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These copycat cheddar bay biscuits are a quick and easy drop biscuit recipe filled with melty cheese and smothered with garlic butter. They taste just like the biscuits from Red Lobster!
I love these drop biscuits as a side to a ribeye steak with baked lobster tails for a surf-and-turf dinner, but I’m convinced you can eat them with just about anything. Check out my skillet cornbread for another easy bread recipe.
Who’s ready to have the flakiest, fluffiest cheddar drop biscuits warm from the oven in under 30 minutes!? These copycat biscuits are irresistibly soft and buttery, just like the famous Red Lobster cheddar bay biscuits that inspired them (or even better, if you ask me).
I’ve been recreating dishes from my favorite chain restaurants at home for years, from the Olive Garden’s garlic breadsticks and Zuppa Toscana to PF Chang’s Mongolian beef. It’s a hobby of sorts. These cheddar bay biscuits turned out just like I remember them!
What Makes Cheddar Bay Biscuits So Good?
- Smothered with butter. These cheddar drop biscuits are garlicky and buttery from the inside out. Butter gets baked right into the biscuit dough, then brushed over top after baking. It’s hands down the BEST way to finish off homemade biscuits.
- Quick and easy. I love this recipe because there’s zero yeast or rising time. Just a quick batter that gets dropped onto a baking sheet. These easy biscuits make the perfect side dish, and they’re ready in 20 minutes.
- A versatile side dish. Buttery cheddar bay biscuits go just as well with lobster rolls and crab cakes as they do with white chili and beef bourguignon. Or, I’ll dunk them in creamy shrimp corn chowder for lunch. Between my husband and I, we could easily polish off a whole batch by ourselves. The serving possibilities are endless.
What You’ll Need
Here are the ingredients in these easy homemade cheddar bay biscuits, along with some notes and substitutions, if needed. Have a scroll down to the recipe card for a printable list with the full amounts and recipe details.
- Flour, Baking Powder, and Salt – Your usual baking staples. Check the date on your baking powder to make sure it isn’t expired.
- Cheddar Cheese – To put the “cheddar” in these cheddary biscuits! I recommend shredding the cheese fresh from the block for the best texture and flavor.
- Seasonings – Garlic powder (you can also use onion powder), and salt.
- Milk – This can be any milk you’d like. Whole milk, 2%, or low-fat.
- Butter – Salted or unsalted. You’ll use it in the biscuits and in the garlic butter topping.
- Egg – The egg helps bind the ingredients together and adds moisture.
- Garlic Butter – I make a simple garlicky butter to brush over the biscuits, flavored with garlic powder and fresh parsley. You can use another herb, like cilantro or thyme if you’d like.
How to Make Cheddar Bay Biscuits
These are the easiest garlicky cheddar biscuits ever, and you can have them on the table in about 20 minutes. That’s my kind of baking! Here’s how to make them:
- Mix the batter. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, and the wet ingredients in another. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients until you get a chunky (NOT smooth) consistency. Don’t overmix!
- Portion the biscuits. Next, drop spoonfuls of batter onto a greased baking sheet.
- Bake. Bake these cheddar biscuits in a 400ºF oven for 10 minutes. This leaves plenty of time to whip up your garlic butter!
- Add the garlic butter. Combine melted butter with garlic powder and parsley. Brush this over the biscuits, and return them to the oven for another 5 minutes. Once the biscuits are nicely browned, take them out and serve!
Tips and Variations
- Measure the flour the right way. If you don’t have a scale, spoon the flour from the bag into your measuring cup before leveling it off. This way, you don’t overmeasure. Too much flour yields dry, crumbly biscuits.
- Get the oven nice and hot. Make sure the oven is fully preheated before you bake the biscuits, this way they’ll bake evenly.
- Make them spicy. If you like your cheddar bay biscuits with a little kick, add a pinch of cayenne pepper to the batter. You can also add a seasoning blend, like chili powder, Cajun spice, or Old Bay seasoning.
- Use different cheese. In addition to shredded cheddar, fill these drop biscuits with any melty cheese you’d like. Good options are Asiago, Pepper Jack, Monterey Jack, and crumbly cheeses like goat cheese or feta.
What to Serve With Cheddar Bay Biscuits
These fluffy, flaky cheddar bay biscuits pair well with everything from seafood to steak! Some nights, I’ll go full Red Lobster-style with a starter of baked battered shrimp or air fryer calamari to share, followed by grilled tilapia with a side of shrimp Caesar salad and onion rings as a main.
How to Store
- Refrigerate. Store any leftover cheddar bay biscuits in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Reheat. I like to wrap these biscuits in foil and pop them into the oven at 350ºF until they’re hot throughout. You can also warm them in the microwave at 50% power.
- Freeze. Let the biscuits cool completely and freeze them airtight for up to 3 months. You can reheat the biscuits in the oven or microwave straight from frozen.
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Cheddar Bay Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅔ cup milk
- ⅓ cup butter
- 1 large egg
FOR BUTTER TOPPING
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
Instructions
- Prep. Preheat oven to 400ºF. Grease a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.
- Make the batter. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, cheese, baking powder, salt, and garlic powder. In a separate bowl combine milk, butter, and egg. Mix the milk mixture into the flour mixture until it's chunky. DO NOT over-mix the batter. Mix just until incorporated.
- Drop the biscuits. Drop the batter by tablespoonfuls onto the previously prepared baking sheet.
- Bake. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
- Make them buttery. In a small bowl mix together melted butter, garlic powder, and chopped parsley. Remove the biscuits from the oven and brush the melted butter over each biscuit. Bake for 5 more minutes or until golden brown on top.
- Serve! Remove the biscuits from the oven and serve warm.
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
I made these tonight to try out the recipe and determine if I want to make them for the upcoming holiday. The recipe was easy enough. I melted the butter before adding it into the egg mixture ( recipe doesn’t recommend melting the butter but it made sense to me). The texture and outer crunch was great! The taste of the biscuit was maybe a 5 out of 10… I added a little cayenne pepper and black pepper which improved it slightly. I think they were a bit salty. I’m a bread lover so I’m a little disappointed with the final result.
Can these be made ahead and frozen?
Definitely! Check out the storage instructions in the post above for all the details—just let the biscuits cool completely, then freeze them in an airtight container for up to 3 months
Couldn’t get the recipe. Just wouldn’t open…says page not found. Please update.
Thanks, Sue
I love bread! And Biscuits! I mean I WANT these biscuits! All of them!
Kate,
One of the reasons I love making pizza so much-no need to knead! These biscuits look yummy. I’m off to check them out.
Thanks!
Yesssss. Bread is my favorite!
Garlic and cheddar?! Yes please!
on my way to the recipe!
(These biscuits look better than Red Lobster’s…whose biscuits are the only reason I ever go to Red Lobster.) 😀
Me, too!! Or I used to go to Red Lobster, now I just make them at home.. they are so much better!! And you can play with different cheeses! 🙂
Oh my goodness! I was just thinking about how I haven’t made these in a while over dinner last night. And I actually thought that I should do them drop vs. cut-out. Certainly checking out how you made these! Good timing. 🙂
I so agree with you about kneading.. it keeps me from working with dough. I love a drop biscuit… the flavors you have here are fantastic. 🙂