Fluffy gluten-free biscuits that can be made vegan friendly using the dairy-free alternatives. Perfect side for dinner or for breakfast with gravy.
Although I was born in Hawaii, I spent much of my life in North Carolina. My grandma and mom were both born and raised there and my grandpa, or “papa” as we called him, was in Army stationed at Ft. Bragg for most of his career. He was later stationed in Hawaii during my mom’s high school years, which is where she met my dad. They were married and my sister and I were both born and spent our childhood in Hawaii.
As an early teen we moved back to NC to be closer to my mom’s family. I traded my rice for grits and local “pidgin” talk (as it’s called in Hawaii) for southern accents. Although I so dearly missed the Asian-style food I was accustomed to eating, my grandma was a wonderful cook and made so many delicious meals from-scratch.
One of the first recipes I learned from my grandma was how to make homemade biscuits. She also taught me how to make many of the country-style dishes I still enjoy today (with a healthier twist of course 😉) like fudge, mashed potatoes, and chicken and dumplings.
Making gluten-free bread is tricky, to say the least. You can’t just use one gluten-free flour in place of all-purpose. It takes many flours combined to mimic the soft and fluffy texture that wheat flour gives. After several test batches and lots of recipe tweaking, I was finally able to make a successful batch of gluten-free biscuits! And by successful, I mean one that not only looks like regular biscuits, but has that same fluffy and delicious texture!
They may not be made using grandma’s exact recipe, but they are definitely inspired by her!
I often get people emailing me about problems they encountered with a recipe and most of the time it’s because they changed the recipe or substituted listed ingredients some they had on hand. If you choose to change any ingredients, you do so at your own risk. I know how expensive gluten-free ingredients are, so it’s best to ask before swapping out an ingredient. Gluten-Free flours are not, for the most part, interchangeable. You can typically get away with swapping out flour blends, but you can’t use coconut flour in place of rice flour or almond flour in place of a gf all-purpose blend and expect to get the same results.
For gluten-free flour blends, I use either King Arthur Measure for Measure GF Flour or Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 GF Flour Blend. I haven’t used any of the others, so I’m not sure how using another could affect the texture of these biscuits. The almond flour and cornstarch both help to give these biscuits a more fluffy texture. These flours are both essential, so I don’t recommend subbing them for anything else.
The trick to getting these biscuits to be light and fluffy is not to add too much flour and to fold and roll several times to create lots of layers. I like to roll on parchment paper and I use the edges of the paper to fold and pat the dough so I don’t need a lot of extra flour.
My favorite way to eat these is fresh out of the oven with butter and honey. My family also loves them for breakfast with gravy! However you choose to eat them, I hope you give these a try and enjoy them as much as we do!
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Fluffy Gluten-Free Biscuits
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 8-9 large biscuits 1x
Description
Fluffy, tender, and delicious gluten-free biscuits! Vegan option included!
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk of choice (I use plain unsweetened almond milk)
- 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur Measure for Measure GF Flour or Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour
)
- 2/3 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup cold butter or vegetable shortening (for dairy-free butter, I like Miyoko’s European Style Butter)
- 2 tablespoons honey
or sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450ºF. In a small glass or measuring cup, mix together the milk and vinegar and let sour while you prepare your biscuit mix.
- In a bowl, combine gluten free flour, almond flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Use a pastry blender to blend in butter/shortening until the mixture is coarse and crumbly.
- Add honey and pour in the soured milk, stirring just until combined. Dough should be moist, not dry and crumbly. If your dough is dry, add milk a tablespoon at a time until dough comes together.
- Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface (I use a piece of parchment paper.)
- Sprinkle a bit of flour on top, if needed, and press or roll dough to 1-inch thick. Fold the dough in half and pat again to 1-inch thick. Dough should be moist and a little sticky. Dust with a little gf all-purpose flour if needed, but don’t use too much or it will make biscuits hard.
- Repeat folding and rolling one or two more times. This makes the biscuits fluffy with lots of flakey layers. On the final roll, keep the dough thick, around 1″, before cutting.
- Use a 2″–3″ biscuit cutter or rim of a round glass to cut biscuits out of dough. Place biscuits close together on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Gently combine the scraps and repeat the process until all dough is used up. Alternatively, you can roll the dough into a square or rectangle and use a knife to cut biscuit “squares” so that there is no scraps and no re-rolling.
- If butter has softened, pop the pan in the refrigerator for 10–15 minutes to chill, then place in preheated oven. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until biscuits are lightly golden and center is fully cooked. Makes about 8-9 large biscuits, more if you make them smaller.
- Category: bread, side, gluten-free
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Making these this morning! Oh my goodness, I’ve been craving them ever since you first posted on Instagram! Also, I love that you’re Hawaiin and a southerner too. xo
Hawaiian*
Love these fluffy and gluten-free biscuits, Joscelyn! Just bought a pack of almond milk and now I know what to do with that! 🙂 ! I love the addition of the coconut oil! <3
That’s so cool that you grew up in HI! I vacationed there for 10 days when I was about 12, with family. It’s so beautiful there, and the food was fantastic. Speaking of fantastic food, these biscuits look AMAZING!! So fluffy…just the way I like ’em!
They came out perfect!
So yummy and fluffy looking.
I did my undergrad at william & Mary in Virginia, not too far fro North Caroline. Do you know it?
Take care
K
Thank you, Kimberly! I think my grandmother would’ve been proud, even though it’s much different from her recipe 🙂
I have never been to the campus, but we visited Williamsburg frequently! It’s such a gorgeous area…definitely one of the places we miss having easy access to. Hope you’re having a wonderful start the the week, my friend!
These biscuits look so perfect Joscelyn! They are so beautiful! Such a great recipe, the texture looks amazing. I can’t wait to try them! <3 Yum yum yum 😀
Thank you so much, Harriet! There’s nothing like warm and fluffy biscuits fresh from the oven!
I’m in love with how light and fluffy these biscuits look! I can’t believe you figured out a way to make these biscuits without any butter at all, you’ve done the impossible, Joscelyn! I can’t wait to try these. I’ve tried gluten and dairy free biscuits before and they look nothing like this, they usually come out hard as rock. These biscuits look amazing!
Aww, thank you Stacey! I save the butter to top them with, haha, along with lots of honey!! 😉 I know what you mean though, my first few batches were like hockey pucks, lol, but I eventually got the ratio right! Lots of trial and error with baked goods!
Good biscuits are hard to beat, and these look like the pack the best of all worlds – grain-free, dairy-free and also moist and delicious. Have you ever tried making sweet potato biscuits? Those are my favourites!
Thank you, Ksenia! I agree, it’s hard to find a good biscuit. I have made sweet potato biscuits and they are very delicious! Moist too! We eat them with some cinnamon honey butter and they are sooo yummy 🙂
Wish I could grab this right now. Lovely recipe.Drooling.. Your pics are amazing as always 🙂
I agree with Kushi, great recipe here! I can’t wait to try this out!
I appreciate your encouragement, Raj. Please let me know if you get a chance to try this recipe. I think you’d really like it 🙂
Thank you, Kushi! These are some tasty biscuits 🙂
This is perfect timing— I was just on the lookout for a gluten free biscuit recipe! Can’t wait to give these a try! I definitely don’t make biscuits like my fellow North Carolinians either, but I think they taste JUST as good (maybe better 😉 )
Haha, you mean with all the butter and shortening?! I agree, I think you can still have tasty food that’s made a little healthier 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, Liz!