Grandma’s Southern Tomato Gravy
Grandma’s southern tomato gravy is a breakfast staple. You’ll love this savory, indulgent gravy spooned over fresh biscuits, cornbread or even grits or rice.
Tomato gravy is a staple in southern homes.
So many of us have fond memories of the smell of bacon grease and tomatoes simmering as our moms or grandmas made fresh biscuits on a weekend morning.
This homestyle dish will take you right back to that if you are one of those people with those memories.
And if not, what are you waiting for?
You need to try this so you can see what all the fuss is about!
What is tomato gravy?
Southern tomato gravy is not sauce.
It’s more like stewed tomatoes, but thicker and with the flavor of bacon running throughout.
Yum!
Ingredients
To make this southern comfort food, you’ll need:
- Diced tomatoes– Use the unseasoned canned kind.
- Flour– To help the gravy thicken.
- Chicken broth– Some recipes use water but the broth adds extra flavor. No chicken broth? Sub beef broth or even veggie broth.
- Salt and pepper
- Bacon grease– You could also use other meat drippings from sausage or even ham.
How to Make
This dish is so simple!
To make it, pour the tomatoes into a medium sized skillet set over medium heat.
Let the tomatoes cook until hot, stirring occasionally.
Add the flour to the broth in a separate bowl, and whisk vigorously until the two are completely incorporated and the mixture’s smooth.
Then, pour in the flour/broth mixture and whisk it until it’s incorporated completely.
When the flour and broth mixture is smooth and incorporated, stir in the bacon grease and bring the tomato gravy to a full boil.
Once it’s reached a boil, immediately reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes- or until the gravy’s thickened.
Season with the salt and pepper, taste and adjust if needed.
Serve the gravy hot, ladled over fresh biscuits. Enjoy!
Where do I get bacon grease from? How do I save and store bacon grease?
Anytime I make bacon, I save the grease.
Growing up, my mom and grandma would both save bacon grease in an old metal coffee can and just cover it on the counter.
Nowadays, food safety experts don’t recommend that you store bacon grease on the counter but that you keep it in a jar, covered in the fridge for no more than 3 months.
Tips and tricks
- Don’t have bacon grease? Make some bacon to serve it up on the side or use drippings from ham or sausage instead.
- Make sure you thoroughly whisk the flour/broth mixture into the tomatoes and keep whisking until it is fully incorporated. If you don’t vigorously whisk the grease, it can make your gravy lumpy and you don’t want that!
- Don’t want to serve it with biscuits? Make it with cornbread, rice or grits.
Other Southern Recipes You’ll Love
Grandma’s southern tomato gravy is the perfect comforting breakfast!
Make it this weekend and let it become your new family favorite!
Looking for other southern recipes?
Try these:
- Pimento Cheese
- Instant Pot Sweet Tea
- Grandma’s Potato Salad
- Creamed Corn Pudding
- Homestyle Mac & Cheese
- Chocolate Church Cake
If you’ve tried GRANDMA’S SOUTHERN TOMATO GRAVY, or any other recipe on the site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK, and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and whatever else we’ve got going on!
Grandma's Southern Tomato Gravy
Ingredients
- 2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
- 4 tbsp flour
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- 2-3 tbsp bacon grease or other meat drippings, such as sausage or ham
Instructions
- Pour the tomatoes into a medium sized skillet set over medium heat.
- Let the tomatoes cook until hot, stirring occasionally.
- Add the flour to the broth, and whisk vigorously until the two are completely incorporated and the mixture's smooth.
- Pour in the flour/broth mixture, whisking constantly until it's incorporated completely. Don't skip this step! You don't want any lumps or odd bits of mini dumplings in your tomato gravy.
- Stir in the bacon grease, and bring the tomato gravy to a full boil. Once it's reached a boil, immediately reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes- or until the gravy's thickened.
- Season with the salt and pepper, taste and adjust if needed.
- Serve the gravy hot, ladled over fresh biscuits.
Notes
- Don't have chicken broth? You can sub beef broth, or even vegetable broth.
Nutrition
recipe adapted from Biscuits & Burlap
I have also served this over meatloaf and Swiss steak. Taste before serving, a pinch of sugar may be helpful to some.
Couldn’t be any better. Taste kike my mother use to make back in the early 50’s.
Couldn’t be any better. Taste like my mother use to make back in the early 50’s.
thanks for posting, i came here to find a missing family recipe and noticed some differences from how our family has been making it; there was enough here to jog my memory so thanks for that! consider as an alternative method: make 1/2lb bacon crispy, remove bacon and grease from pan, add back about 3tbs grease, sauté half an onion, add 3-4 tbs spoon flour and stir until browned, add cup of water, deglaze pan, add tomatoes, add bacon crumbled, salt and pepper to taste, heat until warm and serve over homemade biscuits.
As a 7th generation Southerner, I agree with your method. Brown bacon, remove, add onion and saute, make a roux with flour and drippings, add canned, diced tomato’s and some diced fresh jalapeno pepper, salt and pepper, crumble bacon and add back to gravy, simmer till it’s thickened. Ladle over grits, biscuits, whatever and enjoy
I LOVED this recipe! Brings back such happy memories of my early childhood with my grandmother. It is so odd, i absolutely hate spaghetti, hate any kind of red sauce. But absolutely LOVE this gravy! I used to ask my Grandmother to make this for me every year for me on my birthday, whenever I was sick, and for any other occasion I could think of. She would use fresh tomatoes from the garden and it was truly one of my most favorite and most fondest memories.. Thank you so much for sharing Love! ❤️❤️❤️
I can’t see a video of it… am I missing something?
This recipe doesn’t have a video of it being made. Sorry, but it is easy enough to follow without one!
We love tomato gravy with meatloaf and potatoes. I’m allergic to pork, so I substituted butter instead of bacon grease, beef broth (made with water and Roasted Beef flavor Better Than Bouillon) instead of chicken broth. It’s absolutely delicious, with a silky texture. I must try it with rice!
Ok, I think that you might’ve just leveled up our beloved meatloaf nights by suggesting pairing this with it. Sounds amazing and I can’t wait to try. Glad you were able to adapt it to your needs! Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback and hopefully you’ll find many more recipes here to make and enjoy!
I grew up in Mississippi my grandmother would make homemade biscuits and either sausage gravy or my favorite tomato gravy for breakfast and there were time we got them for our dinner so good . I could never find a woman who could cook like my Granny cooked.
Substitute Tarragon Vinegar for the Apple Cider Vinegar and then it becomes a whole new world of flavor. Just as good if you are making with mayo too.
Great suggestion- I will have to try that!
I have so many nostalgic food flavors and recipes associated with my late Grandma. Glad this could remind you of one of yours!