These Cheddar Bay Biscuits taste just like the ones from Red Lobster! Packed with cheddar cheesy goodness, with a little (tiny) bit of heat. The baked biscuits are brushed with garlic butter. You can make this recipe into drop biscuits (which is so easy), but I love rolling them out and cutting them to get all those flaky layers! Either way they are tender, moist, and oh so cheesy! Originally published January 26, 2021.
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So I’ve been working really hard this year to lose all the baby weight that’s accumulated after having 4 kids. I’ve lost 20 pounds! Woohoo! I’ve never really dieted before and I’m totally proud of myself.
But just the other day, Valentine (4) comes up to me while I’m sitting on the couch with a blanket on my lap. She pulls it back, looks right at my midsection and says, “It still looks like you’ve got a baby in your tummy, Mommy.”
Well THANKS A LOT KID. Someday when I’m old people will ask me, Didn’t you have a second daughter? The cute one with the long hair? Whatever happened to her? And I will say, I don’t know, she’s been dead to me since she was 4 years old.
I can’t really be too mad at her. She knows exactly how many cheddar biscuits I’m sneaking. It’s a food baby belly, ok? I don’t think it will ever go away. I may be back to my original weight, but the shape is just not the same. My belly is in the exact shape of these Cheddar Bay Biscuits, and I’m not mad about it.
Cheese Biscuits
Have you ever had cheddar bay biscuits from Red Lobster?? They are SO LEGIT AMAZING. I thought they might be a little overrated, because you know how everything tastes amazing when you’re super hungry waiting for your meal to arrive. Honestly they could throw you some hard tack, or Soylent Green, or maybe some salted cardboard and we would still spread butter on it and eat it, thinking, wow this restaurant must be new wave or something. You can’t trust yourself in that 20 minute interval before your food arrives. It’s just a fact.
But I was very pleased to find that these biscuits are totally stand alone amazing. Even the 4th one in a row is amazing. (I would know, I’ve got the biscuit shaped tummy to prove it.)
I researched a bunch of recipes for Cheddar Bay Biscuits and mashed it up with my Ultra Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits, the flakiest, tallest biscuits of your life. The result is a ridiculously cheesy biscuit that has gorgeous layers. Buttermilk and an egg make it super moist and tender. The recipe has a little cayenne in a for a tiny (tiny) kick, and the baked biscuit is brushed with garlic butter. I mean how can you go wrong here??
Ingredients for Cheese Biscuits
Here’s a quick shopping list to help you gather your ingredients. See the recipe card below for the full ingredients and instructions!
- All purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Baking powder
- Garlic powder
- Cayenne pepper
- Butter
- Buttermilk
- Egg
- Sharp cheddar cheese (8 oz.)
- Garlic
- Fresh parsley (or dried)
Cheddar Bay Biscuits Recipe Substitutions and Tips
Here are some substitution ideas and tips for making all your biscuit dreams come true.
- Sub a different cheese. The first time I made these I used white cheddar, great idea. I know these are called cheddar bay biscuits, but if you want them to be swiss bay biscuits or gruyere bay biscuits, party on.
- Place your biscuits in the pan so that they’re touching. This way the biscuits have each other to lean on and they’ll rise high instead of falling over. “We all need somebody…to leeeee-eean on!”
- Don’t overbake. The gooey cheese might fool you into thinking it’s raw dough, but it’s not. We want soft and tender biscuit interiors so we want these just the right amount of done. The edges will be golden brown (and you can toothpick test if you want).
- Save time by making drop biscuits. If you’re throwing these together in the hour before dinner, you don’t need to pat them out and cut them. You can simply use two spoons to drop dollops of dough onto the pan–they’ll still be super good!
How to make this Cheddar Bay Biscuit Recipe
They are pretty easy to make. First start out with the dry ingredients:
- flour
- sugar
- baking powder
- garlic powder
- cayenne pepper
- kosher salt
Funny story. The first time I tested this recipe, the biscuits baked up super tall and golden. I even started my photo shoot, they looked so good. Then I took a bite of one and thought I was going to DIE. It tasted like pure metal. Like biting into a lamp post. I had used baking soda instead of baking powder! My brother moved recently and gave me the contents of his pantry. His baking soda (from Trader Joe’s) is in the EXACT SAME CANISTER that baking powder comes in. What kind of monster does this?? Baking soda COMES IN A BOX thankyouverymuch. How can I be expected to read the label??
Anyway. Make sure you don’t use baking soda. It’s a bad idea. (I actually included two photos from that original photoshoot in this post. Can you tell which ones they are? Hint: I used white cheddar! They looked so good it felt like a crime throwing them away, but again…lamp post.)
Cut in your butter. Leave in some nice big chunks, about the size of peas. Do ya’ll have a pastry cutter? It’s time to get yourself one. You need more pastry cutting in your life.
Mix up some buttermilk and an egg and add it into the biscuits. You can use whole milk or half and half in place of the buttermilk. But I love the tang it adds! You can also totally use cheater buttermilk. (add 2 teaspoons vinegar to a measuring cup, then fill with milk to the 1 cup line. Let sit 5 minutes.)
Stir the dough together and get it all moistened. Add in all that cheese!! 2 cups packed cheese means SMASH it down into your measuring cup!
At this point you can spoon these onto a baking sheet and pop them in the oven. This is called making them as “drop biscuits” because you’re just dropping the dough on the pan. It’s delicious. You can see what they look like above. Not as many layers, but still oh-so-cheesy.
BUUUUT. If you want extra flaky layers. Take 5 minutes to roll and cut.
It’s not hard. Just roll it out, fold it up like a business letter, turn it over and pat down to the thickness you want your biscuit to be. (THICK)
Then cut and bake! I like to bake my biscuits right next to each other so that they help each other lift and rise in the oven, but you can spread them out if you like. The picture below shows the biscuits in a cast iron skillet, but this recipe makes 15-18 biscuits and they don’t actually all fit (I made the rest as drop biscuits so you could see how to shape these both ways). Use a baking sheet or 9×13 inch pan and just place them right next to each other.
When they come out of the oven, brush them with the garlic butter! Then eat as many as you need to to create a soft, round, cheddar biscuit shaped belly. #worthit.
What to serve with Cheddar Biscuits
Here are some main dish ideas that could definitely use some cheesy cheddar bay biscuit support:
- Creamy Tuscan Salmon (30 Minutes!) << this recipe is so creamy and flavorful. Perfect match with these cheddar bay biscuits!
- Pan Seared Scallops in Creamy Champagne Sauce << this would be so good for Valentine’s Day coming up!
- Quick and Easy Chili << it’s really, really delicious for how easy it is.
- How to Cook Ribeye Steak << steak and biscuits. YES.
- Easy Homemade Tomato Soup << cheddar biscuits are the perfect dipper.
How to Store Cheddar Bay Biscuits
These biscuits can be stored on the counter for up to 3 days; after that, they should be stored in the fridge. (You can also store them in the fridge from the beginning if you have a particularly warm kitchen or you worry about the cheese in them. I don’t, but it’s up to you.)
Can Cheddar Bay Biscuits be frozen?
Yes! These biscuits are great for freezing. You can freeze the finished biscuits: let thaw in the sealed container at room temperature, then microwave or warm in the oven at 350 for 5 minutes. You can also freeze the biscuits after you have shaped them but before baking (don’t brush with buttermilk). Freeze unbaked biscuits in a sealed container (ziplock is fine). You can bake them straight from frozen. Brush frozen biscuits with buttermilk and bake as instructed, adding 2-5 minutes to the bake time.
More biscuit and bread recipes you are going to love!
- Overnight Bacon and White Cheddar Scones << bacon and cheddar, match made in heaven!
- How to Make Ultra Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits << If you’ve never found a basic recipe you love, try this one!
- 7 Up Biscuits << these only have 4 ingredients and they are soooo good.
- The Best Scone Recipe I’ve Ever Made << you can add whatever mix ins you want to this recipe!
- Cheesy Ham and Egg Breakfast Casserole << perfect for a lazy morning!
- Garlic and Rosemary Skillet Bread << This bread is so easy to throw together and has tons of flavor.
- Pimiento Cheese, Tomato, and Biscuit Sandwiches << we’re goin way back in the archives my friends. But these are so good!
- Mozzarella Stuffed Soft Pretzels << like pretzel dogs but with CHEESE. Yas.
- Overnight Biscuits and Gravy Casserole << your favorite breakfast all rolled into one casserole.
- Skillet Chicken and Biscuit Pot Pie from Valerie’s Kitchen
- Country Biscuits and Sausage Gravy from Spaceships and Laser Beams
- Greek Yogurt Biscuits from Two Peas and Their Pod
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Cheddar Bay Biscuit Recipe
Ingredients
For the biscuits
- 3 cups all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup butter, cold (1 stick)
- 1 cup buttermilk, you can use whole milk instead
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups packed, 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese
For the garlic butter topping
- 1/4 cup butter, melted (half stick)
- 1 clove garlic, smashed and minced*
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.
- Start by grating your cheese. You will need 2 cups packed, about 8 ounces. Packed means you have to press it down pretty well into your measuring cup! Once it’s all grated, stick it in the fridge so that it stays cold while you mix up the biscuits. Cold biscuit dough going into a hot oven is what makes flaky layers.
- In a large bowl, whisk together 3 cups flour, 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt.
- Add 1/2 cup cold butter that has been cut into chunks. Use a pastry cutter to cut in the butter. You can use a fork if you don’t have a pastry cutter. You want to leave some pea-size pieces of butter, see photos.
- In a glass measuring cup, add 1 cup buttermilk. Crack in one egg and whisk is together.
- Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients and stir together with a rubber spatula.
- Add in the cold shredded cheddar cheese and stir it together. Coat your hands with flour and knead it together if the spatula can’t handle it.
- At this point, you can form these into drop biscuits. See notes!
- To roll out the dough, prepare a work surface by sprinkling flour generously. Coat your hands with flour and transfer the dough to the floured surface. Knead it together a couple times if it hasn’t come together in a ball.
- Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a large rectangle, about 12×16 inches. It doesn’t have to be exact.
- Fold the short sides of the dough over the center into thirds, just like you’re folding a business letter. See photos.
- Turn the dough over so the seam is on the bottom. Pat or roll out the dough again until it is about an inch thick. Thick biscuit dough makes thick biscuits!
- Use a 2 and 1/2 inch biscuit cutter to cut into biscuits. Do not twist the cutter as you press down, this inhibits rising in the oven. Just push straight down.
- Place the biscuits close together (they should be touching. This helps them rise tall) in a 9×13 inch pan, or you can place them in the center of a normal baking sheet (touching each other). I used a 10 inch cast iron pan in the photos above, but was only able to fit 12 of the biscuits (I shaped the rest into drop biscuits.) Use a 9×13 inch pan or a baking sheet to fit all 18-20 biscuits.
- Brush each biscuit with buttermilk. (or you can brush with milk, cream, or half and half. It helps them brown.)
- Bake in the preheated 425 degree oven for 15-18 minutes. The edges of the biscuits should be golden brown. If you are unsure if they are done, you can always insert a toothpick to the center to make sure it comes out with no batter on it. Be careful not to over bake; these biscuits tend to look a little under baked because of all the cheese on the edges. It looks like gooey dough but it’s actually gooey cheese.
- While the biscuits are in the oven, make the garlic butter topping. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a small bowl. Stir in 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley (you can sub 2 teaspoons dried parsley) and 1 clove garlic*, smashed and minced. Brush each biscuit with the butter mixture just after coming out of the oven.
- Store these sealed tightly on the counter for up to 3 days. After that, put them in the fridge.
- FREEZER: Biscuits are great for freezing. You can freeze the finished biscuits: let thaw in the sealed container at room temperature, then microwave or warm in the oven at 350 for 5 minutes. You can also freeze the biscuits after you have shaped them but before baking (don’t brush with buttermilk). Freeze unbaked biscuits in a sealed container (ziplock is fine). You can bake them straight from frozen. Brush frozen biscuits with buttermilk and bake as instructed, adding 2-5 minutes to the bake time.
I would love to try these. My husband is gluten-free (celiacs) have you ever tried them with a gluten free flour? Thank you!
Hi Myala! We haven’t tested these with a gluten free flour yet, but we would love to hear about it if you try it. Come back and let us know how they turn out!
Have you ever prepared these and kept them in the fridge to bake the next day?
Hi Kiley! I would not refrigerate, instead freeze them! Here’s the freezing section from the post: “These biscuits are great for freezing. You can freeze the finished biscuits: let thaw in the sealed container at room temperature, then microwave or warm in the oven at 350 for 5 minutes. You can also freeze the biscuits after you have shaped them but before baking (don’t brush with buttermilk). Freeze unbaked biscuits in a sealed container (ziplock is fine). You can bake them straight from frozen. Brush frozen biscuits with buttermilk and bake as instructed, adding 2-5 minutes to the bake time.
I made these tonight with Rasta pasta and they were incredible. I did the drop biscuits version. Thank you for sharing!!
I am super excited to try these but i have a question first. In place of using all-purpose flour, can I use a cake and pastry self-rising flour??
Hi Jamie! These haven’t been tested with self-rising flour before. If you do use it, make sure to follow the package directions to reduce the amount of baking powder and salt in this recipe (since self rising flour often includes both). Enjoy!
Originally I was gonna make these yesterday. My plans were too ambitious though. After spending over an hour at the store upgrading my phone and making a crepe cake with my daughter, I decided to put off making these until today.
Someday, I would like to try the rolled out method but today my energy was low and I made the drop biscuits.
These were amazing! My husband asked why I don’t make these all the time. I told him they aren’t exactly health food. Lol
My husband recommends making breakfast sandwiches with these using ham and eggs
What!! That sounds amazing!! Thanks for sharing the idea Angie!
I’m so glad you liked them Angie! The drop biscuits really are so good, the rolling is fun for layers but the flavor is already there! And it’s true, it’s not health food. Did you point out his biscuit shaped belly? ;)
Karen, you crack me up! Â The story with Valentine is hilarious…had me laughing in fits! Â Thanks for the recipe, the laugh and congrats on losing 20 lbs!
Thank you so much Vanessa! You are so sweet! After publishing this post I got an email from a lady who wanted me to hire her so she could help me lose weight and keep it off. I was dying!! Guess that’s what I get for talking about my biscuit belly on the internet. Haha!!
I think I’m going to try keto-ing this recipe too! They look super good, definitely cheat day worthy!
Soylent Green!!! You’re HILARIOUS, it’s soooo true, though!! Cannot WAIT to get out of class and whip up these biscuits!!!
No one can be held responsible for the interval between when you order and when the food arrives. If it’s cannibalism, so be it. haha!! Enjoy the biscuits Anne!
I think you need to correct the amount of cheddar cheese, 2 C is not 8oz.
Hi Sandy! It is if you pack it :) I will update the recipe, thank you!
Really? Â Very interesting! Â Guess I never packed shredded cheese before. Thanks!