We love this easy cheese drop biscuits recipe! Our recipe is quick to make, buttery, cheesy, and so fluffy. You can make these in less than 30 minutes!
My family loves these cheesy drop biscuits and devours them in minutes! (I’ve learned my lesson and now save one to the side for myself, so I actually get one!) If you love my drop biscuit recipe, you’ll adore this cheesy version! I use cheddar, but you can stir in your favorite cheese!
I love that this recipe requires no rolling, cutting, or shaping. You’ll simply mix the dough, drop it onto your baking sheet, and bake. You’ll have warm cheese biscuits on the table in no time!
Key Ingredients
- Cheese: I love sharp cheddar or Gruyère for these easy biscuits, but you can use your favorite cheese. Really, anything goes!
- Flour: I use all-purpose flour, but you can substitute self-rising flour. If you do, you will need to reduce the baking powder and salt (see my tips in the recipe).
- Baking powder: This helps the biscuits rise and become puffy. I also use baking powder in my fluffy biscuits and the original drop biscuits. I love the airiness and lift it gives the middle.
- Spices: Onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, and salt give these biscuits an amazing flavor, similar to Red Lobster’s cheddar bay biscuits.
- Butter: This makes the biscuits extra delicious and tender. I love brushing them with more melted butter before serving (optional, but I can’t help myself).
- Milk: This helps the dough come together and makes them tender. You can substitute buttermilk if you prefer.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Cheese Biscuits
Tip 1: Watch our video! These cheesy biscuits are ridiculously easy to make, and once you try them, you’ll want to make them again and again. The entire process takes about 30 minutes, and they taste amazing! Just watch our video to see how easy this recipe is!
Tip: 2: Keep your butter cold. Whisk together flour, baking powder, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and salt. Then, cut small cubes of cold butter into the flour mixture using your fingers, a pastry blender, or a food processor. (We use a food processor for our pie crust and traditional biscuits, which also works great here.)
Tip 3: Expect a sticky dough. Next, add the cheese and milk. The dough will look shaggy and might be sticky, but that’s exactly how it should look. Simply drop mounds of the dough onto a baking sheet or into a cast iron pan and bake for 10 to 15 minutes.
Tip 4: Brush on melted butter. When the biscuits are golden brown and cooked through, brush them with a bit of melted butter while they’re still warm, and enjoy!
Serving Suggestions
These are perfect for mornings or on the side for dinner. I love them warm stuffed with creamy scrambled eggs, bacon, or breakfast sausage. They are also perfect for swooping through gravy and serving next to savory dinners like roast chicken and apple stuffed pork chops.
These biscuits are also perfect next to soups. A few favorites are broccoli cheddar soup, simple vegetable soup, chicken and vegetable soup, turkey chili, and this classic chili.
More Easy Bakes
Easy Cheese Biscuits
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
These cheese drop biscuits are ridiculously easy to make. Once you make them, I know you’ll be itching to make them again. The entire process takes about 30 minutes, and they taste fantastic. Instead of rolling out and cutting this dough into shapes, all you need to do for these easy biscuits is spoon (or drop) mounds of dough onto a baking sheet and bake.
Use whatever cheese you love. I go for a flavorful cheese like sharp cheddar or Gruyere.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
8 tablespoons (115g) cold unsalted butter
1 ½ cups (195g) all-purpose flour
1 ¾ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ cup (118ml) cold whole milk, plus more as needed
⅓ cup (85g or 3oz) grated sharp cheddar cheese
Directions
1Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Alternatively, set aside a medium cast iron pan.
2Whisk the flour, baking powder, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and salt together until well blended.
3Remove one tablespoon of butter and set aside (you will melt and brush this over the baked biscuits).
4Cut the remaining 7 tablespoons of butter into small cubes. Alternatively, use a box grater to grate the cold butter.
5Scatter the cold butter over the flour mixture, then use a pastry blender or your fingers to cut or rub in the butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs (see notes below for a food processor).
6Mix in the shredded cheese.
7Using a fork, gently stir the milk into the biscuit mixture until the dough comes together. It will be a bit sticky and look shaggy. If the dough is too dry, add a little more milk. A tablespoon or two should do it.
8Drop mounds of dough, about three tablespoons each, onto the prepared baking sheet. Dough mounds should be about an inch apart (they can be closer if using a pan).
9Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the biscuits are puffed and turn brown. It’s okay if some butter pools out around the bottom.
10Meanwhile, melt the reserved tablespoon of butter. When the biscuits come out of the oven, gently brush the butter onto the top of each biscuit. Serve warm.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Keep leftover biscuits in an airtight container for 1 to 2 days, refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Freezing biscuit dough: Place the unbaked biscuits onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until hard. When hard, transfer to a friendly bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months. You can bake from frozen, but expect them to take a little longer, so keep an eye on them.
- Food processor: Combine the flour, baking powder, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, and salt in a food processor bowl. Pulse three to four times to mix. Cut the cold butter into cubes or thin slices, then scatter it over the flour in the food processor. Pulse 5 to 7 times, or until the butter turns into tiny bits.
- Measuring the flour: Flour should be spooned and leveled in the measuring cup. Use a spoon to add the flour into your measuring cup, and then use a flat edge to scrape the top of the cup flat. This method of adding flour to your measuring cup makes sure that you do not add too much flour to the dough.
- Self-raising flour: Omit the baking powder and salt in the recipe.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
So easy to make, delicious.
These are the best cheese biscuits I’ve ever made and I make them fairly often. Crispy, buttery, cheesy…my 7 year old son ate 7 of them (before I realized what he was doing).
We like these! I use my 3 tablespoon disher to scoop the batter into a cast iron and they come out great (and all the same size). They always get all eaten up immediately! I like to add various herb mixes or green onion. Not sure how they keep because they always get devoured quickly.
Can I make these up and freeze for use at a later time
Yes, absolutely!
Hi, i only have coconut milk in the house can i use this? They sound amazing! 😀
You can try it. Coconut milk will add a coconut flavor, which might not work as well with the cheese.
I used almond milk because I didn’t have whole and added some garlic herb seasoning but these came out so delicious!!! Will be making them again
Made these tonight, they were fabulous! Thank you for the recipe. Hubby has bad reactions to onion and garlic powder so I never use either. Subbed red chili flakes instead, which gave the biscuits a nice kick.
Those are great sub in ideas 🙂
Made these today they were so delicious.Sofy fluffy cheesy biscuits.My new go to biscuit recipe.My husband loved them also
I basically butchered this recipe but it still turned out really great!! Love it!!! Thank you.
We are so happy they turned out well! 🙂
I want to make the biscuits bigger.. like the size of red lobster… but they aren’t cooking all the way through… what do I need to do?
Hi there, From my experience of red lobster biscuits these are pretty similar in size. That said, if you still want them larger, you can reduce the oven temperature a little (25 degrees F), which will allow them to bake longer without overcooking them.
Hello, love this recipe but I have a question, can buttermilk be substituted for regular milk?
Yes! I wouldn’t change a thing. The buttermilk will just add a tangy flavor to the biscuits.
Love all your easy to follow recipes. What would be the ratio for subbing kefir for milk. Thank you.
Hi Arlene, that is a great question. While we haven’t tried this ourselves, using the same amount as a sub should work. If the mixture is too dry we would add a splash of milk.
This recipe is really good! Yummm😊 Also I used rice flour instead of normal flour, it worked!
Awesome recipe. Just made some. A few changes include lowering the baking soda to 1 tspn but added yogurt to compensate and used Cajun spice + chopped chives instead of the salt / black pepper / garlic / onion powder. Used 1/2 tsp of cajun spice and may increase it by a bit to taste. Used vegan plant butter (Becel) as 1:1 substitute. Turned out amazing! Thank you! Will make a fresh batch in the morning to take to the office.
Easy to make and delicious. I added 2minutes to baking time, even though they were golden brown after 15 minutes since they did not seem fully baked. They were perfectly baked after 17 mminutes
I wonder if I made mine slightly bigger. Will make these again.
can you make in advance and cook fresh after freezing ?
Yes! These bake well from frozen.
ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! I’m literally writing this review as my husband and I are eating the biscuits! I pretty much followed the recipe/method exactly except I realized my shredded cheddar was bad so I subbed with grated parm and Monterey jack, added some chopped chives that I had from dinner last night, and used buttermilk instead of regular milk. I used the grated frozen butter method. Mine baked for the full 15 mins (but I also opened the door several times 🤪). So so good and SOOOO EASY!!!! Thank you for this recipe!!
Can I substitute lowfat buttermilk for the whole milk?
Hi Pat, buttermilk would be lovely!
Great recipe, but I’m pretty sure 85g of shredded cheese is way more than 1/3 cup. Glad I have a scale.
These come together rather quickly and omg are they delicious! Fresh out of the oven nice and warm, Yes please!!!!
Can’t wait to try a new recipe as it’s all so easy and delicious
Absolutely delicious!! I’ve made both the cheddar cheese biscuits and plain. Thank you!!!
Easy and quick to make, very tasty and they freeze well. Made a little smaller they make a great appetizer.
Fantastic recipe and scrumptious taste! Easy and fast and delicious. I used King Arthur 1-for-1 gluten free flour.
I would like to make these to take with soup to a friend who is having surgery. Can these be reheated or are these better straight from the oven?
Hi Susan, They can definitely be reheated. Biscuits are always at their best right out of the oven, but thanks to the butter in this recipe, they should still be nice and soft in the middle after reheating.
Can gluten free all purpose flour be used or work in it? I realize it may not taste the same, but we have 3 that need gluten free, and I’d love to make it for my community, I remember the first time I ate some at the Red Lobster, my pallet & brain went “WOW!”
Hi there, While we have not tried a gluten-free flour blend to make this recipe, I bet it will work. The texture might be slightly different, but they will still be delicious.
Can I double this recipe to make 16 biscuits please? Thankyou
Absolutely!
Can I increase the amount of cheese? I would like to add about 2 cups or so. I love cheddar.
These are amazing. My favorite recipe.
I’ve tried a few others online and that stops here. I added some dried parsley in the batter and in the butter for topping to add a little color.
Thank u for helping me with dinner 😉
You can add more cheese. You might not need 2 cups, though, since this recipe only makes 8 biscuits.