Biscuits & Chicken Sausage Gravy

** An updated version of this recipe, complete with homemade biscuits, is available here.**


I’ve been on a mission to “One Up” my brothers gravy recipe for years. His always seemed too complicated, even for gravy from scratch. So I’ve worked away on this one for a long time, perfected it and am finally, sharing it. It’s not easy, but every other weekend or when we have friends over in the mornings, it’s great to have. It even makes amazing leftovers, unlike most breakfasts, so it’s not wasteful to make a bunch. Make it on Sunday and keep it in the fridge for the week. It’s easy to reheat and my fiance absolutely loves it when he’s in a hurry. I pop a plate in the microwave and he’s got a quick bite of a breakfast I worked really hard on and put a lot of love into! Can’t beat that!

If you’ve ever made a gravy before you know that once you start cooking it, you can’t walk away. So yes, this is yet another dish of mine that makes you a slave to the stove, but is also, so very worth it.
So, let’s get started.

Ingredients:
1 Pkg Breakfast sausage, I use Isernio’s brand because it’s all natural, tastes amazing and it’s chicken, not pork. If you like pork sausage, they make a great one too. Find it here.
3 Tbs All purpose flour
Reduced fat butter milk
Regular milk
Pepper
1 Pkg Grands Flakey Layers Biscuits

Directions:
Cook the sausage in a large sauce pan, on medium while breaking it into small pieces. Chicken sausage really doesn’t render a lot of fat for the purposes of making a gravy, so if you find the pan is dry add a couple of table spoons of butter to the sausage after it’s browned. It doesn’t take much butter so don’t go overboard, but if you use the pork sausage, no butter is needed! It’s biscuits and gravy, so it’s not HEALTHY but we can try to make it less-bad-for-you. Once the sausage is cooked add the flour, using a whisk to make sure all the sausage is coated in flour. Let that cook on medium for about 4 or 5 minutes until it starts getting darker brown and you can tell the flour is starting to cook.

Then, just like when you make the sauce for MacNCheese, start adding the buttermilk, slowly. About a cup and a half, whisking until it becomes REALLY thick, but don’t let it burn! Then start whisking in the milk. You can add a little at a time to make sure the butter milk and milk get fully incorporated into each other and that the gravy will thicken up properly. Once you’re sure everything is mixed and going well, add the rest of the milk, about 4 cups total, and bring to a boil. Keep whisking, making sure to keep the sides and the bottom of the pan clean and free from gravy buildup. That will make for some icky stringy surprises later if you’re not careful!

It takes a while to cook, depending on how much gravy you’re making. The amount of buttermilk and milk also depend on how much you are making as well. The amount of liquid you add will be close to the amount of gravy you end up with as it does reduce, but not drastically. I usually end up with enough for Mo and I and the baby to eat to our hearts content as well as having leftovers for a couple of days. The time it takes is also relevant to how thick you like your gravy too, mine takes about 45 minutes to an hour to fully cook.
Once your gravy is close to done, pop the biscuits in the oven. You can turn off the heat and cover your gravy while you bake since it will help thicken the gravy to let it stand for a while. Once your biscuits are browned, split them in half, cover them in gravy and…. You know what to do next!

Let me know how yours turns out or if you have questions, something went wrong, or if you just have comments! It’s great that some of you have emailed to let me know how things have turned out for you, I love it!