Drop Biscuits
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Rich and buttery drop biscuits are as simple as mix, drop, and bake.
Less fuss than traditional rolled and cut biscuits, drop biscuits are made by dropping spoonfuls of biscuit dough onto a baking sheet, giving them an irregular, craggy shape. You can have them in the oven in just 15 minutes—a godsend when you need a quick accompaniment to serve with dinner. They’re also heavenly for breakfast with butter and jam. This version is made with buttermilk, which gives the biscuits a lovely flavor. If you don’t have any buttermilk on hand, or don’t want to purchase a whole carton, it’s easy to make your own using milk and vinegar or lemon juice.
What You’ll Need To Make Drop Biscuits
The best biscuits are made in the South using White Lily flour, a low-protein brand of flour primarily available in the southern U.S. states that makes for very tender biscuits. I can’t find White Lily flour where I live, so I cut all-purpose flour with a bit cornstarch to get a similar effect.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425ºF and set an oven rack in the middle position. Line a 13×18-inch baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt.
Add the butter. 
Using a pastry cutter, 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 ¾ cup of the buttermilk and stir with a rubber spatula until the dough comes together into a shaggy, sticky mass.
Add the remaining ¼ cup buttermilk, a little at a time, until the dough is moistened (you may not need all of it). Do not over-mix.
Using two soup spoons, scoop 8 peach-size mounds (about 2½ inches/6cm in diameter) of the biscuit dough onto the prepared baking sheets, 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.
Brush the biscuits with melted butter before serving, if you like.
The biscuits are best served warm out of the oven (though a few minutes in the oven will revive slightly older biscuits). Once cool, freeze any biscuits you don’t plan to serve right away. The biscuits can be frozen, unbaked, for up to 3 months. Bake without thawing, but allow a few extra minutes in the oven.
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Drop Biscuits
Rich and buttery drop biscuits are as simple as mix, drop, and bake.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1¼ teaspoons salt
- 11 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch chunks
- ¾ to 1 cup buttermilk, as necessary (or make your own)
- Melted butter, for brushing baked biscuits (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF and set an oven rack in the middle position. Line a 13x18-inch baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Add the butter and, using a pastry cutter, 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 ¾ cup of the buttermilk and stir with a rubber spatula until the dough comes together into a shaggy, sticky mass. Add the remaining ¼ cup buttermilk, a little at a time, until the dough is moistened (you may not need all of it). Do not over-mix.
- Using two soup spoons, scoop 8 peach-size mounds (about 2½ inches) of the biscuit dough onto the prepared baking sheets, 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. Brush the biscuits with melted butter, if you like. The biscuits are best served warm out of the oven (though a few minutes in the oven will revive slightly older biscuits). Once cool, freeze any biscuits you don't plan to serve right away.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The biscuits can be frozen, unbaked, for up to 3 months. Bake without thawing, but allow a few extra minutes in the oven.
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 1 biscuit
- Calories: 272
- Fat: 16 g
- Saturated fat: 10 g
- Carbohydrates: 28 g
- Sugar: 2 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Sodium: 172 mg
- Cholesterol: 42 mg
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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Absolutely delicious! Will be making these again!
Excellent biscuits!!! Whole family loved these! Thank you for another winner! 😍
Fantastic. Easy and delicious. I served with honey butter and my family went wild.
Delicious and SO EASY! I whipped these up in no time before dinner and they were perfect. The Hubbs loved them and the left overs were perfect for breakfast (heated up for a few seconds with some jam). Thanks Jenn for another stellar recipe!
Delicious , light, and flaky!!!! A great accompaniment to your beef stew with carrots.
These are delicious! However I made them to take a friends and found out that she can’t have salt! How would they bake up without salt?
Hi Shelagh, they’d bake up just fine without the salt, but would definitely lack in flavor.
These are the very best drop baking powder biscuits…….EVER. Easy to make and absolutely delicious- crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. If you have any left, they are wonderful cut in half and toasted for breakfast or lunch.
These were perfect. Light, delicious and a triumph for a first-time biscuit maker. Highly recommend as a fun/comfy variation to potatoes or rice as a starch. I made them to accompany Jenn’s pecan encrusted salmon and they were both delicious.
Another family hit! They were crisp on the outside and pillow soft on the inside. I will definitely be making these again. Everyone ate two and probably wanted more, especially the main dish was a vegetarian soup. Sure, it was hearty but it wasn’t biscuits!
These were the best biscuits I’ve ever had! I mistakenly added 2 1/2 Tbls powdered buttermilk to the recipe along with the buttermilk, best mistake of my life lol thanks for another amazing recipe Jenn.
Great tasting and simple to make. I used a fork to mash the butter into the mixture since I didn’t have a pastry cutter. I think I could eat all 8 of them myself.
Hi Jenn,
I’d love to make these biscuits for my Thanksgiving dinner but I don’t have buttermilk. Can I substitute with milk? Thanks so much!
Linda
Hi Linda, I would suggest making your own buttermilk – it’s super easy with milk and vinegar/lemon juice.
These biscuits are phenomenal! Made them this morning and they taste better than anything store bought. We had them for breakfast and they were a hit
I just made these and they were wonderful. It would be nice to have a few savory variations – such as cheddar cheese and chives.
Glad you enjoyed! I will work on a few variations. Meanwhile, you could add 1 cup shredded cheddar and 1 tablespoon fresh chopped chives; just reduce the salt to 1 teaspoon.