If you could travel back in time to visit the original Red Lobster restaurant when it opened in Lakeland, FL, in 1968, you’d barely recognize the place: There were few seaside motifs, no popcorn shrimp, and, most shocking, there weren’t any Cheddar Bay Biscuits in the breadbasket. The now-famous freebies were introduced decades later, in 1991, replacing plain old garlic bread. Today, diners at the chain’s 680 locations consume more than 7 million of the warm, cheesy biscuits every week, yet readers like Curtis Swineford, from Middleburg, PA, still can’t get enough of them. He wrote to us asking for the recipe, so we called the restaurant’s Orlando, FL, headquarters to get it — with no luck. Undeterred, Food Network Kitchens developed these spot-on copies.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 35 min |
| Active: | 25 min |
| Yield: | 12 to 14 biscuits |
Ingredients
- Cooking spray
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons vegetable shortening, at room temperature
- 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 6 ounces grated yellow cheddar cheese (about 1 1/4 cups)
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 clove garlic, smashed
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F. Lightly mist a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
- Make the biscuits: Pulse the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a food processor. Add the shortening and pulse until combined. Add the butter; pulse 4 or 5 times, or until the butter is in pea-size pieces. Add the cheese and pulse 2 or 3 times. Pour in the milk and pulse just until the mixture is moistened and forms a shaggy dough. Turn out onto a clean surface and gently knead until the dough comes together. Do not overwork the dough or the biscuits will be tough.
- Drop the dough onto the baking sheet in scant 1/4-cup portions, 2 inches apart, and bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the garlic butter: Melt the butter with the garlic in a small saucepan over medium heat; cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley. Brush the biscuits with the garlic butter and serve warm.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 13 servings |
| Calories | 213 |
| Total Fat | 15 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Carbohydrates | 15 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Sugar | 2 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Cholesterol | 31 mg |
| Sodium | 229 mg |
Reviews
I love these! Made them with buttermilk and 2tsp of baking powder as suggested and also skipped the shortening and used all grass fed butter. I didn’t knead them at all, just plopped them right out of the food processor and they turned out perfect . Definitely my go to for biscuits. So so so good. Did I mention that they were GOOD?!
1Tbsp baking powder, 2 tsp Old Bay, and buttermilk instead of whole milk made the great.
The garlic in the butter needs to compliment whatever you’re having with these to make it perfection
Try this for a very easy version:
1 cup self-rising flour
1/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream (NO, you cannot use any other milk product!)
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Drop spoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet, and bake at 425
10-12 minutes.
Topping: 2 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
Brush biscuits with topping after baking.
1 cup self-rising flour
1/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream (NO, you cannot use any other milk product!)
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Drop spoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet, and bake at 425
10-12 minutes.
Topping: 2 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
Brush biscuits with topping after baking.
Good recipe
These came out SO good! But after reading all of the reviews about there being too much baking powder I reduced the amount to just 2 tsp and it was the perfect amount! I also added 2 tsp of old bay seasoning to the dry ingredients and I 100% recommend adding it for that cheddar bay flavor! They came out so fluffy and just like the famous ones. And they couldn’t be easier to make! The fastest and easiest homemade biscuits you’ll ever make! But I definitely recommend making the baking powder adjustment if you want them to turn out good.
Never cooked with crisco before but can totally tell the difference. These were melt in your mouth good!
Wonderful and Very easy! I used buttermilk instead of whole milk ….yummmmmmmm
Tasted great, definitely missed the old bay but I will gladly make another batch soon. This was easy to make and pretty darn close to the Red Lobster biscuits.
We love these & I’ve made them at least a dozen times since I saw this. I do use pastry flour instead of AP, it seems to make them a little lighter & fluffier.
These were okay. I’ve definitely made better ones. Maybe using all butter would help. I never cook with shortening and that may have been what I didn’t like about them.