Copycat Cheddar Bay Biscuits
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Recreate Red Lobster’s iconic Cheddar Bay biscuits in your own kitchen. Cheesy, garlicky, and herb-flecked, they’ve earned cult-favorite status for good reason. Quick to make and perfect with everything from weeknight dinners to Sunday brunch.
Red Lobster’s Cheddar Bay Biscuits are nothing short of legendary. Originally served to keep diners happy while they waited for their meals, the cheesy, garlicky biscuits quickly stole the show. This easy copycat recipe lets you recreate them at home—and if you hand one to anyone who’s ever been to Red Lobster, you’ll see that instant spark of recognition. That blend of cheddar, garlic, and herbs wrapped in a warm buttermilk biscuit is pure nostalgia.
Here’s a fun (and, yes, slightly disappointing!) tidbit: There’s no actual Cheddar Bay. It’s a clever marketing move by Red Lobster to give their biscuits a little coastal charm. Until 1993, they were simply known as “Cheese Garlic Bread.”
This recipe couldn’t be easier—it follows the drop biscuit method, meaning no rolling or shaping required, just quick scooping for those crave-worthy textured edges. And while these biscuits pair well with just about anything, given their name, it only feels right to serve them with seafood recipes.
“Oh so so good! I’ve tried other recipes but yours tops any. The aroma it sent throughout our home made it very hard to be patient while waiting for them to bake.”
What You’ll Need To Make Cheddar Bay Biscuits
- All-purpose flour: The base of the biscuits. For best results, scoop it into your measuring cup with a spoon and level it off with a knife.
- Cornstarch: Softens the flour’s protein a bit, making the biscuits extra tender.
- Baking powder & baking soda: Team up to help the biscuits rise nice and fluffy.
- Garlic powder: Adds that savory kick in both the biscuit dough and the buttery topping.
- Butter: Gives the biscuits their flaky texture and makes the topping rich and delicious.
- Cheddar cheese: Brings a bold, tangy flavor and melty richness—sharp cheddar is my go-to here.
- Buttermilk: Activates the leavening agent and makes the biscuits tender and flavorful. If you’ve got vinegar or lemon juice and milk, you can make your own buttermilk.
- Fresh parsley: Stirred into the topping for a pop of fresh, herby flavor.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Combine the dry ingredients and the butter. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and garlic powder and whisk to combine. Add the butter to the dry ingredients.
Pro Tip: Make sure your butter is straight from the fridge—cold butter creates steam pockets as it bakes, giving you fluffy, tender biscuits.
Step 2: Cut in the butter. Work the butter cubes in with a pastry cutter, two knives, or your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs with a few pea-size clumps.
Step 3: Add the cheese and buttermilk. Stir in the shredded cheese and buttermilk with a rubber spatula until you get a shaggy, sticky dough. If it seems too dry, add a splash more buttermilk. Be sure not to overmix—this can make the biscuits dense—a little shagginess is perfectly fine.
Step 4: Scoop the biscuit dough. Using two soup spoons, scoop 8 roughly peach-sized mounds (about 2½ inches wide) onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Leave them as-is—craggy edges are a good thing! (At this point, you can freeze the unbaked mounds in an airtight container for up to 3 months.)
Step 5: Bake the biscuits. Pop the baking sheet in a preheated oven and bake for 17 to 20 minutes, until the biscuits are lightly golden. Don’t worry if some of the cheese oozes out—that just means you’ll get crispy, cheesy edges!
Step 6: Make the garlic butter. While the biscuits bake, stir together melted butter, garlic powder, and chopped parsley in a small bowl.
Step 7: Brush and serve. Right when the biscuits come out of the oven, brush the tops generously with the garlic butter. (Brushing while they’re piping hot lets the butter soak in for maximum flavor.) Serve warm.
Serve warm for the best flavor and texture. Keep leftover biscuits in an airtight container at room temp for up to 2 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Perfect Pairings for Cheddar Bay Biscuits
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Cheddar Bay Biscuits
Ingredients
For the Biscuits
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch chunks
- 1 cup thickly shredded Cheddar cheese
- 1 cup buttermilk see note
For the Topping
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF (220°C) and set an oven rack in the middle position. Line a 13x18-inch (33x46-cm) baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and garlic powder. Add the butter and, using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse sand with a few pea-sized clumps of butter intact. (Alternatively, you can use your fingertips to rub the butter into the mixture.) Add the cheese and buttermilk and stir with a rubber spatula until the dough comes together into a shaggy, sticky mass. If the dough seems dry, add 1 to 2 tablespoons more buttermilk. Do not over-mix.
- Using two soup spoons, scoop 8 peach-size mounds, about 2½ inches (6 cm) in diameter, of the biscuit dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them evenly apart. Do not compact the mounds or try to make them smooth on top; they are meant to have an irregular shape. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, until the biscuits are lightly golden.
- Make the Topping: In a small bowl, whisk together the melted butter, garlic powder, and parsley. Brush the tops of the biscuits with the butter mixture and serve warm.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The unbaked biscuits can be stored in the freezer for up to three months. When you're ready to enjoy them, there's no need to thaw—simply bake them a bit longer than usual. If you've already baked some biscuits and have leftovers, let them cool before placing them in the freezer. When ready to enjoy, let thaw at room temperature and then reheat until warm in a 300°F (150°C)-oven.
- Note: If you’d like to make your own buttermilk instead of purchasing a whole carton, see my easy method for how to make buttermilk.
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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2 Things, can garlic juice be used instead of powder for those who don’t care for the powder? I like garlic powder but find it hard to incorporate into melted butter.
For me, how critical is parsley to the flavor of the butter garlic mixture? Most parsley to us id bitter or we can’t find any fresh with better flavor. Otherwise this recipe looks so good.
Hi Harriet, I think you could get away with using garlic juice here. And the parsley isn’t critical, so feel free to omit it.
One possible solution here Harriet…I roasted a couple heads of garlic and I used about one TBSP. of the garlic paste in the biscuit dough. You could also mix some of it into the melted butter, in lieu of the garlic powder. We love the flavor of roasted garlic so it worked for us. The biscuits were delicious (of course they were…they were made from a Jenn Segal recipe!!!) Just an option!
One of my go to’s is Penzeys roasted garlic powder. It blended easily with the butter and parsley although chopped freshly roasted garlic as an addition to the dough sounds devine.
I keep Penzy’s roasted garlic powder but never use it with melted butter, I have found garlic juice is better for my garlic toast.
A follow up, such a good biscuit. We paired with your tomato soup, best I’ve found. I will make double the number of biscuits, didn’t like the big biscuits but love the flavor.
These are amazing, and so easy — no rolling and cutting sticky biscuit dough, and they taste just like the ones at the restaurant!! I made them twice in four days — once in a two-bite version for a Halloween party (they went FAST!), and for my family as an accompaniment to chili (the three of us ate them all in less than a day). These will definitely be on the menu again soon!
I am a longtime follower, my family LOVES everything on your site. I want to make these but am allergic to cornstarch – is there a sub you’d suggest, or should I just leave it out?
Hi Clair, Glad your family likes the recipes! You can replace the cornstarch with more flour. The biscuits won’t be quite as tender, but they’ll still be delicious. Or if you have cake flour in the house, you can use that instead of the all-purpose.
Is there a way to use fresh garlic instead of powdered? The first time I made it I followed directions and really liked them. I usually prefer fresh garlic over powdered, so the next time I substituted 1 tbs confit garlic cloves, chopped/ mashed while cutting in the butter. I held the garlic in the melted butter, but it was still too much garlic flavor. The confit garlic was also a little overdone, with crunchy bits so I’m thinking that brought out too much of a bitter flavor. Thanks for another great recipe 🙂
Hi Tiffany, I think integrating fresh garlic evenly into the dough could be challenging, and its potent flavor might be a bit overpowering.
These were incredible! I made these with chili a few nights ago. I had intended to make your jalapeno cornbread recipe, but didn’t have cornmeal in the house! I had been thinking about these biscuits as soon as I read them in your newsletter and they did not disappoint! Thanks for another great recipe!
Wonderful recipe! I had my hubs grate the butter which made it even easier to prep.
Every recipe of your’s that I’ve tried had been the best. Thanks for sharing with us.
These were the best biscuits I have made. Thanks!
Hi Jenn,
Could self-rising flour be used instead of all-purpose flour? If so, what other adjustments would be needed? Thank you!
Hi Theresa, technically you could, but I wouldn’t recommend it as you’d need to make too many other adjustments to the recipe.
Okay. Thanks, Jenn!
Dear Jenn, I made these biscuits tonight and they were delicious. I made a total of 11 instead of 8, everybody love them. Easy and quick to make them.
Thanks for sharing.
QUESTION: The last step of the recipe – brushing the topping onto the biscuits: Do you do this BEFORE or AFTER putting them in the oven?!
Hi Hannah, you brush the topping on after they’ve been baked. Hope you enjoy!