We Tried the Most Popular Biscuit Recipes on the Internet in Order To Find the Best One For Beginners

There are many, many biscuit recipes out there. Everyone who has some familiarity with biscuit making (along with their mother, and their grandmother) seems to have an opinion about the best way to make them. But what about those of us who don't come from families with generations-old recipes? If you're just starting out, you need a recipe with very specific and tactile instructions, not just someone telling you to stir it all together until "it feels right." To find the best one, I baked six batches of biscuits, all from highly popular recipes available on the internet, in a single afternoon — following the instructions closely and noting the differences.

What I learned was that there are two basic elements to every biscuit recipe: the ingredients, and the technique. If you find a biscuit recipe with an ingredient list that appeals to you, you can actually mix and match the techniques from other recipes (things like using a food processor or baking at a certain temperature). As you're just starting to try baking biscuits, you'll want a recipe with more specific instructions, but as you become more comfortable with your technique, you won't need to follow those instructions quite as closely.

All of that said, I found one clear winner of the bunch...but here's how these other popular biscuit recipes measured up.

Allrecipes Basic Biscuits

This is indeed a basic recipe, and a solid place for a biscuit novice to start. The technique is simple, as are the ingredients; though I found the end result to be a bit bland. Without the acid from buttermilk, the dough could probably use a touch more salt, and I found the instructions to be slightly lacking in specificity. At the end of testing, when I compared these biscuits to my favorite recipe, these biscuits were noticeably heavier when I held one in each hand, even though they were the same size.

Get the recipe: Basic Biscuits

Edna Lewis Best Biscuits

This is a fine recipe, but it specifically calls for vegetable shortening or lard, which is a relic from Edna Lewis' life. Today, I think most people will be put off by these ingredients. I used lard, which I happened to have, and the effect was a very savory biscuit that I found to be denser than most of the others I made. Honestly, I wouldn't make it again.

Get the Recipe: The Best Biscuits

BA's Best Buttermilk Biscuits

Bon Appetit's biscuits are the non-round biscuits in the bunch, and I love them for it. The basic technique is similar to the Southern Living recipe, but it requires the use of a food processor which is either a pain in the neck to clean, or discouraging to those who don't have one. But instead of using a biscuits cutter to create round biscuits, the recipe has you roll the dough into a rectangle and simple cut it into a grid. I love this technique and will use it going forward: No re-rolling, no extra scraps, and frankly...I prefer the look of a rectangular biscuit.

Get the Recipe: Bon Appetit's Best Buttermilk Biscuits

New York Times All-Purpose Biscuits

This recipe confused me on several points, which is why I included it here. In the instructions, the recipe tells you to rest the dough at room temperature for 30 minutes, which goes against everything I know about making biscuits. I always believed that the ingredients are supposed to be as cold as possible when they go into the oven for maximum flakiness. Even still, I was surprised that the recipe turned out perfectly acceptable biscuits — which indicates to me that perhaps we don't all need to be quite so freaked out about ice-cold ingredients. But at the end of the day, they weren't my favorite of the bunch, and I don't think pulling out the food processor is worth the hassle.

Get the Recipe: New York Times All-Purpose Biscuits

Magnolia Table Biscuits

This was another recipe I found rather mysterious. Joanna Gaines' recipe calls for eggs, which she says makes the biscuits more plump. I found that the inclusion of an egg didn't do much for me, but I had another issue with the dough. The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and asks that you use self-rising flour, which also has baking powder in it. If you've ever had a pancake with too much baking soda or baking powder, you know the flavor is metallic, and pretty gross. I could barely eat these biscuits because of the intense flavor of the soda and powder.

Get the Recipe: Magnolia Table Biscuits

The Winner: Southern Living's Favorite Buttermilk Biscuits

This was my favorite, beginner-friendly recipe for one specific reason: The instructions have you grate a stick of frozen butter on the large holes of a cheese grater, and the effect is absolutely foolproof. For beginners who might not be sure exactly how big the pieces of butter are supposed to be, grating creates even flakes without any guesswork. They also use the technique of rolling and stacking the dough, which creates more layers than just a gentle kneading. Finally, the biscuits bake at 475 degrees Fahrenheit, the highest temperature of any of the recipes I tested, and they came out nicely browned and incredibly light. This is the recipe I'll personally continue to use in the future.

Get the Recipe: Southern Living's Favorite Buttermilk Biscuits

Related:

• 5 Simple Tips for Baking Taller, Flakier Biscuits
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• How to Make Perfect Homemade Biscuits
• We Tried 8 Canned and Frozen Biscuits and These Were the Best