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:
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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.
Susana
Hi Sam! Is there any way that I could substitute 1/2 cup of whipping cream for the buttermilk?
Sam
Hi Susana! It will still come together. You will end up with a more tender dough but the flavor won’t be quite the same.
Susana
I just made these biscuits today and they’re absolutely fabulous! This will be my go-to for sure. Thank you, Sam for yet another great recipe. I’m always trying to find cookie recipes to use with leftover buttermilk. Any ideas?
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Susana! I’m not sure if I have any cookies that use buttermilk. 🙁
Judy
Sam, we have enjoyed these biscuits many times in recent years, both for the two of us, and when kids and grandkids visit. We agree – a cup of cheese is perfect! I love these for at least two reasons: easiest biscuit recipe ever, AND most delicious. The only time we don’t use this recipe is when we want a biscuit with jam or honey, and that’s not very often. Thank you for sharing this!
Marti
Easy and delicious!
Bruce
I made dinner for a friend who just got home from having back surgery. She requested broccoli cheddar soup and garlic cheddar biscuits, so, of course, I made Sam’s recipes for both. My cream was extra heavy, so the soup was very thick without pureeing any of it. These biscuits are about the easiest biscuits to make anywhere, and they are so good! We made them a little larger, so only got 7, and they were just the right size. I think they took 14 minutes, and were cooked perfectly.
Holly
Oh my. Cheesy, garlicky, biscuity heaven. I’m not a baker, and couldn’t be sure when my biscuits were cooked through and not stodgy. So, my second time making them I kept the cheddar at 1/2 cup, and they baked perfectly at 450 degrees 11 minutes. Thank you!
Brittany
These were excellent and soooo easy to make! I was looking around for something to make with our leftover lasagna (also an amazing recipe, thanks Sam!!) and these did not disappoint. They were so easy to make and very quick!! Will definately be making them again! 😀 YUMMY!
Renee
I’m baking them now. I just use bacon and cheese for a breakfast biscuits. We love them.
I have really enjoyed looking at your posts.
Ashley
I have made this recipe before, and my family loved it. I want to make them again, but the only milky liquid I have right now is heavy cream and am too sick to make a store run. Would that work in place of the buttermilk?
Sam
Oh no! I hope you get better soon, Ashley! A buttermilk substitute will work well here. 🙂
Sven
Great recipe, easy and scalable.
Marti
Awesome! Will definitely be making these again. So easy, too!
Honey A
These are a sugar spun homerun! Such amazing flavor and it was such a quick and easy recipe. I used crushed dried rosemary instead of parsley and it was a nice light addition to the salted garlic butter topping. I am so grateful to have found this recipe!
Elizabeth
Love !!! The recipe is perfect!! And I don’t know how to cook at all and my hubby and daughter loved it. Followed the recipe to the T. Great taste. Thank you!!
Tam
These are awesome!
Saniya Cockrell
I don’t leave comments on recipes often but these were so good!!! Even better than red lobster and super easy to make! I will definitely use some of your recipes in the future.
Jurnee Busch
I only have baking soda would that be ok?
Sam
Hi Jurnee! You really need the baking powder here too. 🙁