‘The Pioneer Woman’: Ree Drummond’s Black Pepper and Sage Biscuits Have 1 Unexpected Ingredient

Ree Drummond kicks basic biscuits up a notch with delicious savory additions and one unexpected ingredient she says makes a huge difference. The Pioneer Woman star serves the biscuits with cowboy favorite sausage gravy.

Ree Drummond said 1 biscuit ingredient enhances the flavor and texture

Drummond made her biscuits recipe during an episode of The Pioneer Woman as part of a big breakfast she delivered to her husband and kids while they worked on the ranch.

“I’m making biscuits and gravy. The cowboys absolutely love it,” she explained. “I’m making black pepper and sage biscuits just to give them a little twist.”

She whisked together flour, baking powder, sugar, cream of tartar, salt, coarse black pepper, ground sage, and powdered milk in a bowl. “I love using powdered milk when I make biscuits,” Drummond explained. “It helps with the flavor but it also gives it a really nice consistency.”

She added, “The sausage I’m using to make the gravy has a little bit of sage in it so this ties the two together and it gives the biscuits just a really nice savory flavor.”

The Pioneer Woman star used a pastry cutter to incorporate butter and shortening into the dry mixture. “The butter gives flavor but the shortening really makes for a nice biscuit dough,” she explained.

Drummond drizzled buttermilk into the mixture as she stirred it, being careful not to overmix it. “You want the biscuits to be nice and fluffy,” she noted.

Drummond baked the biscuits in a cast-iron skillet

Drummond turned the mixture out onto a board and used her hands to flatten it. “I don’t like to use a rolling pin for biscuits,” she explained.

The Food Network star pressed the dough into a 1-inch thick circle. “I like the top to sort of have an uneven, lumpy texture — makes them look rustic,” she pointed out.

Drummond used a biscuit cutter to punch out the biscuits and placed them in cast iron skillets. Then she brushed the tops with melted butter. “The butter just adds a little extra richness, a little extra flavor,” she explained. The Pioneer Woman star baked the biscuits in a 450 degree Fahrenheit oven for 15 minutes.

The full recipe is available on the Food Network website.

‘The Pioneer Woman’ star served the biscuits with homemade gravy

Drummond served her savory biscuits with homemade sausage gravy. “Biscuits and gravy is a cowboy favorite. It’s pretty much in their DNA,” she explained. “Everybody absolutely loves it.”

The Food Network host browned pieces of breakfast sausage in a skillet then sprinkled in flour. “This gravy is so wonderful,” she explained. “It’s really creamy and really thick and it has little chunks of sausage all throughout.”

Drummond noted, “And I’m just going to make the gravy right on top of the sausage. A lot of times when I make sausage gravy, I’ll fry patties of sausage, take it out of the skillet, and then use the grease to make the gravy. But I love this method because you just keep it all in the skillet. It’s a lot less work.”

She stirred in the flour to coat the sausage, then poured in whole milk, stirred the ingredients, and turned the heat up. Drummond seasoned it with salt, black pepper, and seasoned salt, and let the gravy simmer.

“It looks unbelievably wonderful,” she said. “I could eat it by the spoonful.”