Homemade Biscuits and Gravy

Homemade Biscuits and Gravy are always a favorite Southern comfort food in our house. Fluffy buttermilk biscuits made simple with self rising flour and a simple gravy using your favorite sausage or bacon drippings. It's a tried-and-true meal everyone loves.

It’s my opinion that buttermilk biscuits and gravy is one of the top ten best southern meals. Tall, flaky layers of buttermilk biscuit dough with a warm ladle of homemade gravy on top…heaven!

Making fluffy biscuits from scratch are also easier to make than you might think. I'm a pro when it comes to making biscuits, I've been making them for as long as I can remember with the family recipe.

With just three ingredients and a little elbow grease, you can prep these up in less than 15 minutes. Scroll down to read my homemade biscuit tips. The gravy recipe is also a southern classic. While this meal is typically a weekend breakfast staple for the family, we also love having biscuits and gravy for dinner!

Why You'll Love this Recipe

• Freshness: These flaky homemade biscuits have beautiful layer and taste better than frozen or refrigerated biscuit dough.
• Layered Butter Deliciousness: Layers of buttery dough make for the best base for savory, rich gravy, jam, jelly, sorghum, spun honey, or molasses.
• Happy Memories: Making, baking, and eating homemade biscuits brings back the best memories.
• Comfort Food Satisfaction: This southern biscuit and gravy recipe gives you all the warm and cozy feels!

What You’ll Need

Scroll down for recipe amounts and instructions in the recipe card.

You don't need many ingredients to make the best biscuits and gravy. In fact, most of the ingredients you probably already have on hand.

Biscuit Ingredients

• Butter: Coats the flour particles, preventing them from forming too much gluten and contributes a rich, buttery flavor to the biscuits.
• Self-Rising Flour: A pre-mixed combination of flour, baking powder, and salt. It ensures that your biscuits rise evenly and consistently, resulting in light and fluffy texture.
• Buttermilk: Helps tenderize the gluten in the flour, resulting in a softer, more delicate texture and adds a slight tangy flavor.

Gravy Ingredients

• Grease from Breakfast Meat, Oil, Butter, or Lard: The fat released from cooking breakfast meat or one of the other fat options serves as the base for the roux, which thickens the gravy.
• Breakfast Meat (optional to keep in): Sausage adds texture to the gravy, with small chunks or crumbles creating a hearty consistency.
• Self-Rising Flour: Combines with the fat to create a roux, thickening the gravy to a smooth, creamy consistency. It prevents the gravy from being too thin.
• Milk: The liquid base of the gravy, providing a creamy and smooth texture.

WHAT IS SELF-RISING FLOUR? 

Self-rising flour is a type of flour that is commonly used in baking, particularly in recipes for biscuits, pancakes, and certain types of quick breads. It is called "self-rising" because it contains leavening agents, typically baking powder and sometimes salt, which are already mixed into the flour. These leavening agents help the baked goods rise and become fluffy without the need for additional yeast or baking soda.

If a recipe (like this one) calls for self-rising flour, and you don't have any on hand, you can make your own by combining all-purpose flour with baking powder and salt. The ratio is for every 1 cup of self-rising flour, you can use 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder, and ¼ teaspoon of salt.

How to make Homemade Buttermilk

Making homemade buttermilk is easy and requires just two simple ingredients: milk and an acid, usually lemon juice or vinegar. Here's how you can make it:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of whole milk (or any milk of your choice)
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar

Instructions:

1. Prepare the Acid: In a small bowl, mix 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar with the milk. Stir gently to combine.
2. Let It Sit: Allow the mixture to sit at room temperature for about 5 to 10 minutes. During this time, the acid will react with the proteins in the milk, causing it to curdle and thicken slightly. This curdled milk is essentially homemade buttermilk.
3. Check for Thickness: After 5-10 minutes, check the consistency of the mixture. It should appear slightly thickened and have small curdled bits. If it's not thick enough, let it sit for a few more minutes.
4. Use or Store: Once the homemade buttermilk has thickened to your liking, it is ready to use in your recipes. If you're not using it immediately, you can store it in the refrigerator for up to a week. Make sure to give it a good stir before using, as it might separate over time.

Note: You can adjust the quantities based on your needs. If you need more buttermilk, simply maintain the ratio of 1 tablespoon of acid to 1 cup of milk.

This homemade buttermilk substitute works well in various recipes, including pancakes, biscuits, cakes, and dressings, providing the same tangy flavor and tender texture as store-bought buttermilk.

Tools You’ll Need

• 9"x9" Baking Dish or 9" Cast Iron Skillet
• Mixing Bowl
• Liquid Measuring Cups
• Biscuit Cutter
• Rolling Pin

How to Make Homemade Biscuits and Gravy

1. Cook your breakfast meat. The residual grease from the meat will be used to make the gravy. If you don’t want meat with it, you can skip this step and just use canola oil, vegetable oil, butter or lard. If you don’t want the meat, like sausage, in your gravy, reserve it for another recipe like sausage muffins.

2. Next, make the buttermilk biscuits. Grate frozen butter into flour in medium bowl. Freeze 10 minutes. Make a well in the center of mixture, add buttermilk and stir 15 times. The dough will be slightly loose. If it seems too dry, add 2-4 tablespoons buttermilk (see tips and substitutions note).

3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and press the loose pieces of the dough together into a ball.

4. Create layers by either the “Pat and Fold” or “Pat and Stack” method.
   • Pat and Stack: Press or roll the dough to ½-inch thickness. Score the dough into 4 equal sections, and stack the 4 together. Once stacked, press to ½-inch thickness. Cut with a 2 ½” floured round cutter, reshaping scraps and flouring as needed. 
   • Pat and Fold: Using a floured rolling pin, roll dough into a ¾” thick rectangle (about 9”x 5”). Fold dough in half so short ends meet. Repeat rolling and folding process 4 more times. Roll dough to ½” thickness. Cut with a 2 ½” floured round cutter, reshaping scraps and flouring as needed. 

5. Bake the Biscuits. Place dough rounds on a parchment paper-lined pan or buttered cast iron skillet. Bake at 475ºF for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Brush with melted butter. 

6. Make the gravy. Heat a medium skillet on medium-high. Ensure there is ¼ cup grease in the pan. If your meat didn’t produce ¼ cup, add canola oil, butter, or lard to that amount. Whisk flour into the grease and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes.
   • NOTE: If making sausage gravy, start with the cooked, crumbled sausage in the skillet on medium-high and ensure there is ¼ cup grease in the pan. Then, add the flour and continue the recipe as written.

7. Whisk consistently. Add 1 cup milk to the mixture and whisk quickly. This initial mixture will thicken and cook quickly.

8. Add an additional cup of milk and stir until well combined. Allow the mixture to come to a light simmer then turn heat to low-medium. As the mixture thickens, add the remaining ½ cup milk and salt and pepper to taste. Allow to simmer 3-5 minutes.

Making Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits

I've been a pro at making biscuits for many years thanks to a family recipe and being raised in the south. Biscuits are a delicate practice, but once you get the hang of the method they are so quick and easy to make and biscuits for dinner might become a staple. I'm sharing my recipe tips to getting light and flaky biscuits rather than dense.

There are two ways to "fold" biscuits:

1. Pat and Stack: Press or roll the dough to ½-inch thickness. Score the dough into 4 equal sections, and stack the 4 together. Once stacked, press to ½-inch thickness. Cut with a 2 ½” floured round cutter, reshaping scraps and flouring as needed. 
2. Pat and Fold: Using a floured rolling pin, roll dough into a ¾” thick rectangle (about 9”x 5”). Fold dough in half so short ends meet. Repeat rolling and folding process 4 more times. Roll dough to ½” thickness. Cut with a 2 ½” floured round cutter, reshaping scraps and flouring as needed. 

Either of the methods will lead to successful light and airy biscuits every single time.

Tips and Substitutions

• When using White Lily flour, 1 cup of buttermilk is sufficient for forming a cohesive dough ball. However, other flour brands might need an additional 2-4 tablespoons buttermilk to come together.
• If you don’t have self-rising flour on hand, you can make it with all purpose flour. For 1 cup of self-rising flour, you can substitute with 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt.
• Buttermilk biscuits recipes often call for a cast iron skillet, but you can also use a parchment paper lined pan for optimal crunchy bottoms.
• Gravy is a food that has a lot of personal preference. You can adjust seasonings to your taste and add liquid to the consistency you like most.
• If you thin the gravy out too much, you can whisk into the gravy a cornstarch slurry which is 2 teaspoons cornstarch and 2 teaspoons milk. Allow the gravy to cook and thicken for 3-5 minutes.
• Buttermilk Scones are another great breakfast recipe! They’re light, flaky and easy-to-make.

Storage and Freezing

It's best to store the biscuits at room temperature in an airtight container for up to four days. Reheat in the oven, toaster oven, or microwave until just warm for a couple of minutes.

You can also freeze the biscuits, simply wrap them individually in plastic wrap and freeze for 1 to 2 months. Thaw completely at room temperature.

Store the creamy gravy in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days. You can also freeze the gravy for 1 to 2 months. When ready to cook, thaw overnight in the fridge then reheat on the stove over low heat until simmering.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Biscuit Recipes

• Bacon Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits
• Whipping Cream Biscuits
• Honey Butter Biscuits