Flaky Cheddar Chive Biscuits
Flaky, buttery biscuits loaded with sharp cheddar cheese and fresh chives. Cheddar chive biscuits come together quickly and are the perfect addition to the dinner table.
These cheddar biscuits with flecks of chives are the perfect side dish to any meal. They come together quickly with simple ingredients and take only 15 minutes to bake.
Serve them with a big bowl of hamburger soup, or a creamy bowl of cauliflower cheese soup. They also go well with chili, stew, or breakfast meals.
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchase
Is there anything better than fresh, homemade biscuits hot from the oven?
Fresh biscuits are one of those things that always bring me back to childhood. We often had biscuits with our meals and I can remember pulling those flaky layers apart and adding butter to each one.
These fluffy biscuits have muliple layers, so there is lots of opportunity to slather them in butter.
The edges of the biscuit are crisp, and the middle is soft and flaky, making them perfect to pair with dishes such as creamy, Homemade Tomato Soup, savory stews, or just to serve along side any dinner.
These biscuits are easy to prepare and they make a large batch, which is a good thing because they will go quick!
Ingredients & Substitutions
For a full list of ingredients and measurements, see the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- All purpose flour – All purpose flour is all you need. This can be replaced with whole wheat flour if you prefer, however you may need a bit more milk.
- Salted butter – I prefer using salted butter in baking however, unsalted butter will work just fine.
- Whole milk – The added fat in the whole milk will produce a more tender biscuit. You can replace this with any milk you like, but if using a thinner milk, start by reducing the amount by a few tablespoons to ensure the dough isn’t too wet. If you like your biscuits to have a bit more tang, you can replace the regular milk with buttermilk.
- Cheddar cheese – Sharp cheddar cheese has a nice bite and balances with the fresh herbs. If you don’t have cheddar, you can replace this with any cheese you like; milk or medium cheddar will work fine, and white cheddar cheese will work well, too. For the best results, shred your own cheese rather than buying pre-packaged shredded cheese.
- Fresh Chives—Fresh chives always give the best flavor. If you don’t have fresh chives, you can use dried chives instead. Sliced green onions are also a good alternative and will work well in this recipe.
Step by Step Instructions
Place the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Then add the cubed butter.
Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles course crumbs, then add the shredded cheese and chopped chives. Frozen, grated butter also works well if you don’t have a pastry cutter.
Add the milk and beaten egg and stir until you have a shaggy dough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and bring it together with your hands.
Dust the top with flour, then roll or press the dough until it is about 1/2 inch thick, then fold it in half. Now roll or press again until it is 1/2 inch thick and fold again. Repeat this step one more time.
Once you have repeated the roll and fold three time you can begin cutting your dough. Use a cookie or biscuit cutter and press straight down. We use a 3-inch cutter, but you can use any size you like, you may just have to adjust the baking time if you make them larger.
If you want to keep things simple, skip the biscuit cutter and use a sharp knife to cut the biscuits into rough squares.
Pro Tip – Do not twist the cutter as you press down as this will seal the edges and prevent the biscuits from rising as high.
Place your biscuits onto a parchment lined baking sheet leaving about 1/4 inch between them.
Place in the preheated oven to bake for 15-18 minutes until golden brown, and then remove to a cooling rack. The biscuits are done when they are risen, and the top of the biscuits is a light golden brown.
Serve warm with plenty of butter.
Tips for Flaky Biscuits
Flaky, delicious biscuits are created from two things.
The first is very cold butter – Make sure the butter has just come out of the refrigerator and work quickly.
Frozen butter also works really well and can be grated into the dry ingredients with a box grater and eliminates the need for cutting it into the dry ingredients.
The cold butter will start to melt when it is in the oven and create steam. The steam causes the dough to rise and creates layers in the dough.
You also want to ensure the biscuits do not sit out before baking. If you need to make them ahead of time, pop the tray in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake.
The second is creating layers – By rolling the dough, folding it, and rolling it again multiple times, you create layers in the dough. These layers help create fluffy biscuits that will easily pull apart.
In addition to these tips it is extremely important not to overwork the dough. Handle it only as much as you need to to bring it together and roll it out. Biscuit dough should not be kneaded like bread dough.
Storing Leftover Cheddar Biscuits
Baked biscuits can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for about three days.
You can also store the baked biscuits in the freezer. Seal the biscuits in an air-tight container or ziplock bag. They will keep for several months.
More Biscuit & Scone Recipes
Tried this recipe? Leave me a comment!
Flaky Cheddar Chive Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2.5 Cups (310g) all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt or half tsp table salt
- 1/2 Cup (110g) butter cold and cubed
- 1 Cup (110g) shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 tbsp fresh chives chopped
- 3/4 Cup whole milk
- 1 large egg beaten
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400°F.
- Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine.
- Add the cubed butter and using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse crumbs. Alternatively, start with frozen butter and use a cheese grater to grate it into the dry ingredients.
- Add the shredded cheese and chives and stir to combine.
- Combine the beaten egg and milk and pour into the dry ingredients. Stir gently just until the mixture comes together.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured countertop or a large piece of parchment paper. Bring the dough together with your hands, then lightly flour the top of the dough. Roll the dough until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Fold the dough in half and roll again to 1/2 inch thick. Repeat one more time. (If you don't have a rolling pin you can press it out with your hands)
- Cut dough into rounds with a 2.5 or 3-inch biscuit or cookie cutter, pressing straight down. Gather the scraps and roll again repeating the process until you have used all the dough. Place the biscuits on a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving about 1/4-inch space between biscuits.
- Place into the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes until biscuits have risen and are golden brown.
Notes
- For best results, we recommend weighing the ingredients.
- Freshly shredded cheese will produce better results than store-bought pre-shredded cheese.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
This recipe was originally published in 2019. It has been updated for clarity and better user experience.
If I don’t cook them right away, do they have to be refrigerated?
If you want to make them but not cook them right away, you will want to refrigerate them. It’s important that the butter stay cold before baking, as that is what creates the flaky layers.
What is the temperature of the oven?
It’s the first line in the instructions. 400°F.
These turned out very good and tasty. Not quite as flakey though!
These are wonderful! This recipe made 16 for me. I wanted to use the nutritional information you provided to count them into my meal plan. I can’t seem to find the number of biscuits you based the info on. Thank so much!
Thank you so much. It was based on 16 biscuits (servings at the top of the recipe card). So glad you enjoyed them, thanks for taking the time to comment and review.
How many ounces of cheddar cheese equals 1 cup grated?
It should work out to about 4 ounces.
Hi!!
Can I pre-make these then freeze them when ready to bake? If so, will cooking time be a little more since more frozen? Thanks!!!
I have never actually done that with these, but I do it with yeast breads all the time. I can’t see why it wouldn’t work, but I would probably let them thaw most of the way before baking. It doesn’t usually take too long with raw dough. Otherwise you would have to increase the bake time to account for the frozen dough. However, not having tried it from frozen, I hesitate to give an exact time. Let me know if you decide to try it and how it goes!
These are the best biscuits; I make fewer, so they’re mile high, but can’t beat the taste!
Nothing at all wrong with mile high biscuits! Glad you enjoyed.
Best biscuits ever. Light and fluffy
So glad to hear you enjoyed them. These are one of our favourites.
Hi! The dough stayed really sticky, and they didn’t rise very much. Any idea what I did wrong?
So it is normal for the dough to be sticky in the bowl. As you flour the counter, and flour as you fold making the layers, it will sort itself out. As far as not rising, that usually means one of the leaveners (the baking powder or soda) was old or simply not very active. First make sure they are not expired. If not, you can test that they are active. For baking powder, add a tsp to 1/4 cup of hot water and it should fizz immediately. For baking soda, you can test by adding a pinch to a bit of vinegar, it should fizz right away. If either do not fizz immediately, they’ve lost their leavening power. Hope this helps.
These are DELICIOUS! Thank you so much!
So glad you enjoyed them! Thank you for taking the time to let me know.
Can you make these without lemon juice? I don’t have any on hand but really want to make these!?
Yes, you definitely can make without the lemon juice. They might not rise quite as high, but they will still work and be delicious.
Made these several times now, they are delicious
Your recipe skips over adding the chives though!
I’m so glad you like them, they are a favourite here! Thanks for the note on the recipe, I’ve gone back and corrected that.
@Deanna, what do u serve those with never made these but sure sounds good
I make them to serve with all sorts of things. But my favourite would be creamy soups, stews, or chilies. But I also make them for breakfast to have with eggs and sausages, or just to serve alongside dinner to have a bread basket on the table. Enjoy!