Name: Biscuits and Gravy
Cook time: 45 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for surface; 2 Tbsp. sugar; 1 Tbsp. baking powder; 1½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1 tsp. Morton kosher salt; ½ tsp. baking soda; ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled in freezer at least 10 minutes and up to 12 hours; ¾ cup chilled buttermilk, plus more for brushing; 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter; 1 lb. pork breakfast sausage, casings removed if needed; 1½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1 tsp. Morton kosher salt, plus more; 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper, plus more; 1 small onion, finely chopped; 2 garlic cloves, finely grated; ¼ cup (31 g) all-purpose flour; 2 cups whole milk; ½ cup heavy cream; 1 tsp. poultry seasoning; ¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg; Finely chopped chives (for serving; optional); A 2½"-diameter biscuit or cookie cutter

Biscuits on a platter smothered in gravy chives and freshly cracked black pepper.

Photo by Travis Rainey, Food Styling by Stevie Stewart

Breakfast doesn’t get better than biscuits and gravy. A staple of the American South, fluffy buttermilk biscuits and creamy, velvety gravy are an ideal match. If it’s your first time making biscuits and gravy from scratch, this recipe—which comes together in just 45 minutes—is a great place to start.

The best biscuits and gravy recipe starts with homemade buttermilk biscuits. For the flakiest biscuits, freeze your butter, then grate it right into the dry ingredients. This recipe calls for two leavening agents and each has its purpose: Baking powder helps the biscuits rise to lofty heights, while baking soda gives them a fluffy texture. Some Southerners might object to the pinch of sugar in the flour mixture, but it doesn’t make these biscuits sweet—it works alongside the salt to season the dough.

You could enjoy the biscuits on their own, but the homemade sausage gravy makes this dish a true comfort food classic. To make your life easier, buy bulk breakfast sausage, not the individual Jimmy Dean links (which you’d have to remove from their casings one by one). Once you’ve cooked the pork sausage (preferably in a cast-iron skillet), make a quick stovetop roux by adding flour to the pan drippings, then stream in a mixture of milk and heavy cream. Since you want a white gravy, don’t let the roux take on too much color—it’s primarily serving as a thickening agent. The poultry seasoning brings herbaceous flavor to the gravy, but if you don’t have any, substitute ½ tsp. ground sage and ½ tsp. ground thyme. This sausage gravy would be good on just about anything: mashed potatoes, hash browns, or of course, warm biscuits.

Keep this homemade biscuits and gravy recipe around for your next brunch—or whenever you need a little Southern comfort.

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