Copycat Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Admittedly we don’t go out to eat at Red Lobster much these days. But there’s one thing I can remember about eating there… how much I love those cheddar bay biscuits!

They’re always so soft and fluffy inside, with that buttery crispness on the outside. And of course, you can’t forget the cheesy garlic goodness.

There are a lot of copycat recipes for the biscuits out there. But this one, is pretty spot on, in my opinion of course.

One thing I love about cheddar bay biscuits is there isn’t any rolling out the dough, no careful cutting of the dough, or anything fussy.

Just mix, scoop, and bake!

How to make your own Cheddar Bay biscuits?

This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.

1. Melt the butter. Unlike traditional biscuits, there’s no need to cut in cold butter, just melt it in the microwave.
2. Mix dry ingredients. Just add it all to the mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
3. Combine buttermilk and melted butter. The buttermilk will be cold, so it causes the melted butter to solidify a bit, so there will likely be little clumps – and that’s what we’re looking for.
4. Mix buttermilk mixture with dry ingredients. Stir them together until just combined.
5. Fold in cheese. Gently stir in the cheddar cheese.
6. Scoop onto baking sheet. You can use a cookie scoop, two spoons, or a greased 1/4 cup measuring cup for this.
7. Bake. Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes.
8. Make butter topping. Combine melted butter, seasonings and parsley.
9. Brush biscuits with topping.

Variations of this recipe

• Self rising flour – if you have self rising flour, you can use it for this recipe! Just omit the salt and decrease the baking powder to 1 1/2 tsp.
• Buttermilk substitute – if you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can make your own! Mix 1 Tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar with whole milk and let it sit about 10 minutes. It will look a bit curdled. Stir and use.
• Drop biscuits – I like to use a cookie scoop to get evenly sized biscuits, but for a classic Red Lobster look, use a greased 1/4 cup measuring cup or two spoons, and drop the biscuits down on the baking sheet. This will give the biscuits a craggy appearance on top, with plenty of peaks that get nice and crunchy.
• Cheddar type – normally I talk about how important it is to shred your own cheese (especially for a mac and cheese recipe), but here it’s not all that important. Pre-shredded will work just fine. We like to use a medium or sharp cheddar.

Making Cheddar Bay biscuits ahead of time

I found that making the dough ahead of time didn’t work as well, since the leavening agents (specifically the baking powder), will start activating as soon as the ingredients are mixed. This means when the biscuits are baked, they won’t rise as much as they should.

But this dough comes together so quickly, you’ll probably have them mixed up before your oven even preheats!

Freezing

This biscuit dough can be frozen as well!

Place the scooped biscuits on a wax paper lined baking sheet and freeze for 1-2 hours, or until hard. Then transfer the frozen biscuits to a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months.

To bake frozen biscuits, set out on the counter while the oven is preheating.

Then bake at 425°F for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through.

Storage

Biscuits should be stored in an airtight container and eaten within 3 days. They can also be refrigerated for up to 5 days.

To reheat leftover biscuits, bake at 300°F for about 10-12 minutes, then brush lightly with melted butter.