Dairy Free Sausage Gravy with Biscuits

     I don't know why, but I have had a taste for biscuits and gravy.  I couldn't remember the last time I had this, and this is typically not something I'd make for our dinners.  Biscuits?  Sure, but wasn't sure how the kids would like the sausage gravy.  The trick for me was to make this dairy free.  Since I changed my mind last minute to make this instead of whatever else I had planned on our weekly menu, I had to improvise on some of the ingredients.  I'm sharing the recipe how I made the dish because it turned out great and everyone loved it!  Apparently I will need to add this to our repertoire of meal rotations.

    When I originally had the thought of making this dish, I figured I would use oat milk to make it dairy free.  Great!  No problem, except that I ran out of oat milk making the biscuits.   So, I had homemade chicken stock in our freezer and used that in place of the oat milk.  I browned the sausage, removed it from the pan, made a roux with dairy free butter and flour, added the chicken stock, seasoned with salt, pepper, and fresh parsley and when that was thick enough for a gravy, I added the sausage back to combine.  It was fantastic!  

    The biscuits were a simple drop biscuit, swapping out the milk for oat milk, which didn't make a difference.  I also swapped out butter for equal parts of veggie oil. Since the dairy free butter is oil based any, using the butter or oil wouldn't really matter.  Are you ready for this simple recipe for a delicious Sunday comfort meal?  

This recipe will yield 15-18 large biscuits and 8 servings of gravy.

Dairy Free Drop Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 3.5 c. flour
• 3 tbsp baking powder
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 1 c. butter or oil
• 3 c. oat milk

Directions:

Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Using a fork, cut in the butter until well incorporated with flour. Add milk and stir together a few times until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet or muffin pan. Bake in a 450 degree oven for 15-18 minutes.  The tops should be slightly browned.

Sausage Gravy

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 lbs. ground Italian sausage or breakfast sausage
• 3 tbsp dairy free butter
• 3 tbsp flour
• 2 to 3 cups chicken stock
• chopped fresh parsley
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Add oil to a large skillet heating on medium high heat.  Add ground sausage, crumble with a heavy spoon into small bits while browning.  Season with salt and pepper.  Once browned, remove from skillet to drain.
2. Add butter to skillet.  Reheat on medium high heat.  Once the butter is completely melted, add the flour.  Whisk together to combine and cook the flour.  
3. When the flour is cooked for 2-3 minutes, whisk in stock. Continue to whisk to remove any chunks.  Add more milk one cup at a time.  If the gravy is too thick, add more stock.  If the gravy is too thin, make a cornstarch slurry. 
4. After the gravy is well combined, add parsley, salt and pepper.  Stir.  Add the sausage into the gravy.  Stir until well combined.

Serve over biscuits.  It's your choice, slice the biscuits in half or serve whole.  Enjoy!