Drop Biscuits
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Craving warm, buttery biscuits in a flash? Drop biscuits are quick, easy, and packed with rich flavor—wonderful fresh from the oven!
Drop biscuits are less fussy than traditional rolled and cut buttermilk biscuits, but just as delicious. Made by dropping spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet, they form irregular, craggy shapes. Some might even argue that those crusty edges are the best part! You can have them in the oven in just 15 minutes—a lifesaver when you need a quick side for dinner. They’re also perfect for breakfast with butter and jam.
In the South, biscuits are often made with White Lily flour, a low-protein brand that makes biscuits extra tender. Since I can’t find White Lily where I live, I mimic its texture by blending all-purpose flour with a little cornstarch—this simple trick gives them that same melt-in-your-mouth tenderness.
“Best biscuits EVER! Fluffy yet crispy. Enough said!”
What You’ll Need To Make Drop Biscuits
- All-purpose flour: Provides the base structure for the biscuits.
- Cornstarch: Helps to tenderize the biscuits and adds a lightness to the texture.
- Baking powder and baking soda: Leavening agents that help the biscuits rise and become fluffy.
- Sugar: Adds a touch of sweetness to complement the savory flavors.
- Salt: Enhances the overall flavor of the biscuits.
- Cold butter: Adds richness and helps create a flaky texture when combined with the flour.
- Buttermilk: Adds moisture and tanginess to the biscuits, and reacts with the baking soda to help them rise. If you don’t have any on hand, or don’t want to purchase a whole carton, see my post on how to make buttermilk using milk and vinegar or lemon juice.
- Melted butter: Brushed on top of the biscuits before baking to create a golden-brown crust and add flavor.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425ºF and set the rack in the middle. Line a 13×18-inch baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt until evenly combined.
Add the cubed butter to the dry ingredients. It’s important that the butter is cold because it creates pockets of steam when baked, which results in flaky, tender biscuits.
Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture looks like coarse sand with a few pea-sized clumps of butter still intact. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, you can use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour mixture—just be careful not to warm it up too much. The colder the butter stays, the flakier your biscuits will be!
Gradually add the buttermilk and stir with a rubber spatula until the dough comes together into a shaggy, sticky mass. It should be moistened enough to work with, but not too wet. Be careful not to over-mix—this helps keep the biscuits light and tender.
Using two soup spoons, scoop 8 peach-sized mounds (about 2½ inches/6cm in diameter) of the biscuit dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them evenly apart. Don’t compact the mounds or smooth the tops—keep them irregular, as that’s what gives them their charming, craggy 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 right out of the oven, but if you have leftovers, a few minutes in the oven will bring them back to life.
Once they’ve cooled, freeze any biscuits you don’t plan to serve right away. You can also freeze them unbaked for up to 3 months—just bake from frozen and add a few extra minutes to the cooking time.
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Drop Biscuits
Drop biscuits are as simple as mix, drop, and bake! Enjoy them warm from the oven in all their rich, buttery goodness.
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. If unbaked prior to freezing, put the biscuits on a baking sheet, pop them in the freezer for about an hour or until they are no longer tacky, and then put then in a resealable freezer bag. 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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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.
Try Jen’s Cheddar Bay Biscuits – my family loves them!