Turkey gravy recipes might be the first thing you think of when we mention “best gravy recipes” since the stakes are so high on a holiday. But our beef and wine-based gravy, sausage gravy, and mushroom gravy recipes are a delicious reminder that these sauces are stellar at brunch and Sunday dinners, too.
Apple Buttermilk Biscuits with Sausage-Cider Gravy
If you, like us, struggle to choose between savory and sweet brunches, this biscuits and gravy recipe is going to be your go-to weekend wake-up plan. The buttermilk biscuits are infused with apples and cinnamon for a slightly-sweet touch, while the gravy features apples, cider, onion, and pork sausage. The result is beautifully balanced and overflowing with fall flavor.
Sausage-Gravy Breakfast Pizza
We’ve combined the best parts of breakfast pizza with the essential flavors of biscuits and gravy. The result? A low-fuss, serves-6 brunch that will keep everyone satisfied for hours. Biscuit mix helps trim down on crust prep time, so you can focus on acing the scrambled eggs, sautéing the pork, then stirring together the gravy in the drippings. Layer that all up, top with cheese, then bake until bubbly. These slices are sure to fly off the pan quicker than our hands fly to the snooze button on the alarm in the morning!
Porcini Biscuits and Mushroom Gravy
Whether you’re sharing with vegetarians or are simply trying to integrate one or two more meat-free meals into your weekly menu, this hearty biscuits and gravy recipe is a stellar option. Thanks to umami-rich ingredients like a spoonful of porcini mushroom powder (in the biscuits) and a full pound of mixed mushrooms plus an ounce of Parmesan cheese (in the vegetarian mushroom gravy recipe), no one will miss the meat.
Test Kitchen Tip: To make your own porcini powder, pulse ½ ounce of dried porcini mushrooms into a fine powder. This yields 3 tablespoons, or enough for three batches of 8 buttery, sneakily-savory biscuits.
Bourbon and Cider Pan Gravy
Because every holiday should be spent in good spirits, we’ve infused this robust Thanksgiving gravy with a shot of bourbon. Reserve the drippings from your roast turkey, then deglaze the pan with that cozy brown spirit and apple cider. Whisk in flour to thicken things up, season to taste, then pour it generously over sliced turkey, mashed potatoes, or biscuits. Cheers!
Cornmeal-Sage Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
Several fans have written in to tell us that this is the classic homemade biscuits and gravy recipe that convinced them to officially ditch their store-bought competition. Ready in less than 45 minutes total, this brunch tastes like something you’d order at a chic modern diner. (We see you, fresh sage and cornmeal!) The gravy is a breeze to whisk up as those bake, then you’re all set. And you can keep the tip.
Sweet Potato Biscuit Sandwiches with Ham and Redeye Gravy
Whether you’re a veteran to all things redeye or are new to the concept, you’ll love waking up to this buzzy breakfast sandwich. Redeye gravy, for the uninitiated, is a classic Southern strategy that refers to using ham drippings as the base for a black coffee gravy. Here, we amp things up by adding bacon to the party, since both of those pork products—as well as peach preserves, scrambled eggs, and parsley—star inside these tender sweet potato biscuit sandwiches.
Best Gravy Ever
We know that superlative name might sound like a bit of a stretch. However, this turkey gravy is the one that the Test Kitchen staff turn to more than any other when hosting their own holiday feasts. Keep the roasting pan hand, and we’ll coach you through how to mix up this masterpiece of a gravy recipe right in that same vessel. All you need is 16 ounces of white wine (leaving a couple glasses to enjoy with the first course!), 3 cups of stock, and an onion.
Gluten-Free Buttermilk Biscuits with Sausage Gravy
Traditional biscuits revolve around butter and flour, and nearly all gravy recipes call for flour as a thickener. We’ve cracked the code on how to whip up fluffy wheat-free biscuits and white flourless gravy. (Hat tip to our foolproof 4-ingredient homemade gluten-free flour mix!) Warning: With punchy pork sausage flavoring every drop of the gravy and the tang of buttermilk in the biscuits, you’ll probably receive a few, “this can’t be gluten-free!” comments.
Southern Dressing and Gravy
You can cook stuffing inside the bird, although it’s a tricky food safety proposition since every cube should be cooked to at least 165° F…and that’s tough to do without drying out the turkey itself. So instead, we usually recommend baking the stuffing in a casserole rather than the cavity, which changes its name to dressing. This version is just as moist as—and quite possibly even more flavorful than—its stuffing competition, since the biscuit, cornbread, and vegetable dressing comes paired with a thick, creamy gravy recipe that you can drizzle on top of the dressing (as well as anything else on your plate).
Aged-Cheddar Biscuits with Peppered Ham Gravy
Ham and Cheddar sandwiches were always a brown bag lunch favorite among many BHG staff members, so we used that nostalgic combo as the inspiration for this unique biscuits and gravy recipe. A whopping 6 ounces (1 ½ cups) of tangy aged sharp Cheddar melts down beautifully into the rich biscuits. Then 3 ½ cups cubed ham set the tone for the sage-seasoned gravy. The combination is like a grown-up variation on the theme, and we almost always find ourselves going back for seconds.
Vegetarian Biscuits and Gravy
Did you know that classic store-bough shortening is made with plant-based oils, no animal products, and is actually 100% vegan? Swap that in for butter in these light and fluffy biscuits, then trade plant-based sausage for regular. Add a splash of plant-based milk to both, and this diner-style special will end up looking and tasting remarkably similar to its dairy- and pork-focused peers.
Perfect Turkey Gravy
Go your own way with this, one of our best Thanksgiving recipes. It’s perfect as-is, in its simple 3-ingredient glory. (Those pan drippings are magical!) If you’re in the mood for something different from the original that tastes like what grandma made, try our gravy recipe variations: sherried mushroom and shallot, creamy cracked peppercorn and garlic, buttermilk-sage, and rosemary-Madeira.
Test Kitchen Tip: If you’d like to make this gravy without drippings—either to get a head start on holiday meal prep or because you’re making it to pair with a turkey-free meal—replace the drippings with ¼ cup melted butter.
Maryland Fried Chicken
An old-school classic as well as a fast food franchise menu combo meal staple, pairing fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy is always a good idea, if you ask us. That way, you can spoon the luscious creamy gravy over both the hot mashed potatoes and the crunchy chicken itself. Since we opt for crushed saltine crackers in the coating (rather than something softer, such as breadcrumbs or flour), the chicken is sturdy enough to stand up to the gravy.
Beef Tenderloin with Parmesan-Herb Stuffing
Even though we call this a “wine sauce,” it’s essentially a beef gravy. And it’s an essential addition to your recipe repertoire, if you ask one BHG home cook: “I made this for Thanksgiving last year, as my family is not excited about turkey and I wanted to try something new. Everyone absolutely loved it.” Drippings from the beef tenderloin team up with tomato paste, dry red wine, and beef broth to produce a syrupy sauce that’s the ultimate condiment for this elegant yet fairly easy beef dinner idea.