These delicious non-guilt healthy biscuits are tender and fluffy. Perfect for a low-fat diet with almost zero fat per biscuit. And they also fit a low-calorie diet, with only 137 calories per biscuit.
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😊Why you will love this recipe.
- Excellent taste with a fluffy texture. A great side dish for many meals.
- Extremely easy to make in only a few minutes.
- It has only 5 ingredients or only 2 ingredients if you have self-rising flour.
- Perfect for most healthy diets, including low fat and low caloric, with less than 0.5 grams of fat and 137 calories per biscuit.
- Uses either plain or Greek yogurt.
- Scales to as few or as many as you want.
I surprised my wife with these biscuits, but they were cuts instead of drop biscuits (my usual). Besides being cut biscuits, she could not tell the difference even after being told.
🥣Ingredients
- Flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Nonfat yogurt
- Optional—use self-rising flour for the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
👨🍳How to Make These Healthy Biscuits
- Preheat oven to 400° convection or 425° regular.
- Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Or use self-rising flour.
- Fold in nonfat yogurt until all dry is incorporated.
- Prep a baking pan with PAM, silicone baking mat, or parchment paper.
- Make eight drop or cut biscuits and evenly space them on the tray.
- Bake in a preheated oven until golden brown—about 12-15 minutes.
How do they taste?
- First, the slight yogurt tang. Not very noticeable, except if you know it has yogurt. A little more with Greek yogurt. Not a bad thing, and most people won't notice.
- Second, they are soft and fluffy but not flaky. If you want flaky, you must 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.
↕️How to make this a "for two" or "family size" recipe
This is an easy recipe to adjust to the number of biscuits you want.
- Use the recipe card and adjust the number of servings number of biscuits you want.
- Use the amount of ingredients in the ingredient list, not the instructions—those do not adjust.
- Cook for the same amount of time.
❓FAQs
There is a trace (<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.)
The 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.
Self-rising flour is a standard combination of all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. There may be baking soda added, mostly in homemade versions. Commercial versions mainly adjust the baking powder to compensate for no baking soda.
It is a little "old-school" and was a way for home cooks to speed up making biscuits, scones, pancakes, and other quick-bread-based recipes.
Bisquik™ is similar but contains some fats to replace the oil/butter component in those recipes.
❄️Storage
Stores well-sealed airtight at room temperature for 2-3 days. You can extend that to about a week if you store them in the refrigerator.
You can also freeze them tightly sealed individually for 3-4 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
📖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 cooking times, so they may not match.
Preheat oven to 400° convection or 425° regular. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper, a silicon mat, or a light coat of PAM cooking spray.
Combine 2 cups AP flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon salt. Mix well. Or use 2 cups of self-rising flour for these ingredients.
Add 1 ¼ cups of 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 the prepared baking pan.
Be sure the oven is fully preheated for a good rise of the biscuits. Bake until golden brown—about 12-15 minutes.
📖 Recipe
Healthy Biscuits—Low Calorie & Almost Zero-Fat
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cup non-fat yogurt
- 2 cups Optional—self-rising flour - replaces the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° convection or 425° regular. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper, a silicon mat, or a light coat of PAM cooking spray.
- Combine 2 cups AP flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon salt. Mix well. Or use 2 cups of self-rising flour for these ingredients.
- Add 1 ¼ cups of 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 the prepared baking pan.
- Be sure the oven is fully preheated for a good rise of the biscuits. Bake until golden brown—about 12-15 minutes.
Your Own Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- The exact nutrition values depend entirely on the ingredients you choose. Different brands may have different nutritional values and change their product over time.
- Greek yogurt works fine. But it 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, refrigerate for a week or freeze for 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.
Linda
These are wonderful. Thank you so much for this recipe. I used Greek yogurt and real buttermilk. Patted them out and cut with biscuit cutter handling the dough as little as possible I’m from the south and learned how to make biscuits as a child without a recipe. I am passing this one in to my friends and family. It’s a winner.
Laura
I love this recipe. I like biscuits very much, but high fat foods don't agree with me - this recipe as listed is a winner for me. Often, I make the recipe as written, but I don't have to have them completely fat free, so sometimes I make them with a tablespoon of butter (in the whole recipe), the greek yogurt, and bit of milk so that all those ingredients combined equal 1 1/4 c. They are still light, with a little flakiness to them. I generally get 10 biscuits from the recipe, which means there's just over 1 g. added fat per biscuit. Thank you for this recipe!
Cheryl
Hello
Has anyone use self rising flour instead of AP flour?
Thanks
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Cheryl,
Welcome to the blog.
Self-rising flour should be fine to replace the other ingredients except for the yogurt. Self-rising flour is flour, baking powder, and salt. It does not have baking soda but has more baking powder than the recipe. It will be fine.
Self-rising flour is very "old school," so I only have a few recipes that use it and I explain how to substitute. I don't keep it around most of the time so I usually list exactly what I use.
Dan
Karen
Wow! I've made the 2 ingredient dough before, but this takes that to another level. I did them as drop biscuits and they were so flavorful and the texture was great. Thank You!
Vivian
I was looking for a recipe for lower fat chicken pot pie and the recipes either sacrificed the crust(my favorite part), or we’re still high in calories. I found your almost no fat biscuit recipe and decided to try it for my topping. It worked beautifully. I adjusted for some previous comments by amping up the flavor with more salt, garlic powder and one finely chopped scallion. With the sauce, any dryness in the biscuits was overcome. My husband loved it too. Thanks for this new take on biscuits.
Angela Brumm
Can I used vegan flour ? Which one?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Angela,
Most flour is vegan, although the bleaching agents used in white flour (only used to make it whiter) is questioned by some. I always use unbleached flour anyways because is consider it is total stupid to bleach flour. I assume you have a vegan yogurt.
Dan
Peter
Hi Vivian. Using this as a non-fat topping for pot pie is exactly the idea I was looking for. Did you simply float the biscuit dough on the pie filling? What baking temperature and time did you use? I’m making individual servings in ramekins. Thanks.
Marion
Excellent recipe! I decided to use Nonfat plain Greek yogurt and added water instead of milk. I just added enough water to make the dough come together. I served with some margarine to offset the slight dry taste and the margarine added just enough flavor for the family. I imagine if the calories are not an issue you can add some blueberries or jam. We had them with a low fat chicken recipe that used light mayo.
Certainly made the dinner special!
Nicole
Hi, I was wanting to use this biscuit recipe for a chicken and biscuits recipe where you drop canned biscuit dough into hot/boiling broth. Would this dough hold up for something like that? I would use fat free greek yogurt for this recipe.I really like your recipe because they're low calorie and low fat. Thank you!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Nicole,
Welcome to the blog.
The answer is probably but I have never done it.
You know already to use small size, drop it is gently and don/t stir. If you try it, please report back.
Dan
Jen
I only had vanilla Greek yogurt and sour cream in the fridge. I used 1/4 cup vanilla Greek yogurt and 1 cup sour cream. They were very good.
Christine
Hello,
I am allergic to dairy and was wondering if I could use coconut alternative yogurt instead?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Christine,
Welcome to the blog.
The answer is I don't know but I'm 90% sure it will work. If you give it a try, please report back.
Dan
Laura in Colorado
I really love this recipe, and have been using it for a couple years. Biscuits are a high fat food, and this has been an excellent low fat substitute for me, time and again. I don't have to eat fat free, I just find I feel better when I eat lower fat foods. One of these biscuits combined with a low fat turkey sausage patty makes an excellent sub for a sausage biscuit without leaving me feeling like I ate a brick. Thanks!
Pam
I made these tonight and only had vanilla yogurt on hand. It worked out ok, but will be glad to try it with plain. Grateful to have this recipe to lower my numbers. Breads are my weakness!
Rebekah
I have been making these with white whole wheat flour and I add a little sugar. They are excellent - though not really “biscuits”....I love them!
Mary Richardson
Made for the first time with Greek yogurt fat free
and whole wheat flour. Made 9 big biscuits. A little tough cuz I overworked. Kept adding more yogurt to get it to come together and a little milk. I will try again.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Mary,
Welcome to the blog.
Whole wheat flour will always take more liquid and the yogurt won't quit do it. Start with about a tablespoon of milk and adjust from there. Also, with the whole wheat, they will be a lot more dense—more than I would want.
Dan
kye
Just made these (drop style) this eve to have with my homemade veggie soup. They were very delicious and a keeper recipe! Light and fluffy inside and a great crunch outside. The only thing I had to do different was to use the low fat plain yogurt I had on hand (Kroger brand), so mine aren't zero fat. One of these will be delightful tomorrow morning heated up a bit with a drizzle of honey to go with a hot cup of coffee!
Thanks so much for sharing the recipe Dr Dan!
Cathy
Made these with Greek yogurt and added 2T of milk- turned out great! I patted the dough out to 3/4 inch and cut the rectangle into 8 biscuits. I’ll make these again and again- thank you!
Yasir
I wasn’t expecting much, but pleasantly surprised that the biscuits tasted good! I used whole wheat flour and it worked out just fine.
Rita
Love, love, love these biscuits!!!! I prepared exactly your recipe and found the drop method worked best and got the best end result! Thank you so much!
Coach
Hi, what is the flour “adjustment” for using Greek yogurt? If less or more flour, how much?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Coach,
Welcome to the blog.
The main difference between Greek and regular yogurt will be the thickness due to the extra filtering of the Greek version which will concentrate more protein and will have a bit less fluid. So Greek is thicker and less moist. But there is some variability by brand.
So when using Greek yogurt, a bit less flour would be the general rule. If it gets too dry, you will have little rocks. You can add a bit more yogurt or a touch of milk if needed.
Dan
Denise Gooch
All due respect, all people have different tastes. The biscuits tasted like baked flour with no taste and we're hard to swallow.
I followed the recipe. Is there anything that can be added to give them some flavor?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Denise,
Welcome to the blog.
A touch more salt will enhanse flavor usually. Garlic is a favorite at our house (about 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder). Other things that will add fat along with taste are cheese and butter.
Dan
Molly
Sorry, but these are terrible! Too sour, chewy, dry... Not like regular biscuits and a really bad substitute. Thank you for offering a healthier option but next time I'll skip the trouble with making biscuits if the usual version isn't a smart choice.
Quinn
Hello, could we substitute oat flour instead of white flour? or will they not come out with the flaky biscuit texture?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Quinn,
Welcome to the blog.
I have never used oat flour for anything so no idea. But this is not "flaky" biscuit anyway.
Dan
Laura
Oat flour doesn't have any gluten, so it will impact the crumb and texture significantly. A gluten free flour blend will get better results if you need them to be gluten free.
Claudia
Mine were extremely bland. Will make again but this time will add a bit of garlic salt ( instead of salt ) or a few tablespoons of monk fruit to make them sweet
JJ
Hi there I did two batches side by side as I am not a big yogurt or Greek yogurt fan and I can taste it in just about any recipe... one was to a T recipe batch 2 I used one cup of cottage cheese(blended)and a quarter cup of applesauce. both were good but I much prefer batch to as it didn't have the Tang of yogurt I'm just throwing it out there for an option still fat free cuz used fat free cottage cheese it just has a mellower taste 🤣🤣🤣