If you don’t live in the south, you might have never tried this classic southern breakfast dish, and believe me when I say you’re missing out. Sausage gravy is rich, comforting, inexpensive, and surprisingly easy to make from scratch. So you don’t have to wait 45 minutes in line at your favorite brunch spot to get some good biscuits and gravy. Let me show you how to do it at home for way less time and way less money.
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What Kind of Sausage to Use for Sausage Gravy
The sausage is the most important part of sausage gravy because the herbs and spices in the sausage end up flavoring the gravy, and the fat from the pork makes everything extra rich. Look for a fresh pork sausage (not in links or patties) that is labeled either “pork sausage,” “country sausage,” or “breakfast sausage.” You’ll usually find it packaged in a tube or roll.
Here are some examples of sausage that you can find in most grocery stores in the U.S. that can be used for Country Sausage Gravy: Tennessee Pride Country Sausage, Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage, or Bob Evans Original Sausage Roll. Most major grocery stores also sell their own store brand of country sausage.
What to Serve with Country Sausage Gravy
Traditionally, sausage gravy is spooned over homemade biscuits (or you can use store-bought biscuits as a shortcut), but this rich gravy is pretty good on just about any starchy vehicle. Here are some fun alternatives to biscuits for your sausage gravy:
- Breakfast Potatoes or hashbrowns
- Tortilla Chips (make it like breakfast nachos)
- English Muffins
- Grits
- Mashed Potatoes
- Hearty toast
And if you want something on the side? Definitely some fried or scrambled eggs!
Can You Make it Ahead?
While this sausage gravy is definitely best when made fresh (and it only takes a few minutes), you can make it ahead if you need to. Sausage gravy will stay good in the refrigerator for a couple of days. To reheat, simply add it back to a skillet and reheat over medium-low, stirring often until heated through, and adding a splash of milk to loosen it up if needed.
P.S. Don’t forget you can double the recipe below by simply changing the number in the “servings” box to 8 and it will automatically double the ingredient amounts for you! :)
Country Sausage Gravy
Servings 4 ¾ cup eachIngredients
- 1/2 lb. pork sausage ($1.45)
- 1.5 Tbsp butter ($0.16)
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour ($0.02)
- 2 cups whole milk ($0.82)
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper (optional) ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp salt ($0.02)
Instructions
- Add the pork sausage to a skillet and cook over medium heat, breaking it into chunks as you stir, until it is cooked through. Do not drain the fat from the skillet.
- Add the butter and flour to the skillet with the pork. Continue to stir and cook for about 2 minutes more.
- Whisk the milk into the skillet, making sure to dissolve all the browned bits off the bottom of the skillet as you whisk. Continue to stir and cook until the milk begins to simmer lightly, at which point it will thicken into a nice gravy (5 minutes).
- Season the gravy with red pepper, freshly cracked black pepper, garlic powder, and salt. Serve over biscuits or your favorite starchy breakfast item.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Sausage Gravy From Scratch – Step by Step Photos
Add ½ lb. fresh pork sausage to a skillet and stir and cook over medium heat until browned. Break the sausage into pieces as you stir.
Add 1.5 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour to the skillet. Continue to cook and stir for about two minutes more.
Whisk 2 cups whole milk into the skillet, dissolving all the browned bits off the bottom of the skillet as you whisk.
Continue to cook and stir until the milk comes up to a gentle simmer, at which point it will thicken into a nice gravy (5 minutes).
Season the gravy with ⅛ tsp crushed red pepper, ⅛ tsp freshly cracked black pepper, ⅛ tsp garlic powder, and ⅛ tsp salt.
Give the gravy a taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
Serve over biscuits or with your favorite starchy breakfast food!
Perfect recipe! I used turkey sausage bc I cant have pork.
Great recipe !!!
Gravy was awesome!
Cont. on the side to slop up the extra gravy. Fingers are always allowed.
I made it using lactose free whole milk. Added a bit more fat via canola oil and a bit more flour. Like 2 extra tablespoons. It worked. I didn’t have pepper so I used hickory smoke, chili powder, ms dash and etc. Turned it into brunch Sammies. Grand flaky biscuits adorned with cheese, egg, and sausage gravy
I doubled the recipe and used 1 pound Jimmy Dean sausage. I didn’t have whole milk so I used 2 cups 2% and 2 cups half and half. Since the sausage was already seasoned, I didn’t add any of the seasonings listed in the recipe. Turned out perfect and will make again!
I made this alongside your 5 ingredient freezer biscuits, and used the 2nd half of the sausage in your Creamy Tomato Pasta with Sausage. Because the pasta recipe used 1/2 a package of spinach – I put the rest in this sausage gravy alongside an onion I sauteed with the sausage. I have ZERO leftovers. The entire family gobbled it up (including two who’d never even HAD sausage gravy before.). Adding the spinach and red onion really made it prettier to plate. Shout out to you, Beth! Fantastic, easy recipes that I was able to make at the same time.
Love your recipes!!! Made
Love this recipe!!! After all three Hardee’s restuarants closed down in my area, a good sausage gravy and biscuits are hard to find. Made your biscuits today for the first time. The biscuits were great! This was my first successful batch of biscuits ever!! Attached to that recipe was a link to this sausage gravy recipe and I decided to give it a try. Incredible!!! My wife isn’t a gravy person like I am, but she absolutely loved the gravy and the biscuits. Already printed out and pinned these recipes as favorites. Thank you, Beth for making it so easy and tasty!!
I make this once a week because it’s so easy to make and delicious!
I couldn’t find sausage gravy in the grocery store, and my teenage son was craving it, so I decided to try to make it from scratch. This was perfect! It’s exactly what he wanted, and I loved it too! This is the second time I’ve made it this week and it’s a huge hit with everyone.
I’ve made this 3 times in the past week. I’ve never enjoyed biscuits and gravy from a restaurant because it always so salty. This recipe blew my mind. It just hits all the right spots!
I made this with Italian sausage and oat milk and it was great! Had to add a couple more spoons of flour to help thicken it, but otherwise the same :)
I’ve made this 20+ times and my Tennessee-raised husband can’t get enough of it. It tastes just like it should, no extra fuss or weird ingredients. Definitely a family favorite!
I doubled the recipe and used 1 pound Jimmy Dean sausage. I didn’t have whole milk so I used 2 cups 2% and 2 cups half and half. Since the sausage was already seasoned, I didn’t add any of the seasonings listed in the recipe. Turned out perfect and will make again!
Can you sub the whole milk out for another product?
It needs to have the same amount of fat content. You can try coconut milk, but it will have a distinctly different flavor. XOXO -Monti
I made this today because of the recent video and I’m so glad I did. This was so, so good…and so easy. I love biscuits and gravy and will even get it from Hardee’s sometimes when I can’t afford to go out for breakfast. I had no idea how easy it was to make at home. This is a game changer for me. Thanks Beth!
Sorry but I had to up the salt to 1/2 TSP. It really made the difference. However, that being said I was using turkey, light brown and serve so there was little to no fat to add that sausage salt content.
I’ve also made this with onion powder versus garlic. I’m thinking I like the onion a bit better. Adding both was a no go as it turned into an Italian cream sauce.. lol
Easy and delicious! I’ve made it multiple times and it’s been great. I like to add the seasoning when the meat is almost browned so it adds extra flavor. Thanks!
Could I use half & half instead of whole milk? Trying to use what I have on hand. Thanks!
Yes, it will be extra thick and rich, but I’m sure it would still work. :)
I made this tonight and taste good. Its simple ans delicious. Thank you for this recipe.
don’t usually like country gravy but since i love your recipes so much i thought i’d give it a try and i was NOT sorry! this is delicious and flavorful and rich and perfect for this southern transplant on a drizzly pacific northwest morning!
This Canadian thanks you!
This was delicious and so easy to make!
I’m really grateful for you Beth. My rent doubled during the pandemic. 😡 I’ve had to really be cost conscious these days. Your blog and app are lifesavers. I spent $6.00 on the ingredients for this recipe. I’ll get 4 meals out of this. Thank you for all that you do!!
Thank you, Melissa! That means a lot to me! :)
You do not need to use all that fat before adding the flour etc.
yes you do. this is called a roux (a blonde one, anyway) and it’s how you thicken the gravy. you have to mix the butter and flour. one tablespoon each per cup of liquid. especially if, like when i made it, there wasn’t much grease from the sausage. that’s the whole point of this gravy.
Agreed. There really wasn’t that much fat left over from the sausage but I’m glad it was there because it really made a very flavorful roux.
This recipe is bomb. My coworkers have asked how I make it because it smells so delicious.
This looks amazing! Do you think this could be recreated well with a vegetarian meat substitute?
Probably! But if the meat substitute does not contain a lot of fat, I’d suggest adding a little extra butter to make up for that. You need a good amount of fat to coat the flour in order to make the thickening action happen correctly.
I just successfully made this with vegetarian sausage, cashew milk, and vegan butter. I usually cook my vegetarian sausage in a little olive oil anyhow to make up for the lack of fat, but adding a little more butter doesn’t hurt the flavor. :)
I followed the rest of the instructions exactly (maybe a little extra garlic powder), and it turned out perfectly. Thank you so much for the great recipe!
Awesome! Thank you for sharing how you did it! :)
This looks delicious. Can I substitute the milk with coconut cream?
I haven’t tried that, unfortunately, so I’m not sure how that would turn out.
As someone who lives in Canada but fell very much in love with country gravy on trips to Atlanta and Florida, I thank you SO MUCH for this!
This gravy was so good! Can’t wait to make it for my Dad for Father’s Day.
That’s exactly how I make my gravy and I have been told, “For a Yankee, you make good biscuits and gravy,” which I take as high compliment. This is one of my favorite breakfasts!!
I’m in Ohio, but sausage was a Sunday breakfast staple for my family, a tradition passed down from my Tennessee- and Kentucky-born grandmas. My mom and I make ours with half regular and half spicy Jimmy Dean’s, and I don’t know if this is regional or just a family thing, but besides biscuits, we also spoon it over thick slices of tomato. It’s delicious!
Not just a southern recipe.😊 I was born and raised in Oregon and my grandma would make county gravy pretty much every weekend along with homemade biscuits. One of my favorite things to eat. It’s very popular and you’ll find it on the breakfast menu in just about every restaurant in Oregon as well, but homemade is even better.
Love this! I like to grind my own pork (and chicken for that matter) much cheaper and lower fat. Can you provide what spice mix should be used to make your own breakfast sausage? Love all your recipes!
I make my own breakfast sausage–not much work to it at all–it’s way lower in fat and sodium than commercial brands, and I can adjust both the seasonings and the heat, ie chili flakes and black pepper–to suit my family. I’ve yet to find a commercial bulk sausage that isn’t too salty for us from the get go. There are lots of recipes online, and I expect Beth can come up with a winner. I use 1 lb 90-93% lean ground pork with about 1/2 tsp garlic granules, 1/4 tsp dried sage, 1/4 tsp dried thyme, a generous 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, and about 1 tsp finely minced chipotle (I freeze chipotles 1-2 in plastic bags when I open a can since I rarely use more than 1-2 in a recipe, but if you don’t want to bother with them, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes are about the same amount of heat). Sometimes I add finely diced raw bacon–2-3 slices. It’s also cheap as I usually get ground pork for $3.99 per lb. I form patties for breakfast one day and freeze the rest either in patties or bulk for a second breakfast. They are best if mix the pork the day before cooking so the seasonings can permeate.
And Beth has some terrific biscuit recipes for this, but it’s also great over toast or even cornbread.
Thanks for this, my spouse has two gallstones so I am always looking to lower the fat count. I usually substitute out whole milk and use a different kind of butter and have never had an issue. I will try using your sausage recipe as well. I personally don’t like a lot of salt either so this is great. Thank youagain
Thanks! I am just revisiting this for a “breakfast for dinner” night I will try out your sausage spice mix. Sounds great!