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. Instead of rolling and cutting, you simply drop spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet. They bake up into golden, craggy mounds with crisp edges (I think that’s the best part!). You can have them in the oven in about 15 minutes, perfect for busy weeknights or a cozy weekend 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
- Flour & Cornstarch: These form the base of the dough. The flour gives structure, while a bit of cornstarch keeps the biscuits tender and light.
- Leaveners (Baking Powder & Baking Soda): These work together to help the biscuits rise tall and fluffy.
- Sugar & Salt: A small amount of sugar balances the savory flavors, while salt enhances everything.
- Butter (Cold & Melted): Cold butter gets cut into the dough to create those irresistible flaky layers; melted butter brushed on top before baking adds flavor and a golden crust.
- Buttermilk: Adds moisture, tang, and a little lift from its reaction with the baking soda. (No buttermilk? You can make your own with milk and vinegar or lemon juice.)
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt until evenly combined.
Step 2: Cut in the butter. Add the cold butter—it’s key to light, flaky biscuits. Using a pastry cutter, cut it into the dry ingredients until the mixture looks like coarse sand with a few pea-sized bits of butter left. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, just use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour, working quickly so it doesn’t get too warm. The colder the butter stays, the flakier your biscuits will be.
Step 3: Add the buttermilk. Pour in the buttermilk and stir gently with a rubber spatula until the dough comes together into a shaggy, sticky mass. It should be moist enough to hold together but not overly wet. Try not to overmix—keeping a light hand here is the secret to soft, tender biscuits.
Step 4: Form the biscuits. Using two soup spoons, drop 8 peach-sized mounds of dough (about 2½ inches/6 cm wide) onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them evenly apart. Don’t pack the dough or smooth the tops—those rough, craggy edges are what make drop biscuits so wonderfully rustic (and extra crisp on the outside).
Step 5: Bake and brush with butter. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, until the biscuits are lightly golden. Brush the tops with melted butter before serving, if you like. They’re best warm from the oven, but if you have leftovers, just pop them back in for a few minutes to revive that fresh-baked goodness. Freeze any biscuits you don’t plan to serve right away.
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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!