperature or in the fridge. Reheat in the oven until warm.
More Breakfast Recipes to Consider
Simple Gingerbread Recipes
Homemade Gingerbread Syrup: Cozy Holiday in a Bottle
Muffin Recipes
Spice Up Your Morning With Gingerbread Muffins
Pancake Recipes
Stack ‘Em High: Golden Cornbread Pancakes
Sourdough Recipes
Sourdough Cinnamon Swirl Bread – A Perfect Breakfast Loaf
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Homemade Biscuits and Gravy
Equipment
- medium bowl I love these because they have lids and double as serving bowls.
- parchment paper The precut pieces are easy to use and cut as needed.
- kitchen towel I love the off-white color of these kitchen towels. They wash up great and are even large enough to cover full sheet pans.
Ingredients
For the Biscuits
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 tablespoons white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 cup butter, frozen
- 3/4 cup whole milk
For the Sausage Gravy
- 1 pound pork breakfast sausage, (such as Jimmy Dean's)
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 cups milk, (I use 2% or whole)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- additional salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
For the Biscuits
- Preheat oven to 475 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cream of tartar.
- Use a cheese grater to grate the butter into the bowl on the largest holes of your box grater or use a pastry cutter. Stir butter into flour mixture. Stir until the butter is broken up and the mixture is well combined.
- Add the milk and stir until just combined – do not over-mix. Pat dough on a floured surface until it’s 3/4 inch thick. Cut into biscuits using a biscuit cutter.
- Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown.
- Makes 10 biscuits.
For the Sausage Gravy
- In a large cast iron skillet (or other large skillet), add the sausage and cook over medium to medium-high heat until the sausage is cooked through and no longer pink, 8-10 minutes. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to break up the meat into small chunks as needed. Do NOT drain the grease that the sausage made while cooking.
- Use your spoon to spread the sausage out into an even layer on the bottom of the pan.
- Sprinkle the flour over the top of the sausage and then stir well to combine. Let the flour and sausage cook for 1-2 minutes, stir often.
- Whisk the milk slowly into the sausage and flour mixture. Continue whisking until the gravy starts to simmer, about 5 minutes.
- Keep stirring and let the gravy cook while at a low simmer for an additional 1-3 minutes, until it thickens.
- Serve the hot gravy over the hot cooked biscuits with additional salt and pepper to taste.
Video
Notes
- This recipe makes the best biscuits! And you need to try this buttermilk biscuit recipe, too. Take a look at them both and see which you’d like to make. I make them both often. The one I have shared here is a little easier because you don’t have to have buttermilk on hand to make it.
- After you add the milk to the sausage, you have to sit and stir for a long while so that the milk doesn’t burn and stick to the bottom of the pan. This is a great job for little helpers with some supervision.
- You can use just about any kind or flavor of breakfast sausage that you like. I love using hot or maple sausage as well as the traditional.
- I like to use a cast iron skillet for this recipe, and I also think whole milk makes the gravy rich and creamy.
After your sausage is cooked add the flour….and stir, you want to brown the flour. Also use a cast iron skillet
Lastly when I fry the sausage I also include minced red onion.
You’ll never make b&g again without it.
Excellent recipes!! I made a triple batch of both for our church this morning. Yummy!!!
Do you have a recipe for a white gravy?
I don’t but I can work on one! Is it just a milk gravy you have in mind?
First time I have ever made biscuits and gravy. This recipe is bomb!!! So very tasty. I’m sure I could have made the biscuits a little more uniform, but for my first time I’m gonna give myself some slack. My wife and I loved em! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Same recipe I use only I add onion to mine adds great flavor and always always let gravey wait one day in the refg. It makes a world of difference in taste.
I just made your biscuits & gravy recipe today & my husband & I loved it. He’s been after me for almost 3 years to make this dish as he used to live down south. It’s extremely easy & quick to make. I did add parsley to the biscuits just for looks as I do that with dumplings. The one thing I’ve learned from online recipes is to write it out before making it. It makes it less stressful for me when trying something new.
You should be using baking powder, the baking soda will indeed have a bad taste to it.
I’m trying this great recipe, it’s very tasty. I just have to thank you for it, and God Bless !
My biscuits didn’t rise…any idea what could have went wrong??
How old is you baking powder? It has a fairly short shelf life.
The directions list butter, however butter is not listed in the ingredients…. Strange
The butter is used in step #2 in the directions.