Traditional Sausage Gravy & Biscuits
Ingredients
Sausage Gravy
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- ½ yellow onion (diced)
- 1 lb ground pork
- ½ tsp celery salt
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (plus more to garnish)
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- 1½ tsp fennel seed
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ¾ cup plain flour
- ¾ cup unsalted butter
- 3½ cups whole milk
- salt & pepper
- fresh thyme (chopped)
- fresh sage (chopped)
Sunday Morning Biscuits
- 1 cup plain flour
- ½ tbsp sugar
- ½ tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (cubed small)
- ½ cup buttermilk (If you do not have buttermilk, simply add ½ tbsp of lemon juice or white vinegar to a measuring cup, plus enough milk to make ½ cup – let stand for five minutes)
Directions
Sausage Gravy
- Heat the olive oil in a large cast iron skillet
- Add garlic and cook until just fragrant. About 2 minutes
- Add onion and cook until it begins to caramelize. About 7 minutes
- Add the ground pork and dry seasonings to the onion and garlic. Cook until browned. About 10 minutes
- Meanwhile, in a good sized saucepan over medium heat, make a roux by melting butter and adding flour, stirring until you have a nice dough
- Add whole milk and season with salt and pepper
- Whisk until well combined and cook for about 5 minutes until thickened
- Empty the skillet contents into the saucepan and stir together with a wooden spoon. Let simmer for at least 10 minutes
Sunday Morning Biscuits
- Preheat oven to 450°F
- Whisk together dry ingredients
- Add butter and mix together by hand. Work butter into flour by squeezing the cubes with your fingers and incorporating into the flour mixture
- Optional: add any desired cheeses or herbs
- Pour in buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon until dough is formed
- Using a cookie scoop, make 20 biscuits on two lined baking sheets – I like to use parchment paper to keep them from sticking
- Bake until edges are golden brown. About 10 minutes
- Top biscuits with gravy and garnish with crushed red pepper flakes, thyme and sage
Biscuits and gravy never needs an introduction. It’s the perfect comfort food, easy to make for a large crowd and freezes nicely if for some reason you have leftovers. One of the best perks to growing up rural in a small school district during the 90’s was that almost all of our lunches were made from scratch and every once in a blue moon we would have biscuits and gravy – I think it was less times than I could count on one hand, but it was such a treat.
The recipe calls for a long list of ingredients, but most are to season the sausage and it’s a breeze! Begin by melting butter in a cast iron skillet and cooking garlic until just fragrant. Add the onion and cook until it’s beginning to caramelize. Now add the ground pork along with all of the seasonings. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sausage is cooked through and browned.
In a saucepan, work on the gravy by melting butter and stirring in flour to create a nice dough. Whisk in milk and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until the gravy has thickened. Then add the breakfast sausage to your gravy and let simmer while you work on the biscuits.
Don’t worry about making the biscuits ahead of time. The longer the sausage sits in the gravy, the better flavor you’ll have. For the biscuits, I like to use my Sunday Morning Biscuit recipe. They’re the perfect flavor and density!