Chocolate Gravy
This morning I was making biscuits when my daughter announced that she wanted chocolate for breakfast. Hey, the gal is smart. Even at the tender age of three, she knows what she needs. As I mixed up my biscuit dough, I had one of those light bulb moments – chocolate gravy. Its one of those things that old people in the south expound about, recalling with wistful smiles normally reserved for Christmas morning. Still, having been a southerner all of my life, I had never actually tried it. I admit, it did sound a bit odd to me and always has.
Today, with biscuits going in the oven and Katy requesting chocolate, fate pointed me in the direction of the recipe and with all ingredients on hand, I had to give it a shot. 
In days of old, with flour in abundance and other resources scarce, biscuits made a great breakfast and filling snack any time of day. Sweets were not a regular occurrence and so waking up in the morning to find fresh biscuits and a boat of chocolate gravy was a wondrous treat. It was poured over the buttered biscuits, then the tender bread soaks it up and as I found out today – you are then on your way to heaven no matter what the day has in store for you.
Here is the recipe I used, Don’t try this unless you want the flavor to linger in your mind for the rest of your life. It was purely divine.
.
…and cocoa powder
Stir well.
Yes, those are homemade biscuits, too!
I hope you can smell this. If not, get into your kitchen and make up some quick! Chocolate Gravy is super easy, but such an indulgent taste!
Chocolate Gravy
(pour over biscuits – the scone-like bread, not a cookie)
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 T flour
- 1 T unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 1 tablespoon butter
Combine everything except butter in a heavy saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Once boiling, cut the heat down and stir for a minute more (it will get pretty thick rather suddenly). Take off eye and stir in butter. Pour over biscuits. I tear my biscuit up in a bowl first and then pour it over.
You can die happy now.
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I am going to have to try this, my son is a picky little eater but loves him some chocolate! Maybe I can get him to try new foods with some “gravy” Great idea!
I should have run into your blog long ago! Your my kind of gal! I cook like a madwoman with 3 boys and a hubby who eat like truckers!~Pinky
First of all, WOW, great blog! I love the design and overall look, not to mention the content! I am sooooooooooo behind on my scrapbooking! I subscribed right off!
Thank you so much for stopping by! With three boys, its a wonder your house still has walls at the end of the day! I’m hoping mine holds it together for another ten years! You are so sweet with your compliments and I hope you know how much they are appreciated! I have tons of new tutorials and recipes planned so please let me know if there is anything in particular you need or are looking for!!
Nice to meet a neighbor! I’m right there by the Tennessee state line!
Wow, that looks good! I’ll definitely try this sometime!
Thank you, Stephanie!!!
I love it when people comment!!!!
I was surprised at how buttery tasting this is and you’d think there was a LOT more cocoa in there by how chocolaty it is.
Doesn’t hurt that its so quick, easy, and inexpensive to make!
Alright your blog is definitly from me. I can quit commenting on your recipes. I am so excited to find a fellow southerner. My heart is in the south and southern food there aint no better. I gotta say I just screamed out loud when i saw your recipe for chocolate gravy. I grew up on that stuff. My mother lived in Alabama and she learned to make it from her mother in law. When i was a little girl the adults ate SOS Gravy and the kids got Chocolate gravy with their biscuits i still remember the aroma. I am going to make this for my kids.
Wow, that looks good! I am going to try this.. in my home my kids&hubby love chocolate.. i love all yr recepies..
Tina : I LOVE COMMENTS!!!!!! Thank you all so much for them!!!! Feedback means so very much to me! I can see the stats and know the number of hits and visitors but feedback is what I live for!!
Let me know how your kids like it! Mine were kind of confused by the entire concept. I told them “It takes your regular biscuit and turns it into chocolate cake with fudge sauce!”. That made it a done deal with them!
This was just wonderful. It really brought back childhood memories of my mothers chocolate gravy and biscuits. My husband thought i was from outerspace making this. Like always its a southern thang!!!!!!!! I am happy to say two of my kids demolished it. Thanks Christy for the gravy and the memory.
This is a blast from the past!!! I grew up in the south and my best friend’s mom use to make this for the neighborhood kids for breakfast. I’m going to give it a try. Thank!
Tina (Mommy’s Kitchen)- I know just what you mean. My husband thinks the whole concept of “chocolate gravy” is just too weird to get past. He won’t even try it!!! My kids, on the other hand, engulfed it! Hey, we can’t help our oddball husbands but we CAN raise our kids right!
I’m sorry it took me so long to respond to this, I must have gotten sidetracked!
Heather- I’m so glad it takes you back!!! I hope you enjoy eating it now as much as you did then. Although, I bet you’ll like it more as an adult! LOL
Thank you so very much for visiting, reading, and taking the time to comment! Comments mean so very much, its the main way I can tell if I’m on the right track with my recipe choices or hearing crickets from the peanut gallery!
Please come back often!
This looks like a wonderful recipe, but I have experimented with it, and had LOTS of fun in the process, and have changed the following: add 1/2 – 1 t. vanilla, substitute undiluted evaporated milk for whole milk. This gives a much richer flavor if wanting a real eye opener first thing in the morning! Great web site.
I love the looks of this chocolate gravy!!!! I am new to this site and really happy to be here!!
Anonymous: Thank you for your suggestions! This truly is a classic recipe easily tailored to everyone’s tastes! I’m glad you found a new twist and thrilled to have you here!
Rosiegirl: I’m happy to have you here!! Let me know if you have a chance to give this a try and visit often!
Hi there. I haven’t had chocolate gravy since I was little. I grew up in TN until I was 13. I love the south.:)They have the best food.:)
Sharon:)
Although I am a newcomer here in Arkansas (about three years), I LOVE chocolate gravy! Your recipe looks quick and easy, thanks!
My Grandfather is from Arkansas. He moved to IL and started a family and we’ve been enjoying Chocolate Gravy and Biscuits since I was a child (31 ys old now
My Grandfather has passed on – but the tradition continues with me. You have GREAT recipes ~Micki
Hey Sharon! Sounds like you are due for a chocolate gravy treat! It is amazing, isn’t it?
Terri: My thanks to YOU for reading Southern Plate! Its so great to have you here, thank you all for commenting, too!
Micki: Wow, thanks! I’m so glad to have you here. I hope you find some useful recipes!! I have a couple hundred more to go!
Christy
The first and only time I tasted chocolate gravy was at a friends house. We had a slumber party for her birthday and chocolate gravy was her special birthday breakfast. I loved it! Even though I am a southern girl I had never heard of it before. Now that I have your recipe I am going to make some for my kids.
Hey Teresa!
Can you adopt me? LOL
You know, you can actually make this with Splenda, thank goodness! Otherwise I would never get to eat it myself!
I can only imagine being a girl and getting it at a slumber party, what a discovery!!!
Thank you for reading Southern Plate!
Christy
Hi, I am so happy I found your blog. This brings back so many memories of living with my grandparents in West Tennessee.
We had chocolate gravy and biscuits all the time. My grandma always added a little vanilla flavoring too, but otherwise same recipe. We would also let it cool and thicken a bit and pour it over vanilla ice cream. So good! I still make it all the time just for that purpose.
I look forward to checking out the rest of your recipes!
Wow a blast from the past for me! I ran into this recipe and it brought back really great memories. My aunt used to make this for us on occasion and 4 kids used to eat it up! Do you have a recipe for tomato gravy? That has been on my mind lately and I would like to make some of it.
Christy, Christy, Christy!!!! OH MY GOSH! (OMG) I can't believe I stumbled onto such a site that has me wanting to go to the kitchen, take the plant off my stove, dust it off and get to cookin'!
Chocolate gravy & biscuits like my Mom made when I was a little girl!
I love this site & love you for sharing.
Crockpot to make your "Pintos" in…gotta have it!
I’m from NC and we ate this a LOT growing up. The only thing I would suggest you try is to replace the whole milk with evaporated milk. It makes it crazy richer and is nothing short of a holy experience.
This is my son’s fav breakfast food! He is 30 yo and always requests this for breakfast when he returns home. When he returned home from Iraq (he’s a Marine) – this was the first thing he requested.
Great recipe! Appreciate the gift wrapping ideas, too. Looking forward to more gift giving recipes!
~Lisa
This stuff is outrageous! I didn’t try it over biscuits yet; we only had it as a dessert topping. But biscuits will be made soon. A Beautiful post.
Oh my gosh, my mom (southern) tells a story about having bicuits and chocolate gravy at her aunt’s house. Her mom had never made it and she was quite surprised by it. I should try it for my self-professed choc-o-holic son. Very fun.
Oh man and here I was thinking only my momma made this, lol..
I am SO GLAD to see tht somebody out there likes chocolate gravy and biscuits. I am known in my area for making this. But you would be surprised at how many snarl their noses at the thought of chocolate gravy and biscuits!!! They havent tasted heaven yet and dont know what they are missing!!!!!! Thanks for posting!
One of these days, I’m going to try this. Everytime I see this recipe, it does sound weird, but oddly compelling at the same time!
Oh yeah, you got a new fridge! Once you’re settled we’ll have to see photos of this new fridge.
Congrats!! I am so glad you found a house you love!! I remember house hunting, and pretty much I only got to look at houses that G saw in neighborhoods he liked and already previewed. I really regret it though.
Christy,
My husband’s family has made this gravy for years!!! Yes, he is from the Harvest, Al area but I am from the Sheffield area and we had never heard of it but then I was a CITY girl and he was a country boy!!! Might be the difference but anyway…his family use to have it at least once a month but while you were spooning yours onto your broken into pieces, buttered biscuit…the others would COUNT your spoonfulls!!! No one got more than the other!!!! His children still have to have Chocolate gravy when they come home.
Love your site….Proud of the new home the Lord has given you.
God Bless,
I had never heard of chocolate gravy and then I saw Paula Deen make it Saturday on her show. It’s gotta be a southern thing!
Yay for new kitchens and brand new refrigerators! I’m so happy for you. Can’t wait to see pictures!
What a unique recipe and fabulous idea!
I, too, am a southern gal and have always wanted to try this. The next time my kids or grandkids are here for breakfast, they will have quite a surprise!!!I may not be able to wait until they come. Thanks for making me remember something that I’ve heard about but never tried.
This is one of my favorite recipes on your blog (actually, pretty much every one I’ve tried is my favorite!). We love making this as a special breakfast treat, it’s so delicious!
LOL! My 20-year-old just ordered chocolate gravy and biscuits for breakfast Saturday. I believe I still have a little in there, and a couple of biscuits. Be right back -
I made your chocolate gravy & bisquits and it was a big hit at our house. Living in Va. all my life I had never heard of it. Now I know what I’ve been missing, it is heavenly.
My oldest son (21) is in the Marines and stationed in NC. He came home on leave few weeks ago and brought one of his young buddies (18)with him. He was from Ark and really sweet. He was really happy to get home cooking again and seemed to really like whatever I cooked up (lots of your recipes) hehe. He talked bout how much he missed everything at home and bout the foods his mom cooked up. He asked if I’d ever heard of choc gravy, which of course I hadn’t. He said he loved it over biscuits but his favorite was putting it over fried potatoes. Lo and behold after he left I found the recipe on your site. I will be making it for him when he visits again.
Congrats on the new house and all the wonderful memories you’ll be making in it.
So glad your getting settled in a little
Sending up prayers for you during this busy time and congratulations to you on your new kitchen (with house attached) AND the new Fridge!!!! Hurry back to us ‘cuz we miss you.
I just saw this on Paula Deens cooking show on food network this past weekend! Looked so good on her show- looks so good here too! I may have to give this a try!!
Love your blog!
Hey girl! I LOVE LOVE LOVE chocolate gravy! My Granny made it all the time when we were little. (They still live in the same old house today they did then, right behind the Co-op here in Athens.) Definately a southern thing.
I work rotating shifts with a wonderful group of guys, almost every one of which could rival any woman’s cooking skills (except maybe my Granny’s, LOL). Sometimes when we’re on a stretch of night shifts, they’ll come in before lunch or right after we get to work, and make up homemade biscuits and milk gravy or chocolate gravy. MMMMM. Makes me glad we have a full kitchen at work!
I’m gonna have to make me some of this SOON! Too bad I’m stuck at work, and just had lunch. You know how to pull a pregnant gal’s heartstrings some days with your recipes!
Congrats on the new house, and especially the new kitchen and fridge! Now, if you would only hurry up and share it’s name and all with us! LOL….
Chocolate Gravy, or what we called Cocoa Gravy. I am from the Midwest and I haven’t come across anyone except my side of the family that has ever heard of it. My family lives in the Missouri Ozarks and I grew up on this. I have this recipe and hadn’t made it for many years. I reduced the amount of sugar, thought 1 cup was a little too sweet. When I was a child we had this every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning, but it was made with fresh cow’s milk. The variation made today is good, but if I really want the best, I’ll have to buy a cow.
I am SOO excited to see that somebody else loves biscuits and chocolate gravy as much as I do!! My Granny made these for me when I was little – they’d be a mid-morning “snack” and I still eat them to this day! There almost ain’t nothin better for breakfast!
From deep down south in Whigham, Georgia
That recipe is so unique and sounds really good. I make sausage gravy and biscuits a lot. I will have to try this recipe for a change sometime.
I grew up on this stuff!! My friends loved coming to my house for chocolate gravy. My kids and nieces and nephews used to argue over whose turn it was to spend the night at “Honmomma’s and Hondaddy’s” house because they knew that chocolate gravy would be served for breakfast…even if breakfast was served at dinner! haha
I found your website from a couponing site, so glad I did! I’m born and raised in KY and had never even heard of chocolate gravy ’till I entered my husband’s family many years ago. MIL makes it whenever we are all together. I still find it odd and more dessert like, but it sure is good
thanks for the post, it brought a smile to my face. Your website looks great!
Hi Christy,
My grandmother (from Athens) made this all the time for us although we called it cocoa and I have a cousin who calls it “soppin’ chocolate”! Now that’s country! My grandmother made homemade biscuits but my mother mostly made it with canned biscuits. When I made some recently on a camping trip with homemade biscuits, my brothers all loved it but we agreed that it felt like it ought to be eaten with canned biscuits! LOL! My aunt recently showed me your articles in the News Courier (She showed me a recipe for peach fried pies that were made just like my grandmother’s YUM!) and we found the website through that article. I can see I’ll be checking it out regularly!
Thanks.
Ah-h-h-hh to bring back the old memories….when my husband and I got married we could barely afford the license, and as time and children came along things didn’t get nay better, but you could always depend on a good day when we had homemade biscuits and chocolate gravy! Good sausage gravy was fine for a solid work day breakfast (and some times supper!!) but chocolate gravy ment we were having a ’special’ occassion! Thanks for the memories! I think for Saturday morning breakfast, I’ll make him a batch of homemade biscuits and chocolate gravy.
Just a little tweak to your recipe, this what I grew up eating in eastern Oklahoma for breakfast, so try this;
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Mix dry ingredients well and add
1 1/2 cup milk
Cook over medium heat in thick bottomed sause pan until it thickens, about 10 or 15 minutes, I use a wire wisk, it will get very thick. Remove from heat.
Then add 1/2 to 1 stick of butter or margarine and 1 tsp vanilla.
Them spoon it over drop biscuits made from boxed biscuit mix.