I grew up going to Bob Evans as a kid and fell in love with their biscuits and gravy. The recipe below, if I may be so bold, is the best sausage gravy recipe. Yes, even better than Bob Evans’.
However, if you’re a Bob Evans purist, I’ve included their recipe below as well as how to make a keto sausage gravy, a vegetarian “sausage” gravy, how to make a super tasty gluten-free sausage gravy, and the best way to freeze it.
Whew! Let’s get our gravy on!
The best Sausage Gravy recipe
The best southern cooks all have their recipes for a great white gravy perfect for smothering over biscuits. My Maw-maw was from Georgia and had her own way around the kitchen. I’d watch her make this when I was a kid and now I’m passing it on to my grandkids (and you!)
Ingredients
- 1 lb (453 g) pork sausage with sage
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 1/4 cup (30 g) flour
- 4 cups (1-liter) whole milk
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
Instructions
- Brown the sausage in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Make sure the pieces are no longer pink and are nicely browned.
- After the meat is cooked through and browned, push it to the side of the saucepan and add the diced onions.
- Cook the onion until it’s soft and translucent.
- With a pair of long tongs, wipe the saucepan free of any excess grease with a paper towel. Discard the paper towel.
- Lower the heat to medium-low and sprinkle the flour over the sausage and onions. Cook for 2-3 minutes to cook off the pasty flavor of the flour.
- Add the milk and whisk vigorously.
- Increase the heat to medium-high again. Continue to whisk as the gravy comes up to a boil and thickens.
- Lower the heat to a simmer and season with ground pepper, cloves, nutmeg, and Italian seasoning for 10 minutes.
- Taste and season with salt if necessary.
Nutritional Information: Makes 6 cups (12 servings), calories: 177; net carbs: 7g; total fat: 13g; protein: 9g
Serve over these southern-style biscuits I learned how to make at the Firefly Grill in Effingham, IL and breakfast will never be the same. 😋 Watch the video for a great biscuit recipe!
Bob Evans Sausage Gravy recipe
This recipe is identical to the recipe above, except it is made with Bob Evans breakfast sausage. The official Bob Evans sausage gravy recipe doesn’t call for onion, cloves, nutmeg, Italian seasoning, or fresh parsley. It’s a straightforward recipe with only 5 ingredients: sausage, flour, milk, salt, and pepper.
Vegetarian Sausage Gravy recipe
Use the top recipe as your guide. Substitute the pork sausage for your choice of 2 (8 ounce) packages of a vegetable sausage like MorningStar Farms Veggie Sausage Patties. No, I’m not an affiliate.
OR better yet, try my favorite way to make this gravy meatless by subbing out the sausage with 4 large diced portabella mushrooms. Since they don’t have any fat, brown them in a little butter or avocado oil. Then proceed with the rest of the recipe.
Keto Sausage Gravy
To make this gravy keto-friendly, we can start taking out the carbs with these substitutions without losing precious flavor.
Low carb sausage gravy solutions
- Omit the flour and milk
- Instead of using flour to thicken the gravy, add 8 ounces of full-fat cream cheese after browning the sausage. After the cream cheese has melted, add 1 cup of heavy whipping cream, and enough chicken broth to give it your desired consistency (about 1 cup).
Nutritional Information- net carbs: 2.5 ; calories: 227; total fat: 24g; protein: 7g
To keep as few carbs on your plate as possible, pass by the biscuits, and slather your gravy over some of these choices:
- low carb bagels
- scrambled eggs
- Roasted vegetables such as zucchini, bell peppers, and cauliflower
Gluten-Free Sausage Gravy
If you’re looking for a gluten-free option without all the fat found in the keto version, forget the flour and reach for 1/4 cup of cornstarch instead. Whisk it into the cold milk before adding it to your saucepan. Mixing it into a cold liquid keeps it from clumping.
Continue whisking the milk into the sausage and onion mixture over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil and thickens. Then immediately reduce the heat to a simmer.
The nice thing about thickening sauces with cornstarch is that it doesn’t have a taste. Flour needs to cook for 2 or 3 minutes to remove the paste-like flavor. No need for this step with cornstarch.
The texture will be a little different. Both cornstarch and arrowroot give sauces more of a slick or silky texture. I haven’t found this to be too noticeable in this recipe because the sausage and onions add a lot of texture as well.
Helpful tips
Can you freeze sausage gravy?
Yes, you can! Normally freezing sauces with a milk base is fairly tricky, but the high-fat content with the flour base helps keep this “sauce” from separating. For best results, freeze your gravy in airtight containers or zip lock bags.
How long will it last in the refrigerator?
Keep your gravy fresh in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Download shopping list
If you missed the button up top here it is again (with a preview). 👇🏼 I created it in such a way that you can add everything else you need to the list as well. Hope this helps!