Rich, silky, and deeply chocolatey, this chocolate gravy recipe is an old-fashioned comfort food that brings back fond memories and turns an ordinary breakfast into something truly special.
Warm cocoa gravy is poured over fluffy old-fashioned buttermilk biscuits, pancakes (I love these easy sourdough starter pancakes), or toast, creating a smooth, pudding-like sauce with just the right balance of sweetness.
There were times during my Dad’s childhood when they didn’t have enough money for Christmas gifts. But my grandmother would serve this dish as an exceptional and rare treat.
Dad said when you walked down the stairs and saw the chocolate gravy, you knew it was going to be a good day. She would have chocolate gravy with homemade sour cream biscuits ready for breakfast on Christmas morning.
Quick Look at This Recipe
- ✅ Recipe Name: Chocolate Gravy Recipe
- 🕒 Ready In: 10 minutes
- 🍞 Method: Stovetop
- 👪 Yield: 4 to 6 servings
- 🍽 Calories: Approximately 180 per serving
- 🥄 Tools: Saucepan, whisk, measuring cups, spoon
- 📖 Dietary Info: Vegetarian
- ⭐ Why You'll Love It: Fast, affordable, and wonderfully nostalgic
- 👩🍳 Tip: Whisk constantly while cooking for the smoothest texture
✅ Summarize this recipe, or ask for recipe substitutions and dietary information with AI.
Watch Me Make This Recipe
What Makes This Recipe Unique?
- Nostalgic Treat - Much like this homemade Pop-Tarts recipe or chocolate cinnamon rolls, chocolate gravy is saved for special occasions. It introduces some to rich history while bringing back fond memories for others.
- No-Fuss - Don’t let the idea of a “special treat” intimidate you. In this day and age, chocolate gravy is made with basic pantry ingredients that modern homesteaders likely already have on hand. Plus, it all comes together in about 10 minutes!
- Frugal - As you will find with cooking from scratch and many historical recipes, this recipe is practical and budget-friendly.
- Crowd Pleaser - The rich chocolate flavor and velvety texture are hard for any chocolate lover to resist.
Key Ingredients:
A full ingredients list, including measurements, can be found in the recipe card below. I purchase my butter, sugar, and cocoa powder from Azure Standard. New Azure Standard customers can get 15% off their first order of $100 or more with code Melissa15.
- Unsalted Butter - Butter makes this chocolate gravy have a smooth, rich, velvety texture (and keeps it from being too sweet).
- Sugar - You can substitute brown sugar for a deeper caramel note.
- Cocoa Powder - I’ll show you how to bloom the cocoa powder with boiling water to release it’s aromatics for a richer flavor.
- Milk - Whole milk provides the richest texture and flavor.
- Vanilla - Don’t skip the vanilla! It adds such great flavor. Here is my homemade vanilla extract recipe.
Recipe Instructions
Step 1: Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Step 2: Whisk in the flour and continue whisking until it browns just a little.
Step 3: Add sugar, salt, and cocoa powder. Stir it quickly so it doesn't burn or scorch. Add the boiling water and whisk continually until smooth. (Make sure your water is boiling before adding the cocoa powder. This is what blooms the cocoa to release its aromatics.)
Step 4: Add the milk and whisk again. Let the sauce get hot, but don't let it boil (unlike pudding). Keep whisking until it just starts to thicken. When you feel it getting thicker or see just a few bubbles, remove it from the heat.
Step 5: Add the vanilla and stir to combine. Let it cool a bit (the sauce will continue to thicken as it cools).
Step 6: Pour the chocolate gravy over the top of the biscuit, pancakes, waffles, or eat by the spoonful. Enjoy!
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
Recipe Tips
- Whisk the dry ingredients first to prevent cocoa lumps.
- Add milk gradually for the smoothest consistency.
- Keep the heat at medium to avoid scorching.
- If the gravy thickens too much, whisk in a splash of milk.
- Serve immediately for the best texture and flavor.
Serving Suggestions
This chocolate gravy recipe is traditionally spooned over split sour cream biscuits, but don’t stop there. Try it with:
- Old-fashioned buttermilk biscuits
- Pancakes (Keep my homemade pancake mix recipe on hand, or try these easy sourdough discard pancakes or naturally gluten-free buckwheat pancakes.
- Waffles
- Toast (My soft sourdough sandwich bread makes great toast for chocolate gravy.)
- Crepes
- Vanilla ice cream for dessert
Storage Instructions
If you happen to have any leftovers, let the chocolate gravy cool completely before transferring it to an airtight container. Store it in the refrigerator for up to four days. When you’re ready to enjoy it again, gently warm it on the stovetop or in the microwave, stirring often as it heats.
If it seems a bit too thick after chilling, simply whisk in a splash of milk until it’s smooth and pourable again. I don’t recommend freezing this recipe, as the texture can become grainy once thawed.
Home and Hand Made
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It is a beautifully updated guide filled with over 100 time-tested recipes, practical tutorials for natural remedies, food preservation, herbal crafting, and simple living wisdom to help you build a home filled with homemade meals and meaningful traditions.
It's an invaluable resource for modern homesteaders and those who cook from scratch alike. Grab your copy here!
Did you make this chocolate gravy recipe? If so, please leave a star ⭐ rating in the recipe card below (this really helps me out)… then, snap a photo and tag me on social media @melissaknorris so I can see! I love getting a glimpse of what you all make in your kitchens.
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Gravy Recipe | A 1930s Southern Breakfast Favorite
Equipment
- Saucepan
- Whisk
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 Tablespoon flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup boiling water
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Whisk in the flour and continue whisking until it browns just a little.
- Add sugar and salt. Stir it quickly so it doesn't burn or scorch.
- Add cocoa powder and stir.
- Add the boiling water and whisk continually until smooth.
- Add the milk and whisk again.
- Let the sauce get hot, but don't let it boil (unlike pudding). Keep whisking until it just starts to thicken. When you feel it getting thicker, or see just a few bubbles, remove it from the heat.
- Add the vanilla and stir to combine.
- Let it cool just a bit (sauce will continue to thicken as it cools).
- Pour the chocolate gravy over the top of the biscuit, pancakes, waffles, or eat by the spoonful. Enjoy!
Notes
- Whisk dry ingredients first to prevent cocoa lumps.
- Add milk gradually for the smoothest consistency.
- Keep the heat at medium to avoid scorching.
- If gravy thickens too much, whisk in a splash of milk.
- Serve immediately for the best texture and flavor.
- Old-fashioned buttermilk biscuits
- Pancakes (Keep my homemade pancake mix recipe on hand, or try these easy sourdough discard pancakes or naturally gluten-free buckwheat pancakes.
- Waffles
- Toast (My soft sourdough sandwich bread makes great toast for chocolate gravy.)
- Crepes
- Vanilla ice cream for dessert
Janet Clemons
i grew up on chocolate gravy. I learned to make it by adding ga little of this, a little of that and a whole lot of sugar. I think the next time I make it I will try some vanilla. Canned milk was the milk of choice. My boys still drool when they know I'm making it.
Kelsey
I am a Northerner, and had never heard of chocolate gravy. Imagine my delight discovring this wonderful concoction! Oh my, it's like eating chocolate pie for breakfast! YUM!
Sbeecookie
Made this for my husband who grew up eating chocolate gravy and he loved it! By some miracle I didn’t have any cocoa powder left this morning but a half bar of 82% dark chocolate was a great substitute. Kept all other ingredients the same but forgot the vanilla. Still came out absolutely wonderful. My mother in law even said it was delicious!
Donna
I'm 67 y/o and I grew up eating chocolate gravy. My grandma made, my mom made it, I made it and I showed my BIL how to make it. We grew up poor( we didn't know it bc we ate good Ole southern country cooking). I was taught a different way to make it. I've always put some sugar in a pan and add the cocoa, mix that together. And depending on the color of the cocoa and sugar mixed together then I add flour to it and mix well. I put 3-4cups of milk in a bowl and heat it up. Then pour maybe half a cup of hot milk into the dry ingredients,mix well(it's almost a paste) over a medium low heat. Then gradually add the rest of the milk ,stirring often. Remove from heat once it starts to thicken, add a stick of butter and a little vanilla flavoring and whisk this until the butter has melted. My daughters, when they were young, couldn't believe everyone didn't know what chocolate gravy was.
Mu
Hi Melissa
This looks so good
But what would you use as alternative for butter and cows milk? I just can not live with the idea that calves are being separated from their mums to satisfy our human taste buds
It’s a horrible practice
Thank you
Murielle
Melissa K Norris
This comes down to where you buy your dairy from. Calf sharing is common for small dairies and what many homesteaders do. My grandmother and I have only made it with dairy, if you don't use those items you'll have to test other alternatives.
Terrie LeBorgne
I had to laugh at the first comment because, for the first 30 years of my life, I, too, thought it was a family recipe that no one else seemed to have ever heard of. My Momma told us that Grandma had to make it for one of her younger brothers every morning, or he wouldn't eat. Yes, spoiled...lol. My immediate and extended family have made chocolate gravy and biscuits for years as a treat. Especially any time family came in from out of town. Sometimes it's for breakfast, and sometimes it's for dinner. My immediate family always makes chocolate gravy and sausage gravy with biscuits. Savory and sweet, yum! There is also always the debate about splitting your biscuits and putting gravy on them or tearing them into bite-size pieces and smothering them with gravy. Like many of the others, our gravy-making process is different from yours. My Grandma never used milk, just cocoa powder, sugar, water, salt, butter, vanilla, and a little cornstarch or flour to thicken it. It's a richer, darker chocolate gravy. Some of my nieces started making it with milk to have more of a milk chocolate gravy, which my Momma thought was akin to blasphemy! It's delicious both ways. We have been seeing it more and more online, in magazines, and on YouTube for the last 10-15 years. It is definitely a Southern treat, and I heard from many more people whose families also made it as the word started to spread. But I still run into folks that have either never heard of it, or heard of it but never tried it. And I just feel so sad for them.
Stephanie
Wow! This brings me back to my own childhood ❤️ ? I didn't realize any other soul outside of my family had ever even heard of chocolate gravy! My husband thought it was the strangest thing when he had this for the first time at breakfast at my parent's house shortly after we were married. This is something my grandma and my mom would make for my dad (and, of course, us kids) because it's something my grandparents from the south made for him when he was growing up. Sadly both my grandparents passed away within the last year, but this brings back such sweet memories for me. I will have to make it for my own kids just so I can share the sweet memories!
Mia
What a lovely story! This recipe reminds me of one of my husband’s favorite treats growing up- Chocolate Dumplings. My MIL would use a cast iron skillet, make chocolate gravy, then plop chocolate dumplings on top to cook in the sauce. Delicious! She was raised on a farm. How I wish she were still here to share her wisdom!
Jerry D Young
My mother used to make chocolate gravy and biscuits for us as a treat when we were growing up. I learned to make it (boys learned 'girl stuff' and girls learned 'boy stuff' in my family all the way back in the late fifties), but her recipe is quite a bit different. I am going to try your recipe as soon as I can, along with my mother's recipe and see which one I like the best. If I like hers better I will post it.
Thank you for everything you do.
Jerry D Young
Wayne Miller
Melissa,
I was very touched by your story about your dad's Christmases with nothing. How spoiled so many are, especially this time of year. I saw a post on Facebook recently: The first Christmas was very simple. It's OK if yours is, too.
Monica
My MeMa used to make chocolate gravy for me most weekends. I always made it for my kids. It was a bit did than this recipe but I find it easier to incorporate the cocoa this way. However, it has way too much cocoa to be balanced. It was too chalky and not sweet enough for me. I think if you used 1/3 cup of cocoa powder it would be a bit better and maybe a tad more sugar. I also used 2 tablespoons of flour to thicken as I like mine not runny. Will try again next time with less cocoa and see.
Regina Sansing
I've made this since my kids were small. My grandmother taught me to make it, and I've since found a recipe in a church cookbook. My ingredients are much the same, no water, but process is slightly different. I don't brown my flour, and add butter with vanilla after gravy is cooked. I put a small amount of milk into my blender, put all the dry ingredients in, blend until smooth, then add with the rest of the milk in a pan. I never have lumpy gravy this way, nor does it have the taste of "raw" flour.
Jody
Am I mad if something? What quantity of flour goes into the chocolate gravy?
Melissa Norris
Oops, it just got added, 1 Tablespoon.
Dana
Chocolate gravy is a timeless treat. Thank you for sharing. The ingredients list does not call out an amount for flour. I didn't read the entire pre-amble, so I apologize if I missed its mention there, but as it's important for the "roux" part of the gravy, I thought I'd ask if it should be assumed that the amount of flour should be equal to the amount of fat or if you have a different recommendation. Thanks again for sharing, I look forward to trying this.
Melissa Norris
Not the same amount as this is a thin gravy, I just updated it as you're correct, it missed getting typed in the first time.
Christy
Hello - your recipe for chocolate gravy doesn’t have any measurements for vanilla but says on step 8 to add vanilla? Please let me know how much to use.
Thanks
Melissa Norris
It just got updated and shows, thank you
Rachel
Oh my Melissa! My grandmother would make this once a month and I can still remember the smell from her kitchen. Thankfully she passed the recipe down to me, which she "inherited" from her grandmother, along with her biscuit recipe. I'm originally from western NC and thought this was just another Southern thing, lol!
Bea
Would you consider sharing your Grandmother's recipe? Thanks!
Rachel
My Grandmother used 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, 1/2 cup flour, dash salt, and 4 cups milk. She would add all of this to a pot, mix it well and cook over medium low heat until it thickened. Then she would add 2 Tablespoons butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Dottie
There isn't any flour listed in the ingredient list for the recipe. How much, please?
maia
You said whisk in flour. How much flour do I need? (I'll be using GF)
Thanks!
Melissa Norris
I don't know with GF, I've not used it to make gravy and doesn't know that it will thicken the same way, but it has been updated.
Jacqueline
Instead of GF flour, do you think arrowroot or tapioca starch would work? And how much?
Kayley
Reminds me of a chocolate pudding recipe, but minus the eggs. It looks like it would sort of taste like a chocolate pie with a flaky crust. ?
Cat
Melissa, thank you for this recipe. How much flour should be added? It isn’t in the ingredient list.
Becky
Melissa, I've been following you for several years now and always enjoy your posts. My kids are excited at the thought of chocolate gravy, but I'm a bit confused. In your post and on the card you refer to stirring "in the flour." However in your list of ingredients in the post and on the card there is no mention of flour. Could you please clarify that? Thanks!
Julie
How much flour is added?
Nancy
You forgot to write in how much flour to use. Thanks
MaryBeth
The recipe sounds great but how much flour and how much vanilla? You didn’t list either in the ingredient list!
Teri
How much flour?