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This versatile recipe for gluten free biscuits makes tender, light and buttery pastries that you can make shaped into Grands-style layered biscuits or as easy drop biscuits.
When I'm tired of making rice or pasta every night, this is the recipe I turn to for a buttery, satisfying side dish that's quick enough for a weeknight dinner, and special enough for a weekend brunch.
“My oh my. Those biscuits were so satisfying.
All y'all need to try this! And I forgot the Star Rating on the comment I just left. Disappointed there are only 5 – should have been 6!”
my take
Nicole's Recipe Notes
- Quick & easy: If you're making drop biscuits, all you have to do is combine the dry ingredients, add cold butter, add buttermilk, scoop and bake. They can be ready in 20 minutes flat!
- No waiting: Since biscuits are pastry, all of your ingredients should be cold. That means no waiting for butter to soften or eggs to come to room temperature.
- Freeze beautifully: You can freeze shaped, raw biscuits and bake them right from frozen any time. Or you can freeze them baked, sprinkle with water and defrost and refresh like new!
- Ideal side dish: The perfect alternative to pasta, rice, or potatoes with your gluten free fried chicken!
Drop or rolled biscuits
This recipe has the same ingredients whether you make them as scoop-and-drop biscuits or cutout biscuits. Cutout biscuits do have a little less moisture, and they're rolled and folded, then cut out, a bit like laminated gluten free puff pastry.
Here are the questions to consider when deciding how to shape your biscuits:
- How much time do you have? Drop biscuits can be in and out of the oven in less than 30 minutes. Layered biscuits call for more shaping and a bit of chilling.
- What texture do you prefer? Drop biscuits are more dense and crusty with craggy buttery edges that get crispy in the oven. Rolled biscuits are layered and flaky, have a softer crumb, and are lighter and fluffier.
- Are you comfortable rolling dough? Some people don't like to break out the rolling pin. If that's you, make the drop biscuits and just mix, scoop, and bake.
- Do you want them to be like Pillsbury grands? If you miss the flaky layers of Pillsbury and you want them to be like gluten free biscuits in a can, make the layered biscuits! It's worth the extra step.
This gluten free biscuits recipe is special no matter which way you make it, though. You probably have all of its ingredients right there in your gluten free pantry.
Gluten Free Biscuits Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups (245 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend, plus more for sprinkling (See Recipe Notes; click link for full details on appropriate blends)
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum, omit if your blend already contains it
- ¼ cup (36 g) cornstarch, (or try potato starch or arrowroot)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon (12 g) granulated sugar
- 8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter, chilled
- 1 cup (8 fluid ounces) buttermilk, chilled
- 1 tablespoon (14 g) unsalted butter, melted (optional; for drop biscuits)
Instructions
- If you're making drop biscuits preheat your oven to 425°F. If you're making rolled biscuits, preheat your oven while the shaped dough is chilling in the refrigerator.
- Line a large rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and set it aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour blend, xanthan gum, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar, and whisk to combine well.
To make drop biscuits
- Using a standard box grater, grate the chilled butter. If it melts at all during preparation, place the grated butter in the refrigerator until firm.
- Add the grated and chilled butter to the bowl of dry ingredients, and toss to coat the butter in the flour mixture.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and add the buttermilk.
- Mix in the buttermilk until just combined and the dough comes together.
- Working quickly, so the dough doesn’t get warm, drop the batter by the quarter cup using two large spoons or a 2-inch ice cream scoop about 1 1/2-inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Do not pack the dough into the ice cream scoop.
- Brush the tops of the mounds of dough lightly with the melted butter. This step is optional but helps the biscuits brown in the oven.
- Place the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven and bake until lightly golden brown all over (15 to 18 minutes). Remove from the oven and allow to set briefly before serving.
To make rolled biscuits
- Using a sharp knife, cut the butter into a large (3/4-inch) dice. If it melts at all during preparation, place the diced butter in the refrigerator until firm.
- Add the chopped butter to the flour mixture and toss to coat. Place each piece of butter between your floured thumb and forefinger to flatten, working quickly to ensure that you don’t melt any of the butter.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour in all but about 2 tablespoons of the buttermilk.
- Mix with a large spoon or spatula until the dough comes together. The dough will be shaggy, with some irregular edges. Mix in more buttermilk by the drop if there are any dry bits.
- Press the dough into a disk. If it doesn't seem cold any longer, place it in the refrigerator to chill for about 5 minutes or until firm.
- Dust the dough with a bit more flour, and roll with a rolling pin into a rectangle about 3/4-inch thick.
- Fold the rectangle in thirds like you would a business letter and press it together lightly to help it adhere to itself.
- Sprinkle the outside of the dough lightly with more flour, and roll it out again into a thick rectangle, sprinkling it with more flour as necessary to prevent sticking.
- Repeat this process of rolling and folding 1 or 2 more times, dusting with flour as necessary and chilling the dough if the butter begins to melt at all. After the final folding, dust the dough again lightly with flour, and roll it into a disk about 1-inch thick.
- With a floured, round biscuit cutter or cookie cutter (about 2 inches in diameter), cut out rounds of dough by pressing firmly and cutting quickly.
- Place the raw biscuit cutouts about 2-inches apart from one another on the prepared baking sheet. Gather and reroll scraps, and cut out as many more rounds as possible, placing them on the prepared baking sheet.
- Place the baking sheet in the freezer for 5 minutes to chill the dough until firm (or in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or until firm).
- Preheat your oven to 425°F while the biscuits are chilling.
- Once the dough is firm and cold, and the oven is hot, place the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven. Bake until the biscuits are puffed and pale golden, about 15 minutes.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow the biscuits to cool on the baking sheet until firm (about 5 minutes). Serve warm or at room temperature.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
what's in it
Ingredient notes
You've already seen the recipe itself, but here are some notes about the ingredients in case you have questions.
- Gluten free flour – Choosing an all purpose gluten free flour blend carefully is important in all good recipes, but it's even more important in a pastry recipe with only a handful of basic ingredients like this one. Be sure you add 1 heaping teaspoon of xanthan gum if you're using Nicole's Best multipurpose gluten free flour, since it doesn't already contain xanthan gum. King Arthur Flour blends just won't work here.
- Cornstarch – Adding a bit of cornstarch helps to soften the blend and create a lighter crumb. If you're using Cup4Cup, though, that already has too much cornstarch so replace the 14/ cup (36 grams) cornstarch with an equal amount, by weight, of Cup4Cup.
- Baking powder – serves as a leavening agent, an ingredient that help baked goods rise and get fluffy
- Baking soda – this is also a leavener, but it is here mostly because it helps the biscuits to brown in the oven
- Salt – salt plays a big role in bringing out the flavor of these buttery biscuits
- Sugar – there's only two teaspoons of sugar in this recipe, and while it does add a tiny bit of sweetness, it helps keep the biscuits tender and adds some complexity to the flavor
- Butter – as the moisture in butter burns off, it creates tiny steam pockets that give the biscuits such a light, airy texture; keep it cold so your butter doesn't melt into the batter, but instead puffs it out
- Buttermilk – it adds a lovely flavor and helps make the biscuits fluffy and tender
substitutions
Ingredient substitutions
Dairy free
The dairy in these biscuits is in two forms: buttermilk and butter. The buttermilk can easily be replaced with 1/2 cup (129 g) plain dairy-free yogurt + 1/2 cup (4 fluid ounces) unsweetened nondairy milk. Adding some lemon juice or vinegar to milk won't create a true buttermilk substitute, since real buttermilk
For butter, the best replacement is 4 tablespoons (56 g) Spectrum brand nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening + 4 tablespoons (56 g) Melt brand or Miyoko's Creamery brand vegan butter. You can use all vegan butter, but the biscuits are more likely to spread. Whatever vegan butter you use must be solid at room temperature.
Corn free
Cup4Cup and Nicole's Best gluten free flour both contain cornstarch, so if you can't have corn, you'll need to use Better Batter. If you're using Better Batter, try replacing the cornstarch in the recipe with arrowroot or potato starch.
Xanthan gum free
To make this recipe for gluten free biscuits, you need xanthan gum. But you can still make amazing gluten free drop biscuits without xanthan gum.
If you'd like to make easy drop biscuits but you're sensitive to xanthan gum and guar gum, try our gluten free biscuit recipe without xanthan gum. It has a different flour blend, and uses something called konjac powder instead of xanthan gum.
My Pro Tip
Expert tips
Keep your ingredients cold
The secret to making pastry is to keep the cold ingredients that way. If your butter liquefies before the biscuits start baking, your biscuits are going to be dense and hard.
To help keep the butter cold, be sure to turn on your oven before you start preparing the biscuit dough, and keep the butter and buttermilk in the refrigerator until you're ready to add each of them to the mixture. If you find that the butter is melting at all as you're working, return it to the refrigerator again until it's firm.
Measure your gluten free flour blend by weight
Because this gluten free drop biscuit recipe doesn't have a lot of ingredients and relies on precise measurements to ensure the lightest, fluffiest texture, it's essential that you measure your gf flour by weight rather than volume.
Measuring by weight really is the only way to ensure that you've got just the right amount of flour, so pull out that kitchen scale (or pick one up if you don't have one — I really like this kitchen scale on Amazon (affiliate link; feel free to shop around!)).
Don't handle the drop biscuit dough
Once you've mixed the drop biscuit dough, it's best to avoid handling it as much as possible. Instead, use an ice cream scoop, two spoons, or a spoon and spatula to scoop the dough and drop it onto your baking pan.
In addition to keeping your hands clean, this will help prevent your butter from melting since it won't come into contact with the warmth of your skin. If you're having any trouble getting your biscuit dough to release from the ice cream scoop, try dipping the scoop in ice water before each portion.
FAQs
Drop biscuits are easier to scoop and drop onto a baking pan. Drop biscuits also don't have the layers that come with rolled biscuits, but they're still buttery and delicious.
Your dough may be dry because you used a different gf flour than what I recommend. Some brands, like King Arthur Flour, are starchier than others, so they soak up liquid and get dry.
If you did use one of my recommended blends, you may have overmeasured your flour. If you made rolled biscuits, you may have incorporated too much flour into the biscuit dough during shaping, or the butter may have melted while you were handling it. Next time, make the butter chunks larger and chill the dough if the butter begins to melt.
Yes, you can bake these easy gluten free biscuits in a cast iron pan, but you'll need to watch them carefully as the heated pan will cause them to bake more quickly.
If your gluten free biscuits are flat, not puffy, there's a good chance that your butter melted before the biscuits got into the oven.
This generally happens when you use warm ingredients (butter that's been sitting out) or let your dough sit while the oven is preheating.
For your next batch, do everything you can to keep that butter and buttermilk as cold as possible.
Yes, you can make your dough in advance by keeping the prepared dough in the fridge until you need it. If you're making drop biscuits, make sure to keep the dough tightly covered to keep it from drying out, and try to use it within a few hours. If you're making rolled biscuits, shape the dough into rounds before refrigerating it.
make ahead/leftovers
Storage instructions
If you have leftover biscuits of either shape and think you might eat them within the next 12 hours, place them in a sealed glass container and store them at room temperature.
For longer storage, let them cool completely, then freeze them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Once they're frozen, pile them into a freezer-safe bag for up to a month.
How to refresh biscuits
Defrost frozen biscuits at room temperature first. Once they're defrosted, or if you've stored them at room temperature, you can refresh them by sprinkling them with lukewarm water and placing them in a 300°F oven or toaster oven until warmed through. The water keeps them from drying out during reheating.
Making biscuits in advance
All you have to do is prepare the easy gluten free biscuit dough, drop the biscuits onto a parchment lined baking sheet, and then put the whole thing in the freezer rather than the oven.
Once they're frozen, remove them from the freezer and pile them into a freezer-safe zip-top bag. Bake them right from frozen, but begin with the oven at 400°F and increase it to 425°F after 5 minutes. You will probably need to add a few minutes to the baking time.
These turned out deliciously! I made the drop biscuit version. ‘A keeper, for certain!
So happy to hear it, Robin. Thanks for sharing your experience!
I make these frequently! They are reminiscent of my mom’s biscuits when gluten-free was not heard of. Thank you for creating this recipe.
Guests are surprised they are gluten free.
That’s the best, Rose Mary, when no one can tell. That’s true success! Thank you so much for sharing your experience.
Thanks! These came out like the pics. Used potato starch. The crumb is slightly « gummy » so wondering if you had any tips? Used BB flour (original). Appreciate you posting this and I bought your bread book as well!
It sounds like they were underbaked a bit, Edward, assuming you didn’t make ingredient substitutions and measured by weight.
Hi Nicole – no subs. Well, there is a chance the if that is the reason, upon defrost and rebake, this could correct itself! The looked perfect at least :)
WOW!! This recipe was really easy to make. I made the rolled version, and they came out great. They were really flaky and had such a great taste. It’s been so long since I was able to make a flaky biscuit. Will try the cream cheese one next. I used the Cup4Cup flour. I added 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum since I am at a higher elevation, I find this helps.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience, Hope! I’m so glad you enjoyed the rolled version, and it’s so good to know that adding extra xanthan gum helps with baking at elevation. I’m always grateful for any tips with that since it’s the one condition I can’t recreate!