Biscuits and gravy is a meal that my mom used to make on special weekend mornings. When I think of this delicious breakfast, I have feelings of warmth, familiarity, and the feeling of being full and happy. Below, I’ve given my own twist on this classic breakfast, as well as some background about the recipe.
Ingredients
Turkey sausage
Pork sausage is a popular choice, but I try to avoid pork whenever I can. Turkey sausage is a perfectly good substitute in my opinion.
Soy milk
The obvious choice here is using regular cow’s milk, but I’ve also seen dairy-free recipes using canned coconut milk. I imagine the coconut flavor would be too present, which would throw off the familiar taste that I cherish so much. Therefore, I use unsweetened soy milk, since it is a mostly neutral flavor and good thickness. Otherwise, unsweetened almond milk would be a good option.
Flour
I like to use white whole wheat or all-purpose flours, but some recipes I’ve seen use gluten-free flour or arrowroot starch.
Spices
Even though none of the individual spices are necessarily distinct, all of them blend together to create that classic flavor that I know and love. Of those, thyme, basil, and garlic powder are the main ones. I also add a little bit of broth powder, if I have it on hand, just to round out the flavor a little bit more. After that, the salt brings it all together to really elevate those combined flavors.
How biscuits and gravy are made
1. Cook the sausage
If the juices become too much, drain them off so the sausage can cook well and brown better. As the sausage cooks, crumble it into pieces using a spatula or whatever tool you are cooking with. Once browned and fully cooked through, remove the sausage from the pan and continue cooking the base of the gravy.
2. Make the gravy
First, start by dissolving the flour in some of the milk. This step can be skipped, but there is then a risk that there will be lumps of uncooked flour that will be unable to be dissolved later on. Add that dissolved flour and milk mixture, along with the spices.
Once everything is added, bring it to a boil. I typically keep the burner wherever it was when I was cooking the sausage, typically around 6 or 7 heat on my stove. Once it’s boiling, I lower the heat to around 4 or 5, and let the gravy simmer until thickened. At least once every minute, I like to give it a good stir, just to make sure it’s not burning and to check the progress it has made. I find the gravy is fully cooked once I can run the spatula through the middle and the liquid mostly stays where it is, not so runny that it pools right back to the space that the spatula just was.
3. Add the gravy and sausage together
Once the gravy has thickened well, add back the sausage. Heat through and serve.
Biscuits and gravy
A dairy-free version of a classic, hearty topping for biscuits.
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- 1 1/2 cup milk
- 1 Tbsp. flour
Seasonings
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. rubbed sage
- 1/4 tsp. thyme
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
To serve
- 6 biscuits
Instructions
- Cook sausage over medium (5) heat until no longer pink. Remove meat from pan, draining the liquid, if needed. Set aside.
- Whisk 3 Tbsp. of milk with the flour until fully dissolved and free of lumps. Pour back into the rest of the milk and whisk until smooth.
- Add milk and spices to skillet. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium (4). Allow to simmer until thickened, ~5 minutes, stirring often.
- Once thick, add sausage back to pan. Adjust flavors, as needed. To serve, split biscuits in half and spoon gravy over the top.
Notes
To reheat, place gravy on top of open biscuits and reheat together, or heat gravy in a saucepan with a slash of milk and heat biscuits separately.
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