This homemade sausage gravy combines ground breakfast sausage with spices and milk for a delicious and flavorful gravy that pairs perfectly with biscuits or your favorite breakfast food. It’ll be a new breakfast staple!
Sponsored by: Perdue Farms. All opinions are 100% honest and my own.
I don’t know when it started – probably when I was trying to find the best places to eat in Gulf Shores – but I love biscuits and gravy. I’ve tried it at a ton of different restaurants. Some are a hit, some are a miss.
But I keep trying.
Since we’re not eating out quite as often anymore, I’ve been missing my biscuits and gravy fix. I convinced my husband that he had to come up with a delicious homemade sausage gravy recipe to give me my fill.
And he did it. It’s so good, especially when paired with a delicious buttermilk biscuit recipe!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Super easy – I always thought making gravy was tough but if you follow the recipe as written, it’s pretty hard to mess this one up. It’s just browning meat, adding spices, adding some milk, and letting it thicken.
- Great flavor – while it may not be a traditional Southern sausage gravy, it’s a delicious one. I prefer a white gravy over a brown one, so that’s what this recipe is!
- Perfect for a crowd – the recipe makes enough gravy to serve six people as written. It’d be easy to double or even triple the recipe to serve breakfast to a group!
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
The most important part of this sausage gravy is the pork sausage itself, I mean without the sausage, it’d just be gravy.
My sausage of choice for this sausage gravy is Niman Ranch Country-Style Ground Pork Sausage.
I’ve been an ambassador for Perdue Farms for over a year now and that experience has taught me a lot about food. I’ve always cared about the quality of my food but now my family cares more than ever not just about the quality but also about where the food comes from and how the animals are treated.
Who knew that treating animals better actually makes meat taste better? I’m telling you – I’ve learned a lot.
Niman Ranch is one of the Perdue Farms brands we use a lot. It’s not only a brand that produces meat of high-enough quality for top chefs around the country to use, it is also:
- Certified Humane
- Pasture-raised (or in deeply bedded pens), free of cages and crates
- US born, raised, and processed
- Free of any antibiotics, hormone, and growth-promoting drugs
- Never fed animal by-products
All Niman Ranch animals are also raised by independent family farmers and raised using sustainable practices.
There’s a reason their meat tastes so good! And that’s why it’s the perfect choice for this delicious sausage gravy!
I grabbed some on sale on the Perdue Farms website, maybe a little too much. What can I say? I like biscuits and gravy!
Perdue Farms is also doing a HUGE stock your freezer sale right now with tons of items starting at $4.99 (like 75% off!) PLUS you get a free bonus product with every order! And of course, anytime you shop with a link from my site you get an extra 15% off for my ambassador discount!
Instructions
Okay now let’s get back to the sausage gravy. Making it is super easy, just make sure to stay around and pay attention to it so it doesn’t burn!
The first thing you want to do is pull your sausage and milk out of the fridge – do this about 30 minutes before cooking so they can come to room temperature.
If you don’t do this, it won’t ruin the dish, but it’s better this way – trust me!
1 – Brown the Sausage
Preheat a saute pan over medium to medium to high heat on the stove.
Brown the sausage in the hot pan, making sure to break up the sausage into chunks the size you want in your gravy. I like small chunks, so this gravy has small chunks in it.
Tip!
Cut the block of sausage into two thinner squares before putting it in the pan. Brown one side of each square, flip, then brown the other side. This helps cook all of the meat evenly without overcooking some.
Keep stirring and cooking the sausage until it’s no longer pink.
2 – Season the Sausage
Next you’re going to add the butter and stir until it’s all completely melted into the meat.
Then add half the flour, stir, and cook for a minute then add the other half of the flour and stir in until completely combined.
Once the flour is in, cook for another two minutes then add in your other spices (garlic, sage, and smoked paprika).
Stir for 1-2 minutes or until the flour is completely dissolved and spices are distributed throughout.
3 – Make the Gravy
Slowly add 1 cup of the milk and stir. Add the two remaining cups of milk, stirring constantly.
Stir until smooth then add in the sugar and salt. Bring the boil to a mixture, stirring often.
4 – Thicken the Gravy
Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer until thickened, typically about 10 minutes. You want it thick enough that it’ll coat the back of a spoon and pour off slowly.
5 – Season & Serve
Season with pepper and additional salt if necessary, then serve immediately.
While you could just eat this plain, I personally prefer it with some fresh biscuits! It would also be great with toast, eggs, or even on honey cornbread.
Expert Tips
If the gravy thickens too much, add 1/2 cup milk, stir, and cook for a couple of minutes to thin the gravy out. If it’s still too thick, add another 1/2 cup milk and do the same thing.
If not serving right away, keep the gravy in the pan turned onto the lowest setting to keep it warm until you’re ready to serve.
Allow the milk to come to room temperature before adding to the gravy to avoid lumps in the gravy.
Store any leftover gravy in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days.
Recipe FAQs
Do not drain the sausage for sausage gravy. You want the drippings from the sausage to add flavor to the gravy.
Add 1/2 cup milk, stir, and cook for a few minutes. Continue adding 1/2 cup milk and cooking for a few minutes to reach your desired texture.
More Niman Ranch Recipes
I mentioned that we use a lot of Niman Ranch products in our house! Here are some of my favorite recipes that we’ve made that would be perfect with Niman Ranch meat!
- Cheese stuffed meatballs – these keto friendly, mozzarella cheese stuffed meatballs are soft, cheesy, and delicious! They make a great appetizer or meal when served with mashed potatoes.
- Pulled pork sliders – Niman Ranch makes some of the best frozen pulled pork ever and these pulled pork sliders with a homemade cabbage slaw are a regular item on our weekly meal planner!
- Queso fundido – this Mexican inspired dip uses Niman Ranch ground pork to create a homemade chorizo that’s mixed with cheese and spices for one of the most amazing dips ever!
- Ham fried rice – a quick and easy dinner that starts with Niman Ranch ham and leftover rice! This is will be a family favorite for sure!
Homemade Sausage Gravy
Ingredients
- 1 pound Niman Ranch Country-Style Ground Pork Sausage
- 3 TBS salted butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/8 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/8 tsp rubbed sage
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pull the sausage and milk out of the fridge about 30 minutes before cooking so that they can come to room temperature.
- Preheat a medium-large sauté pan over medium to medium-high heat.
- Cut the sausage in half so you have two thin squares. Brown one side of each square in the heated pan for 3 minutes, flip, and brown the other side for 3 minutes.
- Break up the sausage into the size of meat chunks you want to eat and continue to stir and cook until no longer pink, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the butter and stir until melted.
- Sprinkle half the flour over the meat and stir for 1 minute. Sprinkle the other half of the flour over the meat and stir for 2 minutes.
- Add the garlic powder, smoked paprika, and sage and stir for 1-2 more minutes, until the flour looks like it has dissolved and the spices are evenly distributed throughout the meat.
- Slowly add 1 cup of the milk while stirring and continue to stir until smooth. Slowly add the 2 remaining cups of milk while stirring and continue to stir until smooth.
- Add the salt and sugar and stir to combine.
- Increase heat to medium-high to high and bring to boil, stirring often.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring often.
- Season with pepper and any additional salt to taste. Then serve immediately.
wilhelmina says
We love this sausage gravy! It is great for breakfast or even for dinner!
Ashley says
I had everything I needed for this recipe so made it for dinner. It was great. Thank you!