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 ½ 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 ¼ 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:
Let’s bake together! Head on over to my YouTube channel where I’ve already uploaded over 200 recipe videos that you can watch for free!
Garlic Cheese Drop Biscuits
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ cup (118 ml) buttermilk
- ½-1 cup (55-110 g) sharp shredded cheddar cheese use a thick shred, not finely shredded
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.4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and garlic powder.1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon 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).½ cup (118 ml) buttermilk
- Pour buttermilk mixture into flour mixture and stir until just-combined.
- Use a spoon or spatula to gently stir cheese into batter until incorporated.½-1 cup (55-110 g) sharp shredded cheddar cheese
- 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.2 Tablespoons salted butter, ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon 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
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Michael Andrews
Loved this. Just as good as Red Lobster biscuits
Michael Andrews
I didn’t have buttermilk either. I just used regular milk. They were just fine.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Michael! 🙂
Helen
Great quick and easy. Didn’t have butter milk so I just used regular milk. (too lazy to make) Everyone loved them. Can’t screw the recipe up/
Mary Ann
In the recipe it states to only use all purpose flour and no other flours. I am gluten free and would need to use some sort of gluten free flour. I’m going to try experimenting with some and will let you know how they turn out. I can’t wait to try it out!
Sam
I can’t wait to hear how they turn out! 🙂
Laura
I don’t often write recipe reviews, but everyone in my family just loves these! I use mozzarella because my dad doesn’t like cheddar and the mild flavour really compliments the garlic. They’re super easy to make (I’ve made them 4 times already), pair with tons of dishes, and are nice and light without having to put in the extra work to cut the butter into the flour (like in many biscuit recipes).
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe, Sam!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Laura! 🙂
Nancy Haro
These biscuits are amazing! 5 stars! Super easy and super fast to make!
I made these quickly for thanksgiving, I just doubled the recipe and made about 20 biscuits. They were a hit and were gone in no time! Also, perfect with the turkey and tri-tip!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Nancy! 🙂
Charae Littleton
BTW… I am in love with your recipes. I’ve tried 11 so far and every one was the BOMB!!! Thank you so much.
Sugar Spun Run
You are the sweetest! Thank you, Charae! I am so glad that you have enjoyed them! 🙂
Charae Littleton
I have a large Thanksgiving dinner coming up…approx 80 people. I want to make these but was wondering if I could freeze the dropped batter and then bake from frozen as needed?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Charae! Yes, you can! They may need an additional min or two to bake all the way through so you’ll want to keep an eye on them. I hope that they are a hit! 🙂
Denise
Does it have to be buttermilk or can I use 2%?
Sam
Hi Denise! You will want to use buttermilk here. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can make my buttermilk substitute using that 2% milk. 🙂
Davs
Came out great everyone loved them, fluffy and flavourful … I did all the same except I added some chives… it’s so easy it’s dangerous as I want to make every day 😳
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Deirdre
Delicious. Made these today
My family loved em.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Deirdre! 🙂
Teresa Spindler
These were amazing…I halved the recipe for the two of us. Perfect! And Sooo Good!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Teresa! 🙂
Anne
These were delicious! I didn’t have enough Cheese to make more than a half cup but it worked fine. This is fourth recipe I’ve made from your site and all are excellent. Thank you.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Anne! I am happy to hear you’ve been enjoying everything. I can’t wait to hear what you bake next. 🙂
Ann Lachapelle
Definately going to try them.
Sam
I hope you love them, Ann! 🙂
Debra Power
These are the best biscuits ever! I’m hooked! Seriously, these are main dish biscuits, and will be the highlight of any meal! Delicious! Wish I could post a pic. They turned out beautifully!
Sam
Yay! So happy to hear they were such a hit, Debra! Thank you so much for commenting, I appreciate it!
Monica
Hi i wonder if We could lower the temperature and give it an extra time to bake? What would you recommend? Because my oven temperature max at 200 C
Sam
Hi Monica! Yes that should be fine, I’m not sure exactly how long it will take at 200C so I would just keep an eye on them and watch for them to turn a light golden brown. Enjoy!