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Looking for the perfect side to elevate your hearty soup, dinner, or even breakfast? Meet these Small Batch Drop Biscuits! Incredibly simple and undeniably delicious, these biscuits seamlessly transition from the breakfast table to dinner time. With just 5 minutes of prep and 15 minutes in the oven, you’ll have versatile, mouth-watering biscuits that complement any meal.
Why You’ll Love This Biscuit Recipe
- Effortless: No rolling or cutting required—just drop and bake!
- Quick: Ready in 20 minutes from start to finish.
- Versatile: Pairs beautifully with a wide range of dishes.
- Scalable: The recipe doubles easily for when you have more mouths to feed.
Table of Contents
RELATED: 20 Single Serving Breakfasts Worth Waking Up For
What Are Drop Biscuits?
Biscuits are a classic American side dish, known for their flaky, soft texture. Drop biscuits, a fuss-free variant, save you the time and effort of rolling and cutting. Just drop spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet, and you’re good to go.
Ingredients
How To Make Drop Biscuits
- Heat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking or cookie sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease.
- In a large bowl, whisk together 1 cup of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
- Toss 3 tablespoons of cold butter (chopped) into the dry ingredients. Working quickly using your fingers or a pastry blender, rub or cut butter into flour until it resembles coarse sand.
- Add the milk and stir just until the dough comes together.
- Using a large spoon, drop spoonfuls of the batter onto the baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.
RELATED: Small Batch Butter Swim Biscuits Recipe
Expert Tips
- Cold Butter Is Key: To achieve flaky biscuits, you must use cold butter. The steam generated when it melts in a hot oven creates pockets in the dough, making the biscuits airy and flaky.
- Don’t Overmix: Overmixing the dough will develop too much gluten, making your biscuits tough rather than tender. Combine the ingredients until they just come together.
- Use a Preheated Oven: Always put your biscuits into a fully preheated oven. This immediate high heat helps the biscuits rise quickly, setting the structure and locking in flakiness.
- Space Wisely: Make sure to space the biscuits close but not touching on your baking sheet. This helps them rise upwards rather than outwards, ensuring a taller, fluffier biscuit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, just make sure to thaw before reheating.
There are two effective ways to blend butter into your flour mixture for perfect biscuits. First, you can dice the butter into small pieces and chill them in the fridge or freezer until you’re ready to mix. Then, employ a pastry cutter to work the butter into the flour. Alternatively, you can use your fingers to manually blend the butter and flour. Simply press the mixture together until it takes on the texture of damp sand.
If you’re using buttermilk instead of regular milk in this biscuit recipe, keep in mind that buttermilk is thicker. You’ll likely need a bit more than the 1/2 cup called for with regular milk. Start by adding just over 1/2 cup of buttermilk and increase gradually until you reach the desired dough consistency.
Yes, you can. Self-rising flour contains flour, baking powder, and salt.
While it’s hard to predict the exact ratios of flour to baking powder to salt, you will most likely still get great results. Just be sure to leave out adding any additional baking powder and salt until you’ve seen how it turns out with your particular brand of self-rising flour.
To get the best results, I recommend following the recipe using all-purpose flour.
Serving Suggestions
These biscuits are versatile and pair beautifully with a variety of dishes. From savory to sweet, the options are endless.
- Classic Gravy: Serve with a traditional sausage or mushroom gravy.
- Jam and Cream: Perfect for a sweet treat at breakfast.
- Side Salad: Complements a leafy green or fruit salad wonderfully.
Recipe Variations
Feeling creative? These biscuits offer a blank canvas for culinary artistry.
- Cheese & Herb: Add shredded cheese and herbs like chives or parsley.
- Spiced Up: Include a pinch of cayenne pepper for a bit of heat.
- Blueberry Bliss: Add fresh blueberries for a sweet twist.
More Small Batch Breakfast Ideas
Expand your breakfast repertoire with these delectable single serving or small batch options:
If you have any ingredients leftover from this recipe be sure to check out our Leftover Ingredients Recipe Finder or consider using them in any of these recipes:
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Recipe
Small Batch Biscuits
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons salted butter , cold, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- ½ cup milk
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
- Toss butter into the dry ingredients. Working quickly using your fingers or a pastry blender, rub or cut butter into flour until it resembles coarse sand.
- Add the milk and stir just until the dough comes together.
- Using a large spoon, drop spoonfuls of the batter onto baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.
Video
Notes
- Cold Butter Is Key: To achieve flaky biscuits, you must use cold butter. The steam generated when it melts in a hot oven creates pockets in the dough, making the biscuits airy and flaky.
- Don’t Overmix: Overmixing the dough will develop too much gluten, making your biscuits tough rather than tender. Combine the ingredients until they just come together.
- Use a Preheated Oven: Always put your biscuits into a fully preheated oven. This immediate high heat helps the biscuits rise quickly, setting the structure and locking in flakiness.
- Space Wisely: Make sure to space the biscuits close but not touching on your baking sheet. This helps them rise upwards rather than outwards, ensuring a taller, fluffier biscuit.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
These were perfect, easy to make and so good. I only wanted a few and was so glad I found this. I didn’t have milk, used water 🤭 and they still came out lovely.
I didn’t really have high expectations… I’m not even a biscuit person. I just wanted something quick to eat with some scrambled eggs for breakfast. These biscuits were soft and moist with a delicious crunchy texture on the bottom. Paired well some pineapple passionfruit jam. I made them with almond milk and I can imagine how good they would be with buttermilk. These will definitely be added to and stay in my rotation.
I’m so happy you enjoyed the biscuits. Thank you so much for your feedback.
I have also used this to make dumplings for chicken with mixed vegetables! It is so delicious! It all disappears! Yummy as biscuits as well!!
I made biscuits with stoned ground wheat flour, they were soft and delicious
I am a certified foodie who LOVES breakfast food. Unfortunately, my husband does not share my breakfast food passion, so I needed to learn how to make smaller portions. My traditional recipe would not turn out right when I cut it in half, so I searched and found this one. I subbed the milk with sour cream and the are the BEST BISCUITS I have ever made!!!!!
So moist and buttery. I am making them again this morning and every morning!
They were a hit thanks from SD Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe…
Thank you for the recipe. Ive been making biscuits for…a long time. Ive tried countless recipes and I have created my own as well. Your recipe is going at the top of the list! Perfectly delicious!!!
Okay, I’m showing my age here but I’ve just gotta say these were the bomb diggity. I did change a few things but that’s because I seem to be incapable of leaving well enough ALONE.
Regardless, I added 1/4 tsp Hungarian Paprika to the mix (eh I didn’t taste it at ALL. I’ll do more next time). I also added a handful of shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Instead of a sheet pan, I used a small cast iron skillet. I divided the mix into 4 equal parts, dusted with flour, and placed into the parchment-lined cast iron skillet. After 8 minutes, I turned the dial up to 450 and checked after 2 minutes, then another 2 minutes and they were PERFECT! Incredibly fluffy, perfectly flaky biscuits. Yum! Thank you!!!
I could marry these biscuits. I add 1/4tsp of smoked paprika in the dry mix and a handful of shredded cheese with the milk.
Don’t sweat how small the butter is- I try to cut into little strips then cubes, and with a little hand mush it works out just fine. I ended up baking for probably 14-16, and cranked the heat to 450 at about 12.