Our Test Kitchen Pros Found the Best Store-Bought Biscuits
Updated: Apr. 23, 2024
Who doesn't love to pop open canned biscuits for a dinnertime extra? But what brand makes the best store-bought biscuits? Our Test Kitchen tried seven options to find out.
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Searching for the Best Store-Bought Biscuits
No doubt about it: Homemade biscuits are downright delicious and pair so well with hearty Sunday dinners. But making biscuits from scratch isn’t always in the cards on a busy evening. That’s when it’s time to reach for canned biscuits.
A tube of these open-and-bake biscuits is just right for rounding out weeknight supper. You can even use a package as a starting point for recipes that use canned biscuits.
No matter how you enjoy them, though, you have to make sure you’re snagging the best st0re-bought biscuits at the supermarket. How will you know which is best? Our Test Kitchen took time to sample seven to find out.
How We Sampled Canned Biscuits
For this taste test, our team rounded up seven different kinds of store-bought biscuits. Did you even know there were that many brands out there? Each biscuit was baked according to the package directions and then sampled blindly. Our biscuit pros judged each in these three categories:
- Appearance: The best store-bought biscuits should be perfectly golden. Flaky layers are always appreciated!
- Texture: Good biscuits should be tender inside with a slightly crisp outside.
- Flavor: Canned biscuits may not be able to compete with their scratch-made cousins (have you tried Joanna Gaines’ biscuit recipe yet?), but they should still taste delicious. Notes of butter and buttermilk are welcome. Artificial and preservative-like tastes do not fit the bill.
Which canned biscuits popped to the top? Check out our Test Kitchen-Preferred picks.
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Flakiest Biscuits
Immaculate Baking Organic Flaky Biscuits
For many, canned biscuits mean one thing: flaky layers. If you can’t get enough of peeling away layer after layer, toss a can of Immaculate Baking Organic Flaky Biscuits into your cart.
“This one has clear, definitive layers that are visible before you even dig in,” explains the Test Kitchen’s Ellie Crowley. These layers are stacked between a lightly golden top and a perfectly browned and crisp bottom.
When you do dig in, you’ll find that these Immaculate Baking biscuits are full of even more flaky layers than you ever expected. Whether you’re the type to peel away at this biscuit one layer at a time or just take a big bite, you’ll find that these are tender with just the right amount of chew. These biscuits also have a faint taste of buttermilk—a must for any biscuit if you ask our Test Kitchen. In fact, using real buttermilk is one of the best biscuit tips our pros can share.
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Best Oversized Biscuits
Pillsbury Grands! Flaky Layers Buttermilk Biscuits
If you’re looking for a big biscuit to serve alongside a hearty bowl of chili or stew, look no further than the classic: Pillsbury Grands! Flaky Layers Buttermilk Biscuits.
“I just love the way these look,” says Sarah Fischer in the Test Kitchen. These oversized biscuits bake up golden and the layers are visible—even before you pull them apart to dunk them into a dish of beef stew.
Tearing into one of these Pillsbury biscuits, you’ll see plenty of layers to compliment the flaky golden top of the biscuit. These biscuits are soft and not overly chewy. You’ll get a hint of butter inside, though not much buttermilk. Overall, this is exactly what our team wants and expects of a good canned biscuit.
Don’t forget to look at our collection of the best store-bought cinnamon rolls.
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Best Value Canned Biscuits
Great Value Buttermilk Biscuits
If you’re looking to save a few pennies on your grocery run (aren’t we all?), pick up a tube of Great Value Buttermilk Biscuits at Walmart. These sell for about half the price of the competitors.
So what do you get when you pop open a can of Great Value biscuits? “A very round and golden biscuit,” according to Sarah.
While these Walmart-exclusive biscuits lacked flaky layers like other biscuit brands, our team still found these to be very satisfying. “The outside is thin with a good crunch to it,” explains Sarah. This crispy exterior contains a soft, tender inside that’s flavored with a bit of butter and a very slight sweetness.
No, these won’t pass for homemade, but our team is certain you won’t have any leftovers when you serve these up to a hungry dinner crowd.
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Best Frozen Biscuits
Mason Dixie Biscuit Co. Buttermilk Biscuits
While canned biscuits may be the most common store-bought biscuit, Mason Dixie Biscuit Co. Buttermilk Biscuits encourage you to take a stroll down the frozen aisle.
These Mason Dixie Biscuit Co. biscuits were unlike any other kind we tried. The second our team removed them from the box, they looked different: less uniform and akin to something homemade.
And the flavors were more from-scratch as well. According to Josh Rink in the Test Kitchen, “This brand feels like it uses real ingredients like a homemade biscuit.” And Josh is right: Flour, buttermilk, butter, milk, sugar, baking powder and salt are the only ingredients Mason Dixie Biscuit Co. uses. Those are the same ingredients you’ll find in this top-rated buttermilk biscuit recipe.
Those ingredients are all very prominent when you take a bite of one of these petite biscuits. You get buttermilk and butter—the two ingredients that make these baked goods so hard to resist!
Before you pick up a box, know that these biscuits aren’t going to give you that canned biscuit texture or size. These biscuits are smaller and denser and not appropriate to use in a recipe that calls for their canned counterparts. Instead, a box of these is just right to serve up alongside your favorite soup or even with sausage gravy for a hearty breakfast.
And we won’t tell if you try to pass off a package of these biscuits as homemade when you’re short on time! You don’t even need to defrost these before popping them in the oven.
Check Out More Test Kitchen-Preferred Products
Our Test Kitchen is constantly testing food, kitchen gadgets and cleaning gear looking for brands that deserve the right to be called Test Kitchen-Preferred.
If you want to fill your pantry and fridge with the best products, check out these tests:
Originally Published: December 08, 2022
