This healthy sausage gravy draws inspiration from southern-style country pepper gravy and turns boring ground chicken into a flavorful base for thick and creamy biscuit dressing. Unlike traditional sausage gravy, this healthy sausage gravy has nearly 5x more protein than fat! And if you pair it with my Greek yogurt biscuits, there’s no doubt you’ll be shredded by lunchtime.
How to Make the Sausage Gravy
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? My recent recipe for homemade chicken breakfast sausage has been a hit. So instead of making patties, this sausage gravy calls for the same sausage recipe crumbled.
Can I get a yay for zero handling or making patties?
Sausage note: If you don’t want to mix the spices for your own breakfast sausage, you could use reduced fat pork sausage like in my egg and chorizo breakfast casserole or maybe even pre-cooked turkey sausage crumbles like in my breakfast chili.
Aside from the chicken sausage, you’ll only need 4 additional ingredients—light butter, flour, white or black pepper, and skim milk (or any milk).
And that’s it. Cook the sausage, stir in the flour and pepper, then add milk and cook until you have thick, super savory healthy sausage gravy!
Making Healthy Biscuits and Gravy
Like I mentioned in the intro, I used my Greek yogurt biscuits recipe to make gravy pillows. They are easy to make, buttery and fluffy, and have just 3 grams of fat each.
If you go the Greek yogurt biscuits route, you may want to double the biscuit recipe to match the amount of gravy this recipe makes. And if you’d rather spend your saved calories on real-deal biscuits, I won’t judge you for it.
And there are always options like the Carbquick biscuits I used in my hot honey oven baked chicken biscuits recipe.
Final Recipe Notes
Don’t sweat perfection in this recipe. It’s difficult to mess up.
If your healthy sausage gravy is too thin, keep cooking over a low heat (or add a bit more flour). Or if it’s too thick, add a bit more milk. The gravy will continue to thicken as it cools so keep that in mind when serving.
You can always season later. If you’re sensitive to spice, start with half the amount of pepper and add as needed when the gravy is ready. There’s even some wiggle room with the spices in the breakfast sausage recipe that I covered in the original sausage recipe.
And finally, the 3 primary healthy sausage gravy ingredients have all kinds of wiggle room. Something like whole milk or adding a bit of butter will make the gravy even creamier. On the other hand, something like almond milk will reduce the calories even further but you may not need as much.
The flour acts as a thickener and absorbs any remaining oil and fat in the pan before adding the milk. I haven’t tested any other flours, but my guess is they’d work just fine, too.
What I’m trying to say is, it’s all gravy, baby. Have fun!
Healthy Sausage Gravy
Ingredients
For the Breakfast Sausage
- 1 lb Ground Chicken, 97/3
- 2 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1/2-1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
- 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt, or 1/4 tsp table salt
- 1/2 tsp Rubbed Sage
- 1/4 tsp Allspice
- 2 Tbsp 24g Swerve Brown, or a brown sugar substitute
For the Gravy
- 2 Tbsp 28g Light Butter
- 1/4 C 30g All Purpose Flour
- 1-2 tsp Ground White Pepper*
- 3 C 720mL Skim Milk, or your choice of milk
Instructions
- Mix the spices for the breakfast sausage together in a small bowl while you heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add the ground chicken to the skillet, using a spatula to finely crumble. Add the spices about halfway through cooking, stirring until the chicken is evenly coated. Continue cooking until the chicken is fully cooked and crumbled.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the butter, flour, and white pepper to the chicken, stirring until no longer visible.
- Gradually add the milk and continue cooking for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the gravy thickens. Once the gravy is as thick as you'd like, reduce the heat to its lowest setting to keep warm. (If the gravy thickens too much as it cools, you can add a bit more milk.)
I made this to pair with the Greek yogurt biscuits and it was really good! It was a little spicy for my wife’s taste buds, so if you don’t like spice you might want to tone down the Cajun seasoning and red pepper.
Amazing….just wow…I’ve never had anything like it. I’ve always considered biscuits and gravy to be like “ya ok it’s good but there’s other stuff that’s better.” But noooooo not in this case. I make this healthy gravy and the Greek yogurt biscuits for breakfast, lunch, dinner, leftovers, midnight snacks, extra snacks..lol I could keep going. It’s the perfect amount of spice and the macros are great! I’ve used ground chicken and ground turkey – both delish. I used skim milk most of the time but I did make them once with almond milk (all I had) and it was still incredible. You could slap this gravy on just about anything and your taste buds will be twerkin.
This is my favorite recipe of all time! I’ve made it so much since it came out! I’ve tried variations of meats, but each time is perfect! The Greek yogurt biscuits are also delicious!
Hey super keen to try this
Where does the butter fit into the recipe?
Add the butter to the cooked chicken right before adding the flour and white pepper. Check out the second photo in the post for a visual example of what you’re looking for. Enjoy!
Love this gravy . I would put this on everything if I could!
This recipe is amazing!! I was literally craving sauté gravy & biscuits for the longest time & kept holding back because let’s be real – it isn’t the healthiest / most calorie friendly meal haha. Then, the next day, Mason blessed me with putting this recipe out. It was fate. Lol. So good!! I’ve since shared the recipe with tons of friends & family. It’s all so good! All I had on hand at the time was a plant based “milk” (I think cashew?) & it still came out great!! Also, per personal preference, I cut the amount of brown sugar in half since I like my breakfast sausage a bit more spicy vs sweet. If you haven’t given this recipe a try, you need to!
Great recipe, but a little spicy for my hubby and I, and we like spicy! Next time, I will maybe cut back a little on the red pepper flakes and the Cajun spice. Was a nice change though, from regular sausage gravy.
GENIUS! Seriously I haven’t had this meal since I was a kid and it is sooooooo nice to be able to incorporate now on a consistent basis and you get so much more! Works with any type of sausage you want and most milks.
PS. My brother is HOOKED on this.
So growing up, my parents NEVER made biscuits and gravy…. yes I was clearly deprived growing up.
Luckily, my boyfriend grew up eating biscuits and gravy, so he introduced me to it. It’s not uncommon that we’re going to the store Saturday morning to get ingredients to make this. Breakfast is my least favorite meal, I’m a protein bar gal, because I don’t care to do anything else. During the weekends, I crave this! Also because it’s the one meal my boyfriend actually enjoys making. My boyfriends loves some heat, so he definitely approves of this. It’s just the perfect amount for me that I’m not sweating. 😅
For some reason, I’m not a fan of ground turkey, but in this recipe, you can’t even tell. Depends how we’re feeling, sometimes we’ll make Mason’s biscuits, and sometimes we’ll just buy a can. If you have the time, make Mason’s, obviously much better macros!
Cue the song from wicked “Changed For Good” because that’s what you’ll be when you try this recipe. I have never met a better trio than Mason’s chicken sausage, Greek yogurt biscuits, and this gravy (sorry Jonas Brothers). I followed the recipe for all components to a T and I was licking my plate. I’m still working on getting my biscuits to look like his but that just means I get to make and eat more 🤤
I made this to pair with the Greek yogurt biscuits and it was really good! It was a little spicy for my wife’s taste buds, so if you don’t like spice you might want to tone down the Cajun seasoning and red pepper.