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.
I made this recipe to the T, except I used your buttermilk biscuit recipe… Oh my gosh, it was so good… And easy! Will be saving this as my go-to recipe for biscuits and gravy!
Can the gravy be portioned and frozen. I live by myself, so if I cook something that I end up having leftovers from I try to make sure it’s something that can be frozen and reheated later on. And I love biscuits and gravy, but rarely make them because I don’t want to waste the gravy.
You could try it, it might separate a little but just reheat it slowly!
Would I be able to make the biscuits the night before and then bake them the following morning? Or should I bake everything and just reheat? Thank you so much.
The issue lies with how well the baking powder is going to stay reactive once you’ve mixed it with the wet ingredients. I haven’t tried it in the fridge overnight, it could work or you could have flat biscuits. Will you let us know if you do try it?
Just made the biscuits and WOW they’re delicious. Mind, I’m not from the south so I’m not a connoisseur, but I’m also not a fabulous cook and these were quick and easy and turned out perfect! A little sweet, a little crispy, perfectly flaky. 😍 I’ll have to try the gravy as well next time.
Made this recipe for the first time and it was delicious! Thank you for sharing! can’t wait to try other recipes!
I followed your directions to the T and, both, the biscuits and gravy came out perfectly delicious! My husband said to add it to the recipe book! I made our own recipe binder of all the dishes our family likes. You, of course, will be given credit in our little binder for years to come. Thank you! 😄 Now I’m going to try this recipe Gluten Free!
I am doubling this for a large crowd tomorrow morning. Along with other items people are bringing. Could I make it tonight and put it in the crock pot to heat up and keep warm for tomorrow?
Yes, it reheats very well!
Made the biscuits but they failed to rise. I inadvertently added 1 cup milk instead of 3/4 cup. Everything else was per the recipe.
Yep, that softer dough thanks to the additional milk will spread out more than get tall, still tastes great but that would have been the hiccup for you. I’ve done it before too.
On your biscuits, 1/2 cup of flour and 4 cups of milk can’t be correct. That would be flour soup!
You’re reading them backwards, that measurement for flour and milk is for the gravy. The biscuit measurements are right above that.
I can’t wait to try your biscuit recipe. Thank you for sharing. I do have a question though…the last few times I’ve made the gravy, my sausage didn’t have any grease. Has anyone else had this issue? I’ve had to use 2 Tbsps. of butter to have anything for my flour. Any ideas on what I may be doing wrong?
It’ll just depend on the brand of sausage and how much fat was added when processing, no issue there at all. We process our own sausage occasionally and sometimes I don’t have as much fat as a typical sausage so I add a little butter too, that’s a great option.
I use white wheat flour for a bit more fiber and nutrition, and saute a chopped onion in with the sausage. Great tasting and again, a bit more nutritious.