A super simple recipe for Garlic Cheese Drop Biscuits. Ready in under 25 minutes, no mixer, no rolling pin, no biscuit cutters required! These simple drop biscuits make a great quick and easy side dish for any dinner!
An Easier Way to Make Biscuits
I’ve been on a bread-kick recently. Homemade bagels (coming soon!), soft pretzels, homemade dinner rolls, it’s been carb-central over here for the past few weeks. But while I’ve been fawning over these yeast-raised recipes and all their sophisticated rising time and whatnot, my current favorite is an easy biscuit recipe.
As easy as my classic well-loved biscuit recipe is (it has over 900 5-star ratings!), this garlic cheese drop-biscuit version is even easier. No pastry cutter or grater required for the butter, no mixer, no rolling, just a super simple recipe that can be mixed up by hand and ready to accompany your favorite dinner in under 25 minutes. These would be great alongside a bowl of potato soup, chili, or baked ziti. Also great for eating by themselves as a snack… excuse the crumbs on my keyboard please.
It’s also incredibly flavorful, between the garlic and the cheese and that gloriously buttery, brushed-on garlic-butter bath. Delectably garlicky like my garlic knots, but no yeast and no waiting for the dough to rise here!
What You Need
First, gather your ingredients. Nothing too fancy here:
- Butter. You’ll melt this. I like to use unsalted and then add salt to the recipe (see my post on salted vs unsalted butter for more info).
- Flour. Use all-purpose, do not use self-rising or any other type of flour.
- Sugar. Just a tablespoon of granulated sugar adds a richness of flavor but doesn’t make these drop biscuits actually sweet.
- Baking powder & baking soda to give these biscuit babies some serious lift and a soft, biscuity texture.
- Garlic powder. A little goes a long way!
- Salt.
- Buttermilk. You may use my easy buttermilk substitute instead.
- Cheddar cheese. I recommend using sharp cheddar. Make sure to grab the thickly shredded cheddar (or shred your own!!!) and not finely shredded cheese. I mean, finely shredded will work, but the texture is much better with giant pockets of melty cheddar.
I also list a range for the amount of cheese to use. Originally I made and tested this recipe with 1/2 cup of cheese. When filming the video I accidentally used 1 full cup instead. I was going to re-do the shot and re-make the drop biscuits, but decided to go ahead and bake the ones with 1 cup of cheddar and the results were… incredible. If you like cheesy biscuits I recommend going with a full cup!
How to Make Drop Biscuits
This is the easy part.
- Whisk all of your dry ingredients and sugar together.
- In a separate large measuring cup, whisk together your buttermilk and melted, cooled butter (it’s OK if the butter is a little warm and curdles, the biscuits will still turn out!).
- Combine wet and dry ingredients and stir in cheese.
- Drop the biscuits by heaping spoonfuls onto a baking sheet and cook until golden brown.
- Brush with a mixture of melted butter, garlic powder, and dried parsley.
That’s it. Literally takes me less than 10 minutes of prep and then another 10 minutes in the oven for perfect, carb-y, garlicky, cheesy biscuits.
A Few Tips:
- Don’t over-mix the batter when combining the wet and dry ingredients. Stir until just-combined. Over-mixing will make the biscuits dense and harder.
- If you live on the East coast, a sprinkle of old bay is a great addition to make these into cheddar bay drop biscuits! Stir it in with the dry ingredients. A little goes a long way, I’ll usually only add about 1/4 teaspoon.
- Garlic Cheese Drop Biscuits will are best served warm, but they will keep for two days in an airtight container at room temperature.
- Use an ice cream scoop with a lever to easily scoop and drop rounded biscuits!
- Tuck any errant shreds of cheese into the biscuits before baking, otherwise they’ll crisp and maybe even burn on your baking sheet.
Enjoy!
More Recipes You Might Like:
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Garlic Cheese Drop Biscuits
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup all-purpose flour 125g
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ cup buttermilk 118ml
- ½-1 cup sharp shredded cheddar cheese use a thick shred, not finely shredded (55-110g)
Topping
- 2 Tablespoons salted butter or unsalted, just add a dash of salt
- ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon dried parsley
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450F (230C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Melt your butter and set it aside so it can begin to cool.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and garlic powder.
- In a separate bowl (or in a large measuring cup) whisk slightly cooled butter into buttermilk (it’s OK if the butter begins to re-solidify or the mixture looks curdled).
- Pour buttermilk mixture into flour mixture and stir until just-combined.
- Use a spoon or spatula to gently stir cheese into batter until incorporated.
- Using a pair of spoons, drop batter by heaping spoonfuls (about 3 Tbsp in size) onto prepared baking sheet, spacing at least 2” apart.
- Transfer to 450F oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown.
- Meanwhile, prepare topping by whisking together butter, garlic powder, and dried parsley.
- When biscuits are finished baking, brush generously with butter mixture (use a pastry brush, or if you don’t have one simply spoon some of the butter on top of each biscuit).
- Serve warm.
Notes
Nutrition
Neisha says
These were fantastic! However my biscuits didn’t have a rise as the pictures do. Can you suggest why this may have happened and suggestions as to how this could be avoided. I followed the recipe and definitely didn’t overmix.
Sam says
Hmm, since it wasn’t overmixed my best guess would be either the baking powder or baking soda may be expired and no good. If the butter was too hot that could also have an impact on the outcome. Another thing, when you scoop/dollop the batter onto the baking sheet if the scoops were flat and weren’t rounded or very tall the biscuits wouldn’t end up very tall, the final shape depends some on what your scoops look like, if that makes sense. I’m glad they were still delicious though, Neisha!! 🙂
Mrs. Reynolds says
This looks perfect! I was surfing for a classic recipe that uses buttermilk but didn’t want a big batch b/c you are correct – these are always best Hot! Thank you!
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Mrs. Reynolds! 🙂
Superdad says
Delicious! Should have doubled the recipe, everyone wanted seconds!
Sugar Spun Run says
I am happy that they were such a hit, Superdad! Thank you for trying my recipe. 🙂
Lou says
Lovely recipe — fast and yummy. We made them without garlic, though (not my choice!), so I should have corrected the amount of sugar: 1 tablespoon was too much here. Will definitely make again.
Sam says
I’m glad you enjoyed them, Lou! 🙂
Amy says
Hi there! I would love to make these for my family but I don’t have any buttermilk, can I use lactose free milk? It’s the only thing I have in the house right now.
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Amy! I have a buttermilk substitute that you can try. Unfortunately, I am not sure how the lactose-free milk will do. The fat from milk really makes these biscuits soft/moist. I am afraid that the lactose-free milk will make the dense and on the drier side. If you try it, I’d love to know how they turn out. 🙂
Catherine says
So delicious and so easy! Definitely will be making again and again! Thank you 🙂
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so glad that you enjoyed them, Catherine! Thanks for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
Nancy says
Really great recipe! Easy and I made small ice cream scoop size and got 12. Will make again and again, so very easy!!!!
Sugar Spun Run says
I am glad that you found the recipe easy and delicious, Nancy! Thanks for trying it and for commenting. 🙂
Janet says
May I use real garlic instead of garlic powder?
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Janet! Yes, that will be fine. 🙂
Sue says
Very easy and delicious!
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits, Sue! 🙂
Esmy Ortiz says
Can I subsitute the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour? Would it affect the biscuits in any way?
Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Esmy! You can, however, it will alter the taste and texture of your biscuits. They will be on the drier side, but should still taste delicious. 🙂
Katherine says
Delicious and easy to make! However I doubt that the calorie content listed (63 kcal) per biscuit is correct. Seems way off.
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so glad that you enjoyed them, Katherine! Thank you for bringing that error to my attention. I think that we all wish they would be only 63 kcal. I have since updated it. 🙂
jennifer keith says
Can you assemble ahead of time if you are waiting for something to come out of the oven or is it not a good idea to have it sit?
Sam says
Hi Jennifer! They can sit for a few minutes that would be fine. 🙂