This biscuits and gravy recipe is simple and delicious, the perfect dish for National Roots Day (December 23).
Where Did Biscuits and Gravy Originate?
It all started out in the American Revolutionary War— when the Europeans moved to America. Food supply was in extreme shortage, so people had to find something easy to make, that was also cheap and suitable for long-time storage.
Soon, the idea of having biscuits with a creamy, sausage sauce came to them. These were common parts of their meals and didn’t cost too much.
To make it even more convenient, people found a way to store biscuits for longer— baking them twice. Although it made the biscuits harder and less fluffy, it did make the dish more accessible at the time.
From such a simple idea, biscuits and gravy recipes are now a staple of the southern states of America.
Gravy for This Recipe
Even more special than a typical meat sauce, this sausage gravy is made from well-seasoned sausage meat and dairies. Traditionally, the gravy is made using store-bought sausage, but we’re making it from scratch for the sake of healthy eating.
All you have to do is add a handful of spices, seasonings, white wine vinegar, and white wine. After one hour in the fridge, it becomes aromatic sausage meat that’s ready to be turned into gravy.
Ground pork is the traditional choice for the gravy. We used 84% lean ground pork because it’s easy to find, and the meat-fat ratio is perfect for flavor and texture.
You can substitute ground pork with ground beef if you prefer.
Is Biscuits and Gravy Healthy?
We checked the nutritional values of popular biscuits and gravy recipes online, and they don’t follow our healthy eating guidelines.
We saw that most biscuits and gravy recipes online have way too much saturated fat and sodium. The main reason for this is what they use in their recipes— store-bought buttermilk biscuits and ready-made Italian sausages.
We tried to recreate the dish with those ingredients, playing around with the ratios a little. However, the samples turned out either healthy or satisfying, never both.
So, as a last resort, we decided to make everything from scratch. The dish is tasty and complies with our healthy eating guidelines.
- Calories: the dish yields around 460 calories each serving. According to our guidelines, women (18-45) should consume 2100 calories per day and men of the same age should consume 2700.
- Saturated fat: considered a controversial type of fat, saturated fat should be moderately consumed. Each serving of our dish has 8 grams of saturated fat, within what’s recommended for a meal— 4-11 grams.
- Sodium: it’s recommended that individuals (18-45) should have no more than 2300 milligrams of sodium a day. This recipe only has 542 milligrams of sodium each serving, less than 30% of that amount.
1. How Many Calories are in Biscuits and Gravy?
Our biscuits and gravy recipe yields about 456 calories per serving. For a wholesome, nutritious 600-calorie breakfast, we recommend one of our healthful drinks— pomegranate blueberry juice, to go with it.
The saturated fat for this dish is around 7.7 grams, which is a little more than what we recommend (7 grams). For lunch and dinner, you might want to have less saturated fat— more vegetables, less meat and dairy.
2. How Many Carbs are in This Recipe?
The amount of carbohydrates (as well as fat and protein) in this recipe is 23-30% of your daily intake. It might not be low-carb or keto-friendly, but it’s definitely more wholesome than sugary cereal.
Biscuits and Gravy Nutrition
This southern staple has many of its nutrients from pork, the most commonly consumed meat worldwide. It contains all of the necessary amino acids, and is one of the most complete dietary sources of protein.
Besides protein, pork is also loaded with a lot of vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin Bs:
- Thiamine: known as vitamin B1, thiamine plays an important role in various bodily functions.
- Vitamin B12: an important nutrient for blood formation and brain function. It’s typically found in animals and only fortified plant foods.
- Vitamin B6: important for the formation of red blood cells.
- Niacin: or vitamin B3, serves many functions in the body and is important for growth and metabolism.
In addition to B vitamins, selenium is an element that’s abundant in pork. It’s an essential element in enzymes and is considered an antioxidant.
Pork is also rich in zinc. Moderate zinc intake can lead to a healthy brain and immune system.
Although pork contains less iron than lamb or beef, it is also a reliable source of this mineral. It’s famously known for helping blood transport oxygen across the body.
What Ingredients to Buy
Let’s save your time and have a quick look at what we’re going to need in this biscuits and gravy recipe.
For the meat, the required ingredients are ground pork, white wine, white wine vinegar, spices, and parsley. We believe nutmeg, fennel, garlic, sugar, salt, and pepper are already in most pantries.
To make the biscuits, you need to grab a few other things besides all-purpose flour, butter, salt, and sugar.
First, go round the butter aisle and look for vegetable shortening. We need butter for the fragrance, but since it has lots of saturated fat, vegetable shortening is a great alternative.
Then, instead of buttermilk, grab the buttermilk blend. It’s a lower-fat version of buttermilk, yet still keeps the flavor of the original.
Finally, you’ll need cold water to bring together the dough, and seasonings for flavor.
And for the gravy, after sauteing the marinated pork with butter, you’ll add flour, milk, salt, and pepper. Then a dash of cayenne pepper for a little spiciness.
Although we do have a honey butter biscuit recipe, its fat content is too much to pair with this gravy. So, we’ll show you another version of the biscuits.
How to Make Biscuits and Gravy Recipe
Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Marinate the pork:
We begin by marinating the ground pork. In a bowl, combine pork, spices, and seasonings (listed in the recipe), and refrigerate it for 30 minutes, covered.
Blend the dry ingredients:
Add cold butter, shortening, flour, buttermilk blend, and seasonings to a food processor and pulse. Stop when you see small lumps like this.
Add cold water:
Place the mixture in a large bowl. Add cold water and mix well with a fork until a dough forms.
Roll the dough:
Place the dough onto a floured working surface and roll it out, with thickness like so.
Cut the dough:
Use a 4-inch round cutter to cut out four pieces of dough and remove the excess dough. The biscuits come out nicer this way.
Bake the biscuits:
Slide the tray into the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Brush egg yolk onto each biscuit and bake for another 5 minutes.
Cook the meat:
Meanwhile, melt butter in a pan. Add the marinated ground pork and cook for 5 minutes or until all of the fat renders out.
Make the gravy:
Add 2 tablespoons of flour into the pan and stir for 1 minute. Pour the milk in and season it with salt and pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes on low heat.
Serve: Sprinkle with cayenne and serve.
A typical way to serve this is to place each biscuit on a serving plate, and pour the gravy over the top.
We prefer slicing each biscuit in half, dolloping the gravy on the bottom half, and placing the other half on top. It makes sort of a burger bun, which is more convenient to hold and bite into.
How Long Should You Cook This Dish?
It takes half an hour to marinate, 20 minutes to make the biscuits, and another 10 minutes to make the gravy. Still, our biscuits and gravy recipe only takes 45 minutes of your time, and that’s including the time spent marinating the meat.
To save time, you can make the gravy ahead of time, refrigerate it, and take it out whenever you need it.
To save even more time, you can freeze the biscuits and bake them the next morning.
Can You Freeze Biscuits and Gravy?
Freezing both the biscuits and gravy for later use is a great way to save time and effort.
You can freeze a large batch of biscuit dough divided into portions, and bake it whenever you want. It will take 20 minutes to bake, as the dough needs time to thaw in the oven.
As for the gravy, keep it as separate portions, sealed in Ziploc bags. It’s best used within a week.
What Goes with Biscuits and Gravy
1. Eggs
Biscuits often have a golden surface, and that’s thanks to them being brushed with egg yolk.
After baking, the biscuits should be hardened on the outside. Brush the top of each biscuit with egg yolk and bake for another 5 minutes, for a golden top.
2. Bacon
Baked bacon crumbles add a crunchy texture and a lot of flavor.
Bake 1-2 strips of bacon until crisp in the oven. Drain the fat (we don’t need any more of it), crush the bacon, and sprinkle it on top.
Since bacon is really salty, you may want to skip the salt in the gravy.
What to Serve with Biscuits and Gravy
One biscuit and half a cup of gravy sure look fulfilling, but it’s only 75% of the calories you need for breakfast. Make a glass of pomegranate blueberry juice to fill in that calorie gap.
Pomegranate Blueberry Juice
Made by juicing the fruits together, this drink looks stunning with its deep red hue and the added infusion of rosemary. It’s refreshing and satisfying to sip in-between bites.
| Recipes | Course | Calories | Saturated fat | Sodium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biscuits And Gravy | Breakfast | 456 | 7.7 g | 536 mg |
| Pomegranate Blueberry Juice | Beverage | 145 | 0.2 g | 5 mg |
| Total | 601 | 7.9 g | 541 mg | |
Biscuits And Gravy Recipe
Ingredients
For the biscuits
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 3/8 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter frozen
- 1 1/2 tbsp vegetable shortening frozen
- 3 tbsp buttermilk blend
- 3/4 cup water ice-cold
- 1 medium egg yolk
For the sausage
- 6 oz 85% lean ground pork
- 3/4 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground pepper
- 1.5 tbsp parsley
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp garlic
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 2 1/2 tsp white wine Sauvignon Blanc
For the gravy
- 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
- In a bowl, combine pork, spices, and seasonings (listed in the recipe card), and refrigerate it for 30 minutes, covered.
- Add cold butter, shortening, flour, buttermilk blend, seasonings to a food processor and pulse. Stop when you see small lumps.
- Place the mixture in a large bowl. Add cold water and mix well with a fork until a dough forms.
- Place the dough onto a floured working surface and roll it out. Dust the dough with a little flour if it’s too wet.
- Use a 4-inch round cutter to cut out four pieces of dough and remove the excess dough. The biscuits come out nicer this way.
- Slide the tray into the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Brush egg yolk onto each biscuit and bake for another 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, melt butter in a pan. Add the marinated ground pork and cook for 5 minutes or until all of the fat renders out.
- Add 2 tablespoons of flour and stir for 1 minute. Pour the milk in and season it with salt and pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes on low heat.
- Sprinkle with cayenne and serve.
Nutrition
Use lard for biscuits not butter, and use buttermilk instead of regular milk if you wany true country biscuits and gravy
Exactly!!
Make the real thing once in awhile, forget this healthy version. The biscuits kinda look like beverage coasters. And why would you use egg yolk to make them look yellow? Butter up them biscuits…