Gluten-free biscuits and sausage gravy on a white plate

Gluten-Free Biscuits and Gravy

Name: Gluten-Free Biscuits and Gravy
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 2 biscuit halves with gravy
Ingredients: 1 pouch (12.3 oz) Pamela's Gluten-Free Buttermilk Drop Biscuit Mix; 1 cup cold water; 1 lb bulk breakfast sausage; 1/4 cup gluten-free 1:1 all-purpose flour blend (we use Pamela's 1:1 All-Purpose Flour); 1 tablespoon unsalted butter; 2 1/2 cups whole or 2% milk; 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste; 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more

on Oct 14 2026

Table of Contents

Ask people what they miss most after going gluten-free and biscuits and gravy comes up more than almost anything. It is not a fancy dish. It is a plate of soft bread under peppery sausage gravy, and it is the thing that used to be on every diner table in America.

The gravy is the part that stops people, not the biscuits. Sausage gravy is built on a roux, a roux is built on flour, and most gluten-free flours either turn gluey or refuse to thicken at all.

A one-to-one gluten-free flour blend thickens a roux the way wheat flour does, measure for measure, no adjusting. That is the whole fix, and almost nobody explains it. The biscuits, meanwhile, are a pouch of mix and a cup of cold water.

The whole plate takes about thirty minutes, most of which is the gravy simmering while the biscuits bake. So good, no one will guess they are gluten-free, the way Pamela's has done it since 1988.

How to Thicken Gluten-Free Gravy

Use a one-to-one gluten-free flour blend, and use it exactly like wheat flour. That is the short answer, and it is the one most people are looking for.

The ratio is the same one you would use with wheat: about 1/4 cup of flour to 2 1/2 cups of milk, whisked into the rendered fat and cooked for a minute before the liquid goes in. No adjusting, no extra binder.

What to look for in a blend. Finely milled matters more than anything else, because a coarse grind leaves a grainy texture that never quite cooks out. Rice-based blends work well. Bean-based blends do not, since they carry a flavor that has no business near sausage. And avoid single-ingredient flours like coconut or almond, which do not thicken a roux at all.

Cook the roux before adding milk. Sixty seconds of the flour bubbling in the fat is what takes the raw taste out. Skip it and the gravy tastes like flour no matter how long you simmer it.

What about cornstarch? It works and it is not the same thing. Cornstarch makes a glossy, slightly slick gravy that sets firmer as it cools, and it has to go in as a slurry at the end rather than as a roux at the start. Sausage gravy is supposed to be opaque and soft, and a flour roux is what gets you there.

Arrowroot and tapioca have the same issue as cornstarch, with a stringier texture. Fine for a pan sauce, wrong for this.

We make one if you need it: Pamela's 1:1 All-Purpose Flour is rice-based and finely milled. But any blend meeting the description above will do the job, and the technique matters more than the brand.

The Biscuits Take Two Ingredients

A pouch of Pamela's Buttermilk Drop Biscuit Mix and one cup of cold water. No rolling, no cutting, no cold butter to work in.

Drop biscuits are the right shape for gravy, which is convenient. A craggy top has more surface for the gravy to catch, and the softer crumb soaks it up rather than sitting under it.

Use cold water. The fat in the mix needs to stay solid until it hits the oven, where it turns to steam and lifts the biscuit. Warm water melts it early and you lose the flaky top.

Stop mixing while the dough still looks shaggy, about fifteen stirs. Overmixing is the most common reason biscuits come out flat.

Bake at 425 degrees F for 14 minutes. They can go in while the gravy simmers, and both finish at about the same time.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Yield 6 servings

Serving Size 2 biscuit halves with gravy

Ingredients

1 pouch (12.3 oz) Pamela's Gluten-Free Buttermilk Drop Biscuit Mix
1 cup cold water
1 lb bulk breakfast sausage
1/4 cup gluten-free 1:1 all-purpose flour blend (we use Pamela's 1:1 All-Purpose Flour)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups whole or 2% milk
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more

Shop Gluten-Free Original Buttermilk Drop Biscuit Mix

Directions

Heat the oven to 425 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
Empty the biscuit pouch into a bowl and add the cold water. Stir just until the dry mix disappears, about fifteen stirs. The dough should look shaggy with a few dry spots.
Drop 12 mounded spoonfuls onto the sheet, about 2 inches apart, dipping the spoon in cold water between portions. Bake 14 minutes, until lightly golden.
While the biscuits bake, cook the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, breaking it apart, until browned and cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Do not drain the fat.
Add the butter to the pan and stir until melted. The butter plus
the rendered fat gives you roughly the 1/4 cup the flour needs.
Sprinkle the flour over the sausage and stir to coat. Cook 1
minute, stirring, until the raw flour smell is gone. This step is
what keeps the gravy from tasting floury, and it matters more
with a rice-based flour than with wheat.
Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the milk about 1/2 cup at a
time, stirring constantly and letting each addition come together
before adding the next. Adding it gradually is what prevents
lumps.
Simmer 5 to 8 minutes, stirring often, until thickened. Pull it slightly thinner than you want it, since it sets as it cools.
Season with salt and plenty of black pepper. Split the biscuits and ladle the gravy over.

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Gluten-Free Original Buttermilk Drop Biscuit Mix

Recipe Tips & Notes

Choosing a Type of Sausage

Read the label. Many breakfast sausages contain wheat, usually as a binder or filler, and it is not always obvious from the front of the package.

Bulk sausage is easier than links because you skip removing casings, and it breaks up into the right texture on its own.

Sage is the traditional flavor for sausage gravy and it is worth seeking out. Hot sausage works too and changes the dish in a good direction if you like heat.

You need the fat. A very lean sausage will not render enough to build a roux, and you will end up adding butter to compensate. Look for a standard, not a reduced-fat one.

If your sausage renders very little, add butter a tablespoon at a time until you have roughly 1/4 cup of fat in the pan before the flour goes in.

Getting the Consistency Right

Gravy thickens as it cools, and gluten-free gravy thickens more than most. That is the single thing to know.

Pull it off the heat looking slightly thinner than you want it. It will tighten in the two minutes between the stove and the table.

If it is too thick, whisk in warm milk a splash at a time. Cold milk will seize it.

If it is too thin, let it simmer another few minutes rather than adding more flour. Flour added late tastes raw.

Add the milk in stages, not all at once. Half a cup at a time, stirring until it comes together before the next addition. That is the whole trick to a lump-free gravy, and it is more reliable than pouring slowly and whisking hard.

Season at the end, and be generous with black pepper. Sausage gravy should be visibly speckled. Salt last, since the sausage brings its own.

What About Gravy Packets and Mixes?

A lot of people arrive here asking which packet gravies are gluten-free, and it is a reasonable question with an unsatisfying answer.

Most powdered gravy mixes use wheat flour as the thickener. Some brands make gluten-free versions, formulations change, and the only reliable approach is reading the label every time you buy.

A packet also cannot do what this does. Sausage gravy gets its flavor from the fat the sausage renders, and a powder mixed with water has no fat to work with. That is why packet gravy tastes thin next to the real thing.

From scratch takes about fifteen minutes, and most of that is the sausage browning. It is one of the shorter distances between a shortcut and the real version.

Can You Buy Gluten-Free Biscuits and Gravy?

Not really, and that is why people search for it.

No gluten-free refrigerated or canned biscuit dough exists. Every tube on the shelf is wheat, so the shortcut most people grew up with is not available.

Restaurants are difficult. Even where a kitchen offers a gluten-free biscuit, gravy is usually made in one batch with wheat flour, and shared fryers and prep surfaces complicate the rest.

Frozen versions are not a category. A few gluten-free biscuits exist in freezer cases, but biscuits and gravy as a prepared meal essentially does not.

Which leaves making it, and the reason that used to feel out of reach was the gravy. A one-to-one flour blend removes that barrier entirely. Thirty minutes, one pouch, one skillet.

Make-Ahead and Reheating

The gravy reheats better than you would expect, which makes this more practical than it sounds for a weekday.

Refrigerator: up to 4 days in an airtight container. It will set very firm when cold. That is normal and it loosens with heat.

Reheat gently over low heat, whisking in warm milk a splash at a time until it comes back. Expect to add 1/4 to 1/2 cup for a full batch.

Freezing works but changes the texture. Dairy-based gravies can separate. Up to 2 months, thaw overnight, and whisk hard while reheating.

The biscuits are best fresh, but the unbaked dough freezes well. Drop the mounds onto a sheet pan, freeze solid, bag them, and bake from frozen at 425 degrees F adding 3 to 4 minutes.

Do not assemble ahead. Gravy on a biscuit is a ten-minute window before the biscuit gives up.

What This Contains

This recipe contains milk and soy.

The Drop Biscuit Mix has buttermilk, butter powder, and whey, plus soy flour and soy lecithin. The gravy adds more milk. This version cannot be made dairy-free or vegan.

Check your sausage for wheat, and for soy if that matters to you. Many contain both.

Eggs and tree nuts are not ingredients here, but Pamela's products are made on equipment that processes both.

If you need dairy-free biscuits, our Biscuit & Scone Mix contains no milk and no soy and lets you add your own fat and liquid. The gravy is harder, since it is built on milk. Unsweetened oat or soy milk is the closest substitute, and the result is thinner and less rich.

Every Pamela's product is certified by the Gluten-Free Certification Organization, made in a certified gluten-free, peanut-free facility, and certified kosher.

Other Recipe Notes

Read the sausage label. Many breakfast sausages contain wheat as a binder.

Cook the roux for a full minute before adding milk, or the gravy will taste like raw flour.

Add the milk about 1/2 cup at a time rather than all at once, stirring until each addition comes together. This is what prevents lumps.

Gluten-free gravy thickens more than wheat-based gravy as it cools. Pull it off the heat looking slightly thin.

To reheat, warm gently and whisk in warm milk a splash at a time until it loosens.

Recipe FAQs

A one-to-one gluten-free flour blend, used exactly like wheat flour. Whisk about 1/4 cup into the rendered sausage fat, cook it for a minute, then add milk. Cornstarch works but makes a glossier gravy that sets firm as it cools, and it has to go in as a slurry at the end rather than as a roux at the start.

A finely milled rice-based blend does, and it substitutes one for one. Coarser blends can leave a grainy texture, and bean-based blends carry a flavor that does not suit sausage gravy. Cook the roux for a full minute before the milk goes in or the gravy will taste like raw flour.

Gluten-free gravy thickens more than wheat-based gravy as it cools, so pull it off the heat looking slightly thinner than you want. If it has already set too firm, whisk in warm milk a splash at a time. Cold milk will seize it.

No. Every canned and refrigerated biscuit dough on the shelf is wheat-based, and there is no gluten-free version. A drop biscuit mix is the closest equivalent, and the dough takes about ninety seconds to stir together with cold water.

The biscuits yes, with Pamela's Biscuit & Scone Mix, which contains no milk or soy. The gravy is harder, since it is built on milk. Unsweetened oat or soy milk is the closest substitute, and the result is thinner and less rich than the original.