Homemade Biscuits and Gravy — Mama’s Recipe + Country Sausage Gravy
This Meal Just Tastes Like a Warm Hug
Homemade biscuits and gravy is the meal my girls requested on their first night back home from college, and honestly, it’s exactly what I’d serve you too if you were sitting at my table on a Saturday morning. It is a warm hug on a plate. My mama’s biscuit recipe — the one I’ve been making for 33 years — paired with Pioneer Woman’s country sausage gravy, which is so good and so easy you’ll wonder why you ever thought making gravy from scratch was hard. It is not hard. Y’all have got to make this. It is so good.
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Watch me make these homemade biscuits and gravy from start to finish — or scroll down for the full printable recipe card.
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Homemade Biscuits and Gravy
Start CookingIngredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- ½ cup shortening Crisco recommended
- ⅔ cup whole milk
- 1 lb breakfast sausage
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 3-4 cups whole milk
- ½ tsp seasoned salt
- 2 tsp black pepper
Don’t Want to Plan? I Got You.Every Saturday I share a full week of dinners, sides, and a dessert — with the grocery list already done. Come grab this week’s Weekly Meal Plans!Method Start Cooking
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, cream of tartar, and sugar in a large bowl.
- Cut in Crisco with a knife or pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Add milk all at once and stir just until the dough follows the fork around the bowl in one big clump.
- Knead gently on a floured surface for about 30 seconds.
- Roll out the dough to 1 inch thick.
- Cut with a biscuit cutter (cut straight down — do not twist).
- Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 450°F for 10-12 minutes, until tops are golden.
- Tear sausage into small bits and add them in a single layer to a large skillet. Brown over medium-high heat until no longer pink. DO NOT drain — the fat is your roux.
- Reduce heat to medium-low. Sprinkle the flour evenly over the sausage. Stir and cook for about 1 minute, letting the flour absorb the fat and stick to the sausage.
- Pour in 3 cups of milk, stirring constantly until smooth.
- Cook the gravy, stirring frequently, until it thickens (10-12 minutes). If it thickens too quickly, add another 1/2 cup of milk to loosen it back up.
- Sprinkle in the seasoned salt and black pepper. Be generous with the pepper — sausage gravy should taste peppery.
- Taste and adjust seasoning. Add another sprinkle of salt and pepper at the end if needed.
- Spoon generously over warm split biscuits and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Video
Notes
Four Weeks of Family-Friendly FoodWhen people gather, I cook. Four weeks of the dinners my crowd asks for — planned, tested, and shopped for. Come see what’s in the cookbook →Why These Homemade Biscuits and Gravy Work
Biscuits and gravy is one of those meals that sounds humble but tastes like the best thing in the world. The biscuits are flaky and tender — that’s the Crisco doing its quiet work — and the gravy is creamy, peppery, and full of sausage in every bite. Together they’re the kind of breakfast (or breakfast-for-dinner) that makes the whole house smell like a Saturday morning at someone’s grandma’s house.
This is my mama’s biscuit recipe. I have been making it for 33 years, and I’m now teaching it to my own girls. There’s something about handing down a recipe like this — a simple stack of ingredients on a counter, a pastry blender, a few good rolls of the dough — that connects generations without anyone having to say a word. My girls came home from college and the first thing they asked for was this. That tells you everything.
The gravy is Pioneer Woman’s country sausage gravy recipe, which I have been making for years. If you have ever been afraid to make gravy from scratch — y’all, please do not be. It is not hard. You brown the sausage, you sprinkle in some flour, you pour in some milk, and you stir until it thickens. That’s it. The sausage fat IS your roux — there’s no separate butter step, no separate flour-and-water situation. The pan does all the work. Want to know more about why this particular technique works? King Arthur Baking has a great write-up on biscuit-making fundamentals if you want to get into the science.
Serve them together. Don’t be stingy with the gravy. Come on, table — it’s time to eat.
A Few Things That Make Homemade Biscuits and Gravy Even Easier
- Use Crisco — this is the hill I will die on. I have tried generic shortenings. I have tried butter. I have tried lard. For biscuits, Crisco performs better than anything else — flakier layers, better rise, better texture. You will thank me later.
- If biscuits feel scary, use frozen or canned. The gravy is the star of the show. If homemade biscuits feel like one too many things on the to-do list, grab a bag of frozen biscuits or a tube of canned biscuits and pour the gravy right over them. Same warm hug, half the work.
- Don’t drain your sausage fat. This is the most common gravy mistake. The sausage fat IS your roux — it’s what carries the flour and creates the creamy base. Brown the sausage in the saute pan and leave every drop right where it is.
- Be generous with the pepper. Sausage gravy should taste peppery. Stephanie’s family likes peppery gravy, and the milk and sausage carry a lot of pepper without it feeling like too much. Hit it once when the sausage is browning, again after the milk goes in, and one more time at the end.
- Roll the biscuits one inch thick — no thinner. Thicker dough means taller, fluffier biscuits with that flaky split-in-half layering. Roll them too thin and you get sad, dense little discs. One inch thick is the sweet spot. Cut straight down with the biscuit cutter — don’t twist — to keep the layers separate.
Homemade Biscuits and Gravy FAQ — The Questions I Get Every Time
What temperature do I bake the biscuits at?
450°F for 10 to 12 minutes. High heat is what gives biscuits their lift and that golden, slightly crisp top. Watch them at the 10-minute mark — every oven runs a little different. You want the tops golden and the sides puffed up tall. If they’re still pale at 12 minutes, give them another minute or two.
Can I use butter instead of Crisco for the biscuits?
You can, but the texture will be different. Butter gives you a more buttery flavor but less lift and a denser crumb. Crisco gives you that classic Southern flaky-tall biscuit with the layers that pull apart in your hand. Both are good — they’re just different biscuits. For my mama’s recipe, it’s Crisco , and that is the hill I will die on.
What does cream of tartar do in biscuits?
Cream of tartar reacts with the baking powder to give the biscuits an extra boost of lift, and it adds the slightest tang to the flavor. Honestly? Someone explained this to me once and I forgot the details. But it’s in my mama’s recipe and it works, so it stays. If you don’t have cream of tartar, you can leave it out — the biscuits will still be good, just slightly less tall.
Why is my gravy too thin / too thick?
Too thin? Keep cooking and stirring — gravy thickens as it simmers, and most “too thin” gravy just needs another 5 to 10 minutes on medium-low heat. Too thick? Add another half cup of milk and stir until it loosens. Sausage gravy is the most forgiving sauce in the world — you really can’t break it. If it gets too thick after sitting, a splash of milk will bring it right back.
Can I make biscuits and gravy ahead of time?
Sort of. Biscuits are best the day they’re made — make those fresh. The gravy can be made up to a day ahead and reheated gently on the stove with a splash of milk to loosen it back up. If you’re meal-prepping, I’d cut and freeze the unbaked biscuit dough rounds, then bake them straight from the freezer (add 2 to 3 minutes to the bake time). Make the gravy fresh in the morning. The whole meal comes together in about 25 minutes that way.
How do I scale this for a crowd?
The biscuit recipe doubles or triples beautifully — just multiply every ingredient by 2 or 3. The gravy also scales easily. For a brunch crowd of 12, I’d double the biscuits (you’ll get 16 to 20) and 1.5x the gravy. The biscuits keep warm covered with a clean dishtowel for about 30 minutes. The gravy can sit on the lowest stove setting (or in a slow cooker on warm) for an hour without breaking.
Can I use a different sausage?
Absolutely. I use Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage because that’s what my family loves. Hot breakfast sausage works great if you like a kick. Maple sausage is good if you want a sweet-savory thing going on. Sage sausage gives it a Thanksgiving feel. Whatever pork breakfast sausage you have on hand will work — the technique is the same, the gravy will be just as good.
🛒 Complete Shopping List
Everything you need to make these homemade biscuits and gravy — click any item to shop on Amazon.
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More Comfort Food for Your Saturday Morning Table
- Mama’s Banana Bread — another inherited recipe that has fed my family for years.
- Apricot Pecan Scones — the same cold butter cut into flour, dressed up for a tea party instead of a gravy boat.
- 4 Ingredient No-Peek Chicken and Rice — Jason’s mom’s recipe and one of our most requested.
- Poppy Seed Chicken — the casserole I’m not allowed to skip at a potluck.
📬 Come to the table on Saturday
Every Saturday morning I send a printable meal plan and full grocery list — the whole week, formatted for the fridge and the grocery run — plus new recipes and whatever’s happening at the Longstreth house. Drop your email below and I’ll save you a seat.
Homemade Biscuits and Gravy — About Stephanie’s Recipes
Stephanie Longstreth is the home cook, mom, and storyteller behind StephanieCooksForACrowd.com. She cooks for a family of seven in Florida — five kids, two cats, and one husband who appreciates a good meal. Four of her children came home through adoption, and family stories are woven into everything she makes and shares. Find her crowd-friendly recipes, weekly meal plans, and real family life on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest @stephaniecooksforacrowd.