Food and Recipes Recipes Sausage-and-Spinach Breakfast Casserole with Cornmeal Biscuits Be the first to rate & review! Cheesy biscuits hide a savory gravy so good you'll want to lick the serving spoon. By Pam Lolley Pam Lolley Pam Lolley developed and tested recipes for Southern Living Magazine in the Souths most trusted Test Kitchen for 19 years. She worked closely with the editors planning and packaging stories, collaborating with art and photo teams on food styling and recipe reproduction to ensure reader satisfaction, content quality control, and recipe authenticity history and cooking. Her area of expertise was baking and and pastry development and she acted as the point person for these areas in the Test Kitchen. With 30+ years of experience in the culinary field, Pam created and tested 1000s of recipes for Southern Living. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on August 25, 2022 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Photographer: Jennifer Causey; Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Stylist: Missie Neville Crawford Active Time: 25 mins Total Time: 1 hrs 5 mins Servings: 10 Instead of spooning sauce on top of biscuits, this breakfast casserole bakes the biscuits right on top of the sausage-studded gravy. Smoked sausage, such as Conecuh, adds a rich smokiness to the white gravy. You can use regular sausage if you have it on hand, but consider sprinkling in a bit of smoked paprika to amp up those smoky flavors. For a bit of color, add handfuls of spinach; it'll wilt into silky threads that help give the gravy body. Two types of cheese are used in the gravy: Gruyère and sharp Cheddar. The Gruyére is nutty and slightly sweet and provides a nice contrast to sharp Cheddar, which delivers a cheesy punch. You can use other cheeses if you have them on hand. Jarlsberg and fontina are two good swaps for Gruyère. Colby or Parmesan can take the place of Cheddar. These cornmeal biscuits aren't like classic buttermilk biscuits. The yellow cornmeal makes them a bit crumblier, like a hybrid of biscuits and cornbread. They're the perfect accompaniment to the gravy, providing a hint of crunch against the silky gravy. The best part? There's no cutting biscuit dough here. You'll drop the batter by the spoonful onto the top of the gravy. Ingredients Casserole 1 lb. smoked sausage, chopped (such as Conecuh) ¼ cup salted butter ¼ cup all-purpose flour 1 cup whole milk 1 cup heavy whipping cream 1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme ¼ tsp. kosher salt ¼ tsp. black pepper 8 oz. Gruyère cheese, shredded (about 2 cups) 4 oz. sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1 cup), divided 10 oz. fresh baby spinach Biscuits 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour ⅔ cup finely ground yellow cornmeal 1 ½ tsp. baking powder ¼ tsp. baking soda ¼ tsp. kosher salt ¼ cup chilled salted butter, cut into small pieces 4 oz. sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1 cup) 1 cup whole buttermilk Directions Prepare the Casserole: Preheat oven to 400°F. Cook chopped sausage in a large skillet over medium-high until browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. Melt butter in a Dutch oven over low; whisk in flour until smooth. Cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk, cream, thyme, salt, and pepper; cook over medium, whisking often, until thickened and bubbly, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in Gruyère cheese and 1 cup of the Cheddar until melted and smooth. Stir in spinach and cooked sausage until completely incorporated. Remove from heat, and spoon mixture into a lightly greased (with cooking spray) 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Prepare the Biscuits: Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in remaining 1 cup shredded Cheddar. Stir in buttermilk until just combined. Drop batter by heaping 2 tablespoons evenly over casserole. Bake in preheated oven until biscuits are golden and casserole is bubbly, 25 to 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Rate it Print