Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

Crispy on the outside and fluffy throughout, these tender 3 ingredient Buttermilk Drop Biscuits are one of the tastiest and most useful ways to get dinner on the table in no time at all. A pan of these golden brown beauties takes less time to mix up than the oven takes to preheat.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m always going to happily dig into a basket full of my perfectly flaky, layered buttermilk biscuits. But sometimes I want a warm biscuit and my freezer is empty of pre-made biscuit dough rounds or I don’t feel like spending more than 5 minutes slapping something together. Enter buttermilk drop biscuits, stage right; no pastry cutter or biscuit cutter needed!

This easy buttermilk drop biscuits recipe helps you get a delightful dinner on the table in no time flat with no compromise in flavour. Of course, you can serve these tender biscuits with classic sausage gravy, but there are so many more options!

Got a slow-cooker full of beef stew or chicken and gravy but you need bread to sop up all the great sauce? Problem solved with homemade drop biscuits.

But you can also top and bake a casserole with drop biscuit dough for a fluffy biscuit topped, bubbling hot casserole that is going to make you keep coming back for more. Heck, you can turn about any saucy main dish into an incredible casserole by topping it with this drop biscuit dough.

Drop biscuits make an incredible base for strawberry shortcake. Just sprinkle the biscuits with a little raw sugar before baking!

Drop Buttermilk Biscuits

What is the difference between a drop biscuit and a traditional biscuit? In traditional biscuits, the fat is cut into the flour mixture until it resembles small pebbles, then the buttermilk mixture is carefully tossed in. The dough is turned out onto the counter and kneaded together very delicately then pressed out and cut into your desired shape before baking.

With this easy drop biscuit recipe, you whisk together your dry ingredients, gently stir in your wet ingredients, then it is scooped onto a pan and baked. Hey presto, that’s it!

This recipe has only a handful of simple ingredients, but believe it or not, you can still do a little substituting. Check the list:

3 Ingredient Drop Biscuits

1. Self Rising Flour (or all-purpose flour plus baking powder, baking soda, and salt)
2. Cultured Buttermilk
3. Fat

Let’s get some details covered. White Lily Self-Rising Flour is the all time ultimate for impossibly fluffy biscuits. I have made these with all-purpose flour and been quite happy with the results, but prefer White Lily for the most tender biscuit results.

If you are using all-purpose flour, you’ll need to add baking powder, baking soda, and salt to create that lofty puff you want in the biscuits. Instead of using 2 1/4 cups of self-rising flour, you’ll use 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 2

I found the results too heavy when I made the biscuits from wheat flour but have had success in using the King Arthur Baking Company’s one-for-one gluten-free flour. Additionally, I did not like the finished texture of the biscuits when they were made with high-gluten flour or Tipo “00” flour. They weren’t inedible, but they weren’t awesome either.

If you try other gluten-free blends or types of flour, you’re in uncharted territory! Please let me know what your results are if you mess around with something other than what I’ve mentioned.

Buttermilk Drop Biscuit Recipe

Cultured buttermilk for whatever reason draws some folks’ ire. It’s ridiculously easy to make your own, the catch is that you need some cultured buttermilk to make it.

The good news is that once you’ve done that, it’s like a perpetual motion machine as long as you keep culturing it. Don’t have cultured buttermilk and refuse to buy it? You can definitely do the old “add a tablespoon of cider vinegar or lemon juice to a cup and fill it the rest of the way with regular milk, then stir and let sit” trick. 

Here’s the thing, though. That will give you the acidity needed, but it doesn’t give you the amazing mouthfeel you get from using actual buttermilk in the 3 ingredient drop biscuits. 

If you think I’m full of it, please try a control experiment once where you make a batch with good old buttermilk and another batch with the acidified milk substitute. It does make a difference.

Whether it’s enough to make you keep buttermilk on hand is a matter of personal preference. For me, it definitely does make a big enough difference.

What kind of fat to use in your homemade buttermilk drop biscuits recipe

Here you have a couple of options. You can opt to use oil or melted butter. I have done both and love both with butter taking a slight edge because it’s just so darned tasty in everything.

When it comes to convenience, though, it’s hard to beat pouring a little oil in a measuring cup with the buttermilk. If you choose butter, you’ll need to melt it thoroughly first. 

Keeping that in mind, if you melt the butter, it may seize back up in cold buttermilk. That’s okay, but if it bothers you, you can get around it by using room temperature buttermilk.

You can make your buttermilk room temperature by gently microwaving it for a few seconds or by leaving out in a measuring cup with a paper towel over the top of the cup for 30 minutes before using it.

Cheese Drop Biscuits

You can gussy up this easy recipe, too! Add one cup of shredded cheese to the flour and toss it around before adding in the buttermilk and fat for divine cheese drop biscuits. 

Alternatively, you could stir in some dried or chopped fresh herbs to the flour to compliment or reflect the main dish. The possibilities are endless. 

For instance, you could add shredded cheddar and minced chives into the biscuits. Sprinkle a little Old Bay seasoning over the biscuits on the tray for an Red Lobster-esque biscuit. You could also use pepper jack cheese and chopped pickled onions in them.

Voila! You have a great accompaniment to Chorizo Chili, 5 Ingredient Taco Soup, or Pork Green Chili. 

Easy Drop Biscuits

The list of equipment you need for these easy drop biscuits is about as short as the ingredients list. You’re very likely to have everything you need on hand already.

1. Measuring Cups and Spoons
2. Large or Medium Bowl
3. Silicone or Rubber Spatula or Spoonula
4. Half Sheet Pan
5. Optional but Handy: Parchment Paper, and an ice cream scoop or large 3-tablespoon cookie scoop.

If you don’t have parchment handy, you can lay down a silicone baking mat on your sheet pan. Alternately, lightly spritz the pan with non-stick cooking spray. The finished biscuits will lift off of the prepared baking sheet as easily as can be.

Enough talk, though, right? Let’s get ready to butter some homemade biscuits!

Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

Preheat the oven to 475F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Measure the self-rising flour into a large bowl (or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt.) In a large measuring cup, mix together the  buttermilk and butter or oil.

Pour the buttermilk/fat mixture into the dry ingredients and mix gently until most dry spots have disappeared. The sticky dough will still have small clumps, but there should be no pockets of dry ingredients left.

Scoop by the quarter cup (or use a similarly sized cookie scoop or disher) about 2-3 inches apart on the prepared pan. Bake the biscuits for between 12-18 minutes or until they are golden brown and delicious. 

Allow the biscuits to rest on the pan for five minutes before serving or transferring them to a serving dish. These are best eaten the day they’re made, but I can think of worse things than eating one of these the day after it was baked.

You can also use the buttermilk drop biscuit dough to make this incredibly simple and crave-worthy Sausage Gravy Casserole. Breakfast just got exciting!

Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

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Rebecca Lindamood

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

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There is nothing fussy about these fluffy, buttery, golden brown buttermilk biscuits. No cutting in cold butter; just stir everything together and dollop on the pan!

Equipment

• 1 sheet pan
• 1 Parchment Paper or Silicone Baking Mat
• Measuring Cups and Spoons
• 1 mixing bowl
• 1 Silicone spatula

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 2 ¼ cups self-rising flour or 2 cups 8.5 ounces by weight all-purpose flour plus 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup melted butter or vegetable or canola oil
• 1 cup cultured buttermilk See notes for alternate choices

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 475F.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Measure the self-rising flour into a large bowl (or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.) In a large measuring cup, mix together the buttermilk and butter or oil.
• Pour the buttermilk/fat mixture into the dry ingredients and mix gently until most dry spots have disappeared. The sticky dough will still have small clumps, but there should be no pockets of dry ingredients left.
• Scoop by the quarter cup (or use a similarly sized cookie scoop or disher) about 2-3 inches apart on the prepared pan. Bake for between 12-18 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and delicious and they are set up.
• Allow the biscuits to rest on the pan for five minutes before serving or transferring them to a serving dish.These are best eaten the day they’re made, but I can think of worse things than eating one of these the day after it was baked.

Notes

If you do not have buttermilk, you can add 1 tablespoon of cider or white vinegar to a measuring cup and fill it up the rest of the way with milk. Stir it together briskly with a fork, then allow it to stand at room temperature for 10 minutes before using it.

Nutrition

Calories: 284kcalCarbohydrates: 36gProtein: 7gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0.4gCholesterol: 32mgSodium: 124mgPotassium: 104mgFiber: 1gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 382IUCalcium: 56mgIron: 0.4mg

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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