The Best Southern White Sausage Gravy

This southern white sausage gravy recipe is a delightful, comforting, and savory gravy that’s best when served over steaming hot biscuits.

Serves: 12 Time: 25 minutes Cookbook: Pioneer Woman Online

When we moved to the south, we were just a tiny bit (okay a lot bit!) excited about getting to enjoy real, authentic southern food. Homemade gravy served over homemade biscuits is one of my favorite breakfast recipes of all times, and the south does not disappoint.

Southern-style sausage gravy is a southern staple and it makes the perfect breakfast, lunch, or dinner as far as I’m concerned. Good biscuits are a must, and when you’ve got them alongside the world’s best sausage gravy recipe, you’ll have the most comforting classic southern meal you’ve ever tasted.

For today’s gravy recipe, we turn to camp cook extraordinaire, feeder of cowboys, runner of ranches, Ree Drummond. I have no doubt that her family and the ranch hands enjoy every bit of savory goodness when she whips up white country gravy, brown gravy, milk gravy, or sawmill gravy. While brown gravy is made with bacon grease, meat drippings, or bacon drippings, today’s white sausage gravy incorporates milk and an entire pound of sausage, instead. Delish!

Jump Ahead:

• ❤️ Why You’ll Love This White Sausage Gravy Recipe
• 🍞 Ingredients Needed to Make Southern White Sausage Gravy
• 🍴 Equipment You’ll Need in the Kitchen
• 🥄 How to Make White Sausage Gravy
• ♾️ Variations on Southern Country White Gravy
• ❓ White Sausage Gravy Recipe: Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

Why You’ll Love This White Sausage Gravy Recipe

Comforting: If you want comfort food, you can’t get much better than homemade sausage gravy served over homemade buttermilk biscuits. There’s simply nothing like it.

Simple: This is a surprisingly easy recipe. If the thought of homemade country gravy intimidates you, get out a pan and spatula! This is 100% easy and doable.

Delicious: This delicious gravy is absolutely perfect for that Saturday morning breakfast with the family when you feel like being extra indulgent.

Ingredients Needed to Make Southern White Sausage Gravy

• Breakfast Sausage: You want uncooked country sausage of the hot or mild variety. If you enjoy a bit more spice, then go for the hot. It won’t be that spicy, it’ll just add a bit of zing.
• All-Purpose Flour: You want all-purpose flour, not self-rising flour, for this recipe.
• Whole Milk: You can use whole milk, heavy cream, or half-and-half just as easily. You can also use low-fat milk or fat-free half-and-half, but you’ll need to increase the flour a bit to thicken the sausage.
• Black Pepper: Fresh cracked black better brings a distinctive zing to this recipe unlike anything else. If you especially love pepper, add as much as you want until it reaches the desired pepperiness!
• Seasoned Salt: Choose your favorite brand of seasoned salt, here.
• Spices (optional): If you want to give the gravy a bit of a pop, add some garlic powder, cayenne pepper, or a splash of hot sauce.

Equipment Needed In the Kitchen

Cast Iron Skillet (15-inch)

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Spatula

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• Large Skillet: You’ll want a skillet large enough to hold the cooked sausage and three cups of milk. We recommend a 15-inch cast iron skillet, and no smaller.
• Spatula or Wooden Spoon: You’ll do quite a bit of stirring while the gravy cooks. A heat-proof spatula or spoon is ideal. A small whisk made of silicon would also work well.

How to Make White Sausage Gravy

This is the most delicious white sausage gravy you might ever eat and it comes together in a flash! It’s so easy you’d think your grandma spent hours slaving away at the stove to make it.

Cook the sausage

First up, time to cook the sausage. If you’re using a cast iron pan, put protective sleeves on the handles to ensure you don’t get burnt.

Then, place the whole log of sausage in a pan over medium-high heat and break it up with a spatula as it begins to cook. Continue breaking it into small pieces while it cooks until it looks like ground beef crumbles. When it turns from pink to brown it’s fully cooked.

Start the gravy cooking

Once you have cooked sausage, continue cooking on medium heat. Add several tablespoons of flour at a time and stir until the meat completely soaks it up.

Next, pour in the milk and stir to form a simple roux. The meat, milk, and flour mixture will be quite runny at this point.

Continue stirring until the gravy starts to thicken, then sprinkle on the pepper and seasoning salt.

Make that gravy!

Stir, stir, stir, stir, stir, and stir some more until the gravy thickens bit by bit. This will take around 10 minutes.

Scrape the bottom of the skillet as you go to make sure the gravy gets thoroughly mixed and doesn’t stick to the bottom.

If it gets a bit too thick, add a splash of milk. If it’s a bit too runny, then add a pinch more flour and stir to get the best results for a rich gravy.

When the sausage gravy is nice and thick, serve it over delicious, steaming hot southern biscuits. If you’re feeling extra decadent, add a little unsalted butter to those biscuits, too!

Wasn’t that a simple recipe?

Variations on Southern White Sausage Gravy

We love changing things up with this classic country gravy recipe! Here are a few variations to try next time.

Spicy Southern White Sausage Gravy: Add 1/4 of cayenne to the nearly-finished gravy and taste. Add more if you like it hot!

Turkey Sausage White Sausage Gravy: This gravy can be made with any sausage including turkey, chicken, and even venison sausage!

Saucy Southern White Sausage Gravy: If you like your gravy on the runnier side, add a splash or two more milk to the mixture right when it gets finished and mix well. Add until you reach your preferred thickness or sauciness.

Thick Southern White Sausage Gravy: If you like your gravy on the thicker side, start with 2.5 cups of milk instead of three. Add milk as it cooks until you reach your desired thickness.

White Sausage Gravy Recipe: Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

More Southern Food Favorites

If you like white sausage gravy, you’ll love these southern favorites!

• Brenda Gantt Biscuits: These are our favorite biscuits cooked in a cast iron pan. They’re simple, whip up fast, and are oh-so-delicious.
• Ham and Bean Soup: This soup is a delicious, savory, and soul-warming meal for cold fall and winter days.
• Cast Iron Peach Cobbler: Ready for dessert? You will be once you’ve tasted this! This peach cobbler comes out perfectly cooked, warm, and delicious.
• Perfect Peach Iced Tea: You can’t forget sweet tea! Make this to top off your meal.

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