Name: Sourdough Cheddar Biscuits
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 330 g All Purpose Flour; 20 g Baking Powder ((yes this is correct - it's approx. 1 tbsp)); 3 g Salt; 3 g Garlic Powder ((1 tsp)); 113 g Butter ((salted or unsalted, must be very cold, grated)); 180 g Cheddar Cheese ((shredded)); 20 g Honey; 200 g Sourdough Starter ((or sourdough discard)); 120 g Buttermilk ((plus a little extra for brushing - see notes for alternatives)); 20 g Butter ((melted)); 2 g Garlic Powder ((1/2 tsp)); Fresh Herbs ((chives, parsley etc))

You are going to love these cheesy sourdough cheddar biscuits! Whether you're serving them as a hearty snack or as a "go with anything" side dish, you're sure to love what these sourdough cheddar biscuits will bring to your table.

Filled with full bodied cheddar cheese and rich buttery layers, these sourdough cheddar biscuits feature savory flavors that will leave you wanting more! And what's even better than this? They use 200g of sourdough discard!

A close up of a sourdough cheddar biscuit that has been split open and buttered.

Why You'll Love This Recipe!

Easy Mix Method - you don't need a food processor or anything fancy! Just a bowl and your finger tips and you're good to go! You can use a food processor if you prefer, but you definitely don't need to!

Loads of Flavor Builds - with this basic sourdough cheddar biscuit recipe, you can build a build loads of different flavor variations like cheddar and chive, bacon and cheddar or even jalapeño cheddar sourdough biscuits.

Freezer Stash - this easy sourdough recipes is a great one to build your freezer stash with.

A stack of sourdough cheddar biscuits photographed side on so you can see the flakey layers and the cheesy chunks inside.

Ingredients

All Purpose Flour
Baking Powder - this recipe uses quite a bit of baking powder but it's not a typo, it ensures your sourdough cheddar biscuits come out lovely and fluffy and don't fall flat with the addition of the cheese which can be quite heavy. Trust me on this, I've tested it with less and it just doesn't have the same rise!
Salt & Garlic Powder - you can use fresh garlic if you prefer, I generally use garlic powder as it's more convenient and I always have some on hand.
Butter - I've used salted butter. Whatever butter you use, you want to ensure it's super cold and grated. A great tip here is to grate the cold butter and then place on a piece of parchment paper and pop into the freezer for 15 minutes to make sure it's super cold before you add it to the flour. If you don't want to grate it, just chop it into small cubes (you'll see that's what my kids did when we made this recipe to photograph).
Cheddar Cheese - I've used sharp cheddar cheese that I've shredded myself. Use whatever cheddar cheese you like to eat.
Honey - a dash of honey for a little sweetness. You'll love what this brings to this recipe! You could even use hot honey if you enjoy the heat!
Sourdough Starter - you can use 200g of sourdough discard or active sourdough starter for these biscuits. It doesn't make too much difference whether you use active of discard, however, you don't want to use old discard that's too runny or sour.
Buttermilk - you'll need some buttermilk to bring the dough together, as well as to brush on top of the biscuits before baking. I've used fresh buttermilk from making my own homemade butter, but you can use store bought buttermilk if you prefer.
Fresh Herbs - I love using fresh chives and parsley from my garden to sprinkle on top of these sourdough cheddar biscuits, but you really can use whatever you have on hand. Anything goes!

Tips For Success

If you make these sourdough cheddar biscuits a lot, you can weigh out a few portions of grated butter and wrap them in parchment paper. Store them in the freezer to make the prep time for this recipe even faster!
If you don't have buttermilk, add a little white vinegar to whole milk and allow to sit for 5 minutes until it thickens - instant buttermilk!

Small cubes of butter sitting on a sheet of parchment paper. — When I photographed this recipe I had the boys in the kitchen and they chopped the butter rather than grated it ... but it still works, that's how easy this recipe is!

How to Make Sourdough Cheddar Biscuits

I just love how easy these sourdough cheddar biscuits are to throw together. On the table in under an hour, they're quicker than bread, but can still mop up sauces and soups!

Let's get started!

Preheat your oven to 220C (425F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Add the all purpose flour, baking powder, salt and garlic powder to a large bowl. Whisk until well combined. Then add the cold, grated butter and cut this into the flour using your finger tips or a pastry cutter.

Then gently fold the shredded cheese through the mixture. Make a well in the centre and set aside.

In a separate bowl, add the honey, sourdough starter and buttermilk and whisk together. Now pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently fold together until you form a shaggy dough.

Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface - it will be sticky and could be dry in places and that's totally ok!

Shape the dough into a rough rectangle around 8 x 10 inches (20 x 25 cm) and ¾ inch (2 cm) thick. The dough will be sticky, but add some flour to your hands to help you during this step. Take one side of the rectangle and fold it to the middle and then repeat with the other side.

Then turn the dough 180 degrees and repeat the process. Do this around 3 to 4 times to create layers in your sourdough cheddar biscuits.

Use flour as needed to ensure the dough isn't sticking to you or the counter. You can see how rough my dough is in the photos below. It's definitely a little bit of a messy process!

A series of 3 photos showing how to fold the sourdough cheddar biscuit dough.

Now flatten the dough out into a rectangle again, you're looking for around ¾ inch thick. You can use your fingertips for this if you want to, or a rolling pin if you're looking for a better finish.

Use a biscuit cutter to cut out circles (you're looking for around 3 inches in diametre for your circles). You can also cut into squares or wedges if you prefer (like I have for these sourdough chocolate chip scones).

Place the sourdough cheddar biscuits onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper - make sure that the biscuit rounds are touching (or pretty close to it) as this will help them cook more evenly.

Brush the tops with buttermilk or plain milk and bake for around 20 minutes or until they are golden brown.

While the sourdough cheddar scones are baking, mix together the melted butter and garlic powder and set aside.

Remove biscuits from the oven and brush with garlic butter and sprinkle with fresh chopped herbs. Alternatively, you can add the chopped herbs to the garlic butter.

Using A Food Processor

If you want to use a food processor to make these sourdough cheddar biscuits, you definitely can. Sometimes a food processor can be handy if you want to make a double batch and freeze half.

To use a food processor, you can add all of the dry ingredients, along with the butter and cheddar cheese to the bowl of the food processor and blitz around 30 seconds, or until the butter and cheese has been cut into the dry ingredients.

Then add the wet ingredients and pulse again until a sticky dough has formed. Now proceed with the recipe in shaping the cheddar biscuits.

A tray of sourdough cheddar biscuits straight out of the oven brushed with garlic herb butter.

Recipe Variations

Sourdough Cheddar & Chive Biscuits - add a few tablespoons of fresh chives to the dry ingredients to create this popular flavor combination.

Sourdough Cheddar & Jalapeño Biscuits - is there a better combination? Add 40g of chopped pickled jalapeños to your wet ingredients when mixing (this is the same amount of jalapeños used in my sourdough jalapeño cheddar bread). You can also add a few slices of pickled or fresh jalapeños to the top of your biscuits before baking for some extra spicy flair.

Sourdough Cheddar & Bacon Biscuits - you can add crispy bacon pieces that you've cooked yourself or you can use store bought bacon (I buy a brand from Costco sometimes that's handy for this). These are absolutely delicious for a light supper.

How to Store + Freeze

These sourdough cheddar biscuits are best eaten on the day of baking, honestly they're best eaten as soon as baking. They're something I love pulling out of the oven and serving fresh and warm with loads of homemade butter!

You can freeze these to use at a later date, they thaw and reheat well. Allow them to cool completely before wrapping them in aluminum foil or placing them in a ziploc bag with a paper towel added to absorb moisture.