These sourdough drop biscuits require NO rolling, and no cutting. All you need to do is mix up the dough, drop them on the sheet and bake! Packed with buttery flavor, these flaky buttermilk drop biscuits are the perfect way to use up some of that sourdough discard! Freezes beautifully.
When we think of biscuits, we think of an experienced Granny whipping up a batch of buttermilk biscuits with her eyes closed. They are perfect every.single.time. Flaky, buttery, and sky high. The thing that frustrates us so much is that Granny doesn't even seem to follow a recipe! She just makes absolutely amazing biscuits every single time, and yet we can't seem to get them consistent...even with following a recipe!
Well, there is something to be said for experience in the kitchen. In my early years as a home cook, I had many more failures that successes. I'm not sure exactly what kept me going, but I continued on cooking and baking with passion and zeal. I burned more things than I got right, and somehow 10 years later I end up here. With a food blog, and absolutely loving every minute of it.
Experience is the best teacher
Of course, experience and passion has brought many shortcuts and tricks my way. For each recipe I agonized through, I learned a new skill or technique. I've taken those learned techniques and applied them to countless recipes, and so it is the case with these scrumptious Sourdough Drop Biscuits. They are the classic buttermilk drop biscuit, but with added sourdough discard and a special trick for getting flaky biscuits WITHOUT cutting in cold butter.
The Secret to Flaky Biscuits
Any home cook worth their salt knows that the secret to flaky biscuits is butter, and lots of it. But not simply the presence of butter, but rather the pieces of butter. In order to get tender, flaky drop biscuits, most cooks will cut cold butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter or a fork and some elbow grease. This works awesome, and is the method I normally use for cut biscuits, pie dough, and other such things. This method is something I learned from Cooks Illustrated, and it's a great way to get a flaky biscuit without cutting in butter!
We take the quantity of butter required in the recipe ( ½ cup + 2 tbsp. ) and melt it completely. Let it cool slightly
Then, we pour in the COLD buttermilk, and stir gently. As the cold buttermilk mixes with the melted butter, the butter begins to harden into little balls and clumps. This is PERFECT for getting a flaky biscuit! Odd shaped and large chunks of butter is what creates that signature flaky, crisp on the outside, soft on the inside buttermilk biscuit.
It may take a little work (well, stirring) to get it there, but keep stirring until you have a good quantity of yellow butter chunks (like is shown in the bottom right image).
Once you've done that, add in the sourdough discard and stir well until combined.
What Ingredients Do I Need?
How to Make Sourdough Drop Biscuits
Now that you understand the technique we've used for getting perfectly flaky biscuits, we are ready to move on to show you just how we put it all together into these delicious Buttermilk Sourdough Drop Biscuits. It's SOOOO simple. You're going to love it!
Mix together your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and a touch of sugar) and whisk well to combine.
Make a well in the bowl of dry ingredients, and pour in the buttermilk, butter, and sourdough discard mixture. Use a silicone spatula to gently fold the wet and dry ingredients together.
Stir this just until combined and there is no dry flour bits. Use your hands to form the dough into one cohesive ball.
Grease the inside of a ¼ cup size measuring cup OR a large bakers scoop (#20/3 ½ tbsp. size like this one) and portion out some of the dough using your tool of choice.
Drop the portion of dough onto a parchment lined half size baking sheet.
Repeat this until all the dough is used up. Make sure to space your biscuits 1 ½-2" apart to allow them to expand during baking!
Then brush your sourdough drop biscuits with some melted butter. This is just extra and SOOO awesome. For me, the extra layer of melted butter makes these absolutely delicious.
Once all of your biscuits are brushed with the melted butter, bake them in an oven preheated to 475F for 13-17 minutes.
Once the biscuits are golden and cooked through, remove from the oven and brush the tops with an additional coating of melted butter (if desired). Let them cool for about 5 minutes before serving or moving to a cooling rack.
Sourdough Drop Biscuits: Questions and Answers
While you will get the best results by using buttermilk, you will still great results using a buttermilk substitute or whole milk.
Substitute the buttermilk called for in the recipe with the same volume of regular milk. Remove one tablespoon of the milk, and add in 1 tbsp. of white vinegar or lemon juice. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes before adding it to your recipe.
This recipe uses sourdough discard (spent starter). Since it does not require a rising, you do not need to use active starter. Both cold (reserved from the fridge) and warm (discarded from your starter) work for this recipe. I do prefer the cold starter, as it produces a nicer texture.
Drop biscuits freeze beautifully. Once they have cooled completely, transfer them to zip top freezer bags and remove all excess air. Freeze flat. Frozen biscuits are best if eaten within a month of baking.
More Favorite Sourdough Recipes:
- Sourdough Zucchini Bread
- Buttery Sourdough Sandwich Biscuits - King Arthur Flour
- Sourdough Discard Cornbread
- Sourdough Bread: A Beginners Guide - The Clever Carrot
- Sourdough Applesauce Muffins
Sourdough Drop Biscuits
These Sourdough Drop Biscuits are an easy version of the classic buttermilk biscuit! Made with leftover sourdough discard, they are a delicious addition to your favorite soup or breakfast meal. Best of all? NO rolling and NO cutting! Simply drop and bake.
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup unbleached all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons cold buttermilk
- ½ cup Sourdough Discard
For Brushing
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 475F and adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt to a medium bowl and whisk well to combine.
- Add the melted butter to a separate medium bowl and add the buttermilk. Stir until the butter forms small clumps. These clumps are caused by the warm liquid butter interacting with the cold buttermilk. This mimics the “cutting in” process of typical biscuits, since the result is large clumps of butter.
- Add the sourdough discard to the butter and buttermilk mixture. Whisk gently to combine.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.
- Add the sourdough, butter, and buttermilk mixture to the well of the dry ingredients. Stir gently with a silicone spatula, just until combined and all the flour is moistened. The dough will be pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Use your hands to form a rough mass.
- Grease the inside of a ¼ cup sized dry measuring cup, or a #20 size cookie scoop (large size; about 3 ½ tbsp). Scoop up a heaping portion of dough and drop directly onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat this until all your dough is used up, spacing each biscuit 1 ½-2” apart. If using a large cookie scoop, you will yield approximately 12 biscuits.
- Brush the biscuits with 2 tablespoons of the melted butter. Bake in the preheated oven for 13-17 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and crisp.
- Remove the drop biscuits from the oven and brush the tops with the remaining melted butter.
- Serve immediately, or allow to cool on a wire rack before transferring to storage.
Notes
Buttermilk Substitute:
If you don't have buttermilk on hand, you can make a buttermilk substitute by adding ½ cup + 1 tbsp. of cold milk to a small bowl. Stir in 1 tbsp. of white vinegar or lemon juice and stir. Let this mixture stand for 5 minutes, and then proceed with the recipe.
Freezing Drop Biscuits:
These biscuits freeze wonderfully! Once the biscuits are completely cooled, add to a labeled freezer bag and remove any excess air. Place in the freezer and consume within 1 month.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 154Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 26mgSodium: 282mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 0gSugar: 1gProtein: 2g
Nutrition information is an estimate only.
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Sarah says
Hi, these look great but don't actually say how much sourdough discard to use in the ingredients list, would you mind updating the recipe? I'm gonna try 1/2 cup since it looks similar to the buttermilk in the picture and I'm already halfway through making them, lol. Can't wait to give them a try 🙂
Dolly says
Hi Sarah!
Thank you for bringing that to my attention! I edited the recipe and you were correct, it is 1/2 cup of sourdough discard that is used in the recipe. Sorry about that! I hope you enjoyed them. ❤
Sarah W. says
I typically do 125g for 1/2 cup measurements and 250g for full cup. my recipes have always turned out perfect with those measurements. ❤️👍
Dolly says
I've recently been testing recipes with both weights and measurements, and I've found a very similar result!
Danielle says
my son has issue with milk can we substitute with anything?
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
I haven't tried it personally but you could try a thicker milk substitute like cashew or coconut milk.
Jamie says
they're in the oven right now, but i loved the process of making them. im surprised ive never seen the trick you used for "cutting" butter before, but it was so simple! i want to try it on so many other recipes. lovely, easy to follow recipe. cant wait to try them 🫶
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
Hope you enjoy them Jamie!
Sarah says
This didn't work for me. There were no clumps of butter when I added my cold milk. I didn't know how much "cool slightly" meant, but I would guess I didn't cool mine enough. My sourdough discard was cold so I was hoping that would make clumps when I added that, but no luck.
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
The butter may have been a bit too hot. If you wanted to try again in the future you could try cutting the butter into the dry ingredients instead.
Lauren says
Hi there! How much baking soda is in the recipe? The ingredients list calls for only baking powder, but the instructions mention both.
Dolly says
Hi Lauren! I'm so sorry about that! I forgot to include it in the recipe! Thankfully, I have the written recipe right here and the amount is 1/2 teaspoon. I'll go and add that to the recipe right away!
b says
bummer, these spread like mad & became flat non-biscuits 😭 not sure where i went wrong, followed the recipe just so. will try again next time!
Catherine says
Such a great recipe!! So easy to follow and they turned out amazing. I used 1/4 cup to drop them and only got 9 but they tasted so amazing we only had 2 left over!
Dolly says
I'm so glad you enjoyed them!
Megan says
You have to level them out. I got 12 exactly. It's more of a scant 1/4 cup ☺️
Suzanne says
This looks so good! What a simple way to have a delicious snack or side!
Vanessa says
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Ja'Net says
My biscuits never turn out right... until now! They were so good that I started texting friends who know about my past biscuit failures to share my excitement. This is going to be my go-to recipe. So flakey, buttery, and delicious. The recipe was easy to follow too. Thanks for sharing!
Dolly says
I'm so glad you liked them and finally have biscuit success! They can be tricky at times for sure!
Gina says
I made my dad these the other day and he couldn't stop talking about how awesome they were. I personally was amazed because they were so light and fluffy. I started my sourdough adventure a little while ago and was about to give up but thanks to finding you I will keep plugging along.
Dolly says
That makes me so happy to hear Gina! So glad you guys enjoyed the recipe and you'll be continuing with your sourdough adventure! It's a learning curve, but it's worth it in the end.
Andrea says
These were super easy and really delicious! I am always trying to find good recipes to use my discard. My husband was impressed. Thank you for sharing.
Dolly says
My pleasure Andrea! I'm so glad you guys enjoyed them <3
Molly B says
This recipe does not work. My butter and buttermilk never turned into clumps. Stirred for over TWENTY FIVE minutes. Arm almost fell off lol.
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
Oh no Molly! I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. All I can think is that the buttermilk wasn't cold or wasn't cold enough? The butter clumps because it is being chilled by the buttermilk.
An option is to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it has pea-sized crumbs, and then add in the buttermilk.
Esther says
Hi! Thank you for the recipe. I just baked these and my husband gave it a 👍. He said, “Really good!” I added a 1/2 c of shredded cheese and we ate it with my homemade peach habanero jam.
Dolly says
I'm so glad you guys enjoyed it! Adding cheese sounds like such a yummy idea, I think I'll have to try that myself!
Sonya says
I was going to asked if i could add jalapeños and cheese!
Madalyn says
Will this recipe work with fresh ground whole wheat as well?
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
I haven't tested it with whole wheat or freshly ground, but if you want to I would start by reducing the flour by a 1/4 cup or so since fresh ground and whole wheat are both very thirsty.
Tim and Janet says
You say that if I don't have buttermilk, I can use regular milk along with either white vinegar or lemon juice. My question is what is the difference between the two options? Do they have a different taste in the bread? Do they have different advantages or disadvantages? Is one better to use if making one thing, where the other is better to use if making something else? Thanks for your help! I can't wait to try this!!!
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
Adding lemon juice or vinegar to some milk essentially curdles it a bit, giving it a similar flavor and texture of buttermilk. Buttermilk is used in biscuits generally because the thick texture and the acidity makes the biscuits extra tender. I'm not exactly sure of the science, but for some reason it works! I like to use real buttermilk whenever I can, but in a recipe where buttermilk isn't the shining star (like biscuits, cakes, etc), it's fine to make a substitute with lemon juice or vinegar.
I hope that helps!
Amber says
Can I make the biscuits the night before and refrigerate overnight?
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
Hi Amber,
I haven't tried it before, but as long as they are refrigerated I can't see why it wouldn't work out!
Valerie A Wilson says
I am setting up to make these tomorrow - I’m baking 2 discard loaves of sandwich bread today - I’m curious , has anyone added sugar and used these as “shortcakes” ? I’ve got some berries to use as well
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
I think they would probably make good shortcakes! Especially if you added a little sprinkle of coarse sugar on top.
Angela says
Can't wait to try this out. Just started a sour dough starter and trying to learn all this things.
Lo says
Just made these and my family loved them (and my kids are picky!) I’m so excited about how easy this recipe was. I didn’t have buttermilk, but adding that Tbsp of Vinegar to my whole milk (reduced by 1 Tbsp) and letting it sit for 5 min was the perfect trick!!
My husband can’t wait to have me make these as a biscuits and gravy meal!
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
Aww yay! I'm so glad you're loving them!
Kelley says
These were insanely good. I usually find biscuits to be lacking in flavour but these guys had tons. My 13 year old son even commented that they had lots of flavour. The only change I made was using homemade kefir instead of buttermilk.
Thanks for an amazing recipe. I will definitely be making these again!
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
So glad you liked them Kelley! I'm going to have to try them with kefir now.
Kelley says
Let us know how they turn out!
I’m making another batch now. These are so amazing in texture and taste! Thank you for this amazing recipe. It is now my go to for biscuits 🙂 Thank
Stefany says
These were absolutely delicious, best biscuits I’ve ever made! LOVE the butter hack!
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
So glad you enjoyed them Stefany!
Erin says
Hi I just started making sourdough bread and I found your biscuit recipe. It was so easy to make and my husband loves them! I’ve already made them twice!! Mine are a little bit dry and crumbly when I cut them open. Any tips on how to help with that? Thanks!😊
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
Hi Erin! Maybe try just a bit more liquid next time (a tablespoon or so). Dry ingredients can be hard to measure and if you live in high humidity or low humidity, or scoop the flour a particular way it could end up with a bit too much.
Erin says
Thank you for tips. I’ve made them again and were much more moist inside. I do live in south Louisiana so there’s always humidity here! That may have been part of the problem 😊
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
Yay! Glad to hear!
Tonya Boland says
I have made these biscuits a few times now, and they are the best biscuits I have made! I just made them this morning with sausage gravy for breakfast, and my son loved them, he had 4 biscuits! Only thing I did differently was to just slpit the dough into 12 pieces and slightly roll them into a ball. I only did this vlbecaise my 1/4 cup measuring cup was in the dishwasher, but it worked great.
I have also added 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese to them and added a little garlic salt to the butter on top to make biscuits similar to Red Lobster biscuits. My college aged daughter loved them so much I made her a second batch to take back to school with her.
Thank you for the great recipe!
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
Hi Tonya! So glad you enjoyed them. I really need to try that Cheddar variation - sounds delish!
Kim says
I e made these twice! The first time I did a few “stretch and folds” then baked they were great! Next time I did the drop and also great! Now I’m wondering if I could mix and either leave in a bowl covered or drop them and cold proof in fridge to get full fermentation benefits (flour makes me swell). Thoughts?
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
Hi Kim! I haven't tried long fermentation methods. I think it might be worth trying, but I'm not sure how the baking powder would behave. They may lose their fluffiness. Another option if you find flour hard to digest is to use sprouted flour in place of the all-purpose flour - this type is pre-sprouted, then dried and ground and has similar benefits to fully fermented sourdough.
Lori says
I admit, I've put my sourdough starter (aka BLOB) in the fridge to hibernate a while. I noticed I had hooch on the top, so I stirred it in and tried to figure out what to do with some. I had sausage so decided to do my old standby, Biscuits and Gravy. These were PERFECT! Light, fluffy, flavorful but held up in the gravy. This is a KEEPER for sure! Thanks for making my supper ever so easy and tastefully good!
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
Aww yay! So glad you loved them Lori!
Paige says
Is 475F the correct temp? I had to pull mine out after 10 mins because they were burning and set of my smoke alarm lol 😂. The tops taste great but the bottom is charred. I’m going to test out at a lower temperature.
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
Yes it is... but I have a calibrated oven. I've had many readers say a similar thing! Most people aren't temperature checking their ovens lol! I would try to reducing the heat to 425ºF and keeping a close eye on them.
Danielle Bonner says
When I do the butter and buttermilk it’s smooth and creamy —-what a
I doing wrong?
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
Your butter may be too hot? I recommend cooling it a bit before adding the buttermilk so it seizes up into clumps. I'm seeing a few people have had this issue and I'm not sure what it could be other than that! Otherwise, you can cut the butter into the dry ingredients.
Chris says
Hello!! I’m new to all things sourdough. I’ve made this recipe 3 times and it’s so easy and yummy!! I was wondering if it would be okay to make the dough and then freeze? That way I can make big batches of the dough, freeze, and then cook for a later day?? Is that possible?
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
I have not tried that! But the biscuits themselves do freeze very well. If you try freezing the dough, please come back and let us know how it went!
Aubrey says
These are great! My picky kids even like them.
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
Yay! I always love when my picky-eater approves haha!
Janene Jones says
These are perfect!! Thank you so much!! So nice to have something to do with my sourdough discard! They were absolutely delicious and so easy! I actually prefer drop biscuits because you have more crispness to the crust. For the people who had them spread out too much, it could be a combo of issues... your butter too hot, not the right ratio of flour to liquid, or it could be that your sourdough discard is too thin... mine was very thick and I actually had to add a little more milk. See if your ball of dough you form after mixing the flour mixture and liquids retains it's shape... that will tell you if your batter is too thin.