Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

By Maria Lichty

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Quick Summary

Drop Biscuits-buttery, tender, flaky, biscuits that are incredibly easy to make. These homemade biscuits can be made in about 25 minutes and go great with any meal!

Buttermilk Drop Biscuits in bowl with towel and jar of jam.

Easy Drop Biscuit Recipe

You can’t beat a warm, homemade biscuit, especially when that it is dripping with butter and jam. YUM!

I don’t like slaving over making homemade biscuits though. That is why we LOVE this easy Drop Biscuit recipe. We have been making this recipe for years.

If you are intimidated by making biscuits, you don’t have to worry with this recipe. There is no rolling, folding, or cutting involved. That is the joy of drop biscuits. They are SO easy to make and turn out perfect every single time.

And I promise these easy biscuits are just as good as time intensive biscuits because magic happens when you combine the cold buttermilk with melted butter. The small clumps of butter make the biscuits flaky and tender when baked in a super-hot oven. These biscuits are heavenly!

Buttermilk Drop Biscuits on plate with honey being drizzled over the top.

Ingredients

You only need seven basic ingredients! We always have these ingredients on hand, another reason we love this recipe so much!

  • All-purpose flour-Make sure you don’t pack your flour when measuring. Scoop and level the flour. I have also made the biscuits with white whole wheat flour and kamut flour and they turned out great! I am sure you could use all-purpose gluten-free flour too. I like Cup4Cup.
  • Baking powder and baking soda-You need baking powder and baking soda for this recipe. Check the expiration dates to make sure they are fresh.
  • Sugar-You need granulated sugar to sweeten the biscuits a little.
  • Salt-Don’t forget the salt. I like to use kosher salt.
  • Buttermilk-Make sure you use COLD buttermilk. This is important for the butter to clump up when you combine the buttermilk and butter. Keep your buttermilk in the fridge until you are ready to use. You can also use homemade kefir to make these biscuits.
  • Butter-Use melted unsalted butter. If you only have salted butter, you can use it, just reduce the salt in the recipe.
buttermilk biscuits on plate with jar of jam and honey.

How to Make Drop Biscuits

Let’s get this biscuit party started!!

  • Preheat the oven to 475°F. Yes, you do need the oven at a very high temperature. I promise the biscuits won’t burn. Line a large baking sheet with a Silpat baking mat or parchment paper and set aside.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.  
  • In a medium bowl, combine cold buttermilk and the slightly cooled melted butter. Stir with a spatula until combined and small clumps form. You want the mixture to be lumpy because those little butter clumps will create flaky, buttery biscuits. That’s the secret to these buttermilk biscuits!
  • Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just combined and the biscuit batter pulls away from sides of bowl. Don’t over mix!
  • Grease a 1/4-cup dry measuring cup. Fill the cup with biscuit batter and drop the batter onto the prepared baking sheet. The biscuit shape doesn’t have to be perfect, that is the joy of a drop biscuit. Repeat with remaining batter. You will get 12 biscuits. If you want to make the biscuits a little larger, you can. This recipe is very flexible. Sometimes we make 8 large biscuits, but usually 12. Make sure the biscuits are spaced out on the pan. They will spread a little.
  • Place the baking sheet in the oven, on the middle rack, and bake until the biscuit tops are golden brown, about 12 to 14 minutes.
  • Transfer biscuits to wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes.

Biscuit Toppings

A warm biscuit is good by itself, but if you want to jazz things up, here are a few of our favorite biscuit toppings:

  • Butter-you can never have too much butter! We like to spread a little or a lot of salted butter onto the warm biscuits:)
  • Honey-you can’t go wrong with a drizzle of honey!
  • Jam-spread your favorite jam onto the biscuits.
  • Nut butter-I like peanut butter or almond butter on my biscuits. Is that weird? I don’t think so. Especially when you do peanut butter AND honey!
  • Gravy-make a meal out of the biscuits and make biscuits and gravy!

What to Serve with Biscuits

Biscuits are great anytime of the day. Enjoy for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or as a snack! They also make a great side dish to the following:

How to Store

The biscuits are best the day they are made. You can’t beat a biscuit right out of the oven! If you happen to have leftovers, you can store them in an air tight container on the counter for up to 2 days.

You can also freeze the biscuits. Let them cool and then place in a freezer container or bag and freeze for up to 2 months.

More Biscuit Recipes:

Drop Biscuits cut in half with blueberry jam and honey on plate.
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Drop Biscuits

Drop Biscuits-buttery, tender, flaky, biscuits that are incredibly easy to make. These homemade biscuits can be made in about 25 minutes and go great with any meal!
4.76 from 118 votes

Ingredients
  

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 475°F. Line a large baking sheet with a Silpat baking mat or parchment paper. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, combine cold buttermilk and the slightly cooled melted butter. Stir with a spatula until combined and small clumps form. It is ok if the mixture is lumpy.
  • Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just combined and the biscuit batter pulls away from sides of bowl.
  • Grease a ¼-cup dry measuring cup. Fill the cup with biscuit batter and drop the batter onto the prepared baking sheet. The biscuit shape doesn’t have to be perfect, that is the joy of a drop biscuit. The biscuits should measure about 2 ¼ inches in diameter and 1 ¼ inches high. Repeat with remaining batter, spacing biscuits about 1 ½ inches apart.
  • Place the baking sheet in the oven, on the middle rack, and bake until the biscuit tops are golden brown, about 12 to 14 minutes.
  • Transfer biscuits to wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Serve with butter, jam, and/or honey.

Notes

Recipe from Cooks Illustrated 

Nutrition

Calories: 158kcal, Carbohydrates: 18g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 9g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 23mg, Sodium: 214mg, Potassium: 117mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 1g, Vitamin A: 269IU, Calcium: 57mg, Iron: 1mg
Keywords biscuits, buttermilk

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Maria

I'm Maria and my husband is Josh. We share a love of cooking, baking, and entertaining. We enjoy creating recipes that are simple, fresh, and family friendly. We love sitting around the table with good food, good conversation, and good friends and family! Our kitchen is always open!
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Comments

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  1. Tell Joshua how lucky he is having a wife who enjoys trying new recipes!!
    Biscuits look delicious! 😀

  2. Drop biscuits=fab! Love the idea of having homemade bread products with out tons of work! They look great.

    Sorry about belly- will email you later today 🙁

  3. My husband says the same thing although I definitely don’t cook as much as you do.

    But I agree with Balance, Joy and Delicias, Joshua is lucky to have a wife who likes to cook!

  4. OH MY GOSH>> This is totally ME talking!! I never make the same thing twice.. hardly ever! How funny. Maybe us food bloggers are all alike?

    These sound yummy!

  5. Thanks everyone! Josh is a good sport, but sometimes he just wants his favorite cookies, etc:)

    RecipeGirl-Glad you do the same thing. I just love trying new recipes!

  6. Did you drizzle those with honey?? I just learned the wonders of biscuits and honey! Yours look so delicious!!! I think I may make them this weekend!

  7. Oh yum! I love honey on my biscuits. What a divine idea! And these biscuits look totally awesome; I can’t wait to try out the recipe!

  8. Teanna-Yes, honey is a must with biscuits! I hope you try them!

    Elyse-I hope you enjoy them. Thanks again for all of your help!

  9. Wow the crust on those biscuits look fantastic Maria! the thing I love about biscuits is that they dont take too much time to bake 🙂

  10. My hubby gets fussy at times too and wants boring same old same old, but at least your Josh likes way more new things than mine!
    I love buttermillk biscuits with some sausage gravy…Mmm

  11. All I want is some FRIED CHICKEN! I gotta get my chicken on!

    I love Maria’s cooking and am very grateful for all of her Yummy food!

  12. What great looking biscuits. I love the honey drizzled on top picture, it looks great! Josh should feel very blessed to have such a great wife, Im sure he does!

  13. I can only try something new about once a week. Ben’s a creature of comfort! So am I, honestly. But I get so excited at people’s creations I can’t help myself!

  14. They look awesome – love buttermilk biscuits!
    Hubby has the same complaint – he rarely if ever gets repeats. Oh well!

  15. I LOVE biscuits!! These look fabulous. And the honey is such a nice touch! I used to dip Hardees biscuits in honey when I was little! 😀

  16. I love buttermilk biscuits warm and dripping with one (just like your picture). Testing recipes is so fun!

  17. OK, this one is on my list to make this weekend. I will alter an few things and let you know how it goes. By the way, new contest involving PEEPS on my blog. This one shold excite your hubby and lil one.

  18. I love biscuits but I am scared of them. I can eat too many and they go right to my hips. Thanks for the answer on the book, I will do that this weekend!

    And I am like you, I love to keep making new things and I let out a groan when hubs wants something I have already made. Hah, poor boys.

  19. Ha ha, I am like you in wanting to continue to try new recipes, but I do crave some of the tried and true now and again. I know hubby sure does as well. These biscuits would easily become a favorite. They look wonderful!

  20. my goodness- your biscuits look flawless. wow. now i want to bake some biscuits for my family 😀

    what a lucky hubby!

  21. These look very tasty, my hubby LOVES his biscuits, I should definitely make these for him. I know what you mean about never making the same thing. I rarely make the same thing twice, there are too many things to try out there!

  22. YOu guys are just like me and Sir Pickypants. I’m always looking for novelty and he would just like something tried and true and simple.

    I love making drop bisuits because they are way less intimidating than rolled. I’m always afraid of overworking rolled biscuits. Drop biscuits give you a lot more room for error. Maybe the consistency isn’t quite the same, but that’s okay. They still taste good.

  23. Hey! I was just thinking about this CI recipe! I love biscuits but haven’t made them in a while. They have another cut biscuit that uses a different technique that I love. The CI magazine that I recently bought has this drop biscuit recipe and so many others I want to try! Your biscuits look fantastic!

  24. These biscuits look delicious – especially the first picture with the honey drizzled on top! I love that they are quick to make also.

  25. oh, the rusticity of it all. (i think i just made a new word.) great biscuits–the perfect vehicle for jelly, honey, what-have-you.

  26. I know what you mean, my hubby like to have his old faves as well as try the newcomers.

    These biscuits look lovely.

  27. You sure stepped Buttermilk biscuits up to a whole new level, eh? You are doing such fabulous work in the kitchen darling, you really are talented.

  28. We were lucky enough to have Jen and Blake from Hell’s Backbone Grill prepare their biscuits in our kitchen at Kimball. They are a true favorite!
    Since we have unused buttermilk in the fridge, I may make a batch as a treat before teaching my class this evening.

  29. I was going to say that I’d seen this recipe and wanted to try it…but I was distracted by those banana cupcakes. I love Nutella!

  30. Mmmm I love biscuits. I’ll have to save these 3 recipes. 😉 And I love that these ones are drop biscuits. I hate when you have to try and roll out the dough because I’m paranoid about overworking it.

  31. Trying these tonight with the corn chowder (veganized!). My husband always asks why we can’t have meals more than once too. Truth of the matter is I usually forget which ones he really liked! I need to start making a list!

  32. I don’t know if I already wrote a comment on this recipe?? If yes, the result is so good I have to do it again!!!
    MY husband served the biscuits with his chili yesterday, was the 2nd time we made this recipe, and they were even better than the first time. This recipe is a winner!!! Thanks a lot! 🙂

  33. I’ve always wanted to try making biscuits but have been afraid to try. This recipe was extremely easy and the results were spectacular! Not one biscuit was left. Thanks for posting.

  34. I make these all the time! Love them! Been following you for over 10 years! Thanks for all you do.
    Amber- Nashville
    @ambercarlsonrealtor on instagram

  35. 5 stars
    These are the BEST biscuits I have ever made! They were easy and and fast to make. I am letting everyone know about this recipe.

    Thanks for making my life easy 🙂

    1. You can make buttermilk. 1 cup of milk and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar. Let sit for 15 to 30 minutes.

  36. 5 stars
    These turned out great! I don’t usually have buttermilk on hand, but adding white vinegar to milk worked well. I could only fit 9 on my baking sheet, so I made them a bit bigger. So easy and delicious.

  37. 5 stars
    Delicious biscuits! So easy to make! I used leftover ham and we had ham and cheese biscuits. During this quarantine, I’ve been cooking a lot and your recipes don’t disappoint. Thank you!

    1. I have been unable to find all purpose flour. Would I be able to make drop biscuits with white whole wheat flour? It’s the only flour I have right now.

  38. 5 stars
    These are the EASIEST and best biscuits I’ve had in a long time. I stuck the buttermilk in the freezer as I prepared the dry ingredients, and it made the melted butter congeal into perfect little blobs. I don’t see a reason to use any other recipe.

  39. 5 stars
    I just made your drop buttermilk biscuits, wow !!! I have been looking for a recipe like this that I did not have to roll out and these are now my recipe to use. Thank you so much, am going to look for soup recipes next. I will use your site from now on when I want something special.
    Rosie
    Rhoda8ty@gmail.com

  40. Just baked these and served with butter and homemade strawberry jam. Delicious! Definitely a keeper.

  41. 5 stars
    Perfection! These biscuits were soft, flaky, & buttery. So easy to make with no crazy ingredients. Will definitely have to replace my “go to” biscuit recipe with these! Thank you!

  42. 5 stars
    These are my go-to biscuit recipe and especially since we have been sheltering at home they have been a source of comfort!

  43. Really good, and very easy. This would be a great recipe to teach kids. Fast and fun and delightful.

  44. 5 stars
    If I am using self-rising flour instead of all purpose flour, should I omit baking soda, baking powder and salt or if not, which should I still use? I made it once, love the biscuits, just wish they where a little taller. Would putting one of these ingredients back in do the trick?

  45. 4 stars
    After reading an article about how you can substitute greek yogurt for buttermilk, I decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, I only skimmed it and completely missed the part about thinning it out so that you can get the right consistency. I ended up with a very dry shaggy dough, to which I added a splash of water and a little more yogurt – and kneaded it together just til it held. Then I just ripped off pieces into what appeared to be 1/4 cup size pieces and dropped them onto the sheet. I thought for SURE I had overworked the batter but even still – they were tender and delicious.

  46. How clever to use the buttermilk to glob melted butter into little chunks, far better than using two knives or a pastry cutter on cold butter!

  47. 5 stars
    FINALLY a fool-proof biscuit winner! Fantastic crumb, fluffy fluffy fluffy, great flavor. This is my new go-to for biscuits. Thank you!!

  48. 5 stars
    Love these recipes I will be using a lot of them thanks so much.

  49. 5 stars
    Made these tonight. Delicious! Was looking for an easy biscuit recipe. Topped with melted butter out of the oven!

  50. 5 stars
    My husband says “they’re just like Grandma’s” – which is shocking to me because this was so easy! I have two small boys and while I love to cook, I don’t have the time to make traditional biscuits. Now I can throw together biscuits anytime I want!

  51. 5 stars
    I will never roll out and cut biscuits again! These buttermilk drop biscuits are amazing. I whipped these up with only 30 minutes until dinner. They are so easy to make and come out crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Everyone raved about them. I’m going to share this recipe with everyone I know because it’s absolute perfection.

  52. 5 stars
    Delicious! I’m a southern girl and confess I prefer my dad’s 3 ingredient biscuits for breakfast (just SR flour, shortening and milk!), but these were perfect dinner biscuits. I will definitely make them again. 🙂

  53. 5 stars
    WOW!!!!! These are super easy to make and they taste awesome.
    Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Thank you for sharing.

  54. 5 stars
    OMG Maria these were amazing and SO easy to make! I made these tonight with a turkey chili, they were a perfect pair .
    I have made several dishes of yours. Thank you for sharing your recipes with us, we are huge fans!

  55. 5 stars
    These biscuits are amazing. After they were baked i melted some butter and added salt, pepper, garlic and parsley and brushed it on while they were hot straight out of the oven and it was amazing!. Ive also mixed shredded cheddar cheese in the batter and they came out so good. These biscuits are so versatile! Its my go to now.

  56. 5 stars
    Came out so good! I cut my cold butter in and used plain yogurt instead of buttermilk because it’s just what I had. They were so fluffy inside with a nice crunch on the outside. Delicious! Thank you!

  57. I made these for my wife on Mother’s Day, today. She thought I bought them at some restaurant. Very easy and good. I took some melted butter at the end of the cooking time giving each a nice little blanket of goodness. Bravo.
    The dad cook

  58. This is now my go-to biscuit recipe for ALL biscuits! I’ve made them savory adding cheese and brushing them with melted butter mixed with parsley and garlic powder. I’ve made them shortcakes adding sugar and mini chocolate chips – heaven with strawberries. Experiment with what you like 🙂

  59. 5 stars
    So incredibly easy and delish. I bet they would have been better had I not forgotten the salt but still really good!!
    Keeper for sure!!

    1. And I just realized I forgot the baking soda and they still turned out fantastic!!! Talk about a fool proof recipe!! I need another cup of coffee!!!

  60. 5 stars
    I’ve always made drop biscuits. This will be my go to recipe from now on. Easy, fast and so good. My 7 year old granddaughter. gives it a thumbs up.

  61. 5 stars
    Absolutely the BEST biscuits I’ve ever made (and I’ve been cooking for more than 50 years — folks tell me I’m quite good). So…a hearty beef stew with these big, fluffy biscuits on-the-side? Heaven! And if there are any leftover in the morning, these biscuits with butter and jam make the perfect breakfast.

  62. 4 stars
    These are easy to make and delicious. I cook sausage patties and put them on the biscuits. Then I wrap each individual biscuit and freeze in a freezer bag. Then wrap in paper towel and heat in the microwave for a quick breakfast on the go. Very
    yummy.

  63. These were so delicious but fell apart when I cut them. Thinking I should have let them cook a little longer?

  64. 5 stars
    These biscuits are AMAZING!!! I make a batch just-for-me, sit down with butter and make a meal of these. Thanks so much for a great recipe!

  65. 5 stars
    I don’t say this often when it comes to biscuits because I am forever in search of my new favourite biscuit recipe….my search may have ended. Fast, easy and delicious!!!! I always have leftover buttermilk and I recently discovered that you can freeze it. Today when I got fresh strawberries I came looking for a drop biscuit recipe (honestly I just cleaned all my floors and didn’t want the mess that comes with rolled biscuits). I took my reserved one cup of buttermilk out of the freezer and put it in a small container of water to help it thaw a bit. Once half thawed I dumped it into a bowl, used my hands to massage some of the ice out and then added it to the slightly cooled butter. I love having a recipe that allows me to use up my frozen buttermilk…thank you so much!!!

  66. 5 stars
    Simply the best! Don’t even think about it any longer and just make these delicious biscuits. When I don’t have buttermilk on hand and I am craving these little guys, I’ve used a mix of whole milk with half and half, I’ve used heavy cream with milk and they still come out great. I’ve also used browned butter, which resulted in a different flavor and still amazing! Very adaptable and forgiving recipe as long as you have the main staple ingredients. My family and I love them!

  67. 5 stars
    I just made these for a sausage gravy and biscuits luncheon I’m hosting and they are fantastic! I used the 3x recipe and a large scoop and came out with 18 biscuits (or 18 and 1 xl one, or 19 and one mini one). They’re really good, nicely browned, and soft on the insi

  68. I do indeed make these drop biscuits all of the time. They are easy, not too complicated for a beginner and quite delicious!

  69. This my go-to biscuit recipe. It is so easy and basic (which, let’s face it, a biscuits recipe should be easy and basic). Since the butter has to be melted, I just go ahead and brown it – gives these delicious biscuits just a little something extra!

  70. 5 stars
    Easy peasy! Love the ease of making these! And, oh my goodness, the very cold buttermilk in the cooled melted butter worked so much easier than cutting butter into the flour.
    And then, I actually brushed them with melted butter once they came out of the oven…we could’ve easily eaten more….they are so good! My daughter asked if they were the Red Lobster biscuits (even though there is not cheese in these) ~ but they’re that good!

    Some of us ate them with gravy, and some with cream cheese with cherry and rosemary jam over them. So good!

  71. 5 stars
    Thank you so much for a quick, easy, and delicious biscuit recipe! I only had about 2/3 cup of buttermilk on hand so I added in the last few tablespoons of sour cream from a tub, a little plain yogurt, and a bit of half and half (basically every milk-like product I had in my fridge!), and these turned out to be the best dang biscuits I have ever made. Crispy on the edges and incredibly light, fluffy, and moist inside. In spite of trying to limit carbs a bit these days, there was no question about seconds for us all!

  72. 5 stars
    These were soooo good. I left in a bit longer than I should’ve, browned on top but that didn’t take away from the biscuits at all! Crunchy topping with a soft fluffy middle! I’ll be making this again and again!

  73. 5 stars
    I’ve been making these weekly since seeing your recipe-so easy. Sometimes plain & sometimes I add dry spices-yum & even a little cheese. thanks.