Baked Grits with Sausage Gravy

Melt-in-your-mouth cheesy baked grits with sausage gravy are a true southern comfort food I’m sure the whole world would enjoy. You need to try them if you haven't already! 

Grits are a down home, stick-to-your-ribs kind of breakfast. The kind of easy comfort food I crave on a brisk winter morning or when things haven’t been going my way. They can be eaten sprinkled with sugar, or enriched by cheese. But if you really want them to be special, make these baked grits with sausage gravy. They are special enough to serve up for dinner. 

Though we think of them as southern fare, grits were eaten by the indigenous people in what became the United States (even up north) long before it was visited by European explorers. The corn or maize is soaked in an alkali solution which removes the hard hull. The resulting product is called hominy which can be eaten as-is in dishes like pozole or dried and ground to become grits. 

Grits come in several varieties, but I usually buy the iron-fortified quick grits because, as long as you are making one serving, they can even be cooked in the microwave. Talk about a fast healthy breakfast! The instructions on the box say: Cook with water, but for creamier grits, use milk instead.

For my money, the milk version wins every time. Milk not only makes creamier grits but it adds nutritional value as well. Milk contains several important nutrients; a glass of milk will give you calcium, protein, iodine, potassium, phosphorus and vitamins B2 and B12. If you use water, you are missing out on all that.

Baked Grits with Sausage Gravy

Great as a make-ahead morning meal, baked grits with sausage gravy are also perfect as breakfast-for-dinner. This recipe uses milk to make creamier grits. If you are watching your calories, you can use water or half milk/half water. But they won’t be as creamy! If you don’t have ramekins, this can also be baked in one larger pan and spooned out to serve. 

Ingredients

For the baked grits:

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup or 155g uncooked quick grits

4¼ cups or 1L milk

4 oz or 113g cream cheese

2 large eggs, beaten

Butter for greasing 6 ramekins

For the sausage gravy:

1 (16 oz or 454g) package breakfast sausage (We prefer hot but you can use mild.)

¼ cup or 60ml drippings from cooked sausage

1 cup or 125g flour

3 cups or 709ml milk

Freshly ground black pepper

Cayenne

Optional for serving: minced green onion tops

Method

Bring the milk for the grits to a boil in a large pot. Add the salt and slowly pour the quick grits in stirring constantly with a whisk. 

Bring the milk back to a boil and then reduce the heat. Cook for another 8-11 minutes or until the grits have thickened, stirring constantly.

Pour the grits into a mixing bowl and leave to cool for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to speed the process. Add in the cold cream cheese and mix well until combined.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and butter 6 1-cup or 240ml ramekins. Set aside. Put a full kettle of water on to boil.

Whisk the two eggs in another bowl. Add small spoons of the warm grits to the eggs, whisking briskly, until you’ve added about ⅓ of the grits to the eggs and have a lovely homogeneous mixture.

Now add the egg/grits mixture to the cream cheese/grits bowl and stir well to combine. 

Divide the grits into the prepared ramekins. I had about 4½ cups total so each ramekin got about ¾ cup of grits. Place ramekins in a 13- x 9-inch pan, and add the hot water from your kettle to the pan halfway up the sides of ramekins. Cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil.

Bake in your preheated oven for 15 minutes covered. Uncover and bake 20 minutes more or until tops begin to brown. I wanted just a little more color, so I put mine under the broiler for another few minutes but you can skip this step if you can't be bothered. 

While the baked grits are in the oven, we’ll make the sausage gravy. In a large skillet, brown the sausage meat and break it into crumbles with your spoon. Keep browning until the sausage is completely cooked and you have some lovely crunchy pieces that are quite dark.

Turn the heat off and tip the pan to one side. Push the sausage crumbles up to the high side of the pan so you can spoon most of the drippings off, leaving about ¼ cup or 4 tablespoons behind.

Sprinkling the flour into the pan a little at a time, stirring the sausage and flour around until all of the flour is incorporated. Cook over a medium heat for just a few minutes to get rid of the floury taste.

Pour in the cold milk and stir well until the flour has been dissolved.

Cook, stirring almost constantly, until the gravy thickens to your desired consistency. I like it pretty thick. You can add more milk to loosen it up if you prefer thinner gravy. Season with freshly ground black pepper and a little cayenne, if desired. 

Once the baked grits are out of the oven, you can serve them immediately in the ramekins with the sausage gravy on top, or leave the grits to cool for about 10 minutes before unmolding them to plates. Depends on how fancy you want them to look. For this dish, I broke out the rarely-seen wedding china because it has a matching gravy boat.

Sprinkle with minced green onion tops, if desired.

Enjoy! 

This week my Sunday FunDay friends are sharing some of their favorite breakfast for dinner recipes. Check them out below! Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime. 

• Baked Grits with Sausage Gravy from Food Lust People Love
• Breakfast at Tiffany's Burgers from Making Miracles
• Breakfast Spelt and Oats Muffins from Cook with Renu
• Egg & Bacon Sandwich (Homemade Egg McMuffin) from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Eggplant Shakshuka from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Famous Breakfast Burritos (copycat Lucky Boy) from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Shrimp and Grits from Palatable Pastime
• Steamed Rawa / Semolina Balls from Sneha's Recipe
• Zege from Mayuri's Jikoni

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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