The Secret to This 4-Ingredient Southern Breakfast Is Bacon Gravy

Gravy is an entire meal category in the South, and it isn’t just reserved for the occasional turkey or meatballs either. Of course, there is the classic sausage gravy, which many folks outside the South know and love. But there are some lesser-known gravies that deserve praise too.

Bacon gravy is one such dish. This silky smooth gravy is a great one to have in your recipe box, because it uses up the leftover fat from cooking bacon and makes a kind of all-purpose gravy that can top dishes like pork chops or fried chicken.

Partnered with some ready-to-bake biscuits, bacon gravy is a hearty and filling minimal-ingredient breakfast. Here’s how to make this Southern staple in about 20 minutes anytime the craving strikes. 

Just Four Ingredients

• Biscuits: While I love my own homemade biscuits best, there is a time and a place for prepared biscuits and this is it! Pillsbury Grands Biscuits work really well here as they bake in about the same amount of time it takes to make the gravy. 
• Bacon drippings: You’ll need four slices of thick-cut bacon to get the two tablespoons of bacon drippings for making this recipe. I use the Kirkland Signature Thick Sliced Center Cut Bacon from Costco. If you don’t have enough bacon grease, you can substitute butter for some of the bacon drippings. 
• All-purpose flour: As with most gravies, bacon gravy is thickened with a roux made from bacon fat and flour. 
• Whole milk: Skim or 2% milk also work, but whole milk contributes to this gravy’s silky and smooth texture.

How To Make Easy Biscuits and Bacon Gravy

One of the best things about this recipe is how its parts come together. For example, if you don’t already have bacon drippings, you can cook the bacon while the oven preheats for the biscuits. By the time the biscuits are baking, the bacon will be done and you can slowly build the gravy in the same skillet you cooked the bacon in. The biscuits should be done right after you’ve finished cooking the gravy.

Tips for Making Bacon Gravy

If you’ve never made a gravy before, bacon gravy is a great place to start! You’ll learn to make a roux by cooking together equal parts fat—here the bacon drippings—and flour. 

• Adding the flour to the fat gradually while stirring constantly prevents lumps in your gravy. 
• Cooking the flour in the bacon fat ensures that your finished gravy won’t taste like flour. 
• Gravy thickens slightly as it cools, so avoid over-thickening the gravy in the skillet. Regardless, bacon gravy is not as thick as typical sausage gravy, so expect it to be a little bit thinner.