It's frustrating that a food so comforting and yummy photographs so gross. Because really, how do you make a sausage or hamburger gravy look good when it's cooking, right?
As a child this is not a food I grew up with in my home but we had hamburger gravy on mashed potatoes in school during the deepest and coldest days of winter - and ohhhh it was one of my favorite meals! The cooks (a Catholic school with an older woman as head cook and since it was the late 70's and early 80's, the government still knew their place and hadn't gotten insane with making the lunch ladies serve crappy, inedible food to kids... ) we had gloriously delicious meals at my school that were known for miles around. *(Seriously... meeting kids from other towns when I was a teenager, I found out even THEY had heard about our amazing meals at the Catholic school.) We didn't get this often enough for my tastes, but I would go back for seconds (seconds were free back then as well) and gobbled every bit of this white, thick, magical gravy up.
And then I went to public high school and never had it again.
Until I got married and remembered it one day... made it and grinned at the comforting memories recaptured.
And it's so easy!!!
Typically you make this with flour - but if you are cutting out carbs you can thicken it with a tiny bit of xanthan gum or thickener of your choice. I'll link to a couple items at the bottom of the post.
UPDATED FOR JANUARY 2019: PLEASE SERVE THIS GRAVY OVER MY ALMOND FLOUR CHEDDAR BISCUITS... OH YUM!!! Find the recipe here: Homemade Low Carb, Keto Cheddar Biscuit
Sausage Gravy
(can be made with ground beef or even bacon, too)
1 lb. sausage
3 T flour or 1 t xanthan gum or 1-2 t Thick it Up
3 c whole milk or if low carbing using cream
garlic salt
black pepper
Brown the sausage in a pan on the stovetop until brown and done. Remove from pan and drain all but 2-3 T fat in the pan. Whisk in the flour and make a roux - or if using a low carb thickener, don't add it yet. Whisk and cook the flour/fat mixture for about 1 minute and slowly start to add the milk or cream while whisking. If you are using a low carb thickener, mix in half the milk, THEN LIGHTLY SPRINKLE THE 1 teaspoon xanthan over the cream while whisking or it will clump. When it's smooth, whisk in the rest of the cream. Cook the gravy over medium or medium low depending on your stove, until it starts to bubble. Season with garlic salt and black pepper to taste. You can whisk in a little more thickener if you need it, or if it's too thick for your personal tastes, add a bit of milk or cream. Serve over a biscuit, toast, mashed potatoes, bagels or mashed cauliflower. You can adjust pretty much all the ingredients in this recipe to your own tastes - using less or milk cream or milk or half and half, use regular salt instead of garlic, add more or less - well, any of it. :)
If you want to make it with hamburger gravy, make it the same way. If you are making a bacon version, only use about 6 strips of bacon and crumble them in or dice them small before cooking - do not use a whole pound.
Related products you can purchase from Amazon through my affiliate links if you can't find locally;
Great Low Carb Bread Co. - Everything Bagels
Thick-It-Up Low Carb Food Thickener: - Make Your Health Food Taste Like Junk Food - Great for Soups, Gravies, Sauces (Sugar Free!)
NOW Foods Xanthan Gum, 6 Ounce Bottle
