The Ultimate Guide to Making Delicious Indiana Biscuits and Gravy

There are a lot of biscuit and gravy recipes floating around the internet, but if you want to take breakfast to the next level, then this is the one for you.

Biscuits and gravy are a breakfast staple at my house, and I've had a lot of practice nailing down a solid recipe. Recently, I've seen a lot of videos on TikTok of people trying to make this classic southern dish, and I've had a lot of questions about their process. For one, I see a lot of people using canned biscuits, which are just mediocre bread circles lying about being biscuits. Additionally, I've seen many people only using pre-packaged ingredients, which is great in a pinch but a far cry from the real thing. There is a much better way to make this iconic dish, and I'm going to tell you how I do it entirely from scratch.

The Sausage

I'll be honest, I love Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage, so if you prefer to use that for your sausage gravy, you'll get no judgement from me. That said, these days, I personally prefer making my own breakfast sausage from scratch. If you would like to try this process as well, I recommend doing it ahead of time. That way, the seasonings will have time to penetrate the meat. Also, it saves time when throwing together your actual biscuts and gravy. Here is what you'll need:

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• Fresh Pork Shoulder (Boston Butt)
• Salt (1 teaspoon per pound)
• Black pepper (1/4 teaspoon per pound)
• Garlic Salt (1/4 teaspoon per pound)
• Ground Sage (3/4 teaspoon per pound)
• Ground Thyme (1/4 teaspoon per pound)
• Red Pepper Flakes (1/4 teaspoon per pound)
• Oregano (1/4 teaspoon per pound)
• Chopped Parsley (1/2 teaspoon per pound)
• MSG (1/4 teaspoon per pound) Optional

This Jimmy Dean copycat recipe comes from Just in a Pinch, which adds MSG to the mix, but I rarely use it in my own spice blend. However, if you would like to add this ingredient, then go for it.

1. Combine your seasonings in a bowl.
2. You'll need a meat grinder to make your own ground breakfast sausage. For me, I like to use a whole boneless pork shoulder, as it seems to have the right meat-to-fat ratio (70% meat, 30% fat). You'll start by cubbing up the pork shoulder so you can run the pieces through your meat grinder.
3. After grinding the pork shoulder, add your combined seasonings to the mixture. Mix the meat thoroughly to ensure the spices are incorporated. I like making about a 10-pound batch at a time, so I can seal and freeze 1-pound portions for later use. For our biscuits and gravy, make sure you set 1 pound aside.

The Biscuits

Making biscuits may seem intimidating, but it's really not that hard. Here are the ingredients needed to make half a dozen fresh, fluffy biscuits.

• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 6 tablespoons of butter (I use salted)
• 3/4 Cup of Milk

1. To start, you'll want to combine all of your dry ingredients (the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt). Set that aside.
2. Next, you'll want to cut or ideally shred your butter so it can mix easily into the dry ingredients. The colder the butter, the better. I'll often freeze mine for about half an hour before baking.
3. After adding your butter to the mixture, add your milk. Stir everything together until you have a cohesive dough. Be sure not to overwork the dough, and definitely don't use a rolling pin. You can add a tad more flower if it's too sticky.
4. What I do next is take my wooden spoon and dollop portions of the dough onto a greased baking sheet. I believe these are referred to as "drop biscuits," but you can also put the dough on a flowered surface and stamp out your biscuits with a jar.
5. Bake the biscuits at 475 degrees Fahrenheit for about 12 minutes, or until the tops are golden. You can then brush with butter if you desire.

You can check out the full recipe from Sugar Spun Run here.

The Gravy

This recipe is another one I found from Sugar Spun Run, and it makes the perfect sawmill gravy. My wife likes her gravy runny, and I like mine very thick, so this recipe has been a good middle ground compromise. It's not too runny and not too thick. Here is what you'll need:

• 1 lb. of pork sausage
• 1/4 Cup of All-Purpose Flour
• 2 1/2 cups of milk
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Follow these steps:

1. Brown your ground sausage. Do not drain.
2. Sprinkle in your flour and stir until fully absorbed.
3. Add your milk slowly, while continuing to stir the mixture.
4. Continue to stir until you reach your desired consistency.
5. Add your salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. As I use red pepper flakes in my sausage, I find that adding additional flakes to my sausage gravy makes it too spicy for my liking, so I just stick with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

Now that we have made our sausage, biscuits, and sausage gravy, we are ready to serve. I like to have mine with scrambled eggs, but this hearty dish is certainly enough to enjoy on its own. I hope you enjoyed this guide and that you'll give it a try. Making biscuits and gravy from scratch can take a bit more time, but if you ask me, it's very much worth it in the end.