Spinach and Cheese Biscuits – Easy Drop Biscuits

We love these spinach and cheese biscuits with soup, chili or stew. Why make a plain biscuit, when you can add cheese and spinach – extra colour, nutrients and flavour?

Also Read: Cheese Drop Biscuits, Nettle and Cheese Drop Biscuits, Chive Biscuits (shaped)

What is a Drop Biscuit

This recipe for spinach and cheese biscuits is for drop biscuits. That means there’s no rolling, cutting or shaping involved. It’s super easy and fast. Basically, you mix the batter then you drop it on a baking sheet in 8 relatively even blobs. Bake for 12 minutes and you’re a biscuit making super star.

Like shaped biscuits, the batter is made of the main basic ingredients: flour, butter, baking powder and milk. The exact amounts and any add-ons vary from recipe to recipe. The batter for these drop biscuits is a little softer, other than that – it is the same as any other biscuit – it just doesn’t get rolled and shaped.

Top Tips for Making Tender Biscuits

1. Use cold ingredients – The butter and milk have to be cold so that the butter stays in little crumbs until it melts in the oven and creates a tender texture.
2. Don’t overmix – To keep your biscuits tender, you don’t want to soften your butter or develop the gluten in the flour by working it too much (great for bread, not for biscuits).
3. Get it in the oven fast – Once you’ve mixed ingredients get them on a baking sheet and in the oven as quickly as you can to make the most of the reaction of the baking powder & baking soda mix with the acidic liquid. You’ll also keep the butter at the right temperature. If you want to delay baking to coincide with the rest of your dinner – prepare all the ingredients (cube the butter and put in fridge, make the sour milk, combine the dry ingredients) but don’t mix til you’re ready to bake.
4. Eat them fresh – Biscuits taste best when they’re fresh out of the oven. They’re okay reheated in a toaster oven – but never as good as fresh baked! If you have extras, I recommend freezing them (see below).

Do I Have to Add Spinach to these Biscuits

No. You can leave out the spinach or replace it with other ingredients like stinging nettle, kale, swiss chard, beet greens, broccoli, etc. Once cooked down, it is about 2-3 tablespoons worth of additions.

Why add spinach at all? I like adding spinach or other ingredients to my biscuits for flavour, nutrients and interest. I think it’s a nice change from plain biscuits and if I can add a few nutrients here and there why not?!

I think, adding greens whenever and wherever you can is a good habit. I’ve been doing it since my kids have been little and now my whole family is used to seeing and eating greens in different food. They eat their greens without thinking twice about it.

It’s also a great way to use up fresh greens that aren’t looking so fresh anymore. When that last bit of spinach is starting to look not so fresh – use them in a recipe like this to help reduce food waste.

Why wouldn’t you add spinach?!

How to Freeze Biscuits

If you have extras, here’s how to freeze biscuits – whether they’re these spinach and cheese biscuits or any other kind of biscuits.

1. Let biscuits cool completely on wire rack.
2. Place in airtight container or tightly wrap in an airtight freezer bag.
3. Thaw and reheat single biscuits or a whole batch.
   • Use the microwave oven on high for 10-30 seconds.
   • Place in oven at 300°F/150°C for 10 minutes if thawed, 20-30 minutes if frozen. Cover the tops loosely with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning.

Recipe for Spinach and Cheese Biscuits

Print Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Spinach and Cheese Biscuits

A savoury drop biscuit perfect for soups and chilis. Make them with fresh or frozen spinach. To make these using just all-purpose flour, you may need to add 1 to 2 tbsp extra flour.

Prep : 10 minutes mins

Cook : 12 minutes mins

Total Time: 22 minutes mins

Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/3 cup butter cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese plus more for top
• 2 cups fresh spinach 2-3 Tbsp cooked chopped spinach or 2-3 frozen pucks
• 1 1/4 cup buttermilk or sour milk 1 Tbsp lemon juice with milk to make 1 1/4 cup

Instructions

Fresh Spinach

• Wash fresh picked spinach several times to remove all grit.
• Remove spinach from water, shake off excess and place in saucepan over medium heat. There should be enough water on the spinach for wilting purposes, if not add one tablespoon of water to the pot to prevent scorching.
• Cover and let cook until spinach has wilted. About 2 minutes.
• Drain spinach and squeeze to remove as much water as possible.
• Chop into small pieces and set aside.

Frozen spinach

• Thaw 2-3 frozen spinach pucks. For quick thaw, place in bowl with 1 tablespoon of water, heat for 30 seconds at a time in a microwave. Drain well in a small sieve squeezing out as much water as possible and chop to desired size.

Biscuit Prep

• Preheat oven to 450°F/232°C.
• Stir together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cayenne pepper.
• Cut in butter using a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Or use your thumb and forefinger to rub butter into flour, leaving course crumbs the size of peas.
• Stir in grated cheese.
• Add well drained spinach to the flour and cheese mixture.
• Make a well in the flour mixture.
• Add milk.
• Using a fork, stir just until moistened. Over mixing will cause tough biscuits.
• Using a tablespoon, drop dough into 8 roughly equal pieces onto lighlty greased baking sheet.
• Optional: sprinkle more cheese on top of each biscuit.
• Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden.

Notes

Best eaten fresh, right out of the oven.

Make smaller biscuits if you like – just keep the size of each biscuit relatively equal for even baking. 

Tried this recipe?Mention @GetGettyS or tag #GetGettyS

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

Calories: 243kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 13g | Sodium: 505mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Iron: 2mg

Course: breads

Cuisine: American

Keyword: biscuits, cheese, cheese biscuit, drop biscuit, spinach, spinach biscuit

Let me know what you think of these spinach and cheese biscuits? And if you can, share a photo and tag #getgettys so I can see it and like it!

Getty Stewart is a Professional Home Economist,  speaker, frequent media guest and writer dedicated to putting good food on tables and agendas.  She is the author of several recipe books on enjoying and preserving fruit, Founder of Fruit Share, a mom and veggie gardener. Sign up to get articles by Getty delivered to your inbox. You’ll get recipes, practical tips and great food information like this.