Southern Sausage Gravy

Southern Sausage Gravy. Great biscuits and gravy is easy with this no cream added recipe to turn any kind of sausage into a delicious comfort food breakfast or brunch.

Southern Sausage Gravy.

Having travelled extensively throughout the southern states, I can tell you that I’ve eaten my fair share of biscuits and gravy. And probably the share of another one or two folks as well.

I’m always drawn to biscuits in particular down south. It’s one of those things that you can eat a dozen places and they are all a bit different.

Everyone claims to have the best biscuits. Some of them clearly are not! The same goes for southern sausage gravy.

It has been the star of many a roadside diner breakfast for me on many occasions. I’m usually the only one eating it though, because the rest of the family were not fans.

A classic comfort food breakfast.

Spouse in particular, does not like creamy type sauces or  cream based gravy. (To be clear, there is no cream in this recipe, though.) 

Her opinion was probably tainted by a couple of bad experiences with the dish early on. She says her early tasting experiences were bland and rather pasty. Not good.

Sure, there is a lot of bad biscuits and gravy being served up down south, but when you hit a great one, it is pure comfort food heaven.

Building a better Southern Sausage Gravy

I decided to try my own spin on sausage gravy, one that does not rely on whole milk or heavy cream. Instead, I chose to use a combination of chicken stock and 2% milk. 

Now I’m not calling this health food in any way. However it does cut back on a fair amount of the fat, especially when you choose a lean type of sausage.

Turkey or chicken breakfast sausage works particularly well in this recipe. The added chicken stock really enriches the flavour of the gravy too, so bland gravy is not an issue.

Good quality sausages make all the difference in Southern Sausage Gravy

On this occasion I was lucky enough to try some sausage flavoured with garlic and paprika from Waterwest Kitchen & Meats here in St. John’s. If you’re going to indulge in a meal like this, might as well make it with the best ingredients you can find.

Biscuits & Gravy, a southern comfort food classic.

The result. 

This was an incredible comfort food meal and I even got spouse to admit that it was indeed a tasty version. I admit that since there was leftovers, I reheated the sausage gravy with a little milk added the next morning.

I then reheated the biscuits in the oven wrapped in aluminum foil. It was equally as good, and I did not mind one bit enjoying this 2 mornings in a row!

This southern sausage gravy is bound to make another appearance soon in my kitchen. I think next time it will be for one of our family fave’s “breakfast for dinner” nights! We just love those.

Break the sausage into small pieces

Brown the sausage well to start building flavour.

Cook the onions and garlic in the butter to soften.

Add the flour to the skillet.

Cook in the flour until foamy.

Add the milk and chicken stock.

Bring the gravy to a final simmer

Sausage gravy .

NOTE: For the biscuits in this dish I baked the all butter version of biscuits used in my Freezer Biscuits recipe. That recipe shows how you can freeze biscuits after cutting them out and freeze them immediately.

Then, you can enjoy biscuits at any time, right from freezer to oven. Of course, you can bake them right away to use in the recipe or even freeze half for later.

TIPS:

• Heating the combination of the milk and stock to scalding in the microwave, or in a pot on the stovetop, will speed up the cooking time of the gravy.
• You can also “double reduce” the stock before using it, to intensify the flavour of the gravy if you like. I often do this for any gravy using stock. Basically take double the amount of stock in the recipe and simmer it until the volume reduces by half. This will make the stock twice as intense, for a richer gravy with more depth of flavour.

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Yield: 6 servings

Southern Sausage Gravy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Southern Sausage Gravy. Great biscuits and gravy is easy with this no cream added recipe to turn any kind of sausage into a delicious comfort food breakfast or brunch.

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Ingredients

• 1 pound of sausage meat (removed from casings it necessary)
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped onion (any kind you like)
• 4 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk (I used 2%)
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock (sodium free or low sodium preferably) (you can just use all milk if you like) (see notes below)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• salt to season
• Pinch of chili flakes (optional or to taste)

Instructions

1. Start by breaking up the sausage meat into small pieces and brown it well over medium to medium high heat. You want to get some good color when browning the sausage, to add extra flavour to the gravy.
2. When the sausage is cooked, remove it from the pan and set aside for later.
3. Turn the pan down to medium to medium low and melt the butter.
4. Add the onions and garlic and cook for only a minute or so to begin softening the onions.
5. Add the flour to the pan and mix it in well. Cook for a minute until foamy.
6. Combine the chicken stock and milk and add to the pan along with the black pepper. Don't add salt yet.
7. Turn the pan to low and simmer slowly for 5 minutes or so, stirring often, until the gravy thickens.
8. Taste the gravy to see if it needs additional salt. Depending on the type of sausage you use, there may be enough salt in it to season the gravy properly. I recommend low sodium chicken stock but if not, this will also add salt to the dish. In any case, seasoning at the end is best way not not OVER season the gravy. 
9. Serve over warm biscuits.

Notes

TIPS:

• Heating the combination of the milk and stock to scalding in the microwave, or in a pot on the stovetop, will speed up the cooking time of the gravy.
• You can also "double reduce" the stock before using it, to intensify the flavour of the gravy if you like. I often do this for any gravy using stock. Basically take double the amount of stock in the recipe and simmer it until the volume reduces by half. This will make the stock twice as intense, for a richer gravy with more depth of flavour.

Nutrition Information

Yield

6

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 408Total Fat 33gSaturated Fat 14gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 15gCholesterol 89mgSodium 867mgCarbohydrates 10gFiber 0gSugar 5gProtein 18g

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

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