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This easy biscuit recipe makes light, fluffy, buttery drop biscuits in just 20 minutes, with no rolling or cutting required. The perfect side dish for busy weeknights.
Sometimes the simplest recipes are the most comforting, and these easy drop biscuits are proof. With no rolling or cutting required, they come together in minutes and bake up golden, fluffy, and delicious every time.
Biscuits are one of my favorite side dishes. They’re a great way to make any dinner better, and this easy biscuit recipe is one of my go-tos. The texture is tender, moist, and airy, and the flavor is rich, creamy, and buttery. You can eat them plain or with butter, or use them to soak up the sauce from your entree.
These biscuits are also great for a weekday meal because they’re so easy to make. They barely take any time or effort, and you can throw them together while the rest of your dinner finishes cooking. Trust me: you’ll love these biscuits!
Erin’s Notes
- Buttery flavor. Everybody loves butter, and these biscuits have a strong butter flavor. The secret is that the biscuits have butter in the dough and brushed on top of them after they come out of the oven.
- So easy. This is one of the easiest recipes I know. It only has 6 ingredients, and they’re all pantry staples you probably already have on hand. The biscuits take just 20 minutes from start to finish, and they’re in the oven for most of that time.
- No special equipment. There’s no rolling out dough or cutting individual biscuits. Just mix, scoop, and bake, which makes this a great recipe for beginner bakers or anyone short on time.
- Go with everything. These drop biscuits go with pretty much any kind of food. Whatever you’re making for dinner, chances are these buttery biscuits will make it even better.
Ingredient Notes
- All-purpose flour. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off rather than scooping directly from the bag, since scooping can pack in too much flour and make the biscuits dense.
- Baking powder. This is what gives the biscuits their rise, so make sure yours is still active. If it’s been open for more than six months, it’s worth testing it in a little warm water before you bake, it should fizz right away.
- Sugar. Just a small amount to round out the flavor. It’s not enough to make these taste sweet, they’re still a savory side dish biscuit.
- Salt. Balances the flavor and keeps the biscuits from tasting flat.
- Milk. Regular milk works great, but buttermilk is a good swap if you have it on hand. It adds a slight tang and can make the crumb a touch more tender.
- Butter. Melted butter goes into the dough, and a little more gets brushed on top right out of the oven for that classic buttery finish. Unsalted is best so you can control the salt in the recipe.
Easy Biscuit Recipe
Video
Equipment
Ingredients
Biscuits
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk, buttermilk works too
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
Topping
- 2 Tablespoons butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450º F. Lightly grease or spray a baking sheet. Set aside.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Mix in the butter and milk until just barely combined.2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, 2 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup butter
- Using 2 spoons, scoop and drop balls of batter onto the prepared baking sheet. Leave about 2 inches between each biscuit.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden brown.
- Remove from oven and immediately brush with melted butter.2 Tablespoons butter
Notes
- Store in an airtight bag at room temperature for 2 days, in the fridge for 1 week, or in the freezer for 4 months (double bag if freezing).
- Reheat in a toaster oven on medium, or in a 350F oven for 5 minutes (10 minutes if frozen).
- Adapted from Allrecipes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How to Make Easy Biscuits
Here’s how to make perfect drop biscuits in just 20 minutes.
- Prep. Preheat your oven to 450F and lightly grease a baking sheet.
- Mix the dry ingredients. Add the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder to a bowl, and whisk together.
- Add the wet ingredients. Pour in the milk and the melted butter, and stir until the dough has just combined.
- Make dough balls. Use a pair of spoons to scoop balls of dough onto the baking sheet.
- Bake. Put the drop biscuits in the oven and bake until just golden brown. This should take about 10-12 minutes.
- Brush. Remove the biscuits from the oven, and brush them with melted butter.
Recipe Tips and Variations
Here are some tricks and variations for making these quick and easy biscuits.
- Barely combine the dough. It’s very important to not overbeat the biscuit batter. When adding the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mix until they’re just combined, and then stop immediately.
- Don’t crowd. Make sure to leave about 2 inches in between each dough ball on the baking sheet. That gives your drop biscuits room to expand in the oven. It also ensures that the hot air can get around them and bake them evenly.
- Check your oven temp. An accurate oven temperature matters more than usual here since there’s no gluten structure from rolling and folding to help the biscuits hold their shape. If your oven runs cool, the biscuits are more likely to spread before they set.
- Customize the flavors. These biscuits have a perfect creamy, buttery flavor. But you can add some additional flavors if you want. You can add ingredients like cheese and bacon to the biscuit dough, or sprinkle seasonings like cracked pepper and herbs on top of the biscuits.
Serving Suggestions
You can serve this easy biscuit recipe with pretty much any dinner. Here are a few of my favorite entrees to serve alongside these buttery biscuits.
- French Onion Pork Chops
- Shrimp Scampi
- Copycat KFC Bowl
- Chick-fil-A Grilled Nuggets
- Ham and Split Pea Soup
Storage & Freezing
These fluffy biscuits can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days, or in the fridge for 1 week. Reheat in a toaster oven on medium, or in a 350F oven for 5 minutes.
Freezing
This is a great recipe to freeze. Double bag these drop biscuits in airtight plastic bags and place them in the freezer for up to 4 months. Thaw or defrost before reheating, or reheat straight from the freezer in a 350F oven for 10 minutes.
Dense biscuits are almost always a sign of overmixing or too much flour. Stir just until the dry and wet ingredients are combined; a few lumps are fine. Also double check that you’re spooning and leveling your flour rather than scooping it straight from the bag, since scooping can pack in extra flour without you realizing it.
These are best mixed and baked right away, since the baking powder starts working as soon as it hits the wet ingredients. If you want to get ahead, you can measure out the dry ingredients the night before and store them in an airtight container, then just add the milk and butter when you’re ready to bake.
This dough is mixed to be soft and slightly wet, which is what makes it so quick, so it isn’t sturdy enough to roll and cut into neat rounds the way a firmer, cold-butter biscuit dough is. If you’d like a cut biscuit shape, a different, firmer dough is really needed to get clean edges.
This usually comes down to one of three things: the dough was overmixed (which thins it out), the dough was scooped too loosely and spread on the way to the pan, or the oven wasn’t fully preheated to 450°F. For a taller scoop, use a cookie scoop or two spoons to mound the dough rather than spreading it, and make sure your oven is fully up to temperature before the biscuits go in.
More Homemade Bread to Make
I’m a huge bread fan. If you are too, then you’ve got to try some of my other favorite bread recipes.
This recipe was too runny. I made it exactly like the recipe, and watched the video. She scooped hers with a nice cream scoop, I used a spoon a spoon but it spread out on the pan and while cooking they spread even more. I would not recommend this recipe if you want biscuits. Mine look more like fat pancakes.