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5 ingredients and 20 minutes are all you need to make Homemade Drop Biscuits. This quick and easy recipe for drop biscuits from scratch will walk you through how to make drop biscuits with just baking powder, milk, flour, salt, and butter so you can have warm, fluffy biscuits on the table in no time.
There are just mornings when a bowl of fruit and a scrambled egg don’t cut it. You know what I’m talking about, when you really want a thick Belgian waffle but your kids are starting to get that hangry face, and that’s just too much drama anyway. Solution: flaky, fluffy, butter biscuits that don’t require you to cut butter into flour or shape and cut them out before baking. Just scoop and go!
Don’t get me wrong, I love a classic biscuit. BUT on those mornings, you know, those mornings, a quick and easy homemade drop biscuit is the perfect solution. These are made from scratch so we still feel good about them, and they even taste good with syrup and butter.
What does Drop Biscuit MEan?
Traditional, buttermilk, drop biscuit, what’s the diff? Truth be told the main ingredients of all biscuits are similar, flour, fat, liquid, salt, and leavening. Some include sugar, some don’t, and some include fun flavors like cheeses, spices, and meats. Regardless of the type of biscuits you’re making your ingredient list will look very similar, and come together pattern that more or less follows the ratio of 3 parts flour, 2 parts liquid, 1 part fat by weight.
The difference is how those ingredients come together and how you put them in the oven. Easy, quick drop biscuits require just mixing and scooping or ‘dropping’ the dough onto a baking sheet.
So, What are Drop Biscuits MAde of?
While the basics are the same for all biscuits, your choices on the types of those ingredients do affect the end result. For this classic quick drop biscuit, I went with everyday ingredients that we all have in the cupboard. This is a get in, get out, get eating kind of recipe after all!
- All Purpose Flour – Not exciting or particularly nutritious, I know, but it gets that fluffy perfect biscuit on the table with no fuss!
- Whole Milk – The added fat in whole milk does make for a more tender, flavorful biscuit. Feel free to use reduced fat milk.
- Melted Butter – Unsalted butter, melted gently.
- Baking Powder – The reason drop biscuits are sometimes called baking powder drop biscuits – this is what gives them rise and fluff. Don’t leave it out!
- Salt – The flavor enhancer here. In the absence of spices or additional ingredients, salt makes the dough really tasty.
How to Make Drop Biscuits
The ease of making these little beauties is that you literally just measure, mix, scoop and bake. I promise it is that simple. In 20 minutes you’ll have 8 gorgeous, tender biscuits ready to eat.
- Preheat your oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (Not necessary, but easy recipe, easy clean up!)
- Melt your butter and set aside to cool slightly. Measure out milk.
- Measure your flour into a bowl. I recommend a kitchen scale for this – don’t even need to dirty a measuring cup! PLUS it ensures consistent, perfectly textured biscuits every time.
- Add in salt and baking powder and stir to combine.
- Pour milk and butter into the flour and mix until dough comes together. Don’t overmix, the dough will be sticky but there should be no dry spots.
- Drop dough balls onto prepared baking sheet. I use a cookie scoop not a spoon for consistent size and shape.
- Bake for 12 minutes, then EAT!
FAQ’s
You bet! You can substitute your preferred milk for the whole milk in this recipe, but it will affect overall flavor. I prefer coconut milk, which gives them a touch of sweetness and has a comparable fat content.
You can substitute wheat flour for part or all of the all purpose flour yes, for a gluten free drop biscuit I recommend a 1 for 1 gluten free flour blend. I haven’t tested nut flours or other gluten free flours yet, please let me know if you do!
YES! You can even cut it in half if you’re like me and have a self control problem around warm, delicious baked goods.
Likely answer is you forgot baking powder, or used baking soda instead. Baking soda will not yield the same results, and no leavening agent will lead to a flatter biscuit.
There are two possible causes, most commonly that the dough was overmixed. Once you add the butter and milk to the flour, just mix until the flour is incorporated. Continue to mix past this point will develop unneeded gluten in the dough and create a tough biscuit.
OR
You’re oven temperature could be low. I have an OLD oven and my oven thermometer often registers higher than I have it set and I adjust accordingly. An oven thermometer is an easy investment that helps accurate baking. You need a high temp and quick bake for the proper biscuit texture.
This is an imbalance of flour to liquid and fat. A HUGE reason I recommend a kitchen scale for baking is that it all but eliminates this issue. If you scoop flour with a measuring cup, the flour can be compacted and actually be more than you need. Measuring cups are also not consistent. A cup of flour should be 4.5 ounces of all purpose flour. If you use volume (cup) measurement, spoon flour in and sweep to level. About 2 cups.
You can make these anything you want! Yes, you can absolutely make these a sweet biscuit. 1 to 2 tablespoons of sugar will do the trick.
Once cooled store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Enjoy These With…
I’m a fan of simple toppings, butter and jam, or a drizzle of warm syrup! But they’re great with a huge variety of toppings and meals, a few suggestions:
- Tasty Garden Vegetable Shakshuka
- Portobello Mushroom Baked Eggs
- Any of these Homemade Jams, Jellies, or other Preserves
- Quick & Easy Blueberry Compote
- Pomegranate Jelly
- Strawberry Jam
- Pomegranate Cranberry Jam
- Pear Butter
Looking for more bread or Baking recipes?
- Homemade Garlic Bread Rolls
- White Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
- Cornbread Muffins with Corn
- Types of Quick Breads
- Asiago Biscuits
- Ham and Cheese Biscuits
I sincerely hope you enjoy these classic homemade drop biscuits. I love a quick breakfast that’s comforting, delicious, and still made from scratch with love! Until next time (I see a bright future of maaaaany drop biscuits) Happy Eating!
Ingredients
- 9 ounces All purpose flour 2 cups
- 6 ounces whole milk 3/4 cup
- 3 ounces unsalted butter 1/3 cip
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.*
- Melt butter and set aside to cool slightly. Measure out milk.
- Measure flour into a mixing bowl. Add in salt and baking powder and stir to combine.
- Pour in milk and melted butter to the dry ingredients and mix gently, until dough comes together with no dry spots.
- Drop large scoops of dough onto baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes, or until lightly golden on bottom and beginning to be golden on top.
- Remove from pan to cooling sheet and serve immediately or store in an airtight container (once cooled) for up to 3 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information and cooking times are provided as a best estimate. Values may vary based upon ingredients and equipment.
How do I make drop biscuits with hop water? I can’t find the recipe.
Hi Carolyn, I can’t really speak to a hot water drop biscuit recipe, as I typically make mine with milk that’s room temperature at best. I’ve heard of a type of biscuit that can be made with boiling water, but that’s significantly different than the one here. If you’re just trying to avoid milk, water can be used in this recipe, though the overall tenderness and richness of the biscuit would suffer a little. Using hot water would activate the baking powder and start the rise, so that may make up for some of the tenderness issue, but you’d have to get those biscuits scooped and in the oven fast!
I’m not sure if that really helps, but good luck, and I hope you find a biscuit recipe you like in the end.
It is always fun reading the comments! It’s women-building-community 🙂 and I always learn something.
I have been perusing Drop Scone recipes today as, although I have one after much trial-and-error that is decent, I’m bored with it. So, also, with most blog writers as they really say nothing but are just trying for word count.
It was so refreshing to come across your article! I didn’t even skim it but actually enjoyed slowing down and reading every word. Bravo!! Writing is deceptively hard work, isn’t it! You made it look easy. 🙂 You kinda made my day!
I’m going to try this recipe next–especially as one comment tells of how buttery the scones are. I like that almost pastry-like quality that a really lovely scone has. Plus, I am also baking for The World’s Pickiest Eater.
Although I can’t weigh my flour today, you did remind me of something: it is terrifically important to sift your flour BEFORE measuring it! Recipes no longer seem to mention this and I had myself forgotten it. But obviously flour sitting in a container compacts it. If desperate for time or lacking a flour sifter, fluff it up with a fork!
Another thing you reminded me of, regarding measurements, is that the US cup measure is quite different from the “British cup”. THIS really throws off your recipes!
I often melt the butter, too, but yours is the first recipe to mention doing so. I think this is considered rather sacrilegious in the scone universe, *grin*, but I don’t find it effects the flake when cooled enough.
I can hardly wait to see how these turn out! Thanks so much for writing this.
Hi Kylie-Anne, thank you so much for taking the time to write out such a nice review! I’m so happy to hear my post was a bright spot in your day – your review was in mine! I’m a writer first, blogger and recipe developer as a happy consequence, so a compliment to my writing is about as good as it gets in my day. Thank you so much! I do try to be helpful first and foremost, but not stuffy about it! I really hope these satisfy, I’ll tell you a secret, I think a large reason I love them is that they do have a denser, scone-like texture, which is one of my favorite kinds of baked goods. Thanks for sharing the tips on fluffing your flour and the British cup, I’m sure my other readers will find that helpful, comments can be so great for that. I hope I get to hear how they turned out, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!
Loved that you gave weighted measurements – why isn’t that done more since it’s SO much more precise and WAY easier?? These came out perfectly as expected (and as you described). I put butter on the table to slather on the hot biscuits, but the 1:3 butter to flour ratio proved to produce very buttery biscuits without need for additional butter. I thought they might be a bit dry as I put them in the oven, but they came out fine. I should have probably tidied up my spoonfuls ever so slightly because they look just like what I put in the oven (they don’t blow up much, in other words).
Will bookmark these, for sure.
Thanks! 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed these! They are a nice buttery biscuit, I usually add a bit of jam or honey myself! I prefer to bake by weight as well…but I think you and I are still a part of the minority opinion on that. All the same I’ll keep trying to convert home bakers! Thanks so much for coming back and reviewing, I love hearing how the recipe went :).