These Sourdough Discard Cheddar Drop Biscuits are ridiculously quick and easy to make, and bake up into the most flavorful biscuits! They're garlicky, buttery, have lots of cheddar flavor, are tender on the inside and crisp on the outside.
Just like in these sourdough discard biscuits, this sourdough discard Irish soda bread, and these sourdough discard scones, the sourdough discard here acts like buttermilk. This gives them a better rise, a more tender crumb, and a slightly sourdough tang. Plus, it's a great way to use up your discard!
Quick Look: Sourdough Discard Cheddar Drop Biscuits
- Recipe Name: Sourdough Discard Cheddar Drop Biscuits
- Ready In: 45 minutes
- Serves: Makes about 15 (55 gram) biscuits
- Calories: 187 calories per biscuit
- Main Ingredients: Sourdough discard, butter, sharp cheddar cheese, garlic powder, whole milk
- Dietary Info: Meal-prep friendly, freezer-friendly
- Why You'll Love It: These have such great flavor, and the best texture - crisp and buttery on the outside, tender and cheesy on the inside. They're ready in no time, and can be mixed and scooped ahead and frozen for later.
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You can have these mixed and in the oven in about 20 minutes, OR mix them, scoop them, and freeze them unbaked - bake straight from the freezer whenever you're ready for them!
And who doesn't love having ready-to-bake biscuits on hand?
Jump to:
- Quick Look: Sourdough Discard Cheddar Drop Biscuits
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Easy Substitutions + Variations
- How To Make Sourdough Discard Cheddar Drop Biscuits
- Expert Tips
- Sourdough Discard Cheddar Drop Biscuits FAQ’s
- Storage, Freezing, and Make-Ahead Tips
- More Biscuit-esque Sourdough Recipes You’ll Love
- Sourdough Discard Cheddar Drop Biscuits
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- SO easy to make - These mix up in no time. I like to use my food processor to make it ultra-fast, but you easily make this recipe without one!
- The best flavor - These have garlic powder in the batter and are brushed with a garlic butter when they come out of the oven. They're perfectly salty, garlicky, cheesy, buttery, with a slight sourdough tang and a touch of sweetness for balance.
- Great texture - The butter and cheddar cheese make these so crisp on the outside, and the sourdough discard makes them so tender on the inside. The best of both worlds!
- No cutting required - You'll mix these in a bowl, then scoop the batter out onto a baking sheet and bake. No rolling or cutting needed!
- Drop biscuits are very forgiving - Typically with biscuits, you have to be very careful not to overmix or make your dough too wet or too dry. These I think would be hard to mess up.
- They go with basically every meal - These work with breakfast, with soups, stews, roasts, salads, and so much more!
Key Ingredients
The butter - Like with all biscuits, you want your butter to be very cold for this! I cube mine to pulse in the food processor, but you can keep it as a stick and use a box grater for it if you're not using a food processor.
The cheddar - Just like the butter, you want the cheese to be cold here. Cube it if you're using a food processor, use a box grater if you're not using a food processor.
Garlic powder - This goes in the biscuit dough and in the butter that's brushed on top of the biscuits after they're baked. It gives these so much good flavor, so don't skip it!
The discard - Sourdough discard makes these so tender, and gives them a slight sour tang. You can use fairly old/liquidy discard for these - just be sure to smell it before using to make sure it smells like something you would want to eat.
Easy Substitutions + Variations
- Use a different cheese - As long as it's a similar consistency to cheddar (such as pepper jack, Swiss, provolone, etc.), you can swap out the cheeses.
- Omit the parsley - The dried parsley here doesn't add tons of flavor. If you don't have it/don't want to use it/don't want the risk of having dried parsley stuck in your teeth, feel free to leave it out!
- Use an herb other than parsley - Especially if you're swapping out the cheese here, you can definitely use an herb that compliments whatever cheese you do use!
How To Make Sourdough Discard Cheddar Drop Biscuits
Expert Tips
- Use wet fingers if you need to reshape the dough - The dough can get misshapen when it's dropped onto the sheet pan. If you want to tidy the biscuits up at all before baking, just go in with wet fingers to do it so the dough doesn't stick to you.
- If you're using a food processor, carefully inspect the size of the cheese and butter cubes before adding the liquid - If they're too big, they tend to leak out while baking rather than baking into the biscuit.
- Use a cookie scoop to portion the biscuits - This is by far the easiest way to get evenly-sized biscuits.
- Make a batch of these any time you have discard to use! Portion out and freeze the dough to have fresh biscuits in under 20 minutes. It's amazing how well a meal can come together when you've got fresh biscuits on hand!
Sourdough Discard Cheddar Drop Biscuits FAQ’s
Drop biscuits are made from wetter dough than regular biscuits and are scooped and "dropped" onto a sheet pan to bake, rather than being rolled and cut. This makes them much quicker to make, and the consistency of the dough is more forgiving too!
Both sourdough discard and buttermilk are acidic, meaning they both react with leavening agents to create a really great rise, and add a slight sour tang to recipes. This is what makes sourdough discard so good in sourdough pancakes and other recipes that benefit from buttermilk!
Brushing with melted butter while they're fresh from the oven knocks the crusty tops back a notch, and adds a nice sheen and so much good flavor! You can skip this step, but I wouldn't recommend it!
Storage, Freezing, and Make-Ahead Tips
- Storage - Once baked and completely cooled, I store leftovers in a plastic bag in the fridge. They will keep for up to 5 days. You can reheat in the microwave (they won't be as crispy) or in the oven at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes (they recrisp nicely this way).
- Freezing - Scoop the dough onto a lined baking sheet and freeze until set (about 3 hours), then transfer to a plastic bag. The dough will keep for up to 3 months in the freezer. Bake straight from the freezer in a 425 degree oven for 16-18 minutes.
- Making ahead - These are best fresh from the oven because that's when they're crispiest. If you want make them ahead, the best way to do that is to make them, freeze before baking, then bake whenever you're ready.
More Biscuit-esque Sourdough Recipes You’ll Love
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Sourdough Discard Cheddar Drop Biscuits
Ingredients
For the Biscuits
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ cup sourdough discard
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 4 ounces sharp cheddar, cut into ½-inch cubes
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
For the Herb Butter
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
Directions
For the Biscuits
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the milk and discard. Set aside.
- Add the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and garlic powder to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse a few times to combine.
- Add the cubed cheddar and butter and pulse 10-15 times until butter and cheese are in pea size pieces. Add the mixture to the mixing bowl with the milk and discard. Stir to combine well.
- Using a ¼ cup cookie scoop, scoop biscuit mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Each biscuit will be roughly 55 grams. Bake 14-16 minutes, until baked through and browned to your liking.
- Meanwhile, make the herb butter by combining the butter, parsley, salt, and garlic powder in a small bowl.
- Once they’re out of the oven, brush the tops of the biscuits with the herb butter. Serve warm.
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