Enjoy these easy sourdough cheddar biscuits as a side to breakfast, lunch, or dinner. These fluffy biscuits also make for a great snack. Made with sharp cheddar, garlic powder, and a little melted parsley butter on top, it’s really difficult to just eat one.
Have you ever had the Red Lobster biscuits? You know the Cheddar Bay Biscuits?
I’m not sure what got me thinking about cheddar biscuits from Red Lobster, but I couldn’t help but think how good a sourdough discard version of this classic restaurant favorite would be.
It turns out, these biscuits are not only good, but they are really easy to make. I tried two different methods – a quick version where I could mix these up and have them hot on the table within an hour and a long fermented version. Both turned out amazing.
I know I am going to get requests to make these many more times in the future. We’ve enjoyed them as a side to dinner and even as part of our breakfast. I hope you love them as much as we do!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Full of flavor – These are like little flavor bombs. Butter, cheddar, herbs all mix together to make your tastebuds happy.
Great way to use up discard – If you have extra starter on hand, this recipe is a delicious way to ensure it doesn’t go to waste.
Quick and simple – This is an easy recipe the whole family will enjoy. Plus, it can be made within an hour if you opt for the quick version.
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Tips
- Use a medium-sized ice cream scoop to scoop the batter out of the bowl and onto the sheet pan. You can also use a spoon, but the ice cream scoop makes for more uniform biscuits.
- For more health benefits, long ferment this recipe (instructions below). Fermentation helps breakdown gluten and phytic acid found in flour, which makes it easier to digest. This breakdown also helps make the nutrients in the food more bioavailable.
- This is a discard recipe. So, no need to feed your starter before hand. However, active starter works, too. Learn how to make your own sourdough starter here.
Ingredients
For the biscuits
All purpose flour
Sugar
Baking soda
Baking powder
Salt – Sea salt is best.
Garlic powder
Butter
Milk – I prefer whole milk for rich biscuits. You can also use water if you do not have any milk on hand.
Sourdough Discard – Active starter will work just fine, too!
Sharp Cheddar Cheese – I typically buy a block of cheese and use a cheese grater. You can also buy pre-shredded cheese.
For the topping
Butter
Dried parsley – Fresh chopped parsley works great, too.
Tools You May Need
Measuring cups and spoons – You can use volume measurements or weight for this recipe. For weight measurements, use a digital kitchen scale like this one.
Baking Sheet
How to Make Sourdough Cheddar Biscuits – The Quick Version
Preheat the oven to 400F. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
To a large bowl, add flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and garlic powder. Whisk together.
Add melted butter, sourdough starter, milk, and cheese to the flour mixture and mix everything together well.
Scoop the biscuits onto a baking sheet. I like to use a medium sized ice scream scoop to get even sized biscuits.
Bake the biscuits in the preheated oven for 15 -20 minutes.
While baking, melt butter and add parsley.
Once they are finished baking, using a pastry brush, brush the melted butter and parsley over top of each biscuit.
Long-Fermented Cheddar Biscuits
To a large bowl, add flour, melted, butter, sourdough starter, sugar, milk and stir until incorporated.
Place a clean tea towel or plastic wrap over bowl and allow to sit at room temperature at least 8-24 hours.
The next day, preheat the oven to 400 F and add parchment paper to a baking sheet.
To the fermented biscuit dough add the rest of the dry ingredients (baking soda, baking powder, salt, garlic) and shredded cheese.
Mix everything together well.
Scoop the biscuits onto a baking sheet.
Bake biscuits in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
While baking, melt the butter and add parsley.
Once they are finished baking, using a pastry brush, brush the melted butter and parsley over the top of each biscuit.
Storage
As with most homemade biscuits, these are best served fresh. They will keep in an airtight container for a few days. You can also freeze these. I’d recommend freezing after baking by flash freezing on a cookie sheet and then adding them to a freezer safe bag.
How to Serve Sourdough Cheddar Biscuits
This is a great recipe for special occasions or for any weekday night. Sourdough cheddar biscuits are delicious served with soup, seafood, or even a roast.
We also like to enjoy them with our morning eggs.
FAQ
While these biscuits may not be considered “healthy” by most measures, long fermenting the dough does provide some health benefits. Fermentation breaks down phytic acid, making the nutrients in wheat more bio available. It also helps break down gluten, making wheat easier to digest.
In addition to messing with the fermentation process, you may not end up with a good rise or flaky layers. You could try adding in a little more before baking.
I know there are many recipes for making biscuits in the air fryer. So, it is possible! I have not tried it for this specific recipe, though. Using the air fryer to heat up these biscuits from frozen would work great.
More Sourdough Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Fluffy Sourdough Biscuits
- Sourdough Thumbprint Cookies with Discard
- Easy Einkorn Bread
- Pain de Mie (Pullman Bread) Recipe
- Sourdough Discard Lemon Bread with Lemon Glaze
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone
Sourdough Cheddar Biscuits Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Biscuit dough
- 2 cups all purpose flour, 280 grams
- 1 teaspoon sugar, 12 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt, 4 grams
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 8 tablespoons butter melted, 113 grams
- 3/4 cup milk, 122 grams
- 1/2 cup sourdough discard*, 125 grams
- 1 cup sharp cheddar
Butter topping
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
Instructions
Quick version:
- Preheat oven to 400℉. Prepare baking sheet with parchment.
- To a large bowl, add flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and garlic powder. Whisk together.
- Add melted butter, sourdough starter, milk, and cheese to the flour mixture and mix everything together well.
- Scoop the biscuits onto a baking sheet.
- Bake biscuits oven for 15 -20 minutes.
- While baking, melt butter and add parsley.
- Once they are finished baking, using a pastry brush, brush the melted butter and parsley over top of each biscuit.
Long-Fermented Sourdough Biscuit
- To a large bowl, add flour, melted, butter, sourdough starter*, sugar, milk and stir until incorporated.
- Stir until nicely incorporated.
- Place a clean tea towel or plastic wrap over bowl and allow to sit at room temperature at least 8-24 hours.
- The next day, Preheat the oven to 400℉ and add parchment paper to a baking sheet.
- To the fermented dough add baking soda, baking powder, salt, garlic, and shredded cheese.
- Mix everything together well.
- Scoop the biscuits onto a baking sheet.
- Bake biscuits oven for 15-20 minutes.
- While baking, melt butter and add parsley.
- Once they are finished baking, using a pastry brush, brush the melted butter and parsley over top of each biscuit.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi love your sights and recipes i follow them all.
Can I freeze these after baking?
Thanks for all your posts. Love from Minnesota
Yes, you can. They freeze well.
I just made these for the first time and they will definitely be added into my regular rotation. They came together super quickly and easily and they’re delicious!
Oh my, what a disaster these were! I was so sad because everything was looking and smelling great. I did the long ferment — followed instructions exactly — and they flattened out during baking. They’re like soft-but-dense, doughy, thick pancakes.
I saw your tip of adding more starter for the long-ferment method, so maybe that’s what went wrong? Seemed like there wasn’t enough flour to give structure, like the batter was too wet. But I’m no expert biscuit maker. :/
I am sorry you experienced this. Next time add a little more flour. That may help your situation.
These were perfect! Looked exactly like in your picture, and taste great. So easy to make!
These are great! I’ve been making a batch every week when I feed my starter. I’ve also been adding two chopped jalapeños to the recipe, which my family loves! We’ve served them with herbed scrambled eggs in the mornings and with homemade chunky tomato soup as a lunch, or with butter as a snack. The biscuits freeze really well and they’re easy to defrost and toast up as needed.
That sounds amazing!!
Lisa, I just baked these sourdough cheddar biscuits. I wanted to see if there was a difference with using melted butter or cutting the butter into the flour. To compare, I made two batches. The batch with the butter cut into the flour allowed the biscuits to rise higher, which allows more flavor as you eat them. I also used dried Basil rather than dried parsley for the butter topping. Yum!! Thank you for this recipe.
Taste amazing! Can’t wait to make again!
They taste good! Will make again.
I made the quick version, and they turned out perfectly. I did use buttermilk (because I had some that needed to be used). My starter’s hydration is pretty high as well. This was definitely a win in my sour dough explorations. My family enjoyed them more than my standard recipe (which I’ve been wanting to replace since my homemade Bisquick uses crisco). Wahoo!
I’m sure these are delicious when done correctly! 5 stars since it’s my error! Mine flattened in the oven (I did long ferment). I left my overnight dough to rise about 24 hours at room temp. I also added 1 tsp baking soda and 1tsp baking powder with the other items listed in step 5. Did I do something wrong or miss a step? Thanks!!
Sounds like it may have over fermented. That can cause the dough to completely flatten. Next time you long ferment, put them in the fridge after you shape them. 🙂 They won’t lose their rise in the fridge and you will get the benefits from fermenting them
Thanks so much for your response! I wouldn’t have thought that, will try for next time! 😊