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!!!
Ohhh. This would be great for me to make a big batch of the dry ingredients ahead of time and store for use throughout a week or two at dinner time. Just add butter and milk when ready to make them. I LOVE your site and recipes. Thank you!.
I’m making this recipe tonight and thinking about using buttermilk instead of milk. Thoughts? I imagine I’d adjust the baking powder to 1.5 tsp and add 0.5 tsp of baking soda.
I’d need to do some testing to know the best adjustment for the baking powder and soda, but one other thing to consider is that you might also need more buttermilk since buttermilk tends to be much thicker.
How did this turn out with buttermilk?
These. Were. DIVINE. And, since I do still struggle with yeast-based bread recipes, the ease of this recipe was a real morale booster. -:D I really enjoyed them with honey (as a dessert), but I also made a second batch on New Years morning — dividing the mix less (by 6 rather than 8), baking them a bit longer, cutting one in half, and starting the year off with a homemade breakfast sandwich. Worth the indulgence. -:)
These biscuits are better than my grandmother’s and she is a great baker! Thanks so much Beth!
Can I use almond milk instead of cow milk?
Unfortunately I haven’t tried this one with almond milk, so I’m not sure.
I’ve made these with plain unsweetened cashew milk and vegan butter and they turn out really well! They didn’t get as golden as I would like, but they taste great!
Would it work to make 12 biscuits? Or would they be too small?
Looks delicious!
They’d probably be pretty small, but you could always double the recipe and have a few extra! :)
Delicious and easy! Can you supply an equivalent measurement for the butter? I find it awkward to use tablespoons for cold butter. I guessed my way towards 4oz but wondered if that was too much….successful nevertheless!
Yep, 4 oz. is correct. :)
Love these! I had some homemade gravy left over from another recipe that was too good to let go to waste, so I whipped up these biscuits to go with it. Absolutely divine! I also think they’re good with honey, as recommended. These will definitely be in my regular rotation from now on!
Awesome! Made these plain and they are great!
Beth: this is my second time making these. I made a vegan version with almond milk… Fantastic! I have never been excited for a cookbook to come out, but I can’t wait to get yours!
I wanted to let you know that wherever I brought them as a Party snack or as a side dish for a soup I’ve been asked for the recipe.
People can’t believe that they are that easy to make.
I also add 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese, which makes them even richer.
Thank you for them
Easy and I was able to use the rosemary I’ve been growing. Thank you, Beth.
OMG! so easy to make, yet so amazingly delicious. Just when we thought we wouldn’t have any bread for our soup last night, we came across this recipe.
We didn’t even have enough butter so we had to cut the recipe in half. We didn’t even have any milk so we used water instead. We did use fresh rosemary.
They still rocked!! thank you
I’m supposed to bring “rolls” tomorrow for Xmas Eve family lunch, but these will be a huge surprise! I went with Italian seasoning and onion and garlic powder and added a bit of sharp cheddar cheese and added lemon juice to the milk to make buttermilk. Good lawd they’re good! I’ll be lucky if they survive until the morning, luckily they’re easy enough to make another quick batch if necessary
Made these for Thanksgiving and they rocked! The dough froze well (made it the night before and popped them in the oven today).
So you are able to freeze these before they’re baked, and they come out well? I make freezer meals with a group and I don’t want them to be a bust.
Thanks!
I know you can definitely freeze them after baking, but I haven’t tried freezing them before baking. Normal biscuits can be frozen before baking, but this dough is more like a paste. I think it will still work if you just drop scoops of it onto a parchment lined baking sheet, freeze them like that, then transfer them to a freezer bag after they’re hard.
i’ll try that! i feel like that might have been the issue, now that i think about it. also i had a heck of a time getting the butter and flour mixed together using my hands. so i used a fork for a bit. my arms got a work out, that’s for sure!
oh, and i tried them with honey and it was fantastic!
Anon – it sounds like maybe your batter was too wet? Maybe. Try adding just a bit less milk next time and hopefully they’ll hold their shape! :)
i made these for thanksgiving today and they were very tasty, but didn’t come out looking anything like yours. i followed the recipe exactly, except for the fact that i left out the sugar, but my version of these came out really flat and wide. i can’t figure out why!
Not sure if my last message went through, but I have an update already! Just made these and they were SO EASY! I used all white whole wheat flour instead of all purpose (I’m switching to eating all whole grains), used unsweetened organic soymilk and also omitted the tsp of sugar. I couldn’t wait more than a minute after these were out of the oven to taste test! I drizzled a little honey on half and devoured it! Thank you for the recipe!
How do you think these would turn out using all white whole wheat flour? maybe a little dense? I’m going to try it out and I’ll report back! :)
Quite possibly THE best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth ;)
I totally thought you were crazy putting honey on them. It looked so gross but I gave it a try because I owe you for your time and dedication to this great website. My wife and I tried it together and were both FLOORED at how amazing it was. Thank you.
I totally thought you were crazy putting honey on them. It looked so gross but I gave it a try because I owe you for your time and dedication to this great website. My wife and I tried it together and were both FLOORED at how amazing it was. Thank you.
Maritza – I haven’t tried it although I probably wouldn’t suggest it because the baking powder will slowly react even without heat. So, they might end up flat and dense.
can i make these the night before for breakfast, put them in the fridge prior to baking time?
These were so good–totally light, even though I committed the cardinal sin of over-stirring the batter after adding the milk. I added a little parmesean cheese on top, because I couldn’t help myself. They went well with our crab legs and potatoes!
I made these for fathers day to accompany a steak dinner!! They were fantastic! I used the last biscuit for my breakfast the next morning with an egg!
These would go prefect with a nice cream of chicken and wild rice soup… a perfect comforting dinner!!!
Lindsay – Hmm, I haven’t tried it. They might be okay, but you won’t have the crispy exterior like you do right out of the oven. They’ll be considerably softer upon reheating. But aside from that, they’ll probably be okay!
Hi Beth,
Do you think these would freeze well after they have been baked?
so quick, so easy… pretty much fail-proof. family LOVED them too! nice one Beth!
I’ve made drop biscuits before but never with pepper and rosemary. I made THESE with chicken soup today, and they are just full of YUM!
I made these this morning, and yeah, they’re amazing.
Thank you! So a US Stick is about half a German stick of butter. I love this blog so much!
Mmm, I bet lemon zest would be amazing!
how about lemon zest? anyone tried the recipe with lemon zest?
I served this with ur swamp soup. perfect comfort food :)
Thanks for answering that question for me ;D
Anon – Yes, I almost added cheese to mine, in fact, but I chickened out! Hahhaa… I think the easiest way to do it would be to stir in shredded cheese after you smoosh in the butter.
Can you add cheese? Might as well go all out if I’m not going to stop at one biscuit.
Drop biscuits with herbs are such a great idea! I love the rosemary-pepper combination.
Mel, a US stick of butter is 113.4 grams. :)
These biscuits look fantastic Beth! Rosemary is one of my favourite herbs to cook with at the moment, so I will definitely have to give your recipe a try soon!
Nice recipe. For the same budget you can add a tablespoon or two of vinegar to the milk and it becomes buttermilk. And I use lard rather than butter–lard is $1.50/lb. I cut my biscuits about 3″ after I’ve kneaded it a bit to create the flaky layers.
Beth, how many grams butter did you use? I think a stick butter has a different size here in Germany ;)
So easy! I love the sound of these.
i love this idea! and my husband thinks they sound delightful, so i think they’re on the menu for next week! i need ideas for my fresh rosemary so this is perfect. :)
Heidi – Absolutely! Pinning is like free advertisement – I don’t know who would say no to that ;) I made the BB pinboards to make it easier for people to pin.
Does that fact that you’re on Pinterest mean that we have permission to pin your recipes?
Hahah, yeah, okay, maybe that was a bit facetious ;) And THANK YOU!
Looks delicious!
Don’t even worry about the butter. Fake butter is WAY worse for you.
“As long as you have the will power to limit yourself to one…”
Yeahhhhhh, not gonna happen, lol. By the way Beth, just want you to know I love your blog :D