Keto Biscuits Gravy

Biscuits and Gravy are the go-to 'bad day' comfort food choice of many across the US.

Many people find the most challenging time to stick to the diet they're following is on one of these bad days. Many followers of the keto diet believe they cannot have Biscuits and Gravy. The good news is that they're wrong! 

Contrary to popular belief cooking and adjusting recipes for a keto diet is pretty simple if you can get to grips with keto's basic rules.

However, to make your job easier today we've put together a 'keto friendly' (and delicious, if we do say so ourselves) Biscuits and Gravy recipe - that's perfect for after those bad days at work. 

We have a step by step guide, as well as a nutritional breakdown of the recipe. We've also included a keto FAQ section at the end for anyone who is new to the diet, or anyone who wants to learn something new about keto. 

PRE-WARNING: the following categories of people should not try a keto diet/consult your doctor before attempting; pregnant women, people with kidney issues (particularly suffers from kidney disease, or people with a family history of it), diabetics, and people with other blood sugar issues. 

Ingredients

• 1 pound of sausage meat
• 3 tbsp of butter (salted) 
• 2 cups of unsweetened soya milk (alternatively you could use heavy cream or almond milk) 
• 7 ½ ounces of cream cheese 
• ¼ tsp of xanthan gum (thickening agent)* 
• Salt and pepper to taste

(Option A)

• ½ tsp of garlic powder
• A sprig of rosemary 

(Option B) 

• ½ an apple 
• 1 tsp of dried sage 

Cheese Biscuits 

• 4 large eggs (or 6 medium) 
• ½ a cup of coconut flour 
• 1 cup of cheddar cheese (grated) 
• 4 tbsp of butter (salted) 
• ¼ tsp of baking powder

Oil for greasing 

*This is an optional ingredient, but for us, it is absolutely essential to creating a gravy that you can't tell is keto. 

Cheese Biscuits

We recommend you start by making your biscuits and, then move onto the gravy so that everything is piping hot when you serve it up. 

Step 1 - Preheat the oven to 400F

Step 2 - Take a large mixing bowl and sift together the coconut flour and baking powder. Then mix the cheese in by hand. 

Step 3 - Whisk the eggs together in a separate bowl. 

Step 4 - Massage the butter into the dry ingredients until you get a breadcrumb-like texture. 

Step 5 - Slowly add the eggs until the dough has reached a semi-runny consistency. 

Step 6 - Grease a baking sheet with a small amount of oil, and dollop two tablespoons of the dough onto the tray (one biscuit's worth). Continue doing this, leaving a 2-3 inch gap between each biscuit, until you have 12 small biscuits. 

Bonus step - Glaze the biscuits with egg white to give them a deep golden color once cooked. 

Step 7 - Start making the gravy while the biscuits are in the oven.

Step 8 - Bake the biscuits for 12-14 minutes until they are brown or golden on top.

Gravy

Prepare the Gravy whilst the Biscuits are cooking. 

Step 1 - Melt the butter in a saucepan.  

Step 2 -   Add the sausage meat into the pan and mix with: 

Option A - the garlic powder and rosemary (you may want to chop the rosemary into fine pieces to enhance the flavor

Option B - the apple (preferably cubed) and dried sage  

Step 3 - Cook the sausage meat until browned (the more browned the meat, the better the gravy will taste)

Step 4 - Add the cream cheese and slowly stir until melted through (keep stirring to stop the sausage meat catching on the bottom and burning). 

Step 5 - Slowly stir through the milk. 

Step 6 - Add the xanthan gum and whisk until the gravy reaches the desired thickness. If the gravy is too runny add more xanthan gum.  

Serving up

Step 1 - Slice two of the biscuits in half (be careful as they will let off a lot of heat when opened). 

Step 2 - Top the biscuits with around ¾ of the gravy

This recipe pairs well with keto scrambled eggs or keto sweetcorn hash. 

Nutritional Value 

Take a look below to work out how this meal will fit into your macros for the day: 

Serving: 2 Biscuits, with gravy

• Calories: 645kcal
• Carbohydrates: 6g
• Protein: 21g
• Fat: 59g
• Sodium: 1030mg
• Fiber: 2.5g
• Net Carbs: 3g
• Marcos percentage: 
• Fat Ratio per Serving: 80.28%
• Protein Ratio per Serving: 15.02%
• Carb Ratio per Serving: 1.88%

*The nutritional value of this meal will vary depending on the exact ingredients you chose to use. 

**Using heavy cream instead of soya/almond milk will increase the fat content by quite a large amount 

Keto Frequently Asked Questions

What is keto?

Keto is a form of dieting that is designed to get your body burning fat for energy instead of sugar. 

By lowering your carb intake you starve your body of sugar, when your body has no more sugar to burn for energy it begins to burn fat (putting you in the state of ketosis). This is called the ketogenic method of powering your body, in this state your body produces ketones - that is where the name keto comes from.

Keto is similar to the Paleo and Atkins diet, but claims to be more effective as it is lower in carbs. As most sugars come from processed food, many have compared keto to the diet of cavemen. 

Keto relies on you tracking your macronutrients - this is how much fat, protein and how many carbs you consume.

You should be aiming to get 5% of your daily calories from carbs, 15% from proteins and 80% from fats. This may sound confusing but many calorie tracking apps will also track your macros, making your life easier. 

Whilst on the keto diet you are expected to avoid sugar, processed foods, and gluten. Instead get your calories from meat, fish, dairy, vegetables, and natural fats like olive oil and avocados. 

Who can't do keto?

We recommend that the following people avoid doing the keto diet unless given the okay to do so by their doctor; pregnant women, people with kidney issues (particularly suffers from kidney disease, or people with a family history of it), diabetics, and people with other blood sugar issues. 

We would also recommend anyone suffering with or recovering from an eating disorder should avoid the keto diet. Studies have shown that calorie counting diets can exacerbate eating disorders symptoms and make recovery harder. 

What are the benefits of keto?

Here's a few ways keto may benefit you:

Appetite reduction - the body tends to find meat and fish heavy diets more filling than carb and sugar heavy ones. Many studies have found that reducing your carbs can actually help reduce your hunger levels. 

Weight Loss - some studies suggest that a being in a state of ketosis can help you to lose weight faster, as your body is burning your fat reserves to produce energy. 

Lower Blood Pressure - processed foods and sugars can lead to raised blood pressure. High blood pressure can increase your chance of developing heart, stomach and kidney problems. A low carb diet is a proven way to reduce blood pressure. 

Lower Cholesterol Levels - similarly to your blood pressure, your cholesterol levels can affect all areas of your health. The keto diet relies on natural fats (these can come from things like fish, nuts, dairy, olive oil, meat) , which are easier for your body to process than processed fats (these can come from things like cakes, takeaways, pasta, and other heavily processed foods). 

Improve Brain Function - the ketones produced by putting your body in a state of ketosis can be used to power your brain. Some studies have shown that the brain might possibly function better on ketones then it does on sugar from carbs. Keto was originally developed in the early 1920s as a way to treat epilepsy in children without having to medicate them. The studies discovered that it did help improve symptoms in around half the children they tested. 

I am gluten free, will keto work with my lifestyle?

Keto is actually a gluten free diet, so you may find it very easy to adapt to a keto diet. 

If you are lactose intolerant or vegetarian/vegan you may find following keto more difficult, but not necessarily impossible. 

Can athletes do keto?

Keto is an incredibly popular model and influencers, but is it a diet that works for athletes, well… perhaps? 

Both former NFL Quarterback Tim Teblow, and LeBron James have tried out the keto diet during their training. Both said it worked well for them, but keto has yet to become mainstream and replace the carb heavy diets of professional athletes. 

Studies in 2015 and 2016 showed that keto alone does not enhance the performance of athletes doing high levels of activity. However, they did see benefits of cycling 3-4 weeks of keto into their pre-season training diet.