Drop Biscuits are the easiest way to get a buttery biscuit on the table in minutes. These Fluffy Drop Biscuits are made with only five ingredients, and there is no kneading involved. You can have biscuits for breakfast without all the hassle.
At our house, we love homemade biscuits. I especially love being able to have a delicious biscuit recipe ready that can be ready in 20 minutes. This easy drop biscuit recipe is my favorite because they are so quick and easy to make – no rolling or kneading dough. Even better, they only require a handful of ingredients!
These delicious drop biscuits do look a bit “rustic,” though who really cares when they taste as good as they do! I sometimes call these emergency biscuits because they are easy to whip up at the last minute, and we always have the ingredients on hand.
❓Drop Biscuits vs. Traditional Biscuits
Drop biscuits are made with the same ingredients as traditional biscuits, but the quantities are a little different. I love regular biscuits, but the ease of making drop biscuits is my favorite part. They are just as delicious but require very little work. (My kind of recipe!) The texture of traditional biscuits is usually fluffy with lots of flaky layers; drop biscuits are tender biscuits that are fluffy, soft, buttery, and a little crumbly.
I like to make drop biscuits as a side dish for dinner, to top a pot pie, to toss into chicken & dumplings, or to put on top of a casserole. They are also delicious with sweet recipes, like a cobbler topping. I also love to make them for a quick weekday breakfast or a weekend brunch served with sausage gravy and poached eggs. Drop biscuits are also delicious when split open and topped with butter, strawberry jam, or apple butter.
Table of Contents
- ❓Drop Biscuits vs. Traditional Biscuits
- 🥘 Ingredients Needed
- 🍽 Equipment Needed
- 🥣 How to Make Easy Drop Biscuits
- Tip: Don’t Overmix the Dough
- 🙋♀️ Frequently Asked Questions
- 🧀 Variations: What to Mix into Drop Biscuits
- 🥡 How to Store Homemade Biscuits
- 🧊 Can You Freeze Biscuits
- ♨️ How to Reheat Biscuits
- ✏️ Helpful Tips
- 🧈 What Can you Serve with Biscuits?
- Quick and Easy Drop Biscuits Recipe
🥘 Ingredients Needed
- Butter – We like to use cold salted butter.
- Kosher Salt
- Baking Powder
- All-Purpose Flour
- Milk – You can use any kind of dairy milk; we like to use whole milk or 2% milk. (I have not tested this recipe with non-dairy milk.)
🍽 Equipment Needed
🥣 How to Make Easy Drop Biscuits
First, measure out your ingredients so that everything is ready to go. Preheat your oven to 450°F and place a non-stick baking mat or a sheet of parchment paper onto a baking sheet.
Next, add the flour, salt, and baking powder to the bowl of a food processor with the sharp metal chopper blade attached. Give it a quick pulse to mix everything together. On my food processor, the button says “Off-Pulse.” (Pictures 1-2)
Next, add the cubes of butter. The size of the cubes doesn’t really matter; you just want it to be in chunks, not a whole stick. Pulse the butter into the dry ingredients until it is crumbly, but you can still see small clumps of butter. (Pictures 3-4)
The last and most important step of the mixing process is to slowly drizzle in the milk. (Picture 5) I like to pour the milk in through the spout of the food processor while pressing the pulse button so it mixes gradually. Do this slowly, and don’t dump all of the milk in at once – you may not need all of it.
I check on it after I add about ½ a cup. (Picture 6) Then about 1 cup. (Picture 7) Picture 8 is what I want it to look like. That was about 1 1/8 of a cup – didn’t quite use all of it.
Once all of the flour is incorporated into the milk, you are ready to start making your biscuits. It will be a super sticky dough – that’s what we want!
Tip: Don’t Overmix the Dough
Don’t overmix the dough – you want to keep it a little lumpy. This will give the biscuits better texture and flavor.
Scoop your dough into 6 equal-sized “blobs” on the prepared baking sheet. (Picture 9)
Finally, bake the biscuits for 12 – 15 minutes at 450°F. (Picture 10) Make sure to put the biscuits right into the hot oven. Check on them at 12 minutes and continue baking until the biscuits are golden brown. They will be buttery and a little crunchy on the outside. These biscuits are not flaky, layered biscuits – they are buttery and fluffy – but they are SO tasty. (They are also not the prettiest, but they sure do taste good!)
Optionally, you can brush some melted butter onto the biscuits right as they are coming out of the oven to add some extra flavor.
For an even better breakfast, serve these delicious biscuits with homemade sausage gravy!
🙋♀️ Frequently Asked Questions
Not easily, and it is not recommended. You want to keep big chunks of butter in your batter. A mixer will mash everything together and prevent you from getting buttery bites in your biscuits. I would make them by hand if you don’t have a mixer.
If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a pastry cutter or hold some butter knives wolverine style and cut your butter into the flour mixture in a large bowl. Once the flour and butter are crumbled, and the butter pieces are the size of peas, slowly drizzle the milk into the mixture and stir to combine. Stop mixing as soon as all the dry ingredients are incorporated – the dough will be really sticky – do not over-mix or handle the dough too much; you don’t want to melt the butter.
Drop biscuits are a little crumbly by nature, but they can be dry if they are overbaked or if too much flour is used. I find that measuring the flour by spooning it into the measuring cup ensures that I do not compact the flour and use too much. (You can also use a scale to measure your flour. It varies between brands, but the weight of 2 cups of all-purpose flour of the two brands that I use is about 250 grams of flour.)
You can, but you would need to make some adjustments. Self-rising flour is just all-purpose flour with baking powder and salt already added to it, but the quantities aren’t exact. This recipe uses a lot of baking powder, and you would need to add more to the self-rising flour anyway to get the biscuits to rise enough, so I just use regular all-purpose flour.
🍮 Entertaining? Here’s How to Make Perfectly Round Drop Biscuits
Scoop your biscuit dough into wide-mouth mason jar rings or round cookie cutters/biscuit rings.
Using a cookie scoop or large ice cream scoop, scoop your biscuit dough into wide-mouth mason jar rings, round cookie cutters, or biscuit cutters. You can spray the rings with non-stick spray if you want, but they come out pretty easily without it. (It is hard to tell from the picture, but the rings are placed upside down as if you turned a jar over and took the ring off – the batter should fill the ring like a small bowl.)
When you take them out, they won’t be perfect, but they are much closer in size than if you just go for my usual scoop-and-bake method, and they will be nice and round 😉
🧀 Variations: What to Mix into Drop Biscuits
Homemade drop biscuits are delicious, just as they are, but you can jazz up this recipe by mixing in some delicious additions. Here are some of my favorites:
- Jalapeño and Cheddar Cheese Drop Biscuits – Fold in ½ cup of shredded sharp cheddar with a diced jalapeño pepper. (Remove the membrane and seeds.)
- Black Pepper and Cheddar Drop Biscuits – Fold in ½ cup of shredded sharp cheddar and about ½ teaspoon of black pepper.
- Cheese and Herb Drop Biscuits – Add 1 tablespoon of your favorite finely chopped herbs, such as rosemary or thyme, along with ½ cup of Gruyere cheese, cheddar cheese, or Asiago cheese.
- Parmesan or Cheddar Chive Drop Biscuits – Add ½ cup of grated parmesan or cheddar cheese and 1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh chives or green onions. (You can also add a pinch of garlic powder to the dry ingredients.)
- Make them Sweet – Mix in blueberries, diced strawberries, mini chocolate chips, or cinnamon sugar.
- Add some Cooked Meat – Add ½ cup diced bacon, ham, or crumbled cooked breakfast sausage.
🥡 How to Store Homemade Biscuits
Once cooled, store the biscuits in an airtight container with a slice of bread or a sugar bear. This will help keep them fresh by absorbing excess moisture. Homemade biscuits will last for about 5-7 days, though I recommend eating them sooner rather than later.
🧊 Can You Freeze Biscuits
Yes! Place biscuits in a freezer bag and suck all the air out. They will keep for up to three months.
♨️ How to Reheat Biscuits
To reheat, use an air fryer or toaster oven to heat your biscuits slowly, using low heat. You can also reheat them in the oven.
✏️ Helpful Tips
- If you are eating biscuits as leftovers, the biscuits are best toasted or reheated.
- Serve your biscuits with fresh fruit jam – I like to use my homemade strawberry or blueberry jams.
- Store your biscuits in an air-tight container with a slice of bread or with a sugar bear. This will absorb extra moisture and keep your biscuits fresh.
🧈 What Can you Serve with Biscuits?
I like to use this recipe to make Biscuits and Gravy or serve them warm with butter and homemade jam.
- Ham and Cheese Frittata
- Muffin Tin Baked Eggs
- Instant Pot Strawberry Jam
- Instant Pot Blueberry Jam
- Raspberry Jam
Have You Tried This Recipe?
Please rate it and leave a comment below. I would love to hear what you think!
Quick and Easy Drop Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup salted butter chilled and cut into cubes (1 stick)
- 1 – 1 ¼ cup milk Whole or 2% work best. Start with 1 cup then add the rest in increments of 1 tbsp. You will likely need 1 cup + 1 or 2 extra tbsps.
Instructions
- First, measure out your ingredients so that everything is ready to go and preheat your oven to 450°F.
- Add your flour, salt, and baking powder to the bowl of a food processor. Give it a quick pulse to mix everything together. On my food processor, the button says "Off-Pulse."2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Next, add your cubes of butter. The size of the cubes doesn't really matter, you just want it to be in chunks – not a whole stick. Pulse the butter into the flour until it is crumbly, but you can still see chunks of butter.½ cup salted butter
- The last and most important step of the mixing process is to slowly drizzle in your milk. I like to pour the milk in through the spout of the food processor while pulsing it to incorporate the milk. Do this slowly and start with ½ cup. Then drizzle the rest in as needed. Don't dump all of the milk in at once – you may not need all of it.1 – 1 ¼ cup milk
- I check on it after I add ½ a cup, then one cup. Once all of the flour is incorporated into the milk, you are ready to start making your biscuits. It will be super sticky.
- Scoop your dough into 6 equal sized "blobs" on a cookie sheet lined with a non-stick baking sheet or parchment paper.
- Bake for 12 – 15 minutes – check at 12 minutes – continue baking until the biscuits are slightly browned. They will be buttery and a little crunchy on the outside. These biscuits are not flakey, layered biscuits – they are buttery and fluffy – but they are SO tasty.
Video
Notes
Recipe Tips
- Do not overmix the dough or handle it too much – you don’t want to melt the butter.
- Serve your biscuits with fresh fruit jam – I like to use my homemade strawberry or blueberry jams.
How to Store Biscuits
Once cooled, store these biscuits in an air-tight container with a slice of bread or a sugar bear. This will help keep them fresh. They will last for about 5-7 days, though I recommend eating them sooner rather than later. To reheat, use an air fryer or toaster oven to heat your biscuits slowly, using low heat. You can also reheat them in the oven.Special Equipment Needeed
- measuring spoons
- measuring cups
Nutrition
Nutrition information is approximate and is automatically calculated, so should only be used as a guide.
I made the biscuits only needed 1 cup of milk and a little extra milk NOT whole 1/4 cup to have a wet tendency. I used an ice cream scooper and batter made “13 biscuits” and baked for 15 minutes. Family enjoyed and this recipe is a keeper! My son stated they are good without anything on them, too!
Thanks! The past few times I have made these I also only use 1 cup + a few extra splashes. Maybe it was extra dry when first I tested the recipe 😛 Glad you liked them!