White gravy is a staple in every Southern household. Everybody claims that their Mom or their Grandma makes the best gravy in the world. (They’re all correct, by the way. Every one of them.). This is how my mother and my grandmother made their white gravy, and I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s some of the best around.
This post isn’t a random thing. By far, the most popular thing I’ve ever written on this blog was for “Restaurant Style Southern White Gravy“. It’s never fallen below the top 10 recipes viewed here daily. It’s also the post I’ve received the most negative comments for.
That post was meant to show how Southern gravy is made in a restaurant kitchen, or in a home kitchen where bacon grease isn’t something that’s regularly available. Yes, it’s good, but as many of my readers have pointed out over the years, it isn’t authentic. It isn’t Southern white gravy like Momma made. In short, it just isn’t right.
I agree. Southern gravy is made with bacon grease, period. Anything else is wrong to a Southerner. (Unless you’re making sausage gravy, which is a different thing entirely.) With that in mind, let’s make some honest to goodness, down-home, real deal Southern gravy. It takes a little more work, but it’s well worth it.
First, you need to cook up about half-a-pound of smoked bacon (For the love of all that’s good and right in the world, make sure it’s pork, and not lean, and not maple!). Once that bacon is all fried to crisp perfection, remove it from the pan. What you do with it after that is up to you, because as far as this recipe is concerned, it has no use. Eat it, feed it to the dog, make some colcannon or a batch of potato soup with it, whatever. We don’t need it.
Next, pour the bacon grease into a separate container and immediately spoon about 5 Tablespoons worth back into the skillet.
Then add in about 4 Tablespoons of flour. All-purpose is fine. I’ve never needed to use anything else for this gravy. (Whole wheat flour is a bad idea, though.)
Whisk the flour into the grease, then add some salt and pepper (Black pepper. Southern Gravy has black specks in it. It’s supposed to!). Keep whisking the flour until it’s a deep tan color and smells nutty.
Now it’s time to add in the milk, stirring constantly. I add mine in a bit at a time, until the gravy is where I want it, which in this case, was here:
Note… Southern Gravy will keep thickening after you’ve made it, so it should always be made when it’s needed. If you have to make it ahead, make it a LOT thinner than you think you’ll need it.
And there you have it folks. The South’s answer to all your problems. Perfect white gravy, just waiting to be slathered on something… Like biscuits.
Southern White Gravy, It's all About the Bacon Grease
Ingredients
Instructions
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8 Serving Size:
1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 88Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 254mgCarbohydrates: 6gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 6g
I hope this goes a long way to close the gap my earlier version of gravy caused between me and other southern cooks. This is the good stuff, the gravy I make for my family on a Sunday morning. The only gravy to top my biscuits or my wife’s superb chicken fried steak.
Now. Who’s up for some biscuits and gravy?
Links to More Southern White Gravy Recipes
- Country Gravy – Deliciously Dingy and Definitely Diner, from Chef John at Food Wishes
- Restaurant Style Southern White Gravy
- Southern Sausage Gravy
Oh man, I totally want biscuits and gravy now. DAMMMMMMN YOU!!
Loving your photos, and this recipe. I have made several variations of this gravy and loved them all. Now it is time to make yours. ;)
This gravy is a thing of beauty.
Cooked my sausage and set aside. . In the same pan added butter (alternate for this recipe) cut amount off ingredients in half (enough for 2) and made the best white gravy ever! Thanks :)
ohmigerrd, Jerry! I learned how to make this in culinary school (the restaurant version, with butter instead of bacon fat), but at any rate, all I have to do is see your photo and I’m instantly transported to my little spot of Heaven on Earth :)
Hi there! I love biscuits and gravy!!! and your photos are incredible. I have added this page to a round up of links using bacon grease in recipes. I do hope that is ok. If not, please let me know and I will promptly remove it. Thanks you, Heather http://dailydiylife.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-best-secret-ingredient.html
I keep a container of bacon grease in my refrigerator just as my mom and her mother did. It’s been my secret ingredient for years. Makes even store canned green beans taste fantastic! I find it best to keep bacon grease a safely guarded secret. Most people don’t understand the flavor properties which bacon grease brings to a dish. Often when the secret is revealed it’s automatically considered as an artery clogging “Beverly Hillbillies” possum cooking ingredients! lol These same minded people love the dishes I make with bacon grease as long as it’s been kept a secret from them! Shhh 🤐
Never even made gravy before attempting this recipe, I’m very pleased with the results. At least for today, I’ve got a happy family haha. Thank you very much
Kody,
I’m glad it came out well for you, and I hope it will become a favorite in your family like it is in mine.
Wow, that gravy was quick, was easy, and was out of this world. My wife, my 23 year old son, and I just doused our country fried steak in this gravy. Quite frankly I have never had better. I used bacon grease from yesterday’s bacon. We always save our bacon grease and now I have another great use for it.
so, make roux with bacon grease and flour, then add salt, pepper and lastly milk…that I understand, gotta break it down for us French southerners ;) lolz.
Adrienne,
Yes! Absolutely correct.
So delicious! This is the best recipe! Thank you!!!
Lina,
You’re so very welcome! I’m glad you like the recipe. It’s a family favorite.
I made this today for father’s day. Just cooked some sausage on the side to throw into the gravy . This was pure joy and just how my grandma made it when I was a kid. Thank you!!
I’m a nooby at making roux. I’m still amazed at how little bacon grease, flour and milk a roux actually takes! I’m a native Vermonter that’s traveled all over the South. I ate alot of sausage gravy on biscuits and grits at many mom & pop diners all over the South. From now on I’ll be using my bacon grease in the roux instead of just adding it in to the already prepared gravy. Thanks for your great sounding recipe,,,can’t wait to do your way,(the right way) the next time I make a biscuits and gravy batch. Happy dining. Roger
My Mom’s family is from Tennessee, and this is how it was made :) Except for one thing, and that is that it was always thick enough for a spoon to stand in!
Beverly,
I’ve noticed that the farther South you go, the thicker the gravy tends to get. I bet it’s still just as good, though!
This is how I make my gravy. Grandparents are from Texas and this is pretty much what my grandmas recipe is. Grandpa always called it Vest Pocket Gravy. Grab a biscuit and some gravy in your Vest pocket and you are good to go!!
Annie
Annie,
I’ve heard that term, too! My Grandfather from Oklahoma used to talk about Vest Pocket Gravy! Thanks for the memories on this one.
Great recipe. The bacon grease definitely sets it apart from all other gravy. Thank you:)
Love this recipe so much. Its my go to recipe and I’m making it tonight. Yummy!
So glad you like our white gravy recipe! This is the same recipe my mom used to make for us as kids, and there’s nothing I would change about it.
Hi I love the recipe but I seem to have done something incorrectly. My gravy is still dark after I add the milk and I can’t get it to thicken property. Did I overcook the roux? I’ve never made gravy before so bear with me. Thanks for the great recipe! :)
Ing,
It’s possible that you over cooked it, but it should still thicken when moisture is added. Be sure to add the milk in stages so that you can fully adjust the amount, And remember, cooking times can vary depending on altitude, humidity and geography. As much as I wish this was an exact science, it isn’t
I have been making this gravy since I was a teen. I’m now in my 50s. My aunt taught me to cook the roux down, otherwise it tastes like flour. Low and slow…no hurry. Let it brown up a little before you add the milk. I’ve looked at other “bacon gravy” recipes, but yours is the one I’m putting on my Pintrest page. Most don’t explain the roux. When using on biscuits, I like to crumble some bacon up in the gravy as well. Now I’m hungry!
Sandy,
Yep! The roux is the base and the secret of the whole thing. If you don’t brown the roux and get it to that “nutty” stage, you’re going to end up with a skillet full of school paste, not white gravy. It’s the one thing that most beginners aren’t taught, but it’s the most important step.
wondering what the difference between this gravy and one that has sausage in it?
Perfection Jerry, perfection. This is how I was taught to make white gravy by my granny in East Tennessee. When I met my husband he didn’t know what biscuits and gravy was. He does now and it has been his favorite food for almost 14 years now.
I have found over the years that the best bacon to use (for me that is) is what I get at the WNC Farmers Market in Asheville, NC or Jones Cherrywood smoked bacon from Publix, that is it.
We usually use bacon ends and pieces for gravy. They’re fattier, so we use less to get tot eh good stuff!
Pardon my (Northern) ignorance, but how is White Gravy different from Bechamel?
Rich,
A fair question, I’d say. They are similar, but there are distinct differences.
Southern gravy is more of a fast and loose affair. Some people make it thick, some like it thin, and still others make “gravy” that’s almost a paste. There is no “right way” There’s just “your way.”
I could go on. But simply put, bechamel is meant as something that elevates a dish, where Southern white gravy is designed to help stretch the ingredients you have. It’s cheap. It’s filling, and it’s easy to make.
It’s also damned good.
I chuckle every time i see recipes like this one. Long before ‘foodies’ talked about roux and bachamel sauce, my mother made ‘southern gravy’ for Sunday lunch. She’d fry up the chicken in a big iron skillet using Crisco from the can, scrape the goodies loose from the bottom, stir in enough flour to soak up any left over chicken grease, add milk and … voila! … southern gravy (course she called it chicken gravy)! It wasn’t until years later that I even knew that process had a name. Now, I tell my daughters ‘if you can make a roux, you can make anything’ … they’re working on it.
Absolutely!
hey there Uncle Jerry – thank you so much-I have learned a LOT from this,… never knew all the persnickidies of the gravy I learned to make many many years ago – but so nice to learn them now – at 73! now I’m so hungry for biscuits and gravy – your way!!~
Kay,
You have officially made my day, sweet lady! I hope everyone you share this with enjoys it and the love you put into it. Because that is, after all, what food like this is all about.
My mother in law was from Kentucky and this is how she taught me to make gravy for biscuits and gravy. I’m from Wisconsin and I don’t think I ever had biscuits and gravy until I was 20 years old and met her son. I really love this gravy over homemade country potatoes or homemade hash browns with a fried egg.
Bacon grease is good but my mom uses grease that she fried livermush in and it’s the bomb. Better than bacon grease to me.
Chad,
To be honest, I’d never heard of livermush until you mentioned it and, to be honest, I’m not sure it would be something that I enjoy. Having said that however, I’m sure it added a lot of flavor to the gravy!
Didn’t have milk! So I just used about 1 1/2 cups of water and added evaporated milk until it was the texture I needed. Thank you for this recipe!
What a creative solution! I’m glad to hear that it worked out for you.
Yankees make white gravy the exact same way, but call it country gravy. Both my parents cooked and I’d learned watching them make it, but nothing was actually measured for it. My dad would have been 102 this year, but as I recall even my Irish grandmother had made it the same way, also. The main difference might be that it’s not often served with biscuits in the North.
Glad to hear it! I’m sure this recipe exists in as many forms as there are families who make it, whether they’re from the North, the South, or even from another continent. In the end, it’s all gravy ;)
Thank you !! I had been craving Grandmas Gravy! I couldn’t remember how to make it!!
Your recipe is spot on. My son has a dairy allergy and this was his favorite food. I learned to make it with almond milk. I figured if they could use water during the lean times (when my grandparents were growing up) we could use almond milk. As long as I’m sure to use unsweetened, it tastes pretty good!
Jill,
I’d never thought of using almond milk, but I’m glad it worked for you! You can also use veggie stock or chicken stock in place of the milk (More like sawmill gravy, but still mighty tasty!)
Do you have a recipe for fluffy biscuits to go along with the gravy. I love biscuits and the kind of gravy you make-awesome!
You said whole wheat flour is a bad idea. Could you explain that please? We usually only have whole wheat flour but really want to make this!
Amy,
Whole wheat flour makes for a pretty heavy gravy. If you just HAVE to use it, or it’s all you have, you’ll probably need more milk than listed in the instructions, and it may have to cook a bit longer.
We have so much bacon fat in the freezer we can make gravy until we keel over and eating eating biscuits and gravy might hasten the event. The only thing that I prefer in my gravy is a little liver at times along with crumbled sage sausage! Thanks for the recipe
Frank,
Just a tip, but bacon grease works great for tossing pasta. (but seriously, eat some veggies, too1)
Whats a vegetable? Just kidding. I love my bacon grease collards!
I’ve started making gravy and this is the recipe I use. However when I make it, the gravy is always brown in color and is always pretty thick. It tastes good but it’s definitely not white.
Charles,
Sounds to me like you’re cooking your roux a bit too long, or perhaps a bit too hot. Try reducing the heat just a bit and add the milk a bit sooner. Also, to make it thinner, just splash in a little more milk, about 1/4 cup at a time, until it’s the consistency you’re after.
I made it and added a touch of nutmeg and served over home fries, it was fabulous. Thank you!!!
You are very very welcome!
Nutmeg, always good!
I v’e been cooking for too many years. The funny thing is after all the years of fine food dining, I always come back to the rib sticking basics. Nothing says home better than a good biscuit gravy or a Sunday pot roast. Yeah my risotto’s will make any one cry, but a simple biscuit and gravy breakfast just can’t be beat
so good! tastes just like grandma used to make! I would recommend this recipe to everyone!
You got it sister! Exactly how I make mine. We just call it milk gravy. I love this over biscuit but you can also spice it up a but and make cajun mashed potatoes with it.