Cheddar Biscuits

Name: Cheddar Biscuits
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 32 min
Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon sugar; 3/4 teaspoon table salt; 10 Tablespoons butter total (6 Tablespoons melted and 4 Tablespoons cold and grated); 4 oz. cheddar cheese, grated; 1 cup buttermilk or kefir (cold); 1-2 garlic clove, smashed or minced; 1 Tablespoon fresh parsley, minced

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Homemade Cheddar Biscuits, with their irresistibly cheesy and tender texture, are a delightful treat that are surprisingly simple to prepare.

Cheddar Biscuits with a garlic and parsley

There's nothing quite like the mouthwatering aroma of freshly-baked cheddar biscuits wafting through the kitchen. These irresistible little treats are the perfect combination of flaky, buttery goodness and rich, creamy cheddar cheese.

From all the different types of foods that are available, bread is one of the best examples of simplicity. There is a reason that the smell of homemade bread makes any home inviting and why so many restaurants serve bread as the start of the meal, as an introduction to something great. Biscuits are one of the quickest breads to prepare. The buttery, tender and flaky morsels are so satisfying.

Even though Cheddar Biscuits are SO easy to make, but you can't mess with it too much. The issues that most cooks run into when making biscuits is that they don't know when to leave well enough alone. The secret to flaky and tender biscuits is to have little bits of cold butter distributed throughout the dough that will melt and puff up the biscuits when they bake at a high temperature. If you melt the butter with your warm hands or well-intentioned kneading when mixing up the batter, what you end up with are no flakes, no tenderness, just hard, dense biscuits.

Another reason why this recipe is one of the best, is because it's a drop biscuit recipe, meaning you don't have to roll it out. You just mix up the batter, then scoop it out with a portion scoop and place it on the baking sheet. Biscuits are not only great to enjoy on their own, you can make sandwiches with them with deli or try chicken salad. I especially love them as breakfast sandwiches. Top a biscuit with a poached egg and it makes your breakfast so much more indulgent and satisfying.

Ingredients:

The complete list of ingredients and their exact measurements can be found in the recipe card below.

all-purpose flour
baking powder
baking soda
sugar
salt
cheddar cheese
- You can use other cheese that you like instead of the Cheddar OR in addition to the cheddar, such as Parmesan, Monterey Jack, Colby, etc.
buttermilk (cold)
- instead of the buttermilk, you can also use kefir
butter
garlic
parsley

Video of Cheddar Drop Biscuits

How to Make Cheddar Biscuits

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a large bowl until all the ingredients are evenly mixed.
Next, prepare the butter and liquid ingredients.
- Melt 6 Tablespoons of butter and cool slightly.
- Add 4 Tablespoons of butter to the cold buttermilk, mixing to combine.
Grate the remaining 4 Tablespoons of cold butter and then the cheddar cheese right into the dry ingredients, mixing, to coat them in the flour.
Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the buttermilk mixture and mix the batter quickly and gently, just until the batter is moistened and comes together.
- If there are streaks of flour still in the batter that is ok. That's it. Leave it alone. Don't over mix the batter.
Scoop out the dough and place onto the prepared baking sheet.
- You can use a portion scoop or a ¼ cup measuring cup to scoop out the biscuit dough.
- If you're using a measuring cup, spray it first with oil so the batter comes out easier.
Bake the biscuits in the preheated oven for 12-14 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the garlic parsley topping.
- Crush or mince the garlic and add it to the remaining 2 Tablespoons of melted butter. Add the parsley. Mix to combine.
When the biscuits are baked, brush the biscuits with the garlic parsley butter.
- I try to leave the minced garlic in the bottom of the ramekin of melted butter; I like the subtle flavor it gives the biscuits, but I don't like raw garlic on top of the biscuits. It's completely up to your preference.

How to make Cheddar Drop Biscuits tutorial

How to Store and Reheat Biscuits

Store the biscuits at room temperature, covered, for 1-2 days. For longer storage, keep them in the refrigerator.

If you have any biscuits leftover, you can reheat them in the oven, the microwave or the toaster and they will taste just as fresh as the day you baked them.

You can even freeze biscuits for up to 3 months.

Helpful Tips and Frequently Asked Questions

Use COLD butter and buttermilk.

If the butter is too warm, the biscuits will not be as tender and flaky, they will spread out more when baking and will be more dense.
When you pour the melted butter into the cold buttermilk, the butter will begin to look curdled. This will give you little clumps of butter that will be mixed in throughout the biscuit batter. This is such a cool trick to having easy, foolproof tender and flaky biscuits. The small clumps of butter will melt as the biscuits bake at a high temperature, creating little pockets in the biscuits.

Grate the cold butter into the dry ingredients.

More flavor variations

Add some chopped up ham or bacon to the biscuit batter. SO yummy!
Instead of the cheddar cheese, you can use so many other cheeses, such as Swiss, Gruyere, Jarlsberg, Monterey Jack, Colby Jack, etc.
You can also use other herbs, such as chives, thyme or rosemary.

Can you freeze Cheddar Biscuits?

Yes, they freeze very well. Place them in an airtight container, a freezer ziptop bag or vacuum sealed package and freeze for up to 3 months.
Thaw and reheat, if you'd like.

Tip for tender and flaky Cheddar Biscuits - use cold butter

What to Serve With Cheddar Biscuits

Any soup would be amazing served with biscuits. Here are a few of my favorites:

Make the biscuits into sandwiches. Cut them in half, add some ham and cheese, and it's so yummy. Smoked salmon sandwiches are so good too.

We love making breakfast sandwiches with biscuits.

English Muffin Breakfast Sandwiches (use biscuits instead of the English Muffins)
Poached Egg Breakfast Sandwich

Print Recipe

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5 from 2 reviews

Author: America's Test Kitchen
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 12 mins
Total Time: 32 mins
Yield: 12 biscuits
Category: Miscellaneous

Ingredients

Scale

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
¾ teaspoon table salt
10 Tablespoons butter total (6 Tablespoons melted and 4 Tablespoons cold and grated)
4 oz. cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup buttermilk or kefir (cold)
1-2 garlic clove, smashed or minced
1 Tablespoon fresh parsley, minced

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a large bowl until all the ingredients are evenly mixed.
Melt 6 Tablespoons of butter. Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, grate the cold butter (4 Tablespoons) and the cheese into the flour mixture, mixing together to coat the butter and cheese in the flour.
Add 4 Tablespoons of butter to the cold buttermilk. Mix to combine. The butter will congeal and you'll have flakes of cold butter in the buttermilk AND the flour.
Set aside the remaining 2 Tablespoons of butter, adding the garlic and parsley to it. This will be used to brush on the biscuits when they are baked.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the buttermilk mixture and mix the batter quickly and gently, just until the batter is moistened and comes together. If there are some streaks of flour still in the batter that is ok. Don't over mix the batter.
Now use a portion scoop or spray a ¼ cup measuring cup with oil and use it to scoop up and portion out the batter. The biscuits will slide right out onto the prepared baking sheet.
Bake the biscuits in the preheated oven for 12-14 minutes.
When the biscuits are baked, brush the biscuits with the garlic-parsley butter.

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