Eat Local: Healthier Biscuits and Gravy (2024)

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Eat Local: Healthier Biscuits and Gravy? ›

Its readily available ingredients and hearty nature made it an affordable staple for the low-income working class. Water and flour only cost pennies, and when combined the could be a sustainable way to feed a family.

Its readily available ingredients and hearty nature made it an affordable staple for the low-income working class. Water and flour only cost pennies, and when combined the could be a sustainable way to feed a family.

Biscuits and gravy in some form may go back as early as the Revolutionary War, but many food writers and culinary historians position its birthplace in Southern Appalachia in the late 1800s.

Is Biscuits and Gravy a Southern thing? This hearty dish originated in the south in the 1800s but has gained wide-spread popularity over time. It's a staple at most breakfast and brunch restaurants and for good reason.

Biscuit with gravy contains 493 calories per 220 g serving. This serving contains 32 g of fat, 14 g of protein and 37 g of carbohydrate. The latter is 8.5 g sugar and 1.8 g of dietary fiber, the rest is complex carbohydrate. Biscuit with gravy contains 14 g of saturated fat and 35 mg of cholesterol per serving.

Unfortunately, this comforting and heavy breakfast or brunch can quickly knock out your calorie intake for the whole day. Biscuits and gravy are high in calories and saturated fats and low in nutritional benefits.

Biscuits and gravy is a popular breakfast dish in the United States, especially in the South. The dish consists of soft dough biscuits covered in white gravy (sawmill gravy), made from the drippings of cooked pork sausage, flour, milk, and often (but not always) bits of sausage, bacon, ground beef, or other meat.

A Biscuit (U.S.) Is a Scone (U.K.)

A British biscuit is not remotely similar to the fluffy and filling American biscuits made famous in Southern American cuisine. The closest British equivalent to those buttery miracles is a scone, which ain't too bad either.

Sawmill Gravy

A creamy skillet gravy made with drippings, this staple—known by many now as just "sausage gravy" or "country gravy"—can be said to bolster up the entire Southern breakfast menu, and nobody makes it better than the old-fashioned, country-style breakfast joint in your hometown or your own grandma.

Here's the Reason Biscuits in the South Really Are Better

The not-so-secret ingredient they rely upon is soft wheat flour. Soft wheat thrives in temperate, moist climates like that of the mid-Atlantic, so cooks in those areas have had access to its special flour for a long time.

Can diabetics eat biscuits and gravy? ›

Take Biscuits and Sausage Gravy Off Your Menu

The biscuits usually are made with white flour, and the sausage gravy is high in fat, calories, and sodium.

Most gravy is not healthy. Because of the roasted meat juice it is high in saturated fat and sodium, and with ingredients such as flour and butter it can have more calories than you expect. Gravy has little nutritional value, though by adding water that vegetables have been boiled in you can add some nutrients.

Cakes, biscuits, fried chicken and frozen foods are some of the items that you should avoid. Fat is an important part of any balanced diet but the type of fat you eat matters the most particularly when it comes to cholesterol levels, so make sure you are avoiding the ones that cause health problems.

Yep, we Southerners enjoy our gravy. We enjoy it so much, it's known to the rest of the country as a regional specialty. If an American outside of the South was asked to name an iconic Southern meal, his response might well be fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy.

Biscuits were a convenient and economical food for Southern families because they could be easily made with simple ingredients like flour, baking powder, salt, butter, and milk. Over time, biscuits evolved to become a fluffier and more substantial version of their original English ancestors.