This delicious bacon gravy recipe combines flour, bacon grease, lots of black pepper, and whole milk. Poured over biscuits, it is the best comfort food breakfast.
This Bacon Gravy Recipe is similar to my Sausage Gravy Recipe but with some more seasoning added because you don’t have the sausage spices to flavor the gravy. We love to serve it the same way – over freshly made biscuits with a runny egg and some cut green onions.
Homemade Bacon Gravy is a country-style gravy or white gravy, meaning that it is made with a roux mixed with milk instead of broth. And it is the perfect kind of gravy for biscuits!
What Biscuits Go Best with Gravy?
ALL biscuits go great with gravy. Though, we are talking about US-style biscuits – not cookie-like crunchy biscuits. I like to use my sour cream biscuits or drop biscuits, though I won’t turn down a frozen Pillsbury Biscuit in a pinch.
Ingredients
This is just a quick overview of the ingredients that you’ll need for the best Homemade Bacon Gravy. As always, specific measurements and complete cooking instructions are included in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Bacon – I like to use thick cut bacon because it is really flavorful, but you can use whatever your family likes. You can also use leftover bacon grease in a pinch and just make a white country gravy without adding any bacon to it, but I love the extra flavor that you get from scraping the crispy bits from the bottom of the pan.
- All-Purpose Flour (You can also use your favorite cup-for-cup flour to make this gluten-free)
- Whole Milk (I highly recommend using whole milk or 2% milk)
- Seasonings – Black Pepper, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Seasoning Salt, Paprika, and Cayenne. (If you aren’t using smoky bacon, you can also use Smoked Paprika to give the gravy a smoky punch.)
How to Make Creamy Bacon Gravy
Before you start making your gravy, be sure to pop some biscuits in the oven. This delicious gravy is best served over warm biscuits.
1. Cook the Bacon: Begin by cooking your bacon in a cast iron or other large skillet. You don’t want the bacon bits on the bottom to burn, nor do you want the flour to burn, so ideally, you should use a heavy-bottomed skillet if you have one.
2. Once the bacon is cooked to your desired crispiness, set it off to the side on a paper towel-lined plate, but leave a few tablespoons of bacon grease in the pan. If there is excess, spoon it out into a mason jar.
3. Make a Roux: Keeping your pan over medium heat, make a roux by sprinkling three tablespoons of flour into the bacon grease and stirring until the flour absorbs all of the bacon fat. Allow the flour to cook for a few minutes, scraping the crispy bacon bits off of the bottom of the pan as you go. (If you can’t get all of it up, the milk will help in the next step.)
4. Add the Milk: Add about half of the milk and stir until the clumps of flour dissolve into the milk. Use this opportunity to scrape the rest of the bacon crispies and stir until the milk starts to thicken. When you can no longer distinguish the flour from the milk, slowly pour in the rest of the milk, continuously stirring. It might separate a little, but it will combine again as it cooks.
5. Thicken the Gravy: Allow the milk to heat up and start to bubble, then reduce the heat just a little. Cook down the milk for a few minutes – stirring as it bubbles.
6. Season the Gravy – After a few minutes, add the seasoning salt, paprika, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne if desired. I use seasoning salt because bacon can be salty – it has the same effect as salt without making it overly salty. Mix in the seasonings and cook for another few minutes, allowing the milk to continue thickening. Remove the gravy from the hot burner and serve right away.
Keep in mind, the second you take the gravy off the heat, it will start to thicken and it won’t stop thickening, so don’t let it get too thick – it can end up with the texture of mashed potatoes if you aren’t careful.
Serve and Enjoy
Serve the hot gravy right away over warm biscuits. The longer it sits, the more it will continue to thicken, so try to eat it pretty quickly. We like to serve this gravy poured over a biscuit with slices of bacon on the side, but you can also dice the cooked bacon up and mix it into the gravy or top your biscuit with crumbled bacon pieces. (I like to keep the bacon nice and crispy, and adding it to the gravy makes it a little soggy.) No matter how you serve it, don’t skimp on the bacon!
I also like to add a fried egg, baked egg, or poached egg on top and keep the yolk nice and runny, then add some green onions. It is the perfect, hearty breakfast.
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How to Store Leftovers
Once cooled, store your homemade gravy in an airtight container in the fridge. You can also freeze it for up to three months.
Store your homemade biscuits in a separate container at room temperature.
How to Reheat
Reheat gravy slowly in the microwave or on the stove over low heat. You may need to add a little milk to thin out the gravy as it will thicken up A LOT as it sits.
Recipe Tips
- Bacon gravy can be made using leftover bacon grease, but I think it tastes much better using freshly made bacon and all the little meaty bits that you get mixed into the bacon drippings in the pan.
- Do not over-thicken the gravy. It will thicken as it cools and can turn into a paste VERY quickly, so you want to take your pan off the burner just before it reaches your desired consistency.
- Add a little extra cayenne if you like your gravy to be spicy.
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Creamy Bacon Gravy Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ – 1 pounds bacon
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 2½ – 3 cups milk
- ¾ teaspoon seasoning salt
- 1 – 1 ½ teaspoons black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon paprika or smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper optional
Serving
- 4-6 biscuits
- poached eggs
- green onions thinly sliced
Instructions
- Prepare biscuits as directed – they should take about the same time to bake as the gravy takes to cook, so put them in the oven as you start cooking.4-6 biscuits
- Cook the bacon in a cast iron or other large, heavy-bottomed skillet.½ – 1 pounds bacon
- Once the bacon is cooked, set it off to the side on a paper towel-lined plate, but leave about two tablespoons of bacon grease in the pan. If there is excess, spoon it out into a jar.
- Keeping your pan over medium heat, make a roux by sprinkling three tablespoons of flour into the bacon grease and stirring until the flour absorbs all of the bacon fat. Allow the flour to cook for a few minutes, scraping the crispy bacon bits off of the bottom of the pan as you go. (If you can't get all of it up, the milk will help in the next step.)3 tablespoons flour
- Add about half of the milk and stir until the clumps of flour dissolve into the milk – you can also scrape any remaining bacon bits off the bottom as the milk thickens.2½ – 3 cups milk
- Pour in the rest of the milk, continuously stirring. It might separate a little at first, but it will combine again as it cooks.
- Allow the milk to heat up and start to bubble, then reduce the heat just a little. Cook down the milk for a few minutes – stirring as needed.
- After a few minutes, add the seasoning salt, paprika, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne if desired. Cook for another few minutes, stirring as needed, allowing the milk to continue thickening.¾ teaspoon seasoning salt, 1 – 1 ½ teaspoons black pepper, ¼ teaspoon paprika, ¼ teaspoon onion powder, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- Remove the gravy from the hot burner and serve right away. The second you take the gravy off the heat, it will start to thicken and it won't stop thickening, so remove it before it is as thick as you want – it can end up with the texture of mashed potatoes if you aren't careful.
- Serve gravy over hot biscuits with slices of bacon and a poached egg if desired. I also top them with sliced green onions.poached eggs, green onions, 4-6 biscuits
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is approximate and is automatically calculated, so should only be used as a guide.
What Else Can You Make with Leftover Bacon Grease?
Since you probably spooned out a little extra bacon grease, you can use it for some of my favorite recipes. It is a great way to grease a skillet to make Southern Cornbread. You get delicious crispy edges with just a hint of bacon.
I also love to use it to season my cast iron pans – just melt it first and strain out the bacon bits so you don’t have bacon welded to your skillet. I also love to use it to cook veggies, fry up pancakes, and pan-fry trout. If you use high-quality bacon, the leftover grease is a great cooking fat!
