Southern Cast Iron Butter Drop Biscuits {Gluten-Free}
Call me traditional, but when it comes to southern cooking I look for those basic foods that are the cornerstone to a delicious meal. Like crispy fried chicken, smoky braised greens, or a fluffy, soft biscuit. A biscuit thats topped with gravy or simply a biscuit that’s slathered with butter.
But here’s the thing, when you need to avoid gluten it feels next to impossible to rely on those staples, because… well to be honest… most often the gluten-free version just isn’t even close to the original.
No worries, though. My passion is creating recipes that make dietary changes, like going gluten-free, a little more delicious!
Not only are these Southern Cast Iron Butter Drop Biscuits completely gluten-free, they are truthfully and honestly so super yummy. Hence why didn’t specifically title this recipe “Gluten-Free” – these aren’t just for GF folks, these are so good you’ll fool your family and/or guests. No one will guess they are gluten free.
The fact that they are gluten-free is truly an afterthought. Like oh, yeah, BTW there’s no gluten in these and they are totes fab, right??!
CAUTION **As I sit here, nearly in a carb coma from eating 3 of them for lunch during my recipe testing, I can attest that they are 100% addictive. Don’t make them when you are alone, don’t rely on your self control. Keeping your portion control hat on is a challenge too big for one person alone. Hence why this recipe makes enough for a gathering or big Sunday dinner, you NEED to plan an event around them, if for nothing else but to have people around to talk about these biscuits with.**
Let’s talk about the texture for just a minute, since we aren’t building flaky layers they aren’t a typical biscuits but they aren’t a fluffy roll either, they are hybrid of the two, with (my favorite part) a crunchy, butter soaked crust, thanks to cooking in a cast iron skillet!
Oh that crunchy, butter soaked crust.
The crust is so amazing, using a cast iron skillet is 100% essential.
Like don’t even ask if you can use another pan, or what size regular pan to use. You’d be missing the point of this amazing recipe.
I’ve always used cast iron cookware in my kitchen, it was a given in both my and my husband’s families. Our grandmother’s both had an amazingly seasoned collection of cast iron cookware. Cookware that cooked some of our favorite family meals growing up. Meals that I still make today, in delicious memory of the amazing women who paved the way for my real-foodie-passion.
Meals that are often made in the very same cast iron skillets they they used, which makes the meals taste even better IMHO.
But I know that not everyone has a family heirloom of cast iron skillets to be passed down through the generations (like us) or even if you were lucky enough to grandma/great-grandma’s cast iron skillet (again, like us) you definitely don’t have the variety of sizes/shapes/etc that you heart desires.
Think of buying a cast iron skillet as investing in a family heirloom.
I’m being 100% honest.
What other gift can you give to your children, grand-children, great-grand-children, etc. that will continue to provide them healthy meals, for the next hundreds of years??
Fancy china gets broken, furniture goes out of style, jewelry gets lost…
But a cast iron skillet? That’s forever.
I’m grateful for my friends at Southern Kitchen who believe that more than just food gets made in the kitchen. Families are strengthened and friendships are formed. Longstanding traditions are passed down and new traditions are started. What happens in the kitchen reflects both the storied history of the region and the welcoming spirit of the modern Southern Kitchen.
Southern Kitchen focuses on delivering the BEST in eating, drinking and entertaining, inducing offering the amazing cast iron cookware from the artisans at Smithey Ironware.
When it comes to cast iron, you can’t get better than a Smithey. Made in the US, Smithey’s skillets are transformed into an elegant cookware piece by hand & machine in Charleston, SC. As a guarantee of their high quality craftsmanship, each Smithey Skillet comes with a lifetime guarantee.
We believe that some of the best cast iron sits on the ranges of future generations, and we plan to share it with you. In the kitchen or around the campfire, our goal is to be first in mind when home chefs think of premium cast iron cookware.
And you just gotta love their signature logo on the handle.
If you share my & Southern Kitchen‘s passion for those traditions that start in the kitchen, Submit your own delicious southern inspired recipes to Southern Kitchen’s amazing database of southern delicious recipe and enter their fun recipe contests.
And to help you stock your kitchen with heirloom quality items (that your family will fight over), Southern Kitchen is giving YOU $10 off your first ($50+) order, use coupon code WELCOME10 at checkout.
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Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Butter (or ghee)
- 2 3/4 cups my gluten-free all purpose flour blend
- 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder (aluminim free)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Sea Salt
- 1 3/4 cups Cultured Buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Place butter in your 12 inch cast iron skillet and place in the oven (while it's preheating)
- While the butter is melting in your preheating oven, combine all dry ingredients, use a whisk to mix well.
- Whisk in Cultured Buttermilk until smooth.
- Let 'batter' rest for 5 minutes.
- Remove cast iron skillet from the oven, butter should be melted and oven preheated.
- Quickly, drop scoops of batter into the hot skillet/melted butter. Working in a circle from the outside to the inside.
- Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes. Rotating your skillet 2 or 3 times during baking.
- Remove from the oven and enjoy while warm, preferably with a generous slab of butter.
Notes
Can i use wheat flour??
yes, just sub it 1:1
WOW! I had to make an adjustment to the recipe since I didn’t have any cultured butter cream, but WOW did these come out amazing!
I ended up using a box of 500ml Arla Lactofree Whipping & Cooking Cream being in Italy and not being able to find everything, but that didn’t stop these biscuits from being amazing! And you were totally right about the cast iron needed for the crust. Thanks so much for the recipe.
Made these on the grill and they were great. I just need to put butter on a little later as I almost burned the butter. I must be a little slower than you. I did use 2% milk and vinegar which worked fine.
I just made these are they are the BOMB! I used regular salted butter and RobinHood GF AllPurpose and I used Kosher salt instead of sea salt cos that’s what I had on hand. Since it was snow storming outside I didn’t want to go to the store and get buttermilk so used soured skim milk in its place and they were still delish! Can’t wait time try these with real buttermilk! I may add some garlic and drop the balls smaller use it as pull apart garlic bread as well! Thanks for the great recipe!
I made these and they were amazing! And so easy. My kids loved them. The recipe didn’t fill up my 12″ skillet so maybe I made them too tall. Next time I may do one and a half times the recipe. I just used Bob’s Red Mill gluten free 1 to 1 mix instead of making or buying a new mix. This may explain why the batter was way too dry to drop in (was more like bread dough), so I had to add a whole other cup of water to get the right texture.
Hi Haley,
I just found your website and love your recipes!. Thanks for sharing. Is Southern kitchen still selling their own skillets?. Thanks!
There is a difference in using butter or ghee. Butter has liquid with the fat whereas ghee is just the fat. The amount of each should be different.
They BOTH work interchangeably in this recipe. I’m very familiar with their properties and use them both in my kitchen frequently. For this particular recipe it’s a volume measure so the melted liquid is the exact same for both.
Hi ! Trying any recipe that’s GF I can find. Mac ,7, misses good bread etc. he just saw a commercial for Hawaiian rolls and said wishes they were gf 🙁
Can I use regular butter in this recipe ?
Ty ❤️
Hey Girl!!! These biscuits are so good! You can use any real butter you’d like in this recipe but I will encourage you to choose really high quality fats since they are such an important part of our diet – Our local Aldi just started selling their own brand of grass fed butter in a green wrapper in their deli case, too!
I’ve looked over the recipe a dozen times. There is no measurement for any buttermilk. It’s mentioned in the instructions but not the ingredients list.
It’s the last item on the list.
Hi Hayley,
I don’t understand why we are separating the flour. All the recipe says is add all dry ingredients. What do we do with the flour we separated.? I follow your recipes right down to the last ingredient. I really want to make it so please let me know if I missed something. I’m pretty sick right now and am in need of something good to eat. Healthy comfort food.
Namaste
Hey Patti – I’m sorry you are sick, hope you feel better soon. I’m confused, I don’t see anywhere that I’m saying to separate the flour!?! I’ve even searched the entire post and just don’t find what you’re asking about 🙁 the recipe is really straightforward
Uh-oh! I really wanted to try these, but when I checked the ingredients of your gluten-free flour blend I was sad to find that it contains potato starch. I cannot eat any type or form of potato — I get the same discomfort as I do with grains. Any suggestions?
Sub arrowroot – it’s more expensive but should work perfectly!
I can’t wait to try this! Say, did you mean to have the dough be only a mix of the dry ingredients and the buttermilk? I usually cut butter into my biscuit dough before adding the wet ingredients. Why does it say the flour is divided? I couldn’t find anything that explained that. And did you mean to melt ALL the 1/2 cup butter in the skillet? I usually grease the skillet with a lump of butter and mix more butter into the dough so I wanted to be sure that this “new” way was clear to me. 🙂 One more question – can we sub coconut milk for the buttermilk. I know it won’t have quite the same flavor but we don’t use cows’ milk (we can use butter though).
Hey Sandra – these are DROP BISCUITS and yes the recipe is written exactly as you need to make it. Melt all the butter in the skillet, mix the batter, drop into melted butter. If you want to modify the recipe, research subs for buttermilk, you will need to add an acid to any other type of liquid.
Can you substitute the gluten free flour for organic all purpose flour? Thanks!
yes!