Drop Biscuits
These Drop Biscuits are buttery, flaky and perfect for spreading with jam or honey butter. Enjoy them for breakfast or dinner!
My family loves biscuits, so it’s no surprise that my classic biscuit recipe is one of the recipes that I make most often. Those biscuits are incredibly easy to make (and a reader favorite, too!), but when I need an even faster recipe I make these drop biscuits.
This is hands down the easiest biscuit recipe I’ve tried. To make these drop biscuits, you won’t have to use a pastry cutter, pat out the dough, or use a biscuit cutter. There is only whisking, stirring and scooping needed for these easy drop biscuits! Once the dough is mixed together, a trigger-style ice cream scoop makes it fast and easy to drop the biscuit dough onto the baking sheet.
These homemade drop biscuits bake up perfectly flaky and tender with beautiful golden brown tops. While they can be enjoyed as is, they are especially delicious spread with a bit of jam, honey or honey butter. They’re perfect for serving with eggs and bacon for breakfast, but we enjoy them most often for dinner. They’re pure comfort food and go with almost any main course, including our favorite Instant Pot Beef Stew, Grilled Chicken Thighs and Air Fryer Chicken Tenders.
Ingredients
- Butter: Butter is a biscuit essential for rich, buttery flavor. I recommend using unsalted butter. If using salted butter you will want to halve the amount of salt in the recipe. We’ll be freezing and then grating the butter before mixing it in.
- All-Purpose Flour: All-purpose flour is best for light and tender biscuits.
- Baking Powder: The recipe calls for a full tablespoon of baking powder. The baking powder makes the biscuits rise as they bake in the oven.
- Granulated Sugar: A little bit of sugar adds a touch of sweetness to the biscuits. Feel free to omit the sugar, or use a bit more for sweeter biscuits.
- Salt: Salt brings all of the flavors together. Without salt, the biscuits would be lacking in flavor.
- Milk: Whole milk is best in this recipe.
Find the full printable recipe with ingredient amounts and instructions in the recipe card below.
How to Make Drop Biscuits
First, freeze the butter for at least 20 minutes. Freezing the butter ensures that it will be extra cold when the biscuits go into the oven, which is important for light, flaky biscuits. Freezing the butter also makes it easier to shred using a box grater, which we’ll be doing in a later step of the recipe.
Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Next, grate the stick of frozen butter using the largest holes on a box grater. Use a fork to stir the shredded butter into the dry ingredients. This is so much faster and easier than using a pastry blender to cut in cubes of butter!
Add the milk to the bowl and stir with a fork. Mix just until the biscuit dough comes together.
Then use a trigger-style ice cream scoop (or a large spoon) to scoop portions of dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Finally, bake the biscuits until they are golden brown on top, 13-16 minutes at 425° F.
Drop Biscuit Recipe Tips
- Use cold butter and milk. Keep the butter in the freezer and the milk in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them in the biscuit dough. Scoop and bake the drop biscuits as soon as the dough is mixed together.
- Freeze the butter for at least 20 minutes before beginning the recipe. This makes it much easier to shred on a box grater. Also, the cold bits of butter will create steam pockets in the biscuits as they bake, which creates a light and flaky texture.
- Don’t overmix the dough. Mixing just until combined will create softer, more tender biscuits.
- You can bake the biscuits in a cast iron skillet instead of on a baking sheet if you want them to be extra browned and crispy on the bottom.
- We like this recipe best when made with whole milk, but feel free to use buttermilk if you prefer a bit of a tangier flavor.
- You can mix in some flavorful add ins, such as shredded cheddar cheese, chopped green onions or crumbled bacon. To cook bacon, try my Baked Bacon recipe or Air Fryer Bacon.
What to Serve with Drop Biscuits
These drop biscuits are perfect for any meal of the day!
- Breakfast or Brunch: Serve them alongside scrambled eggs or a breakfast casserole.
- Lunch: Slice biscuits in half and use them to make mini sandwiches. My favorite is ham, cheese and Dijon mustard.
- Dinner: Serve drop biscuits as a side dish with your favorite meals. They go especially well with grilled or roasted meats, soups, stews and chilis. Or use them to top a Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuits.
More Easy Baking Recipes
Drop biscuits are one of the easiest breads you can make from scratch. Here are a few more of our favorite easy baking recipes:
Drop Biscuits
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cold milk, whole milk is best
Instructions
- Place butter in the freezer for at least 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 425° F with a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar and salt until well combined.
- Use the largest holes on a box grater to shred the frozen butter. Add the shredded butter to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Mix in with a fork.
- Pour in the milk and use the fork to mix the dough just until it comes together and all of the flour is incorporated. If the dough seems very dry and is not coming together, add 1 to 2 tablespoons more milk.
- Use a trigger-style ice cream scoop to scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet. You should get 11-12 biscuits.
- Bake immediately in the preheated oven for 13-16 minutes, until the tops are lightly golden brown.
Notes
- Biscuits are best the day they are made, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Leftover biscuits can be reheated in a 350° F oven for about 5 minutes.
These biscuits are awesome ..
I have enough left over that I will probably use tmw morning with jam ..
Wondering if you can bake these biscuits in the airfryer?
I haven’t tried these in the air fryer. If you try it, let me know how they turn out.
Hi Kristine!
I just wanted you to know that I have been using this recipe for months!! I was intimidated by the thought of making biscuits from scratch but this recipe has helped me overcome my fear! My children love it and they are picky biscuit eaters. Thank you so much for taking the time to develop this recipe.
We used buttermilk and cheese. Great recipe. I’ve been through a lot of biscuit recipes, but this is our favorite for the fluffiness and being crisp. Easy to make. Hardest part was waiting for the butter to get cold. Thank you!
Easy recipe and the biscuits came out great! Everyone enjoyed them – kids and adults. I do think they needed some butter or jam for flavor, but the consistency was great and they were so easy. Next time I may see what adding some cheese or spices does. Regardless, this is a keeper for sure! Also a fun recipe to let the kids help with.
I made these this morning and doubled the recipe. Oh my goodness it REALLY is absolutely delicious 😋. Thank you so much for tasty recipe Kristine 🤗. I will definitely make several times again❣️