When creamy gravy gets a fiery upgrade, you end up with these Chorizo Biscuits & Gravy—a bold BBQ twist on a Southern breakfast classic. Crisp biscuits infused with jalapeño honey are covered in a rich, peppery chorizo cream gravy made with real Mexican chorizo and milk.
WHAT YOU'LL LOVE
- Grating frozen butter into the dry mix is the technique that produces flaky, layered biscuits: Softened or melted butter coats the flour and produces a dense, cake-like crumb. Frozen butter grated on a box grater stays in discrete shards that melt during baking, creating steam pockets that push the layers apart — the result is the flaky, pull-apart texture that defines a well-made biscuit.
- The jalapeño-honey biscuits are genuinely complementary to the chorizo gravy — not just a novelty combination: Chorizo gravy is rich, savory, and spicy; the honey and jalapeño in the biscuit provide both sweetness and a different register of heat. The honey caramelizes on the top crust in the final bake, producing a golden, slightly sticky surface that contrasts with the creamy gravy.
- Mexican chorizo renders enough fat to build the roux without adding separate butter first: Mexican-style chorizo is heavily spiced and high in fat — browning it renders enough seasoned fat to begin the roux directly in the same pan. The directions add 2 tablespoons of butter for the roux anyway, but the chorizo fat that remains in the pan is the seasoning foundation of the entire gravy.
- This is a complete brunch from one cast iron skillet and one sauté pan: The biscuits bake in a 12-inch cast iron skillet; the gravy comes together in a single sauté pan. No roasting pan, no multiple pots, no sheet pan. For a dish this rich and substantial, the cleanup footprint is surprisingly small.
Jalapeño‑Honey Biscuits with Chorizo Gravy
Tom Jackson
Rated 5.0 stars by 1 users
Category
Entree
Cuisine
American
Servings
4
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Calories
419
This dish captures everything pitmasters admire: scratch-made biscuits with a hint of heat, a silky roux that fattens with rendered chorizo, and just the right amount of spice. Perfect for weekend brunch or smoky backyard mornings.
Ingredients
- 5 cups flour
- 5 tbsp sugar
-
1 tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp baking powder
-
2 tbsp Cattleman’s Grill Smoky Chipotle Seasoning
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 1 jalapeño, diced
- 10 tbsp butter, frozen
- 8 tbsp butter, divided
-
2 tbsp Reida Honey Farm Wildflower Honey
- 1 lb Mexican Chorizo
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp flour
- 2 cups milk
- 1 tsp black pepper
-
salt to taste
Biscuits
Chorizo Cream Gravy
Directions
Preheat & Bake Biscuits
Preheat your oven, grill or smoker (e.g. Yoder YS640) to 400 °F.
- Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and chipotle seasoning.
- Grate frozen butter into the dry mix. Gently incorporate.
- Stir in buttermilk and diced jalapeño until dough forms.
- Roll or pat to 2" thickness. Use a 3½" cutter to form biscuits.
- Grease a 12″ cast-iron skillet with 2 tbsp butter. Place biscuits evenly and bake 20 minutes.
- Melt remaining 6 tbsp butter with honey, brush on top, and bake another 10 minutes until golden.
Make Chorizo Cream Gravy
- In a large skillet, brown the chorizo over medium heat. Drain excess fat.
- In the same pan, melt butter, stir in flour to form a roux. Cook ~2 minutes.
- While whisking, slowly add milk.
- Return chorizo to pan, add black pepper, and simmer until gravy thickens. Season with salt as needed.
Serve
- Split warm biscuits in half.
- Ladle hot chorizo gravy over each.
- Serve immediately—optionally garnish with extra chili flakes or scallions.
Recipe Note
Recipe FAQ
What is the history of biscuits and gravy?
Biscuits and gravy is a distinctly American dish with roots in the post-Civil War South and Appalachian foodways, where cheap cuts of pork (streak o' lean, fatback, sausage scraps) were used to make a filling, calorie-dense morning meal. Flour gravy stretched the fat further and made the dish substantial enough to fuel a full day of physical labor. The dish spread westward with settlers and became a staple of Southern and Midwestern breakfast culture. This recipe takes the foundational form — biscuit, fat, flour, dairy — and upgrades every component: scratch jalapeño-honey biscuits, real Mexican chorizo, and Cattleman's Grill Smoky Chipotle Seasoning in the biscuit dough.
What is the difference between Mexican chorizo and Spanish chorizo?
Mexican chorizo is a raw, loose, heavily spiced fresh pork sausage — it must be cooked before eating and renders significant spiced fat as it cooks, making it ideal for gravy. Spanish chorizo is a cured, dried sausage that is fully cooked and does not render the same way. Using Spanish chorizo in this recipe would produce a dry, chunky gravy rather than the creamy, fat-enriched sauce the recipe is designed around. Always use raw bulk Mexican-style chorizo for this dish.
Why grate the butter frozen instead of cutting it in?
Grating frozen butter on a box grater produces uniform small shards that distribute evenly through the flour mixture. These shards stay cold and intact until the oven heat causes them to melt rapidly, generating steam that pushes the biscuit layers apart. Cutting in softened butter coats the flour proteins, producing a more crumbly, uniform crumb rather than distinct flaky layers. The frozen grating technique is one of the most reliable shortcuts to bakery-quality biscuit texture without specialized equipment.
How do I know when the biscuits are done?
After the initial 20-minute bake, the biscuits should be set and just beginning to color on the sides and bottom. The honey-butter brush in the final 10 minutes produces the golden-brown top crust. Pull the biscuits when the tops are deeply golden and the honey glaze is caramelized — an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center should read 200–205°F for a fully baked biscuit interior.
Can I make the gravy ahead of time?
Yes — the chorizo cream gravy keeps refrigerated for up to 3 days. Reheat gently over medium-low heat with a splash of milk, whisking to reincorporate the fat that separates as it cools. Do not reheat at high heat, which can cause the milk proteins to break and produce a greasy, separated gravy. The biscuits are best made fresh; they dry out quickly after baking and do not reheat as well as the gravy.
Can I make this indoors?
5 out of 5 — Perfect for indoor or outdoor cooking. A home oven at 400°F and a cast iron skillet produce identical biscuits to a pellet grill at the same temperature. The gravy is entirely stovetop. No grill-specific technique is required for any part of this recipe.
Recipe Highlights
Don't overwork the dough after adding the buttermilk: Directions Step 4 says to stir until the dough forms — stop immediately once it comes together. Overworking biscuit dough develops gluten, which toughens the texture and prevents the layers from separating. The dough should look shaggy and slightly uneven when it's ready; visible flour streaks are better than a smooth, uniform ball.
Pat to 2 inches thick — don't roll thinner: Directions Step 5 specifies 2-inch thickness. Thinner biscuits don't have enough mass to develop the tall, layered rise that makes a cast iron skillet biscuit impressive. Pressing firmly straight down with the cutter (don't twist) also preserves the layers — twisting seals the cut edge and prevents the biscuit from rising as high.
Drain the chorizo fat before building the roux — but leave a thin film: Directions Step 1 of the gravy section says to drain excess fat. The operative word is "excess" — drain most of it, but leave a thin coating of seasoned fat in the pan. This residual fat is what seasons the roux and carries the chorizo spice character throughout the entire gravy. Draining completely and starting with fresh butter produces a less flavorful result.
Add milk slowly while whisking — not all at once: Directions Step 3 specifies whisking while slowly adding the milk. Adding all the milk at once to the roux produces a lumpy gravy that requires significant effort to smooth. Adding in a thin stream while whisking constantly allows the roux to absorb and emulsify the milk incrementally, producing a smooth, lump-free gravy from the start.
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Nutrition
Nutrition
- Nutrition Serving Size
- 3.83 oz
- per serving
- Calories
- 419
- Carbs
- 15 grams
- Protein
- 53 grams
- Fat
- 15 grams
- Sodium
- 1149 milligrams
