30-Minute Jalapeño Cheddar Drop Biscuits
Last updated on June 26th, 2026
Starting off the year with a new breakfast biscuit flavour! These 30-Minute Jalapeño Cheddar Drop Biscuits are a little bit spicy, cheesy and so satisfying. A flavourful take on classic drop biscuits, they’re packed with sharp cheddar and tangy jalapeños and easy enough to pull together in under 20 minutes.
My Cheddar Scallion Drop Biscuits are one of my most popular breakfast recipes, so I decided to come back with a new flavour using ingredients I already had on hand.
This version is a little less vibrant in colour, but the spicy kick makes up for it and I’ll take my green anywhere I can find it this time of year.
Here’s everything you’ll need to make these 30-Minute Jalapeño Cheddar Drop Biscuits
- 2¼ cups (290 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (3 grams) kosher or fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon (1 gram) ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons (45 grams) cold butter, shredded on a box grater
- 1½ cups (185 grams) shredded sharp cheddar
- ½ cup (45 grams) sliced pickled jalapeños, drained and patted dry with a paper towel to remove excess moisture
- 1 cup (225 grams) buttermilk
Drop biscuits are versatile, rustic and quick to make. Typically served warm, fresh out of the oven, they are a classic, easy-to-make comfort food often enjoyed as a side dish at lunch or dinner or with eggs at breakfast.
Pickling the jalapeños both enhances their flavour and softens their texture, making them ideally suited for baking. You can use any kind you like for this recipe – some are a little spicier than others – or simply adjust the quantity according to taste.
🫙 The pickled pepper moisture rule
Pickled jalapeños add a gorgeous tangy bite that pairs beautifully with sharp cheddar, but managing the moisture is the absolute key to success.
Because these peppers are stored in a vinegar brine, they carry a high amount of surface liquid that can easily water down your buttermilk dough.
Be sure to drain your measured portion thoroughly, then press the chopped pieces gently between paper towels to remove excess liquid.
Tossing the dry pickled peppers directly into your flour mix before adding your wet ingredients guarantees a perfectly thick, scoopable drop biscuit.
How to make these Jalapeño Cheddar Drop Biscuits in 5 simple steps
- Whisk together dry ingredients together with chopped jalapeños.
- Grate butter into dry ingredients, add grated cheddar and toss.
- Pour in buttermilk and mix again.
- Drop them onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake!
🧈 The cold butter secret
To guarantee your drop biscuits bake up incredibly light, fluffy, and tender with gorgeous flaky layers, keep your butter, cheddar and buttermilk inside the refrigerator until the exact moment you’re ready to use them.
When cold butter hits the intense heat of a hot oven, the trapped water inside the butter instantly evaporates and creates tiny pockets of steam.
This steam expansion is what lifts the dense flour mixture, creating a beautifully airy bakery-style texture without any intensive hand-kneading.
With no rolling or cutting involved, you can have these biscuits baked up in minutes all without having to handle sticky dough.
Even better? They also freeze well to have on hand for meal prepped breakfasts or lunches through the week.
Quick and easy to make ahead, these 30-Minute Jalapeño Cheddar Drop Biscuits are incredibly versatile. Because of their rustic texture, they also make excellent sides for hearty meals like soups, stews and chilis or with a Sunday roast dinner.
Try this beginnger-friendly No-Knead Jalapeño Cheddar Artisan Bread or these Potatoes au Gratin with Gruyère next.
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30-Minute Jalapeño Cheddar Drop Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons cold butter shredded on a box grater
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- ½ cup sliced pickled jalapeños drained and patted dry with a paper towel to remove excess moisture
- 1 cup buttermilk see note below to make your own
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425ºF (220ºC) and prepare parchment-lined baking sheet.
- In a large mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, pepper and chopped jalapeños until well-coated. Grate butter directly into the dry ingredients, add grated cheddar and toss with your hands until evenly distributed.
- Pour in buttermilk and continue to stir until the buttermilk has been absorbed and you can’t see any more flour bits. The dough will seem dry, and that’s okay!
- Drop by ¼ cupful’s onto prepared baking sheet, spacing them apart so you get 4 rows of 3 biscuits each. If the dough sticks in the measuring cup, use a butter knife to work around the edges and pull the dough out onto the baking sheet.
- Bake until the tops are golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm.
What a lovely recipe! I will definitely try it. When you drop the dough on the sheet, does it have to be loose or more formed into a round shape?
Hi Paulina! The dough will hold together once you fill each 1/4 cup measure and then relax into a biscuit shape while baking. Hope you enjoy! K