Southern food doesn’t get more comforting than a ladle full of Homemade Country Gravy. Making it from scratch requires only a few ingredients and 10 minutes in the kitchen. Time to put away the packets, folks — Country Gravy is eons better from scratch and you will absolutely taste the difference.
It’s rich and creamy, perfectly seasoned with a consistency made for both smothering and dipping. Serve it over Chicken Fried Steak, Homemade Biscuits or Creamy Mashed Potatoes or on the side for dipping Chicken Fingers, Steak Fingers and more!
Today, in addition to a fail-proof recipe for Homemade Country Gravy, we’ll also discuss:
- The three ingredients you’ll want to have on hand (as well as substitutions if needed).
- How to take the intimidation factor out of making a roux.
- A fail-proof trick for making the creamiest, smoothest gravy ever!
- How to tell when your Country Gravy is thick enough.
WHAT’S IN HOMEMADE COUNTRY GRAVY
Homemade Country Gravy begins with a simple roux. Don’t let that word scare you off. A roux is just a combination of fat and flour cooked together on the stovetop. In the case of this Southern-style gravy, that fat is butter.
FLOUR
Standard all-purpose flour is all you need for a superb homemade gravy. Different types of flours have different levels of protein and will, therefore, work differently with other ingredients. For example, if you were to use self-rising flour in your gravy, you would essentially be adding baking powder to the ingredient list.
BUTTER
As far as the butter goes, unsalted butter will give you more control when it comes to seasoning. However, if you only have salted butter in the refrigerator, you can sub that in and follow the guidelines for adding seasoning mentioned below.
WANT TO MAKE GRAVY WITH BACON GREASE?
If you’d like to use bacon drippings in the place of butter, you can do so with this Country Gravy recipe. Use 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings in the place of the butter. Again, you will need to adjust the seasoning if using bacon drippings as they will have a higher salt content than unsalted butter.
You can also make Country Gravy with breakfast sausage (e.g. Sawmill Gravy), a popular topping for Biscuits and Gravy.
MILK
You’ll also need milk. You can use either whole or 2% milk for making Country Gravy.
Milk is what makes this a white gravy. If you’re looking for a brown gravy recipe, try out this easy Homemade Gravy made with chicken broth!
SEASONING
And lastly, for the seasoning, you will need only Kosher salt and pepper. If you do not have Kosher salt, you can sub in standard table salt, however, you’ll need to cut back on the quantity. Table salt is sharper in flavor than Kosher salt, so it would be wise to add no more than a scant 1/4 teaspoon at a time, tasting as you go.
Like a hearty gravy? Be sure to try out our Sawmill Gravy to top off your biscuits!
HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE COUNTRY GRAVY WITH FLOUR
- Melt the butter, sprinkle over the flour, and stir for about 1 minute.
- Add the milk one big splash at a time, whisking after each addition.
- Simmer until thickened, 4-6 minutes, season, and serve!
1. MAKE THE ROUX
To make Homemade Country Gravy from scratch, you’ll start with melting butter on the stovetop in a large pan. Watch closely as it is melting and do not allow the butter to blacken or burn. As soon as the butter has melted, sprinkle the flour over the butter and stir to combine.
At this point, you’ll stir the mixture together, allowing it to bubble. This will help to cook out any raw flour taste.
2. SLOWLY ADD THE MILK
The next step will be to add the milk. Rather than adding it in one steady stream, add the milk one great big splash at a time and whisk well after each addition. This method ensures there are no lumps in your Homemade Country Gravy.
As soon as the mixture begins to resemble that of pudding, it is safe to add the remaining milk all at once and whisk to combine.
3. SIMMER
Allow the gravy to come to a simmer over the heat, reducing the temperature if necessary to keep it from boiling. Stir the mixture often, and as soon as you see it has thickened, kill the heat.
HOW TO TELL WHEN GRAVY IS READY
If you aren’t sure if your gravy is thick enough, you can dip a wooden spoon in the gravy and use your finger to make a line down the back of the spoon. If the line remains and does not bleed back together, your gravy is ready. If it does, continue simmering until thickened more.
Once your Homemade Country Gravy has reached proper consistency, season it, and serve!
A recipe for simple, Homemade Country Gravy, perfectly seasoned with a just-right consistency and ready in less than 10 minutes!
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
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In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until combined. Allow to bubble for 1-2 minutes, but do not allow to brown.
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Add milk a generous splash at a time, whisking after each addition until all of the milk has been incorporated.
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Allow the sauce to bubble for 5-7 minutes, just until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.
Recipe Video
Makes about 2 cups.
Sources: Food Network | Flour 101
This gravy sounds amazing! I love the idea of making it with bacon grease. I can imagine how flavorful it would be. I can’t wait to make this — maybe with some chicken fried steak. Thanks for sharing!
I must have been missing out since I have never actually paired fried chicken with gravy before. This gravy recipe is so simple that I simply must remember to make it when I fry some chicken next time. 🙂
It’s a pretty regular occurrence down here in the South 😉 Ha! Thanks so much, Anita!
Actually ma’am, its usually eaten with breakfast or chicken fried steak, texas toast, maybe some chicken strips, but not fried chicken.
Bone-in fried chicken, I completely agree. But! Chicken Fried Chicken without country gravy — total blasphemy! 😉
I just made this last night because I ran out of the packet type.. it was so simple and so incredibly delicious! I’m happy to say I never have to buy another packet of gravy again. I have a recipe using sausage fat.. but I don’t want to cook up sausage every time I want country gravy. So thank you, thank you, thank you!
That is so awesome! I love that. Thank you, AnneMarie 🙂
I have never tried making gravy with butter, but this sounds excellent. Other than the bacon grease it would be awesome with any kind of pan drippings from meat – chicken, beef or pork would be delicious too!
I love making homemade country gravy, so good! Perfect comfort food
This looks so dang good. I can almost taste the gravy through my screen.
I LOVE a good gravy, and this recipe is my favourite. Delicious with so many things 🙂
Thank you, Alexandra!
This totally brings me back. I absolutely love country gravy – I’m a bacon grease girl all the way! I am totally drooling over this, can’t wait to make it.
Amazing recipes to making delicious dishes for a party. Have to try this special recipe this Easter for my Easter Dinner special. Looks creamy and delicious.
I make gravy with any recipe that I can use it in. Your simple homemade country gravy recipe looks like it would fit the bill for anything! Thank you for sharing this, we will definitely be making this soon.
I honestly should make gravy for my dishes more often. It’s such a delicious addition! This country gravy looks fantastic with that crispy chicken ^_^
This looks SO good! I love how there are only a few ingredients inside as well. This gravy would work for so many recipes…. love it!
Gravy is one of my all time favourite comfort foods. I could eat the entire pot of it haha! I always make my own gravy as well, and use roux to thicken all my sauces. The texture is just so much better then when using cornstarch!
My husband is a fan of country fried steak because of its gravy. So this is a recipe I need to make soon. Comfort food, here I come.
It is soooooooooooo hard to make a killer country gravy and you NAILED it! My mouth is watering and seriously need this in my life! I know what I’m making this weekend!
I want this comfort food gravy over the chicken right now! This looks like something I could find many ways to eat it.
Oh. My. Goodness! This is gonna be a huge hit at dinner with my husband–he is allll about the gravy! can’t wait to make it!
Thanks for all the gravy making tips. It isn’t hard, but it important to make a flavorful gravy. This looks amazing.
I realize this is probably going to sound like a silly question, but being from the north, I am entirely unfamiliar with gravy. Is this a staple at meals that is used like a condiment and you just set out the gravy for dipping? Is it just served for big holiday dinners and special occasions? Do you keep a batch of it in your fridge at all times to pull out on a whim? This is such a foreign concept to me, haha — here in South Philly, “gravy” is the red tomato sauce all the Italian grandmas cook for hours every Sunday!
Ha! Julie — mind blown 😉 Gravy is a condiment, but not necessarily an “every day” condiment. There are certain dishes a Southerner wouldn’t dare serve without gravy, such as biscuits and gravy, chicken fried steak and chicken fried chicken. It lies somewhere between a special treat (not necessarily just for holidays) and a Southern staple. Hope that helps!
Julie,
Gravy is always served over mashed potatoes in the north so I can’t imagine that you are not familiar with it. However, if you are used to “Brown Gravy” rather than “County Gravy” you can substitute milk for the broth and have the same effect. If you are unfamiliar with how to make gravy when you are without pan drippings, follow this recipe and you will be heaven. It truly is wonderful and I am also from the North and have been cooking since I was a young teen and know my way around all kinds of cuisine. Southern is “Comfort Food” at its finest.
Thanks, Kelly. I just had this for breakfast and it is as good as any I have ever made. The Roux is key to making a lump-free gravy.
Thank you, Merry! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Oh boy, this looks so deliciously heart warming! That creamy gravy is perfect for crispy chicken, mashed potatoes, anything really! Definitely going to make this with biscuits for brunch!
This gravy looks amazing! Who doesn’t love to smother food in a delicious gravy?!
LOVE fried chicken and I am always looking for a new gravy recipe. And yes, adding the milk slow is the way to go!
The gravy is so rich and creamy and so easy to make too. I think I it will go well with some crisp potatoes too. Thanks for all the tips and tricks
I love this – so simple and delicious! We call this type of sauce just for ‘white sauce’ in Norwegian, aren’t we clever? Yes, we have a brown sauce too!
If you haven’t had a big dollop of country gravy on biscuits you just haven’t been living right!! Kelly, Your directions are so easy I am about to run to kitchen and make some. Simple recipes like this need to be shared for all to love, thanks for sharing !!
We grew up eating country gravy almost exclusively so it wasn’t until I was an adult that I ever tried brown gravy. To this day I think country gravy still reigns supreme for mashed potatoes! This recipe is simple and easy, a great one to keep filed for handy use.
Ooh, yes! I always have those ingredients on hand!!
I am so used to the brown runny gravy I usually get for Thanksgiving that this looks completely new to me! I have GOT to try this out!!
I have made this two sundays in a row. Along with fried chicken strips and biscuits. I put some of the gravy along with a chicken strip on the biscuit. Then I packaged each one separately. My husband and I ate them for breakfast during the week and and they were so delicious. The gravy held up very well in the microwave and tastes so good. So here I am again this weekend making the exact same thing. Thanks so much for this recipe.
Lisa! That is AWESOME! And so smart of you to repurpose it for breakfast! My husband would love that too 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
It’s interesting that your ‘country gravy’ is what we in Europe call béchamel or white sauce. Italians say besciamella. The only difference is we use nutmeg instead of pepper! It’s what in Italy we put on lasagna or pasta al forno. I’ve never thought to eat it as a sauce with fried chicken! Have to try that!
I am definitley drooling over here seeing this recipe now. I love the gravy I love everything about this recipe – I must try it. Thanks for sharing!
Just made this AGAIN! This time I used it as the base for mini breakfast pizzas with sausage, eggs and cheese on refrigerated biscuit dough. They are absolutely delicious pretty much thanks to this gravy.
I love gravy. I try to use it as often as possible because it always makes the dish taste amazing. Can’t wait to try your recipe now!
10 minutes in the kitchen and just a few ingredients? That is what I like to hear. And there is never too much of gravy – yum!
I have attempted to make Country gravy for over 30 years with embarrassing results. I Googled Country Gravy recipes. Your directions and recipe seemed so easy. I followed your recipe and step by step directions telling me what I will see and what texture it should be. For the first time I made perfect Gravy. Thank you so much.
Is it crazy to get teary-eyed over your gravy making success?! 😉 This makes me so happy! Thank you, Rhonda. I am THRILLED this recipe helped you out!
This recipe is very bland to me. Reminds me of paste, not that I ever ate the stuff lmao. I always end up adding onion powder and a little garlic powder and plenty of salt and course pepper to flavor it up. Thank you for the refresher on good technique though.
This is truly Southern comfort food at it’s best! Even my kids loved it.
Thank you, Lisa!
This has to be the best gravy recipe I’ve ever tried! It’s the perfect gravy for the holidays! Yum!
Thanks for taking the intimidation factor out by breaking the whole process down. Homemade is really so much better!!
Nothing like a perfect country gravy! It’s like Frank’s hot sauce, it goes on everything!
It really does. I’ve always loved this gravy, but I recently discovered that I love this served over green beans. Who knew?
There is nothing better than good ole fashioned country gravy. It tastes amazing on everything!
This gravy looks fab and I cannot wait to try it. I will come back and let you know how it turned out when I do!
This is my go to gravy recipe, it comes out perfect every time! We especially like it with bacon grease!
I’m wondering about using browned flour and adding granulated chicken bouillon.
This is a basic white sauce or bechamel. Subbing chicken broth for half of the milk would make a sauce with nice creaminess and more depth of flavor.
Easy recipe to follow and DELICIOUS!!!
My family LOVED it!!!!!
Super easy, Super good!!!
I made this for breakfast with biscuits and bacon. This was the best country gravy recipe I have ever made. I’ll use it often. Made as written with no substitutions or additions. Thanks for sharing. Country gravy is my idea of fantastic comfort food.
That’s awesome! Yay! Thank you so much for sharing that, Sarah!
Best gravy ever! Thanks for posting Kelly it will go further then you know! I’m impressed!
Thank you, Mike!
This is a great recipe albeit just a touch too salty for my liking. I was really looking for a recipe like grandma made and this is close however hers always came out a bit darker colored – guess my next try Ill have to let the flour and butter brown a bit before I add the milk. Ive looked all over for a recipe like hers and this is as close as Ive come yet. Thanks for the share!
Sorry. Forgot to rate it.
First time making country gravy without premade packet mix, it was great!!! We added turkey sausage and had biscuits and gravy. Was delicious!
That is awesome, Sherry! Thank you so much for sharing!
I used this recipe because it sounded fairly simple and I was a little weary about making gravy from scratch for the first time. I was very impressed with how well it turned out and my boyfriend exclaimed that it was the best country gravy he’s ever had, and he really loves country gravy.
I really appreciate the tip about adding the milk in “generous splashes,” although I may have taken the “splash” part a little too seriously. Ask my counter tops, they’ll tell you! Anyway, it was a useful tip that helped lead to lump free gravy!
I’ll definitely refer back to this recipe in the future, thanks for sharing it!
Yay, Sara!!!! I love that 🙂 Thank you for sharing!!!
NOBODY and I repeat NOBODY cares if you think it will be good, cook the damn thing then comment. So sick and tired of people commenting to see themselves in print, nobody cares .