These spicy Jalapeño Cheddar Biscuits have buttery, flaky layers and fluffy interiors. They’re great for making breakfast sandwiches or eating with a generous drizzle of honey!
These Jalapeño Cheddar Biscuits are made with few ingredients, but pack a lot of flavor from freshly grated sharp cheddar, jalapeños, and buttermilk.
Our favorite way to eat them is with crispy bacon plus eggs scrambled in a smidgen of leftover bacon grease. It’s definitely on the indulgent side, but it makes a delicious weekend breakfast or brunch! For a similar recipe, try our Garlic Butter Dinner Rolls!
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Flaky and Tender: The combination of cold fat and buttermilk makes these jalapeño cheddar biscuits wonderfully flaky and soft on the inside.
- Versatile Breakfast: Slather them with honey, butter, jam, or turn them into breakfast sandwiches filled with eggs and your protein of choice.
- Texture: These biscuits have crunchy exteriors and little bits of crispy golden cheese on the bottom.
Ingredient Notes
The full list of ingredients and their quantities is in the recipe card below. Here you’ll find notes on why we chose certain ingredients as well as any substitutions.
- All-Purpose Flour: Be sure to use a digital scale since extra flour could make the dough too dry to work with.
- Unsalted Butter: Cut it into small cubes and place it in the fridge before prepping your other ingredients.
- Buttermilk: This gives the biscuits tons of flavor and moisture for soft interiors. We prefer whole milk buttermilk, but low-fat will work too.
- Jalapeños: For spicier biscuits, look for jalapeños with “stretch marks” on them. No need to deseed them for this recipe.
- Sharp Cheddar: Block cheese is the way to go here! You will need to shred it yourself, but it incorporates into the dough better than pre-shredded cheese does.
Kitchen Equipment
- Kitchen Scale
- Oven Thermometer
- Mixing Bowls
- Pastry Blender
- Silpat or Marble Pastry Board
- Bench Scraper
- Large Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Pastry Brush
- Biscuit Cutter
Step-by-Step Instructions
This section provides a general overview as well as any pictures to guide you through the recipe. The full detailed recipe instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
STEP 1: Combine the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk to combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
STEP 2: Add the butter. Use a pastry blender to cut the cold, cubed butter into the flour mixture until pea sized lumps form.
STEP 3: Mix in the cheddar, jalapeños, and buttermilk. Use a wooden spoon to mix in the cheddar and jalapeños. Then mix and fold the buttermilk into the flour for 1-2 minutes until a rough dough starts to form. It will look very dry at this stage.
STEP 4: Form the dough. Carefully tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and quickly squish and work it into a cohesive dough. Stop as soon as it comes together.
STEP 5: Layer the dough. Flatten the dough into a ¾ inch horizontal slab. Fold one half over into the center then fold the other over the entire thing. Turn it horizontally and repeat the process two more times to create those flaky layers.
STEP 6: Cut out the biscuits. Flatten the dough back into a ¾-1-inch thick rectangle and use a round biscuit cutter to press straight down into the dough (don’t twist). You can also cut them into squares. Spread them out on a parchment lined baking sheet.
STEP 7: Freeze and brush with butter. Place the biscuits in the freezer for 15 minutes then brush the tops with 1 tbsp of melted butter.
STEP 8: Bake. Bake the biscuits at 425°F (220°C) for 18-20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Expert Tips
- Cube the butter first. We like to cube the butter and place it back in the fridge before starting anything else. That way, it’s completely chilled and ready to go by the time you need it.
- Use cold fat. The key to flaky biscuits is the temperature of your fat. Cold buttermilk and butter creates steam in the oven, leaving you with tender, flaky biscuits.
- Don’t overwork the dough. You will need to work it slightly to form a cohesive dough, but too much hand mixing could melt the butter (and form more gluten), negating any flakiness. If it starts to feel sticky, that’s a sign your dough is overworked. To prevent this, you can use a floured rolling pin to flatten the dough.
FAQ
You can use a 3-inch, 2 ¾-inch, or 3 ¼ inch cutter. We only have odd sized biscuit cutters like the latter two (we tested them multiple times and they both work). Depending on which of these sizes you use, you should get about 6-8 biscuits. You can also just cut them into squares.
Place them in an airtight container or Ziplock bag and keep them at room temperature for 3-4 days. They’ll dry out and soften a bit, but reheating them in the toaster oven for a few minutes livens them right back up.
Cold butter sits in between the layers you create in the biscuit dough. When it heats up in the oven, the fat in the butter melts while the water evaporates, creating pockets of air (steam) in between the layers of dough. Those gaps are what make up those flaky layers! Using cold buttermilk also keeps the dough cold so the butter doesn’t melt during the folding process.
Baking in Grams
All of our baking recipes are carefully tested using grams so that you get a beautiful and delicious baked good every time. While we provide cup measurements, we can’t guarantee that they’ll produce good results. There’s more room for error when using cups, and how you pack your ingredients can make a significant difference. This is why we recommend measuring by weight so you’re guaranteed for success in the kitchen! All you need is a kitchen scale and you’re good to go!
If you tried this recipe, let us know how it turned out for you! Leave a star rating and review below and tag us on Instagram @fancifuleats so we can see your amazing kitchen creations!
📖 Recipe
Jalapeño Cheddar Biscuits
Equipment
- Large Baking Sheet
- Pastry Cutter
- Marble Slab or Silpat
- Pastry Brush
- Bench Scraper optional
- Rolling Pin optional
- 3-inch (7.6 cm) Round Biscuit Cutter
Ingredients
- 300 g (2 ½ cups) all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 113 g (½ cups) unsalted butter cold and cubed*
- 180 ml (¾ cups) cold buttermilk we use full-fat
- 140 g (1 ½ cups) sharp cheddar freshly grated
- 2 jalapeños finely diced
- 14 g (1 tbsp) unsalted butter melted for brushing
Instructions
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the cold, cubed butter and use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour until pea sized clumps form.
- Stir in the jalapeños and cheese. Add the buttermilk and use a wooden spoon to fold and mix it into the flour for 1-2 minutes until a rough, clumpy dough forms.
- Carefully tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Squish and work the dough into a cohesive dough ball. It will be very dry and crumbly at first, but should come together after a minute or so. Stop as soon as it forms a ball.
- Flatten the dough into a ¾ inch (2 cm) thick horizontal slab.* Fold one of the short sides into the center of the slab then fold the other side over the entire thing.
- Turn it horizontally and repeat the previous step two more times.
- Flatten the dough one more time into a ¾-1 inch (2-2 ½ cm) thick rectangle. Use a 3-inch (7.6 cm)* round biscuit cutter to cut straight down into the dough (don't twist). You can also use a bench scraper to cut it into squares.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C) and place the biscuits onto the prepared baking sheet. While the oven is preheating, place the biscuits in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Brush the tops of the chilled biscuits with 14 g (1 tbsp) of melted butter.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
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