Drop Biscuits and Sausage Gravy + Video
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Drop Biscuits and Sausage Gravy is an easy one pan meal based on classic comfort food. Make this skillet recipe for breakfast or dinner!
Busy weeknights are the perfect time to break out your favorite skillet recipes. By making everything in the same pan, you won’t have a pile of dishes to clean after!
Drop Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
One of my family’s favorites is having breakfast for dinner, and nothing fits that better than this easy biscuits and gravy recipe!
It’s a one pan meal with rich sausage gravy and the fluffiest skillet biscuits ever!!!
This recipe is so easy to make, and there’s no rolling out or cutting biscuit dough beforehand. It’s the perfect family meal that you can enjoy at any time of day.
Another favorite skillet meal is this Pizza Pasta Skillet.
Everything gets dumped in at the same time to cook, and the result is a gooey, cheesy meal that’s sure to be a favorite.
How to Make Skillet Biscuits and Gravy
- Cook the sausage: Brown the sage breakfast sausage, then transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Make the sawmill gravy: In the same pan, make a roux with butter and flour. Then, whisk in the milk and simmer until thickened.
Make sure to scrape the bits of sausage from the bottom of the pan too. - Add skillet biscuits: While the sausage is cooking, prepare the dough.
Once the gravy is done, add the sausage back to the pan and add drops of biscuit dough all over the top. - Bake and serve: Place the pan on a baking sheet and cook until the biscuits are lightly browned.
Serve drop biscuits and sausage gravy with a sprinkle of fresh parsley and enjoy!
Recipe Tips and Ingredient Swaps
- Sausage – I like the flavor of sage breakfast sausage, but any kind will work just fine.
- Substitute for roux: If you prefer, you can add the butter to the sausage and let it melt. Then, sprinkle the flour over the sausage and stir together.
Continue with the gravy and biscuits recipe from there. - The gravy will thicken! Since the gravy will thicken as the biscuits cook, make sure it’s a little looser to start. Add a splash of milk to thin it out as needed.
- Feel free to swap the cheese. This sausage gravy and biscuits recipe calls for Parmesan cheese, but feel free to use any type of cheese that you like!
Storing and Freezing Gravy and Biscuits
It’s doubtful that the drop biscuits will be good as leftovers because they’ll be soggy from sitting in the gravy.
You can, however, remove the biscuits and store any remaining sausage gravy in a sealed container.
It will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or freeze for up to 2 months.
Sausage Gravy and Biscuits FAQ
You can find some form of gravy and biscuits as far back as the Revolutionary War. It was a simple meal that could be cooked over a stove or open fire.
Drop biscuits and sausage gravy as a dish seems to be traced to the Southern Appalachia area in the late 1800s.
The likely culprit is too much flour or not enough liquid. Remember, skillet biscuits will soak up some moisture when cooked in the gravy.
Once the dough comes together, it should look a bit shaggy and be somewhat sticky.
It’s a Southern-style gravy that’s rumored to have originated from the old logging camps and sawmills. Later, it was made famous by the Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Usually served with biscuits, it’s a simple mixture of meat drippings, flour, and milk or cream.
Originally, cornmeal was used instead of flour, which gave it a gritty texture. In fact, loggers used to accuse the cooks of putting sawdust in the sauce because of that!
Enjoy!
With love, from our simple kitchen to yours.
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Drop Biscuits and Sausage Gravy + Video
Ingredients
- 1 pound sage breakfast sausage, bulk
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 cups milk
- 2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
- Optional garnish: fresh parsley, chopped
Drop Biscuits
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- In a large (10”) oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat, cook sausage until lightly browned. Use a slotted spoon remove sausage from skillet and place in a bowl.
- Meanwhile; prepare biscuit mixture. In a large bowl combine flour cheese, baking powder, sugar and salt. Mix with a fork until combined. Add milk and stir with a fork, until mixture comes together. Set aside.
- Add butter to hot skillet and whisk until melted. Sprinkle flour over butter and whisk together. Allow mixture to bubble for 2 minutes to cook out the flour-y taste, whisking occasionally.
- Add milk and whisk to combine, be sure to pick up the little sausage bits on the bottom of the skillet (they add a lot of flavor). Allow gravy to come to a bubble, about 3 minutes. Mixture will start to thicken as it cooks. Add sausage back to skillet/ Add black pepper and stir to combine. Remove from heat.
- Place skillet on a cookie sheet. Add biscuits to pan, use a ¼ cup scoop or a heaping tablespoon full. Drop biscuits all around pan.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until biscuits are lightly browned, you may have to turn your pan half way through cook time if you oven does not cook evenly.
- Remove from oven, sprinkle with fresh parsley.
- Serve and enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe’s nutritional value will vary depending on the ingredients used, measuring methods, and portion sizes.
Originally published November 2013, updated and republished March 2023
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Ok, hopefully i don't sound like a complete idiot here, but I just want to clarify, which step do you add the sausage back in? the last i see the sausage above is when we took it out and put it in a bowl, when do we add it back into the mixture? Thank you!!! I have been searching for a recipe for this, and this is perfect!!!
It says to add it back after gravy has started to bubble. =)
Oh my goodness. My husband would love this. We looove biscuits and sausage gravy but we only enjoy them occasionally. I must make this. Pinning!
yummyyyyyyy…….
I could eat sausage and gravy biscuits every day if my heart wouldn't kick my butt. Neat spin on a classic, here. Good job you two.
This looks fabulous. I wonder if I can just leave out the cheese since my daughter eats no cheese?
Would I have to make other adjustments?
Just omit the cheese, they will be perfect! Enjoy and let us know how it goes.
Have not heard the term "sawmill gravy" in many years. Love this stuff and eat it often.
Funny thing years ago I was talking about that gravy and messed up then name. I called it "chainsaw" gravy. We still call it chainsaw gravy to this day.
Sawmill gravy is what the serve at Cracker Barrel. I usually just cook my sausage, breaking it up as I go along. When it is almost done, I put in about 3 tablespoons of flour and stir until it browns. Then I add the milk – maybe 2-2and1/2 cups. I really don't measure anything …. I just keep going until it is right. LOL I will try this with the biscuits the next time I make it though. This sounds absolutely wonderful.
I make my gravy just a little different, but have never put the biscuits on top. May try that next time I make it.
Can I do this with out a skillet?
You need some type of oven safe pot or pan that is about 12" wide. What did you have in mind?
anonymous, it does say when to add sausage back in. might have to re read. but to make it easy , you really do not have to take sausage out of skillet. no need for the butter. just add your flour to the cooked sausage in pan and add milk. then follow the rest for the biscuits!!
Very true. Thanks for the tip.
think this recipe is messed up??? the drop biscuit recipe is WAY too runny, ended up adding 2 cups of Bisquick to get the right consistency for drop biscuits!
2 cups of flout and 1 cup of milk will create perfect drop biscuits. Enjoy and let us know how it goes.
So it is basically like a chicken and dumpling recipe, using sausage gravy instead of chicken, veggies and chicken gravy…
This can be made lower calorie, pour off the grease (which will be a lot) off of the pan after sauting the sausage, leave the sausage in the pan, sprinkle the flour over it (don't add the extra butter), cook a bit to get rid of the floury flavor, add lower fat milk (you'll never notice the difference) and cook while stiring until thickened. Your waistline will thank you.
If you use a good quality sausange, there will be very little grease.
I agree on the biscuit recipe. Not working for me either. Added bisquik as well.
I made this today. It was great. I was nervous about cheese in the biscuits, but they were great. My biscuits were great and I have never a good biscuit. The only thing I would change for the next time it to add more milk to the gravy. Just a preference, but I like my gravy more soupy. Thanks for this great recipe.
Yay! So happy you loved it! Keep us up to date on whats cooking in your kitchen.
My husband and I had this for the first time yesterday. We both thought it was so good. Will definitely be making it again. Soon. Thanks for a wonderful recipe.
This sounds FABULOUS Donna!! Pinning!!
as a single i use a chub of sausage cut in 1/4 slices, browned and set aside while
making gravy. i also use canned bisquits. split the bisquits, layer a sausage patty,
pour gravy and enjoy. simple and easy. joe
Has anyone made it with GF flour? King Arthur GF is my favorite. I'm just not sure if they flour-to-milk ration would be different. Thanks! 🙂
I have used GF flour and it was great. No reason to add more milk,
Do you have to use kosher salt?
You can use 3/4 teaspoon table salt to replace each 1 teaspoon kosher salt called for in a recipe. Enjoy and let us know how it goes.
This was so tasty! Thank you so much for the inspiration to make this in our kitchen. We're vegan so I had to make a few changes but otherwise it was very easy to put together. We make a lot of sausage and gravy but never with the 'cheesy biscuits' – nice touch. 🙂 I veganized this and will be placing a link on my site for others to know about your nice recipe and to spread a little blog love.
I buy a sausage pepper gravy mix and add the sausage to it after the gravy is done. I don't see any reason why biscuits from a can couldn't be used in this recipe. Just put them on the gravy and sausage mixture and put the skillet in the oven. I don't always have time to make everything from scratch.
Made this for myself and the fiancé tonight, it was perfect! Recipe was simple and delicious. Thank you!
So after cooking and removing the sausage do you pour off the grease or use it in the gravy
This really does sound delicious!!
As Randy ask above…..do you pour off the grease or use it?
Thanks!! Pinning it!!
I made this and it was awesome. Only thing I had to do was add more milk to the biscuits
I use Bob Evens hot sausage. It's nice and spicy! We have to have a lot flavor. I add cisco oil to my sausage when cooking it. Sausage don't create much grease.