These easy drop biscuits are my favorite – buttery, flaky, tender and elevated with sharp cheddar cheese and smoky bacon. Plus, my homemade maple butter adds the perfect finishing touch!
I might not be Southern, but if there’s one biscuit-loving girl in New England, it’s me! Whenever I’m scanning through a brunch menu, you better believe I’m on the lookout for those buttery biscuits. Who needs eggs and toast when you can have eggs and biscuits.
After many rounds of experimenting, I can confidently say these are my favorite biscuits! They are buttery, flaky, and downright tender. And if you’re feeling fancy, throw in some sharp cheddar cheese and smoky bacon for that extra oomph – because who can resist that combo? And to top it all off, I have a simple maple butter recipe that’ll take your biscuit game to the next level. Trust me, it’s the finishing touch that makes these biscuits unbeatable.
Make these drop biscuits for breakfast to soak up those Over Easy Eggs, serve with Black Bean Soup or Turkey Chili, or assemble mini Pulled Pork sliders. You really can’t go wrong!
Drop Biscuits
Drop Biscuits are like classic biscuits without any of the rolling required. They’re called drop biscuits because you simply scoop and drop the dough onto the cookie sheet and bake. No extra mess or fuss!
My Recipe Video
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour – flour is the base of the biscuits!
- Buttermilk – cold buttermilk is the key ingredient for fluffy and flaky drop biscuits. You can make your own by mixing 1 cup milk or half & half + 2 tablespoons white vinegar.
- Salted butter – cold unsalted butter adds flavor and moisture to the biscuits. You can substitute with unsalted butter and add ¼ teaspoon salt per stick of butter.
- Baking soda – a combination of baking soda and baking powder helps drop biscuits rise and have a flaky, tender texture.
- Baking powder – baking powder works alongside baking soda to help create a tender biscuit.
- Sharp cheddar – as the biscuits bake, the sharp cheddar melts and creates flavor pockets of cheese throughout the dough.
- Bacon – you can use your favorite bacon, whether that’s applewood smoked, etc. I recommend using regular bacon, not thick cut so it doesn’t overpower the biscuit. The bacon drippings can also be infused into the topping butter for extra flavor. This is optional, but I highly recommend it!
- Chives – chives add a pop of green and freshness.
- Maple syrup (optional) – real maple syrup has a rich, complex taste with notes of caramel and vanilla. It is used to infuse the butter to create that perfect salty-sweetness to spread on the warm biscuits.
How To Make Drop Biscuits
Learn how to make these drop biscuits! Full instructions in the recipe card; this is an outline!
- Stir.
Add flour, baking soda, and baking powder to a large bowl and stir with a fork or pastry cutter.
- Add.
Add in cold butter.
- Cut.
Use the fork or pastry cutter to cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles a coarse crumble.
- Add more.
Add shredded cheddar and cooled bacon.
- Mix.
Mix until incorporated.
- Knead.
Add ¾ cup buttermilk and gently knead until you can form the dough into a large ball. Add more buttermilk if the dough is too dry to form a ball. Avoid overworking the dough.
- Drop.
Drop biscuits onto a greased or nonstick cookie sheet using a ¼ measuring cup. Place each biscuit about an inch apart.
- Bake.
Bake in a 425℉ oven for 12-16 minutes, until just golden.
- Mix.
While the biscuits are baking, mix together softened butter, maple syrup and bacon drippings (optional).
- Serve.
Serve warm biscuits right away with maple butter.
Biscuit Toppings
Enjoy a drop biscuit as-is or dress it up with delicious toppings! Here are a few of my favorites:
- The maple butter in this recipe!
- Homemade Butter
- Honey
- Pumpkin Butter or apple butter
- Sweet jam or Strawberry Preserves
- Nut Butter or Homemade Peanut Butter
- Sausage gravy
More Brunch Recipes You’ll Love!
Drop Biscuits With Cheddar And Bacon
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cups shredded sharp cheddar
- ¾ pound bacon, cut into small chunks and cooked
- 1 cup cold buttermilk
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold salted butter, cut into small chunks
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 handful chives, chopped
For maple butter (optional)
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon bacon drippings, saved from cooking bacon (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425℉. In a large bowl, use a fork or pastry cutter to stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Add in cold butter and cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles a coarse crumble. Add shredded cheddar and cooled bacon. Mix until incorporated.
- Add ¾ cup buttermilk and gently knead until you can form dough into a large ball. Only add more buttermilk if dough is too dry to form a ball! Do not overwork dough or else biscuits will be tough!
- Drop biscuits onto a greased or nonstick cookie sheet using a ¼ measuring cup, placing each biscuit about an inch apart.
- Bake for 12-16 minutes, until just golden.
- For maple butter: While biscuits are baking, mix together softened butter, maple syrup, and bacon drippings (optional). Set aside.
- Drop biscuits are best enjoyed hot out of the oven with lots of that maple butter!
Video
Notes
- Let cool completely before covering. Save for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
- You can use unsalted butter and ¼ teaspoon salt per stick.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
It would be great to have a link that would allow you to make a PDF of the recipe to print. My computer isn’t in my kitchen. I did HIghlight the recipe and say print and it worked.
Hi Gail,
Thank you so much for your comment! FANTASTIC suggestion. I spent the afternoon adding an internal print button to my blog. I hope this helps and I hope the biscuits turned out well!
Grace
You had me at bacon.
Me too! LOL!