The Best Sourdough Sausage Gravy
If you're looking for the best sourdough sausage gravy recipe, this comforting homemade breakfast is sure to become a family favorite. Rich, creamy country sausage gravy is thickened with sourdough discard for a subtle tang and incredible flavor, making it the perfect way to use up extra starter. Serve it over warm sourdough drop biscuits, toasted sourdough sandwich bread, or even this sourdough English muffins recipe for a hearty breakfast that's simple enough for busy mornings and special enough for a weekend brunch. And if you love biscuits and gravy, you're gonna want to be sure to make this sourdough sausage gravy breakast pizza too!
Quick Look: Sourdough Sausage Gravy
- ⏱️ Prep Time: 15 minutes
- 🍳 Cook Time: 20 minutes
- 🕒 Total Time: 35 minutes
- 👥 Servings: 6 cups
- 📊 Calories: ~535 kcal per serving (based on nutrition panel)
- 🔥 Cook Method: Stove-top in a cast iron skillet
- 👩🍳 Flavor Profile: Savory and hearty with a rich, creamy texture, flavorful sausage, and a subtle tang from the sourdough.
- ⭐ Difficulty: Quick & easy
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- A delicious way to use sourdough discard. Instead of throwing away extra starter from this easy sourdough starter recipe, you can turn it into a rich, creamy country sausage gravy the whole family will love. If you're looking for another great way to use up sourdough discard, try this easy sourdough granola recipe.
- Ready in about 30 minutes. This easy breakfast comes together quickly while your overnight sourdough biscuits are baking.
- Made with simple pantry ingredients. You'll only need a handful of everyday staples like sausage, milk, sourdough starter, butter, salt, and pepper. We keep all of the staple ingredients we need to make biscuits and many other from scratch recipes in our homestead pantry.
- Perfect for cozy family breakfasts. Serve it over homemade biscuits, toasted sourdough sandwich bread, or even this sourdough discard waffle recipe.
- Rich, creamy texture without making a traditional flour roux. The sourdough discard naturally thickens the gravy while adding a subtle depth of flavor.
- Easy to customize. Use pork sausage, venison sausage, or even make it meatless for a delicious homemade country gravy.
- Fits perfectly into a from-scratch kitchen. Pair it with this raw milk butter recipe, fresh eggs, and these other easy breakfast recipes with simple ingredients to make a complete meal.
Ingredients
For a full list of ingredients needed to make this recipe, see the recipe card below.
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How To Make The Best Sourdough Sausage Gravy
- Step 1: In a cast iron skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until brown.
- Step 2: If your sausage is really dry, add some butter to the skillet and allow it to melt (optional). Measure out sourdough starter, add to skillet and stir well with a whisk until bubbly.
- Step 3: Add milk and salt and pepper.
- Step 4: Stir until thick and bubbly, about 5-10 minutes.
- Step 5:Serve over buttery sourdough biscuits or toasted sourdough bread.
- Step 6: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.
Expert Tips
- If your sausage is a bit dry (we use venison breakfast sausage), you can add some fat like butter or even beef tallow to the browned sausage before adding the sourdough starter discard. Learn how to make butter from raw milk, or how to make your own beef tallow. If you are using pork sausage with lots of grease, you probably won’t need to add any fat to your homemade gravy. The fat gives the sourdough starter something to mix with (creates a roux) before adding the milk.
- You can use milk, cream or half and half for the liquid in this gravy.
- Sourdough discard is usually what I use, but if all you have is active sourdough starter, that works fine too.
- Feel free to add a splash of milk to thin out the gravy, or a little more sourdough discard if it’s not thick enough. Usually following this recipe exactly makes my gravy the perfect consistency (see video). Keep in mind that the gravy will continue to thicken as it cools.
- Adjust the salt and pepper to your taste.
- Start a batch of our favorite sourdough drop biscuit dough in the evening, and the next morning just whip up a batch of this sourdough gravy and you'll have the perfect breakfast
- Store leftover gravy in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.
- Make a homemade country gravy recipe by leaving out the sausage. It turns out delicious every time. You can also use non-dairy milk if you’d like.
The Best Sourdough Sausage Gravy FAQs
Sourdough sausage gravy is a country-style gravy thickened with sourdough discard instead of flour. This makes the gravy fully fermented, and gives it a nice, subtle tang that pairs perfectly with the sausage.
The secret to a good sausage gravy is to make sure that the roux (mixture of fat and flour) is well mixed so there are no lumps. Sausage gravy made with sourdough discard instead of flour always has the best roux because the sourdough is already liquid and mixes in easily with the fat.
To make gravy with sourdough discard, you just replace the flour in your recipe with sourdough discard. The sourdough discard acts as the thickening agent for the gravy, and also gives the gravy a boost of flavor.
Other Sourdough Breakfast Recipes
If you try this recipe and love it, please come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @wagonwheelhomestead21. I can’t wait to see what all you make!
The Best Sourdough Sausage Gravy
Equipment
- 1 cast iron skillet
- 1 Spatula
- 1 measuring cups and spoons
- 1 whisk
- 1 Ladle
Ingredients
- 1 pound of breakfast sausage
- ½ cup butter optional
- 1 cup of sourdough starter
- 4 cups milk
- 2 teaspoons salt or to taste
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- In a cast iron skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until brown.
- Add butter (if using) to skillet and allow to melt.
- Add sourdough starter and stir well with a whisk until bubbly.
- Add milk and salt and pepper.
- Stir until thick and bubbly, about 5-10 minutes.
- Serve over buttery sourdough biscuits or toasted sourdough bread.
- Store leftover gravy in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Notes
Tips For Making Sourdough Sausage Gravy
- If your sausage is a bit dry (we use venison breakfast sausage), you can add some fat to the browned sausage before adding the sourdough starter discard. I usually use butter of homemade beef tallow. If you are using pork sausage with lots of grease, you probably won’t need to add any fat to your homemade gravy. The fat gives the sourdough starter something to mix with before adding the milk.
- You can use milk, cream or half and half for the liquid in this gravy.
- Sourdough discard is usually what I use, but if all you have is active sourdough starter, that works fine too.
- Feel free to add a splash of milk to thin out the gravy, or a little more sourdough discard if it’s not thick enough. Usually following this recipe exactly makes my gravy the perfect consistency (see video below). Keep in mind that the gravy will continue to thicken as it cools.
- Adjust the salt and pepper to your taste.
- Start a batch of our favorite sourdough biscuit dough in the evening, and the next morning just whip up a batch of this sourdough gravy and you’ll have the perfect breakfast
- Store leftover gravy in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
- Make vegetarian country gravy by leaving out the sausage. It turns out delicious every time. You can also use non-dairy milk if you’d like.
LaRee, I've not tried not tried this recipe yet but I've printed it out and certainly intend to. 🙂 I came to your site/blog today in hopes to find out how you make your cream of chicken. I need to make this from scratch because my daughter-in-law is gluten intolerant. Most available "cream of's" have wheat in them. Do you have a good recipe that we can make as a substitute for this store bought pantry staple? Thanks for your help in advance! ~Margaret Cape
Hi Margaret, thanks for reaching out. That recipe isn't on the blog yet, but I'll tell you how I make it.
Cream Soup
3 T. Fat
1/4 to 1/2 cup flavoring (celery, mushrooms, chicken etc.)
4 T. Flour
1/2 c. broth
1/2 c. milk
Saute the flavoring in the fat until tender, add the flour and stir until combined. Add the broth and milk and stir until thick. It's that simple. For gluten free, I use any kind of gluten free flour in place of the regular flour.
Hope this helps, LaRee.
My favorite recipe