There’s nothing like fresh bread with dinner, but I don’t know anyone who has time to make a fresh yeast rolls every night. So for the nights when you’re short on time, these Rosemary Pepper Drop Biscuits have you covered. They’re the easiest of easy dinner side dish because there’s no kneading, shaping, or cutting. Just mix, drop, and bake!
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What is a Drop Biscuit?
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.
What to Serve with Drop Biscuits
I like to serve these Rosemary Pepper Drop Biscuits with any type of soup, stew, or chili, but they’re also amazing with a little slather of butter and a drizzle of honey! That honey-pepper-rosemary combo is TO DIE FOR. Try them with my Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup or Chicken Stew!
Rosemary Pepper Drop Biscuits
Servings 8Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour ($0.21)
- 2 tsp baking powder ($0.08)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.03)
- 1 tsp dried rosemary ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper ($0.03)
- 1 tsp sugar ($0.02)
- 8 Tbsp cold butter (salted) ($0.88)
- 1 cup milk ($0.33)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Roughly chop or crush the rosemary to prevent large, sharp pieces. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, rosemary, pepper, sugar) until well combined.
- Take the butter out of the refrigerator just prior to using it. Slice the butter into pieces, then add them to the dry ingredients. Work the butter into the flour mixture until no large pieces remain and it looks a little like damp sand. I use my hands for this, but you can also use a pastry cutter.
- Starting with 3/4 cup, add just enough milk to moisten the mixture into a thick, slightly sticky dough (see photos below). There should be no dry flour left on the bottom of the bowl, but the dough should not be so wet that it appears glossy. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and scoop 8 dollops of the biscuit dough onto the paper (about 1/3 to 1/2 cup each).
- Bake the biscuits in the fully preheated 400ºF oven for 18-22 minutes or until they are golden brown on the edges. Serve warm.
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Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Love Drop Biscuits? Try our Cheddar Drop Biscuits or Ranch Drop Biscuits, too!
How to Make Rosemary Pepper Drop Biscuits – Step By Step Photos
Begin preheating the oven to 400ºF. Chop or crush 1 tsp dried rosemary, so there aren’t any large sharp pieces in your biscuits.
In a large bowl, combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp salt, the crushed rosemary, about 1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper, and 1 tsp sugar. Stir until these ingredients are well combined.
Cut 8 Tbsp of cold butter into chunks, then add them to the flour mixture. work the butter into the flour mixture (either using your hands or a pastry cutter) until no large pieces remain and the mixture looks a little like damp sand.
Starting with just 3/4 cup, add just enough milk to the flour mixture to make a slightly sticky dough (should be between 3/4 and 1 cup total).
There should be no dry flour left on the bottom of the bowl, but the dough should not be so wet that it looks glossy.
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and drop dollops of the biscuit dough onto the baking sheet. Each dollop should be about 1/3 to 1/2 cup in volume.
Bake the Rosemary Pepper Drop Biscuits for 18-22 minutes, or until they are golden brown on the edges. Serve warm!
Do you think this recipe would work if I used a vegan margarine and almond milk? My daughter is vegan and expecting her first child. I’d like to make these to go with your vegan lentil stew for her.
Hello Mrs Beth,l am Arabella and l am 13 years old and l am homeschooled .Mummy’s made this recipe often and l and my four siblings love them,so today I made them!!
Yum!! My 12 year old son was able to make these independently for our dinner tonight to go along with your Vegetables & Gravy recipe and he was so proud. We devoured them and I look forward to making them time and time again possibly even trying variations on herbs as well (although the rosemary/black pepper combo is delicious)! What a great and simple recipe.
Question: would this dough freeze well? I’d love to bake as I go and reheated biscuits don’t taste as good to me.
Thanks for any guidance/advice!
I don’t think I’ve tried freezing the unbaked biscuits, only the baked biscuits. My intuition says it would probably work, though. Regular biscuit dough freezes great and the main difference between this and a regular biscuit is the moisture content (so you can scoop it instead of rolling and cutting the dough).
Beth: it says milk not heavy cream. What should it really say?
Hi, yes, sorry about that. This drop biscuit uses a combination of milk and butter, rather than heavy cream. I’m not sure how that paragraph in the text above the recipe got inserted. :P
I just made these with heavy cream since all the other biscuits recipes had said heavy cream. I took a gamble an I just peaked in the oven a they look pretty good. Thank you for getting back to me.
I took them out of the oven just now an they look amazing 🤩
These were great! I made them to go with a white chicken chili that I found on here! Yum!!
We love these!! I add a 1/2 tsp garlic powder and some shredded cheese (usually whatever kind I have to needs to be used up.) So good!
These were so easy and good! I used about a tablespoon of fresh rosemary from my garden. Thanks!
I’m a sloppy baker and I still managed not to mess these up. My dough did turn out glossy and wet before I used all the milk and I feared I had ruined them, but nope! Came out delicious.
If i was to add cheese to this do you think there would be one that would do better than another for the flavor combo? I was thinking of making these this weekend but wanted to put in cheddar or parmesan or something
.
Thank you!
Made these this morning. Very easy and it was the first time I’ve made anything like this. Added a lil cheddar but I wasnt super confident with it. The biscuits were soft and a good size – they are already gone
I think they could handle quite a bit more cheese and be super yummy.
Oh possibly a white cheddar would be delicious.
Oooo I’ll get some this week and check in on the weekend to let you know how it goes!
Could you freeze these?
Yep, I do it all the time! :)
Do you freeze them before or after baking? And what is your baking/heating up method? Thanks! I’m preparing for baby and trying to get a freezer full
Hi Mara! I’d freeze them after baking. Having three kiddos of my own, you want the easiest option possible when pulling from the freezer. Reheat and eat is the way to go! Best of luck to you.
Pepper?? i love pepper…….
i doubled the pepper… (a little hot; maybe shouldn’t have done that) and
i used a cheese grater to cut the butter ( arthritis; can’t mix much) and loved how the grated butter cut in so well
with a pastry cutter after grating. Weighed the flour and much easier than cup measuring. Delicious! Hot with butter and orange marmalade but i suspect a peach preserve would be over the top! i give You a Gold Star for this one… and an extra bonus…. i’m the only one in the family that likes pepper. Best!motsfo
Just put 6 out of 8 in the oven! Whew, they are STICKY! I hope they turn out well so that I can eat one with my chunky lentil and vegetable soup :)
I’ve made these twice now and they are so delicious! I never know how long to mix the dough for, but they still come out great. Somehow mine end up a little smaller though. Both times the biscuits ended up more like 1/4-1/3cup sized instead of 1/3-1/2c. Still awesome though and still a good size.
Can’t wait to try these!!!