Tips for the Best Biscuits and Gravy
Anyone who’s been to brunch in the South knows their biscuits and gravy are worth waking up for. From the flaky, buttery crust to the rich, creamy gravy, there’s no question that biscuits and gravy are a match made in foodie heaven. But what’s the South’s secret to perfecting the art of fluffy biscuits and mouth-watering gravy?
Below, you’ll get the inside scoop on how to achieve brunch-worthy biscuits and gravy by using a few pro tips and top-tier recipes. Learn the formula behind the best biscuits and gravy, and get ready for an unforgettable meal.
6 Tips for Making Delicious Biscuits and Gravy
If you want your biscuits and gravy to taste like they came straight from the South, follow these six tips:
1. Use Real, Unsalted Butter
You will have to use real butter if you want your biscuits to rise and be fluffy. Because butter has a high water content, incorporating it into your dough creates steam to help it rise. Use unsalted butter to control the precise amount of salt in the dough, which is important for the leavening process and the final taste.
Once you’ve got your real, unsalted butter, try to keep it cold until you’re ready to start baking. Freezing the butter into a solid stick will make it easier to grate or cube into tiny pieces, which leads to flakier biscuits — yum!
2. Be Sure to Use Buttermilk
When it comes to making biscuits, regular milk just won’t cut it. Regular milk doesn’t contain the necessary acidity and fat to create the hallmark tenderness and flavor of a good biscuit. If you want an unbelievably tender biscuit, substitute heavy cream for about a quarter of the buttermilk the recipe calls for. This trick adds a bit of extra fat to fluff the biscuit dough up.
If you’re out of buttermilk and in a crunch for time, you can make your own by adding a tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to a cup of whole milk. The acidity will interact with the milk to make a suitable buttermilk substitute. While your biscuits won’t be quite as good as true buttermilk biscuits, they will be much better than biscuits made with plain milk.
3. Don’t Overmix the Dough
When combining your ingredients, a light touch is key. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until a dough barely starts to take shape. Ideally, the mixture should look more like several clumps of dough. Don’t worry if it doesn’t form a cohesive ball, isn’t smooth or has a bit of flour on the sides.
4. Handle the Dough Gently
Be careful not to knead or squish your dough because doing so will make it tough. Instead, gently transfer it onto a cutting board and press the dough into a rectangular shape, then fold it in half. Repeat this process by pressing the dough into a larger rectangle again and folding it. Then you’ll be able to roll the dough out and let it rest, giving the dry ingredients a chance to fully absorb the wet ingredients.
5. Prioritize Pan Drippings
The most important part about making the gravy is the sausage. If you want to serve flavorful, awe-inspiring biscuits and gravy, you need to use high-quality breakfast sausage to infuse your gravy with its delicious savory and salty taste. The drippings from cooking the meat are key to giving your gravy an extra flavor boost.
To reserve the sausage drippings, let the liquid cool in the pan a bit before pouring it into a jar to store in the fridge. Once you’ve made the gravy, whisk a bit of the drippings into the pot to add a bit of fat and flavor. You can hang onto any leftover drippings in the jar and use it to flavor other dishes later, such as roasted vegetables or scrambled eggs.
6. Stir Continuously
Because gravy can thicken incredibly quickly, you will need to constantly stir the mixture after adding the liquid. Keep stirring and consider turning down the heat, which will give you a bit more time if you need it. If your gravy looks lumpy, you may need to add an extra splash of liquid.
Season your gravy as you go, stirring in salt and pepper and other spices you’re using as the gravy heats up. Try a small taste of your gravy once it’s finished to determine whether you need to add any more seasonings or it’s ready to serve.
How to Make Biscuits and Gravy
If you’re ready to test out our top biscuits and gravy tips, you’ll need a reliable recipe. We’ve combined our favorite biscuits recipe with our favorite gravy recipe to create a biscuits and gravy power couple like none other. Check out each recipe below.
Biscuits
For a simple and straightforward biscuit recipe, you can make the biscuit portion from this bratwurst biscuits with vegetables recipe. Substituting real butter for the shortening and buttermilk for the milk will give these biscuits an irresistibly flaky consistency. You can choose whether to include slices of bratwurst in the dough for some extra savory flavor or leave them out so the gravy can shine more. Either way, your biscuits will be mouth-wateringly delicious.
If you’re strapped for time, try making these Bon Giorno Biscuits. Although the recipe uses store-bought biscuit dough to save prep time, it makes up for it by incorporating hot Italian sausage, eggs and cheese into the final biscuit creation. Spooning gravy over these meat-and-cheese-filled biscuits creates a hearty breakfast fit for a Southerner.
Gravy
By using both pork sausage and bacon, this gravy recipe produces a smooth and savory sauce that’s so full of flavor you just might be tempted to drink it. When you use a package of Premio Pork Sausage or Premio Breakfast Sausage with the casings removed, you’ll give your gravy that flavorful, salty kick every Southerner craves.
Once you have the right ingredients, whipping up the gravy is easy. Simply cook the meat in a large skillet until browned and crumbly before stirring in the rest of the ingredients. After taste-testing your gravy for top-notch quality, go ahead and ladle a generous amount over your oven-fresh biscuits. Enjoy!
Use Premio Sausage for Your Perfect Biscuits and Gravy
The best biscuits and gravy start with high-quality, delicious ingredients. As the star of the gravy, the sausage you use needs to be fresh and flavorful. When you use Premio sausage, you can be confident your biscuits and gravy will stand out. Our sausage is full of fresh ingredients and never contains fillers — the way sausage should be!
Find stores with Premio sausage near you, and make Premio your secret ingredient today.