Almost zero-fat, these delicious non-guilt biscuits are tender and fluffy. I have for years called these Zero Fat Biscuits but, due to an insignificant amount of fat in the flour, they are now called Almost Zero Low-Fat Biscuits. Just follow these easy step-by-step photo instructions.
Introduction
Some recipes are for low-fat, but this one is as low as they go—under 0.5 grams per serving due to a minimal amount of fat in flour. Using nonfat yogurt to replace the butter and milk, you still get great rise and texture. Plus, just a few ingredients will get you there.
The Story
For some unknown reason, I bought a large container of nonfat yogurt. I think I was going to make a low-fat carrot cake, but I ended up not using the yogurt.
So, time to experiment. I decided biscuits were a great place to start. With a little looking around, I found some guidance but not exactly what I wanted. So I modified my normal drop biscuit recipe with great results.
That surprised my wife with cut instead of drop biscuits. She wanted to know what was different other than the shape. So really the taste is very good and after being told about the yogurt, so was not sure she could taste it.
My Rating
A high 4 or low 5. I love biscuits, but I don't usually have yogurt.
🐄The Yogurt
While I suggest using nonfat plain yogurt, many people want to use Greek yogurt.
Greek yogurt will add a bit more of a "twang" to the taste. But it is also generally a bit dryer. To use Greek yogurt, you may need to add a bit of milk, 1-2 tablespoons, usually depending on the brand.
👨🍳Nutrition
There is a trace (read that as <0.5 gms) of fat per serving. Flour has about 1 gram of fat per cup (who would have known) and a touch from the zero fat yogurt (depending on the brand.)
Total, with my ingredients, is 3 grams of fat in 8 biscuits. Each biscuit has about 0.37 gm per serving. But FDA rules, there is 0.65 gms of fat per 100 gms, so low fat even though less than 0.5 gm per biscuit.
The exact nutrition values depend entirely on the ingredients you choose. Different brands may have different nutritional values, and they may change their product over time.
About 137 calories per biscuit at eight biscuits. However, if you op tor 6 larger biscuits, so they are 184 calories each.
How Are They Different?
- First, the slight yogurt tang. Not very noticeable, except if you know, it has the yogurt. Not a bad thing.
- Second, they are fluffy but not flaky. If you want flaky, you should cut in some butter. I miss the flaky a little, but for almost zero fat, I will live with it.
- Third, the outside is a little firmer.
📖Variations on Low-Fat Biscuits
Healthier Sausage Gravy and Biscuits
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Note: Pictures are from various times cooking, so may not match.
Preheat oven to 400° convection or 425° regular.
Combine 2 cups AP flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt. Mix well.
Add 1 ¼ cup nonfat yogurt. Fold in until all dry is incorporated. If you use Greek yogurt, you may need a tablespoon or so of milk.
The easiest is to do 8 drop biscuits. If you want to cut biscuits, spread the dough on a floured surface about ¾ inches thick. You can cut six 2 ½ inch biscuits or eight 2 inch biscuits.
Place your biscuits on a PAM sprayed baking pan.
Bake until golden brown. About 12-15 minutes.
📖Recipe
Almost Zero Low-Fat Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cup non-fat yogurt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° convection or 425° regular.
- Combine 2 cups AP flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt. Mix well.
- Add 1 ¼ cup nonfat yogurt. Fold in until all dry is incorporated. If you use Greek yogurt, you may need a tablespoon or so of milk.
- The easiest is to do 8 drop biscuits. If you want to cut biscuits, spread the dough on a floured surface about ¾ inches thick. You can cut six 2 ½ inch biscuits or eight 2 inch biscuits.
- Place your biscuits on a PAM sprayed baking pan.
- Bake until golden brown. About 12-15 minutes.
My Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- Nutrition is discussed in the post. So not quite zero fat but almost.
- Greek yogurt works fine. But will have a stronger yogurt flavor and need a touch of milk. It may vary by brand but 1-2 tablespoons is the probable range.
- Store sealed at room temperature for 2-3 days or frozen for 2-3 months.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editor's Note: Originally Published March 16, 2013. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Mary
How can this Zero Fat Biscuit recipe have 1 gram of fat (saturated no less) as shown on the nutrition label when none of the ingredients have any fat?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Mary,
Good eye. There was a software update a few months ago and the database also changed. It is Europen so rounding rules are not set like the USA. By manual calculations, there is 0.44 grams of fat with 0.35 being saturated per biscuit (that is zero by USFDA rules since less than 0.5grams are rounded down). Most of that is from flour which can vary some by brand but a bit by the yogurt and a touch in the baking powder. I have no idea why it would kick one down and the other up. I'm contacting the developer for his attention. I have manually fixed it to USA rules.
When I originally did calculations manually years ago, this was about 0.2gms. Different database I guess.
Dan
linda ehikhamen
Hi, I just tried this recipe tonight, I was craving shortbread with my strawberries. I only had 6% Balkan yogurt, but they turned out AMAZING!!
Craig
Good Recipe!
I tried this and just cooked them a little longer. I like the outside crispy anyway. The biscuits are great! I dreaded soup without my regular kick-ass baking powder biscuits. Because she is watching her fat, I went looking for a low-fat recipe. I tried one and they were excellent.
Sue
I tried this and thought the flavor was good. However, the insides was still a little raw. It was kinda wet and sticky while it was golden brown outside. Is there a way to fix this?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Sue,
Welcome to the blog.
The internal texture is softer but should not be raw.
Why is it happening?
1. Oven runs a bit hot.
2. Variability in ingredients
3. Too thick
First, what will not work. Do not just increase temperature or cook longer if the outside is done. By the time you get the center done, the outside is overcooked.
Solutions (probably both will help a lot)
1) Lower oven temperature by 25 degrees and cook longer.
2) Make a thinner biscuit.
Final note. I suspect your oven is running too hot. Get an oven thermometer (about $10) and check it. It will save a lot of ruined food down the road.
Dan
Moriah Hatfield
I tried these biscuits and for some reason they tasted really good but were a little dense. What could I have done wrong?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Moriah,
Welcome to the blog and sorry for the delay getting back to you.
They are not flaky but are a bit fluffy. If you want, a tablespoon of milk or water will make a lighter dough.
Dan
Susan
PS. I used Greek non-fat yogurt which radically reduces the carbs!
Kat
Hi,
Can I use plain whole milk yogurt?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Kat,
Welcome to the blog.
Sure, obviously the nutrition would be different and not low fat.
Dan
Susan
These biscuits are amazing!! I didn't think biscuits could possibly be good without fat but they are fabulous and so quick and easy to make. Thanks!
Lunagal
Like many I was looking for a low fat biscuit recipe to reduce my husbands fat intake when he has his beloved biscuits and gravy. Not only did I solve that problem but they are also a good substitute for a traditional English scone. Being a Brit, my Mum’s scones (made with butter of course) were always a favorite of mine and her go to if family or friends turned up unexpectedly for a cuppa. Thank you!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Lunagal,
Welcome to the blog.
Glad it works well for you. I do have a specific low-fat biscuit and gravy recipe that drops the fat in the dish from 34 gm to just 3 by using this recipe, low-fat turkey sausage, and a low-fat gravy method. https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/healthier-sausage-gravy-biscuits/
Thanks so much for the note and rating. Enjoy one of Mum's scones for me.
Dan
Shannon
How is the sodium content so high if there’s only a half teaspoon of salt in the recipe?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Shannon,
Welcome to the blog.
The answer is about a third of the sodium is from the baking soda and some from the yogurt. I did just run this recipe though my new calculator and you will see lower values.
Dan
Joy Wolfe
I found your recipe this afternoon before I started supper. I had ham with greens and pintos and felt like we needed a light biscuit to go with it all! I made mine with plain greek yogurt and added just a little milk to make a sticky dough. Then I dropped the dough on a lightly greased baking sheet and rounded out and smoothed the dough just a little. Mine baked in 10 minutes. I brushed a little melted light butter on the tops when they came out of the oven. They were great! My husband loved them and had no idea they were made with Greek yogurt. Thanks for a great recipe!
DrDan
Hi Joy,
Welcome to the blog.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Sammie Ferrell
I didn't have any yogurt so I decided to use same amount sour creme. I would love to know how that changed the nutritional values since I want to use this in my meal planning menus I do for a customer.
DrDan
Hi Sammie,
Welcome to the site.
I had a sour cream version but removed it last year since I felt this one was much better. I felt there was a bit of an odd taste in my version. I do remember that with nonfat sour cream, it was more calories for worse results.
You can enter your version in several online recipe calculators. https://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator is just one available. It will depend on the version of sour cream you use of course.
Hope that helps some.
Dan
Grandi
I was looking for a low fat canned biscuit brand when I stumbled upon this recipe. The comments frequently state fluffy/chewy as opposed to flaky/crumbly, which will be perfect for topping a healhier version of the chicken pot pie I’m planning. Made from scratch is always best! Thanks so much for sharing!
DrDan
Hi Grandi,
Welcome to the blog.
I'm sure this would be fine on a chicken pot pie. I prefer a little flakey but that requires butter.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Rcmarti
Just made the recipe and they came out great! I cut the recipe in half so got only four biscuits (see posted photo) but its good for just two people. I used regular AP flour so they were a little more dense and I did sift the flour, but would like to try using White Lily flour which is the best for making biscuits. I’ll see tomorrow how well they reheat. Thanks Dr Dan for a great fat free biscuit recipe!
DrDan
Welcome to the blog.
This is an interesting recipe for me. It just came together and worked. You can also do this as drop biscuits which is what I usually do since I'M lazy.
If you're a fan of biscuits and gravy, I use it here for a low fat version that drops the fat by 90% https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/healthier-sausage-gravy-biscuits/
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Kate
I baked these tonight and felt compelled to come and leave a comment to say thank you for the recipe! I stumbled across it while looking for a British biscuit recipe (cookies), these are what we’d call scones in the UK but they looked so good I had to try them. I have gallstones and haven’t tasted a real scone in about two years! These were more spongy than crumbly but they taste so good I don’t mind. I added a little low fat cheese and a pinch of rosemary to the recipe and they came out really well, you’d never dream they were made with yogurt. I’m going to try a sweet version with raisins next. Thank you again!
DrDan
Hi Kate,
Welcome to the blog.
You are right, they are a little different texture but still, quite acceptable to me for the low-fat result. My son just had his GB out in Philidelphia. Life is better without stones.
Dan
Ruth Pilon
I gave it a try. Sorry Dr. Dan, I thought they tasted flat, like eating flour and water.
Laurie
I love this recipe! I always use Greek yogurt and I have never had an issue. I do cook them in a lower oven (375) and for 15-20 minutes and they are perfect.
DrDan
Hi Laurie,
Welcome to the blog.
Glad it works well for you. I think the Greek Yogurt is fine if you like a bit of that taste.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
SB
Ive made these SO many times. So easy and always turn out AMAZING!
Brooke Morrison
Just wanted to say thank you for this recipe! My husband is on a reduced-fat diet and has been missing his biscuits and gravy in a bad way. I made these with gravy made from turkey sausage and skim milk and it turned out great! The biscuits were a hit! I will definitely be making these again.
Aish
Hello. I'm planning to make these biscuits soon. Which one gives crispier results? Using yeast or using baking powder? Thanks.
DrDan
Hi Aish,
Biscuits are generally crispier than a yeast roll but then again they are separate things. I have not and would not use yeast in this recipe. The closest thing I have to this in a yeast roll is https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/60-minute-yeast-dinner-rolls/ and that does have some fat.