Easy Homemade Black Pepper Gravy Recipe

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE SEE OUR FULL DISCLOSURE POLICY FOR DETAILS.

This easy homemade black pepper gravy recipe is a simple and quick country gravy recipe your family will love. A truly versatile white black pepper gravy recipe that is the perfect addition to any meal breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Fresh ground black pepper is the secret to giving this black pepper gravy its signature kick. Ideal over biscuits, eggs, steak, pork chops, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, you name it, this black pepper gravy will have your family begging for more. This delicious savory white gravy will transport your family right to the country.

Easy homemade black pepper gravy.

Want more recipes like this? Sign up today to get them right in your inbox plus we’ll send you our FREE guide, Ready, Set, Eat! to learn our 3 simple secrets to help you meal plan like a pro!

Just a few minutes on the stovetop and you will have this scrumptious black pepper gravy on the table as the perfect accompaniment to elevate any meal. Smother a steak and mashed potatoes with just enough kick to perk you up. This black pepper gravy is a delicious addition to breakfast as well served over freshly baked biscuits. Feeling crazy? Smother them hashbrowns too!

How To Make Black Pepper Gravy

Love the biscuits and gravy at your favorite brunch spot? Or a beautiful country-fried steak covered in perfectly seasoned white gravy from your favorite down-home comfort food restaurant? You too can enjoy these in no time at home with this shockingly easy black pepper gravy recipe. Let’s get cookin!

Stovetop black pepper cream gravy.

What You Need:

Here’s what you’ll need from the store. The exact amounts are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Kitchen Tools Needed:

Ingredients Needed:

Southern black pepper cream gravy in a gravy boat.

Tips for Easy Homemade Black Pepper Gravy

How Long Do I Cook the Flour Before Adding the Milk?

Excellent question! The first step to making this gravy is to melt butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and add flour. When adding the flour to the melted butter, I like to use a small sieve or wire colander to sift the flour into the butter which helps prevent lumps of flour in your finished gravy.

No sieve or wire colander? No problem. Simply measure your flour into a bowl and lightly fluff it up with a dry whisk or fork.

Country style black pepper cream gravy over biscuits.

Cooking flour in butter is an age-old technique for thickening sauces and gravies. The technical term for this mixture is a roux (pronounced ROO). As always pepper that term into conversation. Impress your friends. Use it three times and it’s yours.

The trick to any good roux is to make sure you cook the flour in the butter for at least a minute, if not longer, stirring almost constantly. The goal is to actually cook the flour. If you skip this step, your finished sauce or gravy will an unpleasant taste of raw flour.

In cajun cooking, the roux is typically cooked even longer to create an additional depth of flavor and deeper color. One caveat, make sure you are stirring often as it is quite easy to burn a roux if you aren’t keeping an eye on it.

A plate full of biscuits and gravy.

How Do I Prevent Scalding the Milk?

Scalding milk is a quick way to ruin any gravy or sauce. A few easy tips to prevent scalding your milk are first to measure out your milk before you start cooking and let it sit at room temperature while you cook your roux. This will help prevent a temperature shock by pouring ice-cold milk into a hot pan.

Second, watch your heat. It may take a little longer but after I cook my roux I like to turn the heat down to medium-low and slowly heat the milk. This will help prevent it from getting too hot and scorching. Remember when heating milk a light simmer is good, a rolling boil can lead to disaster.

And lastly, stir, stir, stir. This is especially important once that gravy starts to thicken. The thicker the gravy gets the faster it can scorch. Keep an eye on it and keep stirring. You got this.

Biscuits and black pepper gravy served with fruit.

Can I Use Store Bought Ground Black Pepper Instead of Fresh Ground Black Pepper?

Technically the answer is yes. Would I do it myself? I’d rather not.

The longer ground black pepper sits the more of its signature kick it loses. For a dish like this (with black pepper in the name) it’s best to use fresh ground black pepper. Invest in a pepper mill. They aren’t terribly expensive and trust me your taste buds and your family will thank me.

4.50 from 4 votes

Easy Homemade Black Pepper Gravy Recipe

Print Recipe
Serve this easy homemade black pepper gravy at your next brunch or breakfast. It's a country gravy everyone will love!
Prep Time:5 minutes
Cook Time:5 minutes
Total Time:10 minutes

SERVINGS

8

Equipment

  • Medium-size Saucepan
  • Whisk
  • Measuring Spoons
  • Liquid Measuring Cup

Ingredients

  • 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 2 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper

Instructions

  • Melt butter in a heavy, medium-sized sauce pan. Whisk in flour until mixture is creamy smooth and no clumps of flour are left.
  • Slowly pour in the milk and continue whisking.
  • Add salt and pepper and whisk until well blended.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 115kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 251mg | Potassium: 114mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 301IU | Calcium: 89mg | Iron: 1mg
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Black pepper gravy, creamy gravy, homemade gravy
Servings: 8
Calories: 115kcal
Author: Carrie Ypma
Easy homemade black pepper gravy recipe.

Love these recipes? Get our latest recipes in your inbox. Sign up now and we’ll also send you our FREE guide, Ready, Set, Eat! to learn our 3 simple secrets to help you meal plan like a pro!

More Comfort Food Recipes

If you enjoyed this country gravy recipe then you will love these dinner ideas too:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




12 Comments

  1. I’ve always made white gravy like this but when I make it for breakfast I like to add Owens Hot Sausage to it…..fantastic! Just make this gravy as usual…in a small saucepan brown your desired amount of Owens Hot Sausage, drain & add to the gravy. This will be spicy so you can use the regular sausage or cut back on the amount of black pepper. Enjoy!

  2. We made this gravy a week ago and loved it but our pepper level isn’t this high, lol. So we are making it again and cut the pepper back. This is a great recipe! Thank you from Tennessee…

    1. Came out fine for me, and I am not a good cook. My guess is that you didn’t get it hot enough and flour taste remained, which would be the result of a shitty cook, not a shitty recipe. I know that when thickening stews for example, you need to get the liquid hot enough or the flour taste will remain.

  3. No comments,If possible please clarify the procedure to cook chicken without oil,I mean black peeper,salt only.

  4. 5 stars
    Oh, so delicious gravy! I used it for biscuits and gravy breakfast casserole and the adults in my family all loved it, (the picky 5 year old wasn’t a fan of the pepper,) but I will be using this one again! Delicious and easy!

  5. 5 stars
    I needed a quick gravy for myashed potatoes and chicken fried steak. I found this recipe online ans seemed easy enough. At first the gravy didn’t thicken. I scrolled to read the instructions again and the comments. I found my temperature wasn’t hot enough. I kept stirring and it finally came together! I kept stirring and the flour taste went away. It was very tasty and fast. Even my pocket teenager liked it!!

  6. 3 stars
    The base of this recipe is good, BUT… it was SO much pepper everyone in my family including myself was scraping the gravy off of the biscuits. I would cut the pepper down to 1 teaspoon next time.