Ultimate Cheddar Bay Biscuits | Chickens in the Road

May
15

Love Red Lobster’s famous Cheddar Bay drop biscuits? This is them. Maybe better than them. Would I lie? I’ve been studying up on these biscuits for awhile, ever since several months ago when I accidentally came across a recipe purporting to be Red Lobster’s Cheddar Bay biscuits. I tried them and wasn’t completely impressed. Something was off. I researched some more and found numerous similar knock-off recipes. They’re all over the place–just put “cheddar bay biscuits” in your search engine. There’s even one posted here on the Chickens in the Road forum. Most of them use biscuit mix as a starter (usually specifying Bisquick). I’m not a Bisquick fan, I have to say. If I’m going to use a baking mix, I prefer a homemade mix, but even so, the recipe wasn’t quite right. The biscuits weren’t rich enough, cheesy enough, buttery enough, and something indefinable was missing.

Finally I happened on the tip to use cayenne pepper in the mixture. Aha. Now you’re talking. There was that indefinable zing to the biscuits that was missing! I added more cheese, more butter, and eventually experimented with using sour cream along with the milk, thereby infusing the richness that was lacking.

And now I hereby pronounce these the Ultimate Cheddar Bay Biscuits–and you’ll just have to try them for yourself to see if you agree! You can make these biscuits using my homemade baking mix, Quick Mix or your own favorite baking mix–or if you don’t like to keep baking mix onhand, you can make it by the batch, so I’ve included the recipe from scratch.

How to make Ultimate Cheddar Bay Biscuits:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cups milk

Note: If using a baking mix, replace first 5 ingredients with 2 1/2 cups baking mix.

Place first 5 ingredients (or 2 1/2 cups baking mix) in a large bowl. Add cayenne pepper and garlic powder.

Cayenne pepper! One of my two secret ingredients. (The other is the sour cream.)

Work in the butter with a pastry cutter. Stir in cheese then add sour cream and milk. Scoop biscuit dough out by big spoonfuls and place in a greased 9 x 13 casserole pan. (Or other type of pan with an edge to it–if you use a flat baking sheet, butter sauce will spill down into your oven. Ask me how I know that……)

Topping

6 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon parsley
dash of salt

Melt butter. Stir in garlic powder, parsley, and a dash of salt. Spoon half of topping over unbaked biscuits.

Bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes.* After removing biscuits from the oven, spoon the rest of the topping over them.

*Your baking time may vary! I make 20 biscuits from this recipe. If you make your biscuits smaller or larger, it will change your baking time.

My kids eat these like they’re candy. You’ll be lucky if the biscuits make it to the dinner table.

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26 Responses
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5-15
3:52
am

My son was just asking for these earlier this week.

Now I can make them!

Thanks a Bunch Suzanne! Enjoy your weekend!

Wendy - Reply
5-15
4:34
am

These sound delicious! I can’t wait to try them. My dad use to make something similar that had ‘Old Bay Seasoning’ in it. Unfortunately he died without ever writing down the recipe.

Heidi533 - Reply
5-15
5:03
am

You are just so wonderful — take a great copycat recipe and make it ultimate!! You just keep amazing me!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

CindyP - Reply
5-15
6:03
am

Those Cheddar Bay Biscuits are just like crack!

wildcat - Reply
5-15
6:48
am

I have to try these after work today! They look marvelous!

Sheryl - Reply
5-15
6:55
am

The picture alone looks good enough to eat!!

Lynda Dunham-Watkins - Reply
5-15
7:00
am

I make these too and everyone just goes NUTS over them. Now you’re making me hungry for them. I just might have to make them for breakfast! LOL!

Angie - Reply
5-15
7:31
am

they look delicious, gotta try the recipe.

Thank you very much for all the effort that you put into your blog, so appreciated.

Joanna Wilcox - Reply
5-15
8:17
am

“I want a Cheddar Bay Biscuit”

Vera - Reply
5-15
8:21
am

Wow – oh WOW – WOW!!

I cannot wait to bake up a batch. Salivating now….

KCRanch - Reply
5-15
8:25
am

OH MY GOSH! First Lemon Cake, then Cinnamon Biscuits and now these! I’m going to gain all the weight back I lost last year…….I must practice restraint. I need to do some physical labor to compensate for my eating…..

YUM! They sound divine!

Dawn - Reply
5-15
8:56
am

Red Lobster’s biscuits are my son’s favorite item on their menu. When I go (if he doesn’t come along) he always asks me to bring home the ‘leftover’ biscuits for him. I’ve tried a number of the copy-cat recipes just so I could make them for him at home. I even tried Bisquicks packet of “Cheddar Biscuit Mix”. None of the ones I made tasted like the real thing, so eventually I gave up trying. I really think this recipe captures the taste and texture of the real thing. I’ll have to make a few batches, just to make sure. Of course I’ll have to eat all the trial-run batches, won’t I! Okay, maybe I’ll share with Mike.

WV_Hills - Reply
5-15
8:59
am

Oh, now you’ve gone and done it! I’ve managed to stay out of the Dead Lobster for months. I’ve trained my mind to forget about those biscuits and now I’m shaking like a crack addict. They’re a heart attack waiting to happen, but I love ‘em. Thanks for the recipe.

- The Other Suzanne

Suzanne, the Farmer's Wife - Reply
5-15
12:23
pm

I’ve ALWAYS wanted to know how to make those biscuits. Thank you for experimenting.

Jordan - Reply
5-15
2:01
pm

Oh my word..can’t wait to try these. Biscuits are one of my favorite things and cheese is another. These may be my food for the weekend!

SuzieQ - Reply
5-15
2:18
pm

They look delicious!

Estella - Reply
5-15
3:50
pm

I love Red Lobsters biscuits! Thank you so much!

KentuckyFarmGirl - Reply
5-15
4:35
pm

Yummy!

Bev - Reply
5-15
6:25
pm

My husband has been asking me to figure out how to make those ‘Red Lobster’ biscuits for years! Now I have a trick up my sleeve when I want to “encourage” him to do things for me, like working new soil into the garden this weekend…hmmmm…I think this just might work. Thanks again for being ingenious!

Amber - Reply
5-15
6:27
pm

No eggs?!!?? Are they on strike? I thought surely that there would be an egg in there somewhere! They are the best! Little N. likes them with butter for breakfast. Big J. likes them with scrambled egg and cheese. Your recipe looks much better than mine–and I confess to using Bisquick. I did it–I use Bisquick: HA

monica - Reply
5-15
7:03
pm

Dang, Suzanne! Red Lobster biscuits are one of my favorites, so I had to give these a try. I had everything on hand and the recipe is so easy. I just got finished eating FOUR of these biscuits as my dinner, so that should tell you how good they were. Thanks for sharing your creativity and your secrets with us here in blogland.

Lilla - Reply
5-15
9:03
pm

Wow, I just made these too a couple of weeks ago, and was also very unimpressed with the Bisquick recipe! I cannot believe that Red Lobster makes them with Bisquick so someone’s lyin’! I’ll try this recipe, with “real” ingredients, thank you so much Suzanne for your
digging for the truth and the yumminess!!!!
Cheers!!

Cranberry - Reply
5-16
6:58
am

Suzanne–what a delightful blog.An author friend of mine suggested I look at this, because I’m trying to brand my new blog–it’s too plain and I have no image. The biscuits–we only go to Red Lobster once a year on a anniversary–I don’t know how that began–but we keep it to one time, because we sit there and eat and eat those biscuits. Note: Years ago, you could buy Gold Medal Biscuit Mix–that’s the one to use for these biscuits. They came out exactly like RL. But it disappeared from the shelves for some reason. I tried bisquick, but that does not work. I love your recipe!! Celia Yeary http://www.celiayeary.com

Celia Yeary - Reply
5-16
6:47
pm

Made these tonight and they were amazing!! Yum Yum!

Cyndi B - Reply
5-16
11:08
pm

oh my goodness!! These are my favorite biscuits ever and I’ve always meant to attempt a recreation. Thank you so much for doing the legwork! I’m salivating just from the pictures. YUM!

Kristi of Million Dream Mom - Reply
5-18
5:24
pm

I made these, except I didn’t pour extra butter over them when they came out – they were still awesome! We had them for dinner with a salad and my boys were impressed!

Lisa L. - Reply