Fluffy and delicious Red Lobster™ Cheddar Bay Biscuits are packed with butter, garlic, and cheddar cheese. This easy copycat recipe of those iconic biscuits only takes 20 minutes to make from scratch with pantry ingredients—the perfect last-minute side dish.
🥣Ingredients
Flour—all-purpose
Baking powder—aluminum-free preferred
Salt
Butter
Garlic powder
Buttermilk—or substitute
Cheese—shredded mild cheddar
Parsley flakes
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Featured Comment by Linda:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"These were absolutely, incredibly delicious & SUPER easy! I made (2) batches ... Shared this awesome recipe everywhere - everyone loved them, many thanks!"
With these easy-to-follow step-by-step photo instructions, you can make fluffy and delicious Red Lobster™ biscuits at home. My version of a copycat recipe is simplified for fast and easy weeknight use anytime you need a side dish.
Check out other biscuit recipes, like cornbread biscuits, low-calorie biscuits, grilled biscuits, healthier sausage gravy and biscuits, and glazed cinnamon biscuits.
👨🍳How to Make Cheddar Bay Biscuits—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
1. Combine all-purpose flour, baking powder, garlic powder, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in cold butter.
2. Stir in shredded cheddar cheese.
3. Add buttermilk or substitute. Mix until combined—don't over-mix.
4. Make six drop biscuits and bake at 425° (400° convection) for 12-14 minutes.
5. While baking, combine butter, parsley flakes, and garlic powder. Microwave briefly to melt the butter.
6. Brush the top of the hot biscuits with the melted butter combination.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
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👍Make them right every time—tips, options, and variation
Be sure the oven is fully preheated. You can vary the oven temperature slightly and adjust the time, but the biscuits should be cooked at a high temperature.
Flour: Use unbleached all-purpose flour. This is not a whole wheat recipe and bread flour has extra gluten, which is unnecessary in biscuits.
If you live in the South, try White Lily™ flour. The different types of wheat used produce softer biscuits with a great taste.
Self-rising flour may replace the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Butter: Use regular salted butter. If you only have unsalted butter, add an extra pinch of salt.
Cheese: Mild cheddar shredded cheese will give that Red Lobster™ taste. Some will prefer sharp cheddar cheese instead. Freshly grated cheese has more flavor—my favorite is Cabot's.
Other flavors to customize it: Some copycat recipes add sugar, onion powder, or cayenne pepper.
🐄Buttermilk substitute
Buttermilk makes lighter, fluffier biscuits. Its acid activates the baking powder and soda in biscuit recipes to stimulate more rise. Buttermilk also adds a bit of tangy flavor.
Powdered buttermilk is also an excellent thing to keep around if you bake frequently.
You can make a buttermilk substitute by adding one tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of milk and letting it sit for five minutes before using.
You can use standard milk or milk substitute, but the biscuits will rise less and be less fluffy and tender. The difference is not huge but noticeable if you pay attention.
📋Serve with these delicious recipes
These biscuits remind me of Red Lobster™ and seafood, so use them with Garlic Butter Salmon, Baked Blackened Tilapia, Grilled Blackened Tilapia, and Lemon Butter Tilapia.
Or try them with Honey Glazed Chicken Breasts or Grilled Apricot-Glazed Pork Chops.
Parmesan Crusted Tilapia
Parmesan-crusted tilapia has a crispy Parmesan coating flavored with paprika on a tender and flakey fish fillet. This easy weeknight recipe takes only 20 minutes to prep and bake in the oven using fresh or thawed frozen tilapia fillets.
🥣Making Ahead
You can mix the dry ingredients, cut in the butter, mix in the cheese, and then store the mixture in the refrigerator for a few days. However, you can not add the liquid since it will trigger the baking powder leavening, which will occur rapidly but disappear quickly.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven, then add the buttermilk.
❄️Storage
Cheddar Bay biscuits can be stored airtight at room temperature for 3 days, but longer than two days will suffer some in texture. You can also keep them in the freezer airtight for 2 months.
❓FAQs
Yes, but I prefer the fluffier from scratch version with the cut-in butter. If you use Bisquick Mix®️, it will substitute for flour, salt, baking powder, and butter in the dough.
Many people will get a metallic aftertaste from baking powder containing aluminum. Although all baking powder contains aluminum for years, aluminum-free baking powder has been commonly available for many years. I encourage you to buy only the aluminum-free version.
📖The Recipe Card with Step-by-Step Instructions
Copycat Red Lobster™ Cheddar Bay Biscuits
Video Slideshow
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup AP flour
- 3 tablespoons butter - cold
- 1 tablespoon baking powder - aluminum-free
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¾ cup shredded cheese - Mild cheddar preferred
- ¾ cup buttermilk - Subsitutes in notes
- 1 ½ tablespoon melted butter
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon parsley flakes - optional
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° convection or 425° conventional oven.
- In a large bowl, combine 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, and ½ teaspoon salt. Add 3 tablespoons of cold butter and cut in with a large fork or pastry cutter.
- Stir in ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese. I like mild cheddar here, but sharp cheddar is fine. Mix well.
- Add ¾ cup buttermilk or substitute. Mix well, but you don't need to over mix.
- Spray a baking sheet with PAM or cover with parchment paper and make six even mounds (a heaping ¼ cup). Bake for 12-14 minutes.
- Just before the biscuits are done, combine 1 ½ tablespoons butter, ¼ teaspoon parsley flakes, and ½ teaspoon garlic powder in a small bowl. Microwave briefly to melt the butter.
- Brush the top of the hot biscuits with the melted butter combination.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- It's a very easy recipe to adjust up or down. Use the number of serving adjustment—it will change the ingredients list volumes but not the instruction text.
- I suggest mild cheddar if you want a Red Lobster™ like taste. But sharp cheddar is fine.
- Use only aluminum-free baking powder.
- If you want to use Bisquick Mix®️, it will substitute for flour, salt, baking powder, and butter in the dough.
- You can use plain milk, but buttermilk is preferred.
- You can make a buttermilk substitute by adding one tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of milk and letting it sit for five minutes before using. Powdered buttermilk is also an excellent thing to keep around if you bake frequently.
- I have kept the number of ingredients to a minimum to make this weeknight-friendly.
- Good in an airtight container for 2-3 days at room temperature or refrigerated.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You can adjust the number of servings above; however, only the amount in the ingredient list is adjusted, not the instructions.
Nutrition Estimate (may vary)
Originally Published September 24, 2011. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Connie says
Made these last night for dinner....easy and very tasty!! I made them just as your recipe instructed. Extras went into freezer for next time we have soup...liked them so much better then mix at store!!
Thanks for your recipes....
Melody says
Hi Dr. Dan,
Thanks for the powered buttermilk substitution because, sadly, most or all of the milk I buy spoils. How can I judge if powderd buttermilk will work in other recipes?
The milk delema is problematic. (I like to have milk to hand to whip up a quick quiche!) A woman in the market said she freezes small quantities for cooking. Have you ever tried this? Any other suggestions? (I don't like the flavor of canned or fat-free poewdered.)
This is the perfect summer biscuit with grilled chicken and a salad!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Melady,
I do love this biscuits, I can just whip them out if needed. It is a little more special than just a bread sidedish.
About the milk things. Can you freeze milk? Sure but it will change the taste and texture a bit. I think of it as already rehydrated dried milk. But it takes up freezer space and is not as convenient. Just use powdered which is cheaper and more convenient to have around. I wouldn't just drink a glass of either (it is safe but taste and texture is wrong.)
The powdered buttermilk (and powdered non-fat milk) work fine for baking. I don't find they are good for things where the milk stays as a liquid, like in a sauce or gravy.
I rarely can finish a container of fresh milk. I find buying one of the ultrapasteurized milk with a long outdate is best. It can set in the refrigerator for a few months until I need it. Once opened, it has 2 weeks and I date it with a felt tip pen when I open it. Sometime I will buy of three pack of soy milk (not the drink) and will have that around.
Hope that helps some.
Dan
Katie says
Hi. Your ingredient list doesn't have the cheddar cheese on it but your instructions do.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Katie,
Welcome to the blog and thanks for the proofread and saying something. It has been like that since originally published almost 8 yrs ago. It has been seen over 100,000 times. So you definitely get the star. Good thing people read the instructions.
Thanks again.
Dan
Aubree says
These are very easy and taste great.
Alicia Bland says
Delicious and very easy! My family loved them. We will be making these again!
DrDan says
Hi Alicia,
Welcome to the blog.
I think it is all the butter. I think I will do these again soon.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
DrDan says
Hi Ken,
I have been trying to do biscuits less but a premade mix would work great if you use it enough or self rising flour. The grater works great for the butter and I do that if I'm doing a large batch. I find it silly when people fire up their food processor for something like this. Mine is a pain to clean.
Thanks for the note and if you could, post to mix formula for the readers.
Dan
Kenneth says
I just wanted to make a quick comment. First off I love these. I have started using my own baking mix from the Utah extension service with half whole wheat and half all purpose and half the recommended salt. Makes my Doc happier. I also started using a cheese grater and grating the cold butter to make it easier to incorporate in to the mix. Since reducing the salt content adding other flavors and herbs really helps. Adding the other ingredients, especially the mix for the top really improved my biscuits. Thanks for the recipe.
Angela says
This recipe is amazing. For the biscuits, I used light cheddar and replaced the 3T butter with 3T 0% Greek yogurt. I made the topping as is. They were absolutely delicious! My husband loved how light and fluffy they turned out and the garlic flavor was a perfect touch. I especially appreciate the small batch size since I do all my cooking for just the two of us. Thank you for this! Definitely being added to the recipe box.
Linda says
These were abolutely, incredibly delicious & SUPER easy! I made (2) batches - 1 without garlic for my toddler grandtwins. In the garlicky batch, I threw some freeze dried chives & a little black pepper into the batter. Also substituted 1/4 c. shredded parmesan for 1/4 c. of the cheddar. Shared this awesome recipe everythwhere - everyone loved them, many thanks!
DrDan says
Thanks so much for the note and rating. I love these but due to the fat content haven't done them for a while.
Again thanks for the comment and rating.
DrDan
Linda says
Beyond incredible & super easy! I made 2 batches - 1 w/o garlic for my toddler Brandywine & added some chives & a little black pepper in the garlic batch. Also used 1/4 c shredded parmesan in plce of 1/4 c of the cheddar. Everyone loved them - sharing everywhere - many thanks!
Shae says
Completely heavenly! There is a mismatch between the recipes though. In the step by step, instructions are for 1/8t salt in the butter topping, but goes up to 1/4 in the full recipe summary on the bottom. Beware... 1/8 must be the right one! My first batch was too salty but second tasted just right with less salt!
DrDan says
You are so right. 1/8 and only if unsalted butter. Thanks for the catch.
DrDan
mickey conway says
I just made a batch of these for dinner and they were great! First time I've ever tried "baking from scratch" and honestly I was a little worried but this recipe was so simple! You have a new fan.
Dan Mikesell says
They are evil little devils. Now that you have done scratch, you will never go back.
Chris says
Those things are addictive! They are even great the next morning, cold.
Inspired by eRecipeCards says
DELICIOUS! Yeah, not a fan, but the rolls are by far the best! great recipe.
And thanks for being such an active part of eRecipeCards