If you haven’t heard, it’s soup season. ;) And what’s better to go with a warm and cozy bowl of soup than a warm and tender drop biscuit? Drop biscuits are incredibly easy and you can change up the flavors to go with your meal. This week I used my homemade ranch seasoning to make a really simple ranch-flavored drop biscuit. They’re a little tangy, a little herby, and absolutely delicious! I know you’re going to love them, so make sure to put these Ranch Drop Biscuits on your menu.
What Are Drop Biscuits?
Drop biscuits are a really simple type of quickbread with a free-form dough that is just dropped by the spoonful onto a baking sheet rather than being rolled and cut like a traditional biscuit. They have a wonderfully rustic shape that creates tons of nooks and crannies in the top, perfect for brushing with butter.
This particular drop biscuit recipe is even easier because we use heavy cream in place of butter, so there is no need to use a pastry cutter or to do the tedious work of cutting butter into the flour. You just stir, scoop, drop, and bake!
Can I Substitute the Heavy Cream?
Heavy cream is vital to this recipe because the high-fat content of the cream is what replaces the butter that is traditionally used in biscuits. The fat is what keeps the biscuit soft and tender. Without it, your biscuits will be dense and rubbery. Labels can vary from brand to brand, so just look for cream labeled heavy cream, whipping cream, or heavy whipping cream. Any of those types of cream will have an adequate amount of fat to make the biscuits work well.
Use Homemade or Store-Bought Ranch Seasoning
This recipe works great with either a store-bought packet of ranch seasoning or a batch of homemade ranch seasoning. You can use whatever is most convenient for you!
What Else Can I Add?
As mentioned above, you can add all sorts of delicious flavors to drop biscuits. If you want to add even more to these Ranch Drop Biscuits you could stir some fresh sliced green onions or shredded cheddar cheese to the dough (add with the dry ingredients).
Ranch Drop Biscuits
Servings 12 biscuitsIngredients
Homemade Ranch Seasoning*
- 2 Tbsp buttermilk powder ($0.15)
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp dried dill ($0.03)
- 1/4 tsp onion powder ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp lemon pepper ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
Biscuits
- 2.25 cups all-purpose flour ($0.35)
- 1 tsp salt ($0.05)
- 1 Tbsp baking powder ($0.06)
- 1 tsp sugar ($0.02)
- 1 pint heavy cream ($1.55)
- 2 Tbsp butter (for topping, optional) ($0.20)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the ranch seasoning (buttermilk powder, parsley, dill, onion powder, garlic powder, lemon pepper, black pepper). Set one teaspoon of the ranch seasoning aside to mix with melted butter and brush over the finished biscuits.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and the remaining ranch seasoning (if you do not plan to brush melted butter over your baked biscuits, just us all of the ranch seasoning in the biscuit batter). Make sure the dry ingredients are evenly combined.
- Add the heavy cream to the dry ingredients and stir until a sticky batter forms. Make sure no dry flour is left on the bottom of the bowl.
- Spoon the batter onto a parchment lined baking sheet in about ¼ cup dollops. The batter does not need to be shaped or smoothed in any way. You should get about 12 biscuits.
- Bake the biscuits for about 18 minutes, or until they are puffed and golden brown on top.
- After baking, melt the butter in a small dish, then stir in the reserved ranch seasoning. Brush the ranch butter over the top of the biscuits just before serving.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
How to Make Ranch Drop Biscuits – Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. If you’re using homemade ranch seasoning, combine the ingredients for the seasoning in a bowl (2 Tbsp buttermilk powder, ½ tsp dried parsley, ¼ tsp dried dill, ¼ tsp onion powder, ⅛ tsp garlic powder, ¼ tsp lemon pepper, ⅛ tsp black pepper). Whether using a homemade ranch seasoning or store-bought, set aside 1 tsp of the seasoning to combine with melted butter to be brushed over the biscuits after baking.
Combine 2.25 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1 Tbsp baking powder, and the remaining ranch seasoning in a bowl. Stir until very well combined. If you don’t plan to brush melted butter over the biscuits after baking, you can just add all of the ranch seasoning at this time.
Add one pint of heavy cream into the bowl of dry ingredients.
Stir the heavy cream into the dry ingredients until it forms a shaggy ball of dough. It might be very sticky and that’s okay.
Scoop and drop the dough into 12 portions onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (about ¼ cup each). If they’re a little uneven in shape or size, just pinch some off of one and press it onto another. The free-form shape makes them very forgiving! The more texture the better.
Bake the ranch drop biscuits in the preheated 400ºF for about 18 minutes, or until they’re puffed up and golden brown on the edges.
Melt 2 Tbsp butter and then stir in the reserved teaspoon of ranch seasoning.
Brush the ranch butter over the biscuits just before serving!
I garnished with a little chopped parsley for the photos, but it’s not needed for flavor. :)
These are so easy to make and taste awesome! The ranch flavor isn’t over the top but its a nice subtle amount that you notice the flavor. Will be making these again!
easy and delicious :)
It is unreal how good these are. I’m normally one to swap out heavy cream for milk or Greek yogurt or some combo — do NOT do it for this recipe, like it says all the magic is in the heavy cream here. The biscuits came together quick while I was making soup, and took 18 minutes as the recipe said. I froze half a batch, and have kept the rest in a ziplock freezer bag on the counter to go with aforementioned soup for lunch all week – I wrap them in a damp paper towel and microwave them individually for 20 seconds to make them warm and delightful again (because these really should be eaten warm!). Will make again and again!
Loved them!
The biscuits look great, are very tasty and the recipe is super easy. I used a package of ranch dressing as suggested and sprinkled dry herbs (Italian seasoning) on top just after baking instead of the butter brushing step.
Thank you!
Is it possible to make a dairy-free version? We have a dairy allergy in the family and it sounds like the heavy cream is a necessity.
Thanks!! These look delicious!
Unfortunately, I haven’t experimented with this. The heavy cream is really where the magic happens with this recipe, so when you replace that you risk drastically changing the texture of the biscuit. I’m curious about whether full fat coconut milk would work, but I haven’t tried it.
These looks great! Can you substitute self-rising flour for the all purpose flour?
Sel-rising flour has the baking powder already mixed in (that’s what makes it self-rising), so you’d probably need to reduce or eliminate the added baking powder. But I don’t know exactly how much the self-rising flour contains.
Made these on Sunday. Used a pre-made ranch dressing packet. (Picked the one with the least amount of sodium levels). Otherwise, followed all other directions. HUGE hit! This recipe is now in my regular rotation. Thank you!
Will half and half work at all? I have a ton of that (it was BOGO at Lidl) 🤪
No, unfortunately, it doesn’t have quite enough fat to keep the biscuits light and fluffy.
I’ve never made a biscuit in my life. Eaten my share though!
These are incredible. And super easy!
I’ll be making these on the regular.
Thank You soooo much for this recipe Beth.
Beth’s cream biscuits are the best! Our fave is the cheddar drop biscuits. Last night I added the ranch seasoning instead of green onions to that recipe–OMG!!! But when you’re not in the mood for cheese, this recipe is marvelous.
These sound amazing. I wonder what it would be like to create pumpkin drop biscuits?
Oooh, I like the way you think! I have a sweet potato biscuit recipe, so I bet it can be done!
Good biscuits