Sawmill Gravy With Sausage

By
Diana Rattray
Diana Rattray
Diana Rattray
Southern-cuisine expert and cookbook author Diana Rattray has created more than 5,000 recipes and articles in her 20 years as a food writer.
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Updated on 10/17/21
Sawmill gravy recipe

The Spruce 

Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 15 mins
Total: 25 mins
Servings: 4 servings

The term "sawmill gravy" comes from early logging camp food and old-time sawmills. It was originally made with cornmeal, bacon drippings, milk, and seasonings. This resulted in a somewhat gritty gravy; in fact, rumor has it that the loggers would accuse the cooks of putting sawdust in the recipe!

This gravy can be made with bacon and bacon drippings as well as sausage. This version is a sausage gravy, a breakfast tradition in the South. The base is a roux, making the gravy thick and creamy. It is up to you whether to add the chunks of breakfast sausage back into the gravy; it will bring interesting texture and wonderful flavor, but if you prefer a smooth gravy you can leave it out.

Sawmill gravy is the perfect addition to a Southern-style breakfast. Serve with split and buttered biscuits or creamy grits.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound sausage

  • 3 tablespoons fat, from cooking the sausage

  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups milk, light cream, or half-and-half

  • Kosher salt, to taste

  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

  • Biscuits or grits, for serving

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Ingredients for sawmill gravy
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  2. In a heavy skillet over medium heat, cook the sausage, breaking up and stirring until no longer pink. Remove the sausage to a bowl with a slotted spoon and set aside.

    Sausage in skillet
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  3. Leave 3 tablespoons of drippings in the skillet. If there aren't 3 tablespoons left, add some butter, shortening, or bacon drippings to make 3 tablespoons.

    Add 3 tbsp of drippings
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  4. Place the skillet back over medium heat and sprinkle the flour over the drippings. Cook, stirring constantly until the roux is lightly browned.

    Place skillet back over medium heat
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  5. Gradually add 1 cup of the milk. Stir to loosen any bits of cooked sausage from the bottom of the pan.

    Gradually add milk
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  6. Taste and season with salt and pepper; keep stirring until the gravy has thickened. Add more milk or cream as needed to reach the desired consistency.

    Taste and season
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  7. Add the sausage to the gravy, if desired.

    Add sausage to the gravy
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  8. Serve and enjoy on top of biscuits.

Tips

  • Although this is a relatively easy gravy to make, you will achieve better results if you follow a few tips. First, make sure to measure the amount of fat left in the pan after cooking the sausage; if it is more than 3 tablespoons, your gravy will end up being greasy. If it is less than 3 tablespoons, and you don't add any other fat, then the roux will be too dry and the flour will probably burn.
  • After sprinkling over the flour, it is important that you cook it long enough to remove the raw flour taste; 1 to 2 minutes is usually long enough, but then continue stirring and cooking until the mixture begins to turn brown.

Recipe Variation

  • To make a sawmill gravy with bacon, fry 4 to 6 strips of bacon in the skillet and leave 3 tablespoons of drippings. Proceed with the recipe and serve the gravy with the chopped up cooked bacon, if desired.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
273 Calories
21g Fat
10g Carbs
10g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories 273
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 21g 27%
Saturated Fat 8g 39%
Cholesterol 45mg 15%
Sodium 596mg 26%
Total Carbohydrate 10g 4%
Dietary Fiber 0g 1%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 10g
Vitamin C 0mg 1%
Calcium 120mg 9%
Iron 1mg 4%
Potassium 417mg 9%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)