Home » All Recipes » Breakfast » 5 Ingredient Easy Drop Biscuits
by Baker BettieJune 10, 2019
This easy drop biscuit recipe only requires 5 simple ingredients! In under 30 minutes you can have homemade drop biscuits on your table!
Drop Biscuit Overview
- Skill Level: Beginner
- Techniques Used: Cutting Fat into Flour
Drop biscuits are just like classic butter biscuits, except there is no rolling required. Just scoop out the dough onto a pan and bake! No mess, no fuss!
These biscuits can be made with buttermilk or regular milk and come together so quickly with ingredients you likely already have on hand. In less than 30 minutes, you can have homemade drop biscuits for dinner!
Drop Biscuits vs Traditional Biscuits
Drop biscuits are made with the same ingredients as traditional butter biscuits, just in different quantities. Traditional biscuits are usually fluffier and have a flakier texture, but there is a place for both in your repertoire!
I make drop biscuits by themselves as a side for dinner, or drop them over a casserole, or even a cobbler for dessert. You can eat them for breakfast with sausage gravy, to sop up your runny eggs, or simply with butter and jam. I can always find a use for them!
Ingredients in Drop Biscuits
- Flour:Use all-purpose flour for these for the main structure of the biscuit. Remember when measuring flour to lightly spoon the flour into the measuring cups and level the cup off with a knife. If you have a kitchen scale, that is the most accurate way to measure flour. (Note: you can also make self-rising flour drop biscuits)
- Baking Powder:Baking does most of the leavening in the biscuit. It gives the biscuit the rise and some fluffiness.
- Salt:Salt is really what gives some flavor to these biscuits. It also helps with browning a bit.
- Butter:Use cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces. You want the butter cold so that when it creates steam when it melts in the oven. This creates flakiness in the biscuits.
- Milk:Milk is our moisture. It brings everything together and you want it cold so that it doesn’t start to bring down the temp of the butter. You can use regular milk, buttermilk, or non-dairy milk for these biscuits.
That’s it! Now if you want a little bit of a sweeter biscuit you can add a few tabelspoons of sugar. You can also throw in some herbs or cheese or diced up jalapeno. the possibilities are endless!
How to Make Drop Biscuits
Drop biscuits, like traditional biscuits, utilize require very cold butter and milk to keep their flakiness. It is also extremely important not to over-mix the dough so the biscuits don’t get tough.
Step 1: Combine Dry Ingredients
Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. If you want to add any herbs or spices you would add those here.
Step 2: Cut in the Butter
Add the pieces of cold fat into the dry ingredients and and use a pastry cutter or fork to cut the butter through. You can opt to pulse this in a food processor if you like, however be careful not to over process.
Once the mixture is the texture of a coarse meal you are ready to move on to the next step. If you wanted to add in cheeses or other add-ins you would stir them in here before adding the milk.
Step 3: Add the Milk
Now its time to add the milk and stir until we get a thick dough. Start with part of the milk and stir until incorporated. Add more milk until a very thick dough forms.
Step 4: Scoop Dough
Use a large trigger scoop or a spoon to scoop large mounds of dough onto a baking sheet or into a greased cast iron skillet. You can make them as big or small as you like but I like really big biscuits.
Step 5: Bake!
Bake the biscuits until they are nice and golden brown. You can brush them with melted butter when they first come out of the oven if you like! A sprinkle of salt over the top would also be nice!
Yield: 8 Biscuits
Easy Drop Biscuits
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
This easy drop biscuit recipe only requires 5 simple ingredients! In under 30 minutes you can have homemade drop biscuits on your table!
Ingredients
- 2 cups(240 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon (14 grams) baking powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick, 113 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 3/4 cup-1 cup (175-240 mililiters) milk or buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 F (232 C).
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt together. If you want to add any herbs or spices you can add them here.
- Add the pieces of cold butter and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or fork until the consistency of coarse meal. If you want to add any cheeses or other add-ins you can stir them in here before adding the milk.
- Add 3/4 cup of the milk and stir just until combined. You can use any milk you like or buttermilk if you want a tangy flavor. If the batter is very dry, add a little more milk until the consistency of a very thick batter. Do not over-mix. The batter will be quite lumpy.
- Drop large mounds (about 1/4 cup each. I use a 2 oz scoop) onto a baking sheet. You can also use a cast iron skillet that has been greased with butter.
- Bake at 450 F (232 C) for 18-22 minutes until golden brown
- Brush with melted butter if desired.
Notes
- If you have self rising flour on hand you can substitute the ap flour, baking powder, and salt with 2 cups of self-rising flour.
- If you only have salted butter you can use that and leave out the additional salt in the recipe.
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Nutrition Information:
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 103
Breads Breakfast Savory Side Dishes
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Dragonfly —Reply
These are delicious!! I added ground rosemary, dried chives and dill and used almond milk and they turned out wonderfully.
Alicia Swegelaar —Reply
I tried out these biscuits and they were delicious
Lorraine —Reply
Made these tonight and they were a hit with the whole fam!!! Super easy and yummy! Will be using this recipe from now on. Best homemade biscuits!
Baker Bettie —Reply
Awesome! So glad everyone enjoyed them!
Kent —Reply
The temperature is wrong. I put the biscuits in for 18 minutes at 450 and they were nearly burnt. Did you mean 350?
Amy —Reply
Way to salty, we couldn’t eat them. Also didn’t bake them near as long as it said.
Miss —Reply
These are delicious! I would cut back on the salt but otherwise sooo good. I think temp and time are perfect if you are going the cast iron route. If on a baking sheet time and temp probably needs to be adjusted.
Michelle —Reply
Where I’d the garlic cheddar version ?
David —Reply
Just add minced garlic (fresh or from the jar) and cheese of your choice to your taste. Maybe start with 3 cloves and 1/2 cup sharp cheddar per batch of 6 biscuits. Adjust for your next batch until it’s where you’d like it.
L.P. —Reply
These were mostly good. A tad too salty and I had to turn my heat down 10 minutes in. Would make again with less salt, lower oven temp.
Mary —Reply
Delicious! And easy simple recipe. Made it with ingredients I always have on hand. I will be making these often.
Tatti —Reply
Wonderful recipe! I used buttermilk and I grated my frozen butter. I really enjoyed the results. I love using my cast iron for baking, it really helps things cook evenly
Baker Bettie —Reply
I enjoy using a cast iron with biscuits as well 🙂
Julie —Reply
Made these this morning and they were awesome.
Baker Bettie —Reply
Glad you enjoyed them!
Cheryl A Moran —Reply
Yummy! I dropped them on top of my chicken pot pie. I will definitely use this recipe to experiment with fresh herbs and cheeses!
Baker Bettie —Reply
Great idea for chicken pot pie!
Laticia 67 —Reply
My biscuits turned out great! I cut the salt down to a 1 tsp and used a baking sheet. Great recipe
Baker Bettie —Reply
thank you!
Shelly —Reply
These were perfect! 22 min at 450 in an electric oven on the middle rack using a cast iron skillet. I used a bit less salt. This is now my go to for quick biscuits. Thanks for the recipe!
Kevash P. —Reply
The biscuits came out good but I would adjust the amount of salt for the recipe 1 1/4 teaspoons is a little too much in my opinion. But this is a good beginners recipe.
Michelle Mcnulty —Reply
My drop biscuits was delicious and was envy by my family that lives out of state.
Baker Bettie —Reply
I’m so glad!
Lauren Lemley —Reply
Delicious!! What would you suggest the best way to reheat them is?? Thank you!
Baker Bettie —Reply
If they’ve already been baked, for an easy reheat I like to microwave for 15-20 seconds just to take the chill off. Or you can refresh in a 300F oven for about 5 minutes.
Fox —Reply
I think the temp you have listed is far too high, 450 F nearly burnt my biscuits to a crisp yes I followed the recipe and the time set an alarm but my fire alarm was set off before my timer..following a different recipe from now on
Baker Bettie —Reply
Hi, the temperature is correct. Baking biscuits at such a high heat helps the crust to set quickly so the biscuits rise up instead of spreading out. This also traps the butter inside the crust so it doesn’t ooze out of the biscuit while baking. Do you have an oven thermometer to test to see if your oven is a bit too hot? It’s super common for ovens to be a bit off. Also was there something in your oven that was burning off to set off the alarm?
doris root —Reply
made for the 2nd time i only used 1 teaspoon salt & shredded taco blend cheese best biscuit recipe ever
doris root —Reply
sorry i forgot post the temperature was just fine so was the time on baking them 🙂 i just made sure my cookie sheet was on middle shelf
Sharon —Reply
I have made these biscuits 4 or 5 times now, and they come out perfect every time! This is my go to for breakfast biscuits. Great recipe!
Angus —Reply
I was worried about the temperature. Every Oven is different as you correctly say.
I ended up pulling my first batch at around 16 minutes and they were done perfectly. On a baking sheet (which I used) I think 425 might be better. But next time I’m going to try the Cast iron. Thanks for ‘splaining about the high temp and what is being acheived. . I sprinkled everything bagel mix on the biscuits before baking, and added a mild savory twist.One other note. I only wanted 6 biscuits, and cut the recipe in half with no problems.
Tyanne —Reply
These were nothing short of amazing! So much flavor in every bite.
Miranda —Reply
This recipe is perfection! Used the cast iron method and with plant based butter and milk. You won’t be disappointed.
carolyn millsap —Reply
these were good i added garlic and cheese yum!
i should have cut back on the salt bc i used salted butter instead of unsalted but it didn’t even cross my mind also the oven was to hot and i didn’t realize till 18 min so some were burned but that is ok i also used a cookie sheet instead of a cast ironthank you for taking the time to write this recipe!
Stephanie Letassy —Reply
Hope you put somewhere down in your recipe that you cannot just use buttermilk you gotta add some baking soda to that mess lol hopefully made out of it I didn’t find it anywhere but it needs to be said
Christine Prince —Reply
Very delicious. The family loved them. quick and easy.
Mattie Harvey —Reply
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe, I truly believe these are the same biscuits my mother use to make, will definitely be trying soon especially since there are no good can biscuits out there.
Katrina —Reply
I’ve been using this recipe for awhile now. The biscuits are always delicious. Thank You for sharing
Lynn —Reply
I followed the recipe except I used half heavy whipping cream and half milk to equal 3/4 cup. Delicious!
Tara —Reply
450 degrees is way too high for this recipe. Fortunately I kept my eye on it and I only cooked them for 8 minutes or so. I still had a few that were kind of burnt on the bottom. Also I wish the comment about omitting the salt if you have salted butter was actually put into the recipe much earlier. If it was a note in the ingredients and measurement section, I could have made the adjustment.
Kate —Reply
So I’ve made these 4 times now and I’ve adjusted the recipe each time. Finally got the perfect batch. Maybe it’s just my oven. But I can’t bake these 450°. Best temp I found is 350°. They aren’t overcooked on the bottom and aren’t as dried out. Will definitely keep this recipe. They are a lovely texture and perfect for dipping into soups/stews/chili etc. also pretty yummy if you add in a tablespoon of johnnys garlic seasoning.
