Sourdough Biscuits with Cheddar and Chives

These Sourdough Biscuits with Cheddar and Chives are flaky, fluffy, and full of flavor like Red Lobster biscuits! The best part is that they’re so easy to make, use sourdough discard, and come together in less than 30 minutes.

I grew up in North Carolina where buttermilk biscuits reign supreme. I even learned how to make biscuits in my 7th-grade life-skills class. Talk about a useful craft I’m using to this day!

These fluffy cheddar sourdough biscuits are cheesy with sharp cheddar, filled with chives, made with tangy buttermilk and sourdough discard, and so easy to make. They’re a perfect easy side dish or savory breakfast!

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👨‍🍳 Tips for Making the Best Cheddar Sourdough Biscuits

Making sourdough biscuits is not unlike making sourdough scones. However, there are some key differences to ensure you get flaky and fluffy biscuits that rise tall.

1. Keep Ingredients Cold
   • Like making Sourdough Pie Crust or puff pastry for Sourdough Pop Tarts, the steam from cold ingredients will create flaky biscuits that rise tall in the hot oven.
2. Don’t Over Mix the Dough
   • Overmixing leads to tough biscuits because of gluten development.
3. Cut Biscuits Straight Down and Don’t Twist
   • This will ensure the flaky biscuit layers aren’t torn.
4. Measure Ingredients by Weight
   • For accuracy and consistency, it’s best to use a baking scale for biscuits.
5. Use freshly grated cheese
   • Like making Sourdough Discard Cheese Crackers (Cheez-Its) or Asparagus Goat Cheese Sourdough Quiche, grating fresh blocks of cheese makes the best flavor.

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🛠 Tools Needed

• Biscuit or Cookie Cutter
  • I use 2.5-3″ biscuit cutter for this recipe.
• Baking Scale
• Whisk, for mixing the wet ingredients
• Box Grater, for grating the butter and cheese
• Sheet Pan, for baking

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🛒 Ingredients Needed

See below for more information, recommendations, and possible substitutes.

• All-purpose flour
  • Use all-purpose flour for tender, soft sourdough cheddar biscuits.
• Baking powder and baking soda
  • Both help the biscuits rise tall in the oven.
• Cheddar cheese
  • Use block, sharp cheddar cheese that you can grate yourself. Cabot is always a good choice.
• Chives
  • I like fresh chives, but dried are okay too.
• Sourdough Discard
  • You can use active sourdough starter or sourdough discard in this recipe.
• Buttermilk
  • The buttermilk gives biscuits their characteristic tangy flavor, like Sourdough Buttermilk Pancake Mix [and Sourdough Pancakes] or the flavor in these Sourdough Bran Muffins.
• Unsalted butter, frozen
  • I recommend grating frozen butter for the flakiest biscuits, like in these Sourdough Strawberries & Cream Scones or Sourdough Carrot Cake Scones.
• Salt

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How to Make Sourdough Biscuits with Cheddar & Chives

Follow along with this visual and detailed guide to help you bake these sourdough cheddar biscuits.

1. Preheat the oven

Preheat the oven to 450ºF (232ºC) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

2. Whisk together the buttermilk and sourdough starter

Use a fork or whisk to mix together ½ cup (121g) buttermilk and about ¾ cup (150g) sourdough starter in a small mixing bowl until it is a pourable, liquid consistency.

Now, freeze the buttermilk mixture during the next step. This will help keep the biscuit dough as cold as possible as you knead and cut them soon.

3. Mix the dry ingredients

In a large mixing bowl, use a fork or whisk to mix together the following dry ingredients:

• 2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ teaspoons baking soda
• Two tablespoons (9g) chopped, fresh chives
• 1 cup (113g, or 4 oz) freshly grated cheddar cheese

You can use the box grater to grate the cheese directly into the mixing bowl.

4. Grate the butter

Grate the frozen unsalted butter (one stick, 113g, or 8 TBS) using the large holes of a box grater directly into the dry flour mixture.

Leave the butter wrapper or parchment paper on as you grate the butter so your warm hands don’t melt the butter.

Then, use a fork or whisk to distribute the butter throughout the mixture. Coat the butter with the dry ingredients, dispersing evenly.

5. Mix the dough

Pour the cold buttermilk and sourdough starter mixture slowly into the mixing bowl.

While pouring, use a fork to start to bring together the biscuit dough.

At first, the dough will start off dry, but large clumps will begin to form as the mixture is poured in.

Now, use your hands to knead the dough a few times in the bowl until it comes together into a largely cohesive but shaggy dough.

Add a teaspoon or two of buttermilk at a time if the dough is still too dry and not coming together.

6. Cut out the biscuits

Transfer the dough and any scraggly bits of flour onto a floured work surface and pat it down into a circle about 1 ½ inches thick.

Use a floured 2½-3” biscuit or cookie cutter to cut out 8-10 biscuits.

Cut the biscuits straight down without twisting the biscuit cutter so as to not seal the edges of the biscuits. This ensures you get a good rise and flaky sides.

Finally, with any scraps of dough, reform and cut out more biscuits.

7. Freeze the biscuits

Space the biscuits about an inch and a half apart onto the prepared baking sheet.

Then, transfer the baking sheet to the freezer and freeze them for 10 minutes.

By the time you’ve cut out the biscuits, the biscuit dough will likely be warmed up (especially if it’s warm in your home). This quick freeze will ensure that the biscuits are cold as they hit the oven and give you a better rise and more flaky biscuit.

8. Bake

After 10 minutes in the freezer, brush the tops of the biscuits with a couple of teaspoons of buttermilk and flaky salt (optional).

The buttermilk brushing will help brown the top of the biscuits.

Bake the sourdough biscuits at 450ºF for 15 minutes.

When done, the tops and edges of the biscuits will be golden brown and the bottoms will slightly darker.

Finally, enjoy warm!

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How to Store Cheddar Sourdough Biscuits

Biscuits are best served warm and freshly baked. However, you can easily store the biscuits and make parts of this recipe ahead.

For example, you can freeze the dough once the biscuits are shaped to bake later. Then, store the shaped biscuits in a freezer-safe bag and bake as normal. They may need a couple of more minutes of baking.

Once baked, you can store the biscuits in a brown paper bag or a tightly sealed container where they will keep for a few days. Simply reheat before serving.

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How to Serve

I love eating biscuits with a hearty weekend breakfast or brunch. However, these biscuits go well with dinner too!

In fact, they’re quite similar in flavor to Red Lobster biscuits.

The biscuits are great for picnics, summer barbeques, get-togethers, or Sunday brunch.

I like to serve the biscuits with more butter, and keep them simple since they already pack a punch of flavor.

If you enjoy these biscuits, you may also enjoy some of my other sourdough breakfast recipes including Sourdough Apple Butter Muffins, Sourdough Discard Blueberry Scones, Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting, or Sourdough Pumpkin Waffles.

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❓FAQs

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