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I was introduced to a nifty hack for making biscuits lickety-split while staying with my friend Robin in Alabama. In the time it took me to drink a cup of coffee, she whipped up delicious, tender biscuits for breakfast, and nothing could have made me feel more welcome. Her secret was an old Southern trick born out of frugality: using mayonnaise instead of butter.
I love fresh, hot biscuits, especially when smothered with creamy sausage gravy or stuffed with fluffy scrambled eggs. That said, I’m not a morning person, so dicing up butter and messing around with a pastry cutter to blend the butter into the flour is usually too much for me to deal with in the a.m.
With this recipe, I can just mix mayonnaise into the dry ingredients with a fork—it takes seconds. The recipe also uses whole milk instead of buttermilk, which is awesome, because I never have buttermilk in my fridge.
The mayo dough is also much easier to work with than butter-based dough; I can roll or pat it out lightning-fast so the dough stays cold, contributing to lightness and flakiness during baking. Mayo biscuits don’t have quite the same crispness butter biscuits do, but I don’t mind since they’re so much easier to make.
Choosing the Right Mayo
Swapping mayonnaise for butter isn’t just easier, it also makes the biscuits meltingly tender, thanks to the eggs contained in the mayo.
Just like my friend Robin, I use Duke’s mayonnaise, a Southern staple now available nationwide. Duke’s has a higher ratio of egg yolks than other commercial brands of mayonnaise, and a creamy, custardy texture that works well in the recipe. You can use homemade mayonnaise or a fancy gourmet aioli instead, but steer away from “light” mayonnaise, as it won’t have enough fat for this recipe.
Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek
Options for Ease
This dough is very easygoing, and there are a number of ways you can form it into biscuits. My friend Robin uses a big spoon to drop the dough onto a baking sheet. This makes rounded drop biscuits with a nice craggy texture and is quick to do.
I prefer to roll the dough out, fold it up a few times like a letter, then cut it into rounds or squares. This extra step produces flakier, higher risers that make excellent breakfast sandwiches.
A Hot Tip
Two important things to remember for the very best biscuits: keep the ingredients cold and get the oven very hot. Chilling the flour and mayonnaise mixture in the freezer for 15 minutes will help keep the mayonnaise in separate little blobs in the dough, which will give the finished biscuits a light, flaky texture.
Baking the biscuits in a very hot oven activates the baking powder faster and gives the biscuits extra lift. Butter tends to burn at this high of a temperature, but mayonnaise can handle the heat. You’ll end up with golden brown beauties quicker than you can say “Well, butter my biscuit!”
Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek
Cook Mode
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2 cups (255g) all-purpose flour
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4 teaspoons baking powder
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3/4 teaspoon salt
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Heaping 1/3 cup mayonnaise (preferably Duke’s)
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2/3 cup cold whole milk
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2 tablespoons salted butter, melted (optional)
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Chill the dry ingredients and mayo:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the mayonnaise until just combined—the mixture should be a bit shaggy. Place the bowl in the freezer for at least 15 minutes and up to overnight.
Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek
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Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Line a large baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment and set aside.
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Make the dough:
Add the cold milk to the flour mixture and stir with a fork until it just comes together into a shaggy mass.
Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek
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Shape the biscuits:
Turn the shaggy dough onto a floured surface and roll or pat it into a 3/4-inch thick rectangle, dusting the top with flour as needed if the dough is sticky. Fold the top third of the dough towards the center and then fold the bottom third up over the first fold into a rectangle.
Turn the dough 90 degrees and gently roll out the dough again into a rectangle that is 3/4-inch thick. Repeat the folding and rolling process 2 more times, working quickly and letting go of the idea that the dough must be perfect.
Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek
Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek
Simple Tip!
For drop biscuits, skip this step and scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet with an ice cream scoop or large serving spoon into 6 to 8 blobs.
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Cut the biscuits:
Use a sharp knife or 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter to cut the dough into 6 or 8 squares or circles and arrange them close together on the prepared baking sheet.
Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek
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Bake:
Bake the biscuits, rotating the pan halfway through, until they are golden brown on top, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, brush with the melted butter, if using, and serve immediately.
Leftover biscuits can be cooled on a rack and stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. Leftover biscuits are best if reheated in a hot oven or toaster oven for 5 minutes.
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Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek
| Nutrition Facts (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 217 | Calories |
| 11g | Fat |
| 26g | Carbs |
| 4g | Protein |
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| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings: 6 to 8 |
|
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories | 217 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| 11g | 14% |
| Saturated Fat 3g | 17% |
| 13mg | 4% |
| 532mg | 23% |
| 26g | 9% |
| Dietary Fiber 1g | 3% |
| Total Sugars 1g | |
| 4g | |
| Vitamin C 0mg | 0% |
| Calcium 165mg | 13% |
| Iron 2mg | 10% |
| Potassium 64mg | 1% |
| *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice. | |
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.
