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This easy gluten free strawberry shortcake recipe is the classic dessert that everyone loves. Make the biscuits ahead of time and be ready to serve in minutes!
Since no one was excited enough about regular biscuits with strawberries and cream, I started to bake chopped strawberries right into biscuits, too, and now everyone asks for them by name!
nicole's notes
My take on this recipe
- Special twist: We put strawberries in the biscuits themselves, not just in the filling, for more flavor and a more beautiful presentation than just plain biscuits.
- Extra flavor: We add just one-quarter cup of sugar to the biscuits to enhance the flavor of the strawberries. During strawberry season, the berries are fragrant and their natural sweetness shines right through.
- Versatile: For a berry-free biscuit, leave out the chopped strawberries. You'll add some more buttermilk to compensate for the loss of the moisture from the berries. And the biscuits freeze so well either way, so make them ahead!
- My top tip: Keep the butter, the strawberries, the buttermilk, and even the mixing bowl cold! It's the key to light and flaky pastry.
My Pro Tip
Expert tips
Use the right gluten free flour blend
When making this recipe, choosing the right gluten free flour blend is your most important first step. Here, I use a combination of Better Batter classic gluten free flour blend (or our DIY mock blend, if you can't buy that blend) or Nicole's Best, plus cornstarch to lighten the blend.
Or, you can replace both the flour blend and cornstarch, by weight, with an equal amount of our gluten free pastry flour blend, which is made with a combination of a classic flour blend, cornstarch, and milk powder. Just be sure your gf flour blend is smooth and not gritty. And if you use Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten free blend, add 3/4 teaspoon more xanthan gum or your biscuits will crumble.
Keep your ingredients cold
Like all pastries, these biscuits need cold ingredients, especially clumps of cold butter, to become light and flaky in the oven. The dry ingredients surrounding the cold butter get pushed up and out when placed in a hot oven, and you're rewarded with the crisp-lightness we love.
Here, we're also using cold chunks of chopped juicy strawberries, too. And, of course, your buttermilk should be kept cold. You can even chill the mixing bowl to help keep all your ingredients cold.
Use buttermilk or a near-perfect substitute
If you don't have buttermilk on hand, which isn't uncommon, don't replace it in this recipe with some regular milk and a bit of lemon juice or vinegar. That won't create the thick, tenderizing commercial buttermilk product this recipe relies on.
Instead, you can effectively replace buttermilk in any recipe with half plain yogurt and half milk, by volume. That works for dairy-free buttermilk subs, too! You can also use an equal amount of plain kefir.
Don't overwork your biscuit dough
Handle the dough with a light touch, or your biscuits will be tough. If you handle the dough too much, the heat of your hands will melt the butter—and the biscuits will leak a lot of butter and be flat and hard.
Make homemade whipped cream
Homemade whipped cream tastes better than store bought, and has less sugar than in canned whipped cream. That way, it complements the biscuits instead of overpowering them.
If you're concerned about homemade whipped cream being less stable, there are plenty of ways to stabilize it by adding some extra cornstarch to your confectioners' sugar, adding melted marshmallows, etc.
Gluten Free Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
Equipment
- Handheld mixer with beaters
- Metal biscuit cutter
Ingredients
For the biscuits
- 2 ⅝ cup (368 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend, (See Recipe Notes; click link for full details on appropriate blends) plus more for sprinkling, if necessary
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum, omit if your blend already contains it
- 6 tablespoons (54 g) cornstarch
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 12 tablespoons (168 g) cold unsalted butter, grated on a standard, large-hole grater
- 4 ounces ripe strawberries, fresh, chopped and chilled (See Recipe Notes)
- 1 ¼ cups (10 fluid ounces) buttermilk, chilled (plus more as necessary)
For serving
- 1 ½ cups (12 fluid ounces) heavy whipping cream, chilled
- 2 tablespoons (14 g) confectioners’ sugar
- 8 ounces fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and set it aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar, and whisk to combine well.
- Add the chilled and grated butter, and toss to combine, breaking up any clumps in the grated butter.
- Add the chopped strawberries, and toss again to combine. To make the biscuit dough easier to handle, try flattening some chopped strawberries against the side of the bowl.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add 1 cup + two tablespoons of the buttermilk.
- Mix in the buttermilk until just combined. Add more buttermilk by the teaspoon as necessary to moisten all the dough.
To shape drop biscuits.
- Working quickly, so the dough doesn’t get warm, divide the dough into 10 equal portions, each about the size of a baseball.
- Gently shape each portion into a disk without packing the dough, or the biscuits will be dense.
- Place the biscuits 2 inches apart from one another on the prepared baking sheet.
To shape cutout biscuits.
- Turn the dough out onto a large piece of parchment paper on a large, flat surface. Working quickly, press the dough together into a flat disk, pressing any crumbly bits together and into the disk.
- Sprinkle the top of the disk very lightly with gluten free flour, and spread evenly over the top. Using a large rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle about 1.5-inches thick.
- Dust the edges of a a metal biscuit cutter or large cookie cutter with more flour, and use it to cut out rounds of dough about in one swift motion per cut.
- Transfer the biscuits to the prepared baking sheet, and place about 2 inches apart from one another on the prepared baking sheet.
To finish the biscuits.
- Place the baking sheet in the freezer for 10 minutes or until firm. The raw biscuits can also be frozen in a single layer at this point, then placed in a tightly sealed bag, stored in the freezer for up to a month, and baked from frozen.
- Place the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the biscuits are puffed, very lightly golden brown and firm to the touch (about 20 minutes).
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool before slicing each biscuit in half horizontally.
To make the whipped cream.
- In a large, clean bowl, place the chilled cream. Beat on medium-low speed with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until soft peaks form.
- Add the confectioners’ sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Keep the mixer speed on medium-low and you will create a much more stable whipped cream.
To assemble the strawberry shortcakes.
- Place the sliced berries and fresh whipped cream both in the center of each cut biscuit and on top. Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
substitutions
Ingredient Substitutions
Dairy free
To make this recipe as a dairy free option, you'll need to replace the butter, buttermilk, and heavy whipping cream.
For the butter, I recommend using vegan butter from either Melt or Miyoko's Kitchen brand. They behave the most like butter in baking. Do not use Earth Balance buttery sticks, which have way too much moisture and your biscuits will dissolve into puddles.
You can also try using Spectrum nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening, which has almost no moisture. You'll probably have to use more of your dairy free buttermilk substitute.
In place of buttermilk, use half nondairy plain yogurt and half nondairy unsweetened milk (my favorite is almond milk). In place of heavy whipping cream for the whipped cream, use chilled coconut cream and whip it according to these instructions to get a beautiful, dairy free whipped cream.
Cornstarch-free
The cornstarch in the biscuit recipe adds lightness and tenderness to the sweet biscuits. In its place, you can use potato starch or arrowroot. If you are corn-free, be sure you're using a cornstarch-free confectioners' sugar, which often has a cornstarch to help prevent clumping.
Refined sugar free
There's so little granulated sugar in this strawberry shortcake biscuit recipe, that you can either leave it out entirely or try replacing it with Lankato brand monkfruit sweetener. I wouldn't use coconut sugar since it's too dark in color and has a pronounced flavor.
In place of the confectioners' sugar in the whipped cream filling, you can try Lankato brand monkfruit powdered sugar alternative.
Recipe variations
This recipe will work with any sort of berry as a replacement for the chopped strawberries in the biscuits, and quite honestly nearly anything at all in the filling. Here are some suggestions for replacing so, some or all of the strawberries:
- Add chopped soft nuts to the biscuits (raw walnuts or pecans would be delicious)
- Try fresh, chilled blueberries, raspberries, or even frozen pineapple chunks to the biscuits
- Keep the strawberries in the biscuits, but replace the chopped strawberries in the filling with our strawberry syrup mixed with the whipped cream
FAQs
If you can buy chopped frozen strawberries, you can use those in the biscuits themselves. If your frozen strawberries are whole, you can't use them because you won't be able to chop them without defrosting them, when they'll become limp and won't firm up again.
Make sure your strawberry pieces in the biscuits aren't too big, though, or they'll prevent the biscuit dough from holding together properly during baking.
If your biscuits came out dry, here are the questions to ask yourself:
– Did you make ingredient substitutions, especially with respect to the gluten free flour blend?
– Did you measure your dry ingredients by weight?
– Did you add more than a light sprinkle of extra gf flour in shaping?
– Were your ingredients kept cold, your dough handled only lightly?
Since strawberry shortcakes are biscuits layered with whipped cream and strawberries, they don't work as a cake. If you'd like to make a cake, try our gluten free strawberry cake with roasted strawberries baked in to the top of the cake, and top with fresh berries and whipped cream.
Yes! You can leave out the strawberries, but you'll need all the buttermilk plus some additional to moisten all of the dry ingredients. You can also make classic drop or rolled biscuits using our gluten free biscuits recipe, then slice them in half and add berries and whipped cream. I recommend increasing the sugar in that recipe from 1 tablespoon to 1/2 cup (50 grams) for a sweeter biscuit.
Make ahead/leftovers
Storage instructions
To keep your sweet biscuits light, flaky and fresh, only slice and fill those gluten free strawberry shortcakes that you know you're going to serve right away. Any leftover baked, but whole, sweet biscuits can easily be frozen for later.
Just refresh them by letting them defrost at room temperature, then sprinkling with a bit of water, and placing in a 300°F toaster oven until toasty. Then slice, fill, and serve!
Make ahead
In the spirit of a fun and easy-going summer dessert, the shortcake biscuits can be made ahead of time. Just shape them and freeze them raw, and then bake soon before serving.
The raw biscuits can be frozen in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, then piled into a freezer-safe bag. You can bake them right from the freezer, but you may need to add a couple of minutes of baking time.
When Hood strawberries are in season in our area, I freeze enough to last a whole year. To say these berries are sweet with no sugar added is an understatement. I plan to make these biscuits but not putting the strawberries in as they will probably add too much liquid, but between the two cut layers will be delicious with lots of whipped cream.
You say you included instructions for not putting strawberries on the biscuits, but I cannot find them. I would never read a post this long when looking for a recipe! What kind of time do you think I want to spend finding a recipe?
Please see the notes in the recipe card, Ellen. Feel free to use the Jump To Recipe button. I do recommend reading the whole recipe card, if you have the time.
Made these shortcakes yesterday and they are the BEST tasting shortcakes I have ever tasted! I used real buttermilk and left out the strawberries. It took more buttermilk than called for this way, but I expected that to be the case. I scooped them out with a large ice cream scoop and placed on parchment lined cookie sheet. I dusted them with some granulated sugar and baked them as instructed. Absolutely delicious!! Thank you so much for the excellent recipe!