Buttermilk Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

Buttermilk Biscuits and Sausage Gravy has a reputation for being complicated, but I promise you it's not. Tall, flaky biscuits smothered in rich, peppery sausage gravy comes together in about 30 minutes, start to finish, with ingredients you already have. This is the recipe that turns "I've never made biscuits before" into "I make these every weekend."

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This Biscuits and Gravy recipe comes straight from my Grandma Olga Mae, by way of my Dad, and I've tweaked it just enough to make it foolproof without losing any of what makes it taste like home. When Dad didn't have breakfast sausage he'd swap in ground beef, which is old school SOS, and honestly? Both versions are worth making.

If you love a Southern breakfast spread, you'll want to put this next to some scrambled eggs and home fries and make a full production of it. Or just eat it straight from the pan at the kitchen counter in your slippers. No judgment here.

My Journey to Biscuits and Gravy

You'd think, being born in Chattahoochee County, Georgia, I'd have had my biscuit game down years ago. Sadly, no. Most of my childhood biscuits came out of a can. Poppin' Fresh!  When I became a "grown-up" I put my mind on figuring out how to get the biscuits of my dreams out of my head and onto a plate. I read a lot of recipes, tried a few different techniques, and…made some truly heinous hockey pucks.

But I never gave up. I kept trying, and I  finally brought it all together into what I believe are some of the fluffiest, flakiest, most tender biscuits outside of the South. Covered in rich creamy sausage gravy (try my Homemade Breakfast Sausage!), this makes for a breakfast worth having for dinner!

Ingredients & Substitutions

• All-purpose flour No fancy flours here. I use King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, but any brand will do.
• Baking soda Baking soda reacts with the buttermilk right away to give your biscuits a nice lift.
• Baking powder Baking powder also works right away, but is "double acting", meaning it continues to add fluff to your biscuits all the way to the end.
• A touch of sugar The biscuits I love the most always have just a touch of sweetness. You can leave that out later, but try it just this once. I think you'll like it! Plus it's not just add sweetness, the sugar actually helps make the biscuits more tender.
• Salt Unless a Medical Doctor told you to leave out salt, don't leave out salt. Whether baking or cooking, salt enhances the flavor of all the ingredients. Friend not foe, unless otherwise directed.
• Butter Cold. Cold. Cold 🥶 The high heat of your oven hits the cold, cold butter. The butter releases steam that pushes up and out of the dough, creating flaky layers as a fabulous side effect. I love science!
• Buttermilk Buttermilk helps to create an overall taller, tastier, flakier, fluffier biscuit. Who doesn't want that? If you don't have buttermilk I'm not a fan of the method of adding lemon juice or vinegar to milk to make your own. It doesn't have the same flavor and it doesn't create the same texture as real buttermilk. If you don't have buttermilk, you can use yogurt thinned with a little bit of milk.

Tips for Buttermilk Biscuit Success:

Biscuit making need not be complicated. Once someone gives you the correct formula (I think it's this one), it's just a matter of following the directions. I mean, yes baking is a science, but biscuit making should be fun!

• Make sure your baking powder is fresh! That way, you'll get the light and fluffy biscuits of your dreams. Check the expiration date!
• Use cold, cold 🥶 butter and buttermilk. The key to getting the flakiest biscuits is having the heat of the oven hit the cold liquids in the butter and the buttermilk, turning those liquids into steam that pops out all those layers. The science part 🤓
• Don't handle the dough too much. Work gently to not only keep the butter cold, but to reduce gluten formation. That'll make a tough biscuit. More science 🤓
• If you have time, place the biscuits in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or the freezer for 5 minutes to firm up the butter before baking.
• When cutting out your biscuits, don't twist your biscuit cutter. Lift straight up. Just the simple act of twisting out the biscuits can seal the edges and keep you from reaching your layered potential!
• As soon as your biscuits come out of the oven, give them a brush of honey or butter. Or honey butter! An extra bit of joy ❤️

How to make sausage gravy?

• Brown sausage Using my Freshly Ground Breakfast Sausage or store bought breakfast sausage, and cook until no pink remains and you have brown crispy bits.
• Add butter Add 3-4 tablespoons butter, less if your sausage produced a lot of fat, and melt it in.
• Whisk in flour Whisk in ¼ cup of flour and cook for a minute or two. This will cook out any raw flour taste, and the flour itself is what will thicken your gravy.
• Add milk Slowly pour in 4 cups of whole milk, whisking all the time, and allow to simmer until your gravy is thickened to your liking. If, at the end, you think it's too thick, you can always add more milk. If you think it's too thin, just keep simmering.
• Season You don't want to season you gravy with salt and pepper until the end or you risk over-seasoning your gravy as it reduces.

Looking for more savory breakfast ideas?

• Large Batch Freezer Biscuits
• Chicken Chilaquiles Verde
• Ham and Swiss Buttermilk Biscuits
• Chorizo and Potato Tacos
• Italian Frittata
• Smoked Salmon "Everything Bagel" Frittata
• Biscuit Eggs Benedict with Country Gravy