This jalapeno sausage gravy, or spicy sawmill gravy, can be made using chorizo or regular ground sausage for the perfect hint of heat over biscuits, or country-fried steak! It’s a spicy spin on a classic white gravy recipe.
If you love the idea of using chorizo but are not a fan of jalapenos, then you may love this chorizo gravy recipe version! Dip breakfast pigs in a blanket in this gravy, or pour over breakfast potatoes for an amazing breakfast!
On a cool fall morning or winter morning, there’s nothing better than a warm breakfast casserole or a hot plate of gravy and biscuits with a side of air fried bacon! But when you can kick things up a notch from regular gravy, by making something like this jalapeno chorizo gravy… I highly recommend it!
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Ingredients
When making regular sawmill gravy, using flour, meat drippings and milk are key. So we’ll start by using the basic ingredients as when making sawmill gravy, yet adding a few special other touches to give it the “heat” this spicy sausage gravy needs!
- ground pork chorizo sausage or regular pork breakfast sausage
- diced jalapeno, canned or fresh jalapeño pepper
- all purpose flour
- milk
- cumin
- garlic powder
- salt
Substitutions
- If you’d like to substitute chorizo for regular pork sausage, you definitely can! You can even use uncooked sausage patties if you like! Just break them up! (If they’re fully cooked sausage patties, this will not produce the drippings that will be great in this recipe. So you may want to also add bacon fat or butter!)
- Have bacon fat (bacon grease) too? Go ahead and add that in with sausage drippings for extra flavor!
- If you’d like, you can use unsalted butter or salted butter (or even spicy butter) with the drippings, but it’s not required.
- Not a fan of jalapenos? Try using green chilies or green onions instead!
- Don’t have whole milk on hand? You can use 2% or skim if that’s what you have… just know that the consistency of the gravy COULD be a little more thin.
See recipe card down below for measurements and instructions!
Instructions
When making sawmill gravy, cooking your sausage first, will allow drippings to gather in the skillet (or cast iron) which will come in handy for the gravy — so keep those drippings!
- Begin by adding jalapenos and chorizo (or sausage) to a large skillet and cook on low heat for at least 10 minutes or until the sausage has reached 170 degrees. (You want it fully cooked before adding flour and milk.)
- Once chorizo has cooked for a minimum of 10 minutes, add in the all purpose flour. Using a whisk or wooden spoon, mix together the flour, sausage and jalapenos. Cook for at least 2 minutes – under cooking the flour can result in a gravy that tastes like flour.
- Pour in the milk, and using your whisk or spoon, mix all together while trying to scrape up any meat/flour bits that are sticking to the pan. Trust me… this is where the goodness comes from. Turn the the heat up to medium heat.
- Next, add in cumin, garlic powder and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Increase heat to medium-high heat, whisking frequently to avoid the gravy sticking and burning to the bottom of the pan. Do this until gravy has thickened! Turn off heat/remove from heat once it has thickened. (If gravy has not thickened after 5-10 minutes, see tips below!)
What to Serve with this Gravy
You can pour this gravy over breakfast biscuits or even kick things up a notch and pour some over these cheddar biscuits! Then, cook breakfast sausage in the oven for some protein in the morning!
You may want to consider switching out regular gravy for this jalapeno gravy in this biscuit and gravy casserole!
Equipment
I’ve found that I’ve had the best luck with making gravy in my cast-iron skillet. Although it’s not required, it makes a beautiful gravy each time due to the nature of the pan, compared to using a non-stick skillet.
Storage
If you have leftover breakfast gravy, you can store it (once cooled) in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. When ready to use it, make sure to heat it enough to kill any bacteria that has formed while being stored.
Use leftover gravy to top buttermilk biscuits (try a jalapeño biscuit!) or an english muffin with, or to serve on top of your favorite breakfast steak and poached eggs!
FAQs and Expert Tips
- If your gravy has not thickened after 5-10 minutes, you can try these two tips:
- grab a small separate bowl, and spoon a ladle full of hot gravy in to the bowl, with another tablespoon of flour and stir until combined. Pour mixture from small bowl back in to skillet and whisk and continue cooking until gravy has thickened.
- whisk together two teaspoons of cornstarch and two teaspoons of water in a separate small bowl. Pour mixture from small bowl in to the skillet and whisk and continue cooking until gravy has thickened.
If your gravy tastes like flour it’s because the flour didn’t cook long enough. When adding the flour, it’s best to let the flour “turn” colors just a bit before adding the milk. But when cooking with chorizo, it can be hard to see the change in color so cooking it for a couple of minutes on low should work!
If your gravy is lumpy it could be because flour was adding to the milk instead of milk adding to the flour. Or, the gravy could have been whisked more while cooking. Sometimes when gravy sits, without being stirred, the gravy can stick to the pan, causing lumps when stirred. Or, keep in mind if using jalapenos or sauage in your gravy, it will be lumpy due to those ingredients and it may not be lumps due to flour.
In this jalapeno chorizo gravy, it will definitely have flavor… especially with the addition of cumin and garlic powder. However you can also add your other favorite seasonings if desired, like: seasoned salt, black pepper, fresh sage, small onion, garlic salt, red pepper flakes, chili powder, white pepper, etc.
Related Breakfast and Brunch Recipes
If you love breakfast as much as we do, then you’ll also love these breakfast and brunch favorites: Hash Brown Patties in the Air Fryer, Mini Waffle Breakfast Sandwiches, and the BEST Homemade pancakes from scratch!
Recipe
Jalapeno Sausage Gravy
Ingredients
- 3 ounces ground pork chorizo sausage If using pork sausage instead, you can use 8 oz. or desired amount. Chorizo is SPICY so we cut back on the chorizo more than regular sausage.
- ½ teaspoon diced canned jalapenos or fresh – can be adjusted for spicier or not as spicy
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour *heaping tablespoons
- 2 ½ cups milk whole preferred but other will work
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt more/less depending on preference – table salt can be used as well
Instructions
- Cook chorizo and jalapeños in a skillet (preferably a cast-iron if you have it) over low heat for 10 minutes or until the sausage reaches a minimum temperature of 170 F. If using regular pork sausage, cook over low heat for about 10 minutes or until the sausage has turned a gray/brown, with no pink showing. Do not drain.
- Add flour to sausage and jalapeno mixture. Whisk together, scraping the cooked bits of chorizo and jalapeños up from the cast-iron.
- Add milk to flour and meat mixture, whisk together. Turn the heat up to medium heat.
- Next, add in cumin, garlic powder and salt.
- Whisk together and turn burner to high and let bubble until thickened. Turn heat down to low or "off" and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Carol says
This would be great to mix with the meat in shepherds pie! (I like it saucy.)
Jessica says
Oh yum!! You’re so right, thank you!
Andrea Thueson says
This spicy jalapeno gravy was precisely the flavor I was craving this past weekend! I paired it with cheesy eggs, and my family devoured it all! Thank you!
Jessica says
Oh my gosh, pairing it with cheesy eggs like that, sounds amazing! So glad you loved this, thank you!
Erin says
I made this for breakfast and LOVED it! We all did. It was surprisingly easy and super delicious. Thanks a ton!
Jessica says
That’s so awesome to hear! So glad you liked this, thank you so much for letting us know!
April says
This was delicious! We don’t care for chorizo, so used regular pork sausage as suggested…..it was perfection. Definitely a way to upgrade our usual weekend biscuits and gravy! Loved it!
Jessica says
Woo hoo!! That’s what I love to hear, thank you so much for taking the time to let us know!