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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Oh my wife just seen this and she is going to the grocery store and guess what I'm having for dinner.
Yay. Enjoy and let us know how it goes!
I made this last weekend for the first time and it was awesome!!
That is awesome! So happy you loved it.
There isn't any Butter in your biscuit recipe here so I added a stick of melted butter since the recipe is the same as your chicken pot Skillet which we love as well!
I add the butter right to the sausage, then sprinkle the flour over and cook it a few minutes. No need to remove the sausage from the pan. I did add 2 Tbls. of butter to the biscuit mixture. This is very good!
Saute some chopped onion in that sausage grease before you melt the butter to make your gravy. It adds a lot of flavor. some minced garlic is good too. I also add a few drops of hot sauce to the gravy, it brings out the savory flavor and doesn't make it spicy.
I just made this and its fabulous! The biscuits are perfect. I accidentally cooked the flour for the gravy until it was dark brown and it was extra tasty. I used Penzeys Mural of Flavor instead of pepper. Super yum!
Now if this could be translated into Non-American for the rest of the world to cook and enjoy, That would be just great, Thanks!
So just finished eating this for dinner, the husband LOVED the biscuits, but the gravy not so much. I think it was because my biscuits took 20-22 minutes to bake (they were beautiful and tasty) all the way.
For left overs I'll just add milk to the gravy and bring it back to life, there is surely enough flour to keep it thick.
Thanks for sharing
Would it work to use a cast iron skillet?
I'm not the writer of this recipe, but I've made it at least a dozen times, each with a cast iron skillet. It works perfectly.
Nate, you are a rock star! A dozen times? Wow. Thank you so much for the comment. I'm elated to hear that you love it.
Nate, do you pour off the grease from cooking the sausage or use it?
I leave the grease.
I know it's stupid to respond to this question two years later, but maybe somebody will find it useful info. 🙂
I've made this too many times to count now. My family loves this recipe. After browning the meat, I just leave it in the pan with its fat. I add the butter right to it, but I'll usually reduce that by a tablespoon–more if the sausage is already looking extra greasy. The flour goes in right on top after the butter has melted a bit. I mix that up, let it cook for a quick minute or two, then add the milk.
In my experience, if you add the milk in 3 or 4 steps, starting with just a few tablespoons and doubling(ish) each time, your gravy will end up thick faster than if you add the milk all at once.
Best of luck!
YES please!!
I am looking forward to trying this!
… especially, the biscuits…
… it has been hard, for me, to find a good / simple biscuit recipe.
If there was an excess amount of sausage grease left over, I think I would drain it off & use the Butter instead… 🙂
Thank you very much.
Oh my goodness, is this ever good! I just made half of the recipe – amazing!
We love this recipe! I make it with GF biscuit mix and double the recipe. My husband loves the gravy.
LOVED LOVED LOVED this!!! Made it on a snow day, which was heavenly! Hubs and daughter savored it, while I mmmmm'd after each and every mouthful. The biscuits…oh the biscuits…drool worthy. Thank you so much for sharing this awesome recipe!
Thanks for this! Some of you ladies asked why canned biscuits couldn't be used… And I suppose they could – except some of us don't like canned biscuits. Time is less of a factor if you just make Bisquik drop biscuits.
can you make this ahead of time and re-heat?
Just made this and it was Delicious! I had no issues with the recipe at all and I will make this again.
We are happy to hear that!!
Loved this recipe you can check my blog on keto desserts
My hubby loves Cracker Barrels biscuits with sawmill gravy. My hat is off to you ~ your recipe is even better! Now we can have this even when we're not traveling!
Thanks so much! We are so happy you enjoyed it!
Made this last night and it was so delicious. I followed the recipe exatly escept poured off the sausage fat. Thanks for posting.
We are so happy to hear that!
Add a can of cream of mushroom soup to the gravy mixture.
Your directions say to put the skillet on a cookie sheet and then put the biscuits around the pan. Am I supposed to cool the biscuits in the skillet with the gravy? Or do I cook them separately on the cookie sheet? Thanks!
I sometimes use chopped bacon in my recipe. GOOD!
Quick and easy to make. Very delicious. I used country sausage and added dried sage, pink Himalayan salt, and ground black pepper to the gravy. I also used salted butter. I will make this again!!!
Since I live alone & would have plenty of leftovers, is it possible to bake the biscuits separately. therefore, it would easier to freeze individual portions and not have soggy biscuits. Please advise