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These copycat Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits From Scratch are a tasty addition to any dinner. An easy one-bowl recipe that beats boxed mix every time.
Have you ever had the delicious Cheddar Bay biscuits that are free when you dine at Red Lobster? My visits to Red Lobster have come to a halt since high school, but I could eat the crap out of those biscuits if given the chance.
You shouldn’t have to shell out money to eat mediocre food (but excellent biscuits) by dining out. Making them at home is simple and oh so delicious.
Also, where exactly is Cheddar Bay? Cause I want to go there.
Why Doesn’t This Recipe Use Bisquick?
Well, I don’t buy Bisquick; it’s just as easy to make your own. And I like to use whole wheat flour when possible. And when you make your own baking mixes, you control the ingredients and know everything that goes in there.
Can I Make These Cheddar Bay Biscuits Gluten-Free?
Yep! Use a one to one gluten-free baking mix and eliminate the vital wheat gluten from the recipe.
What is Vital Wheat Gluten?
It is a powdered form of the gluten naturally found in wheat. When baking with whole wheat flour, vital wheat gluten helps give your final product all the extra bounce and fluff that you’d find in baked goods made from white flour.
It’s a great product to keep around if you plan to do a lot of whole wheat baking. But if that isn’t your jam, you can double the baking powder and the end result will still be plenty tasty.
Pro tip: test 1/2 teaspoon in a cup of hot tap water. If it fizzes, your baking powder is fresh. If it is flat and does nothing, well then your baking powder is useless. Much like my boobs after breastfeeding two kids.
Here’s How to Make Cheddar Bay Biscuits
*Detailed & printable recipe card at the bottom of the post
Mix all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the butter and the milk and mix until about fifty-percent mixed.
Add the cheese and fold it in gently.
Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake! Brush with a little melted butter and sprinkle with dried parsley if you’d like.
Once you pull these bad boys out of the oven, allow them to cool a bit, and serve with a sensible dinner (like Paleo Chicken Pot Pie Soup). Or…just put one in each hand, sit on the floor, and eat yourself stupid.
You pick.
No judgment from me.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes
- The bake time on these biscuits is really short, which makes them the perfect weeknight “fresh” component of your meal. I like to shred the cheese ahead of time and store it in the fridge. Mix the dry ingredients the night before or in the morning.
- You can use pre-shredded storebought cheese, but it’s kind of creepy and costs more so spend a minute and shred it yourself.
- You can use all-purpose flour if you’d like. Leave out the vital wheat gluten and reduce the baking powder to 1 tsp.
- Feel free to freeze if you’d like, but plan to freeze them plain without any melted butter brushed on top. Let thaw at room temperature and reheat at 250 for 10 minutes.
Enjoy Cheddar Bay Biscuits With These Sustainable Cooks Entrees
- Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana
- Instant Pot Vegetable Soup
- Whole30 Tomato Soup
- Fried Halloumi With Bruschetta Zoodles
- Perfect Roasted Chicken
More Great Bread Recipes Like This
- Cheesy Garlic Bread
- Air Fryer Texas Toast
- Homemade Honey Wheat Sandwich Bread
- Air Fryer Biscuits
- Squishy Soft Homemade Pretzel Rolls
- No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread
- Roasted Garlic and Asiago Cheese
- Homemade Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns
Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits From Scratch
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour if given the option, buy “pastry”
- 2 tbsp vital wheat gluten
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp Old Bay Seasoning optional
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/3 cup powdered milk
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 1/2 cup finely grated cheddar cheese
- 1 tsp parsley flakes
- 5 tbsp butter melted
- 1 cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees with a rack set to the middle of the oven.
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
- Add the butter and the milk and mix until about fifty-percent mixed.
- Add the cheese and fold it in gently.
- Drop balls of dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Optional: brush tops of hot biscuits with melted butter and sprinkle additional parsley flakes on top.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
BTW, Love your snarky sense of humor!!!
So I don’t typically (ever) have powdered milk on hand and I’m having trouble finding Cream of Tartar at the grocery store – substitution suggestions??
You can boost the baking powder instead of using cream of tartar (it’s usually in the spice section). The powdered milk is more for flavor. Doing substitutions would require increasing liquids and the flour. It’s not something I have tried so I’m hesitant to make big suggestions.
Hi. I made these tonight and I’m glad I didn’t look at the calorie count, until now, since I’m pretty sure I had 4 of them. They were really tender and good.
I didn’t have any powdered milk so I threw In some greek yogurt. I also used less butter and cheese and made 12 biscuits vs 10. And I didn’t have any old bay so I used some fish seasoning instead.
Needless to say – this recipe is super versatile and easy to make. And I was able to pull it all together really fast – All wins to me.
Thanks for sharing. But now I need to go and work them off ????
Since you made them smaller, technically those are fewer calories, right?:)
I love the adjustments you made!
Yum! These are the hand down best biscuits I have ever eaten. I substituted smoked paprika for Old Bay as I didn’t have any Old Bay on hand. I came home from work today to find a container of Old Bay on the counter as a hint to try the recipe again as it was loved. I can’t believe how light they were!
Wow, Louisa, that is high praise! I’m so glad you all liked them, and I LOVE the passive aggressive Old Bay hint!!
Old Bay seasoning is one of the things I bulk by when I’m in Canada and smuggle back in my suitcase. I love it on popcorn (with nutritional yeast also) but damn, never thought of adding it to biscuits before. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a Red Lobster, but I can definitely picture myself on the kitchen floor with a warm biscuit in each hand…
I’m picturing the customs agents looking through your luggage and pulling out can after can of Old Bay and pumpkin upon your arrival in Stockholm.
These sound insanely good! I would definitely be adding smoked paprika, since I don’t think we have Old Bay seasoning on this side of the pond.
Real Cheddar Bays are basted with butter containing parsley and garlic, so I’d add some garlic to the baste. Otherwise, these sound delicious!
I can’t eat fibre so whole wheat flour is out. Can I sub regular flour and skip the vital wheat gluten? Or is that screwing with the recipe too much?
Yep, you can totally do that! I would dial the baking powder back to 1 tsp as well.
I made these for my (very selective) fans of Red Lobsters biscuits and they were a hit! Thanks
I haven’t really ever baked with whole wheat although I love it and typically will buy a fresh loaf at one of the bakeries here. Why do you have to add “vital wheat gluten”? Isn’t that already in the wheat. Sorry if I sound stupid, but I’d really like to know. Thanks.
Vital Wheat Gluten helps give whole wheat the same properties as store bought flour. You get a better rise and “fluffier” texture with it. Store flour has so much crap removed from it and then added back, that it’s hard to compare store flour with fresh whole wheat.
I think when Sarah says ‘store flour’ she means ‘white flour’. Especially since I can buy whole wheat flour at any store too!
Whole wheat flour in the US contains 100% of the entire grain of wheat, as opposed to white or all purpose flour, which only contains the endosperm (food reserve of the seed). The endosperm contains the proteins necessary for ‘rising’ bread with yeast (along with some other things but they don’t matter here). Therefore, whole wheat flour has less gluten (protein) than white flour per cup because it has the other ‘stuff’ in it and this also makes it heavier or not as ‘fluffy’ as white flour.
When baking bread, it is common to add gluten when using 100% whole wheat flour, although you can get a good loaf without it but it takes more time.
For this recipe, since we aren’t using yeast to rise the dough, the gluten isn’t necessary. The baking soda, cream of tartar and baking powder are used to ‘rise’ the biscuits instead but the added gluten may provide a very slightly different texture (although I’ve only ever made them without and they still taste the same as Red Lobster to me!).
Thank you for clarifying that as that was the very question that I needed answered. Thank you!
I haven’t really ever baked with whole wheat although I love it and typically will buy a fresh loaf at one of the bakeries here. Why do you have to add “vital wheat gluten”? Isn’t that already in the wheat. Sorry if I sound stupid, but I’d really like to know. Thanks.
They sound delicious. Bet they would be perfect with tomato soup.
Made these for dinner tonight. They were really good. It was a snow day today and I was thinking of finding a recipe for these and when I pulled up my reading list this was waiting for me. Thanks!
Glad I could help. Mmmm, warm biscuits on a snow day!
Girl your photos are looking great. Do you have a new camera or just honing your skills?
Aww, you’re so sweet, thank you! Nope, none of the above. My big change? It’s no longer dark at 4:15 pm! ;-D
I have 1 window in my kitchen that I use as a backdrop for my photos, and it’s nice to finally have some natural light again.
So, I am kind of nuts and I just made a batch of these. I know, right after I read the post. Don’t I have better things to do? As it turns out, no I do not. These are delicious. I think I may just sit on the floor and eat two.
You made me giggle! Glad to hear you enjoyed them.
um, yum.
I love those biscuits and my husband and I used to go there just for the biscuits and a salad before we had our son! I make one with biscuit mix that is similar but I brush butter over while cooking and/or at the end if I forget and they are to die for!!! Last time I made them for my parents and my mom said “Why haven’t you ever made these for me before?” Umm, sorry, I didn’t know that they were going to be that big a hit!!!
Holding out on your family…not cool! ;-D
LMAO….yeah…we eat at Dead Lobster for special occasions (back living in the land locked midwest with no access to real fresh seafood). Every time we are undone by those damned biscuits.
That’s me, sitting on the floor, one in each hand. No wonder I weigh a thousand pounds. I did figure out how to make them myself though and do every now and then. But I alwaysd ALWAYS make my biscuits with buttermilk, ’cause my granny said so.
I have a rule that I won’t eat seafood more than 50 miles from a big body of water. I guess the midwest has a lot of perch?
I am eating a batch of my homemade whole wheat blueberry muffins as I am reading this. And while they are tasty. In no way can they compare to Red Lobster’s cheddar biscuits.
I have not eaten at Red Lobster’s since college but I swing by to buy a order of biscuits to go once in a while. I think 5 biscuits was like $2, the last time I went.
I would have never thought about to go biscuits. Genius!