As Ina Garten would say, store-bought is fine! In less than 20 minutes, you can bake up warm, flaky biscuits with almost no effort. (Lisa Schweitzer/Yahoo)(Lisa Schweitzer/Yahoo)
Buttery, flaky carbohydrate goodness: That's what you expect from a biscuit, and that's what you'll get with our pick for the best ready-to-bake option. I tested six of the most popular brands, and quite a few of them impressed me. They felt like a warm hug, and many looked almost homemade.
With the best store-bought biscuits, instead of spending time cutting cold cubes of butter into flour, you just need to pop open the can (is there a more satisfying sound?) and place the dough on a sheet pan. In less than 20 minutes, voila — you have the basis for a decadent egg sandwich or the perfect pairing for a bowl of chili or a hearty stew.
As a culinary school grad who has worked in restaurants and written about food and cooking, I know a good shortcut when I taste one. For this test, I baked all six brands of bake-and-eat biscuits on well-worn sheet pans in my oven. The results were mostly tasty. One was a dud. But there was just one I'd buy again — and I was truly surprised to find that the classic brand (you know, the one that immediately comes to mind when you think of these biscuits) was not the winner. Keep scrolling to find out which golden round took the top spot.
Hungry for a light, fluffy bread product that's fancier than a roll but not quite as cake-like as cornbread? This pop-open-and-bake tube of biscuits will not disappoint. The biscuits bake to a gorgeous golden brown with a slightly crunchy top. They maintain their hexagonal shape and their tender layers can be pulled apart. While a touch greasy, these Immaculate Baking Organic Biscuits were the best of all the ones I tried.
These have been my go-to sheet pans for almost 20 years. They heat evenly and are indestructible. I can clean them with hot water, a soapy sponge and elbow grease.
I like using this Mercer fish spatula to slide baked goods off a sheet pan. It's flexible and thin and easily cuts through any stuck-on bits of dough.
A wire rack is the best thing to use when cooling baked goods like biscuits, cookies, muffins and more. The grid ensures air can circulate all the way around each portion.
If you're entertaining, pile up those golden biscuits on a colorful cake stand. This piece elevates any food you put on it — literally!
Line this neutral bread basket with a cloth napkin and place the biscuits inside. The napkin, not the wicker, will collect the crumbs.
These 100% cotton napkins are perfect for a cozy brunch or dinner at home. Use one to line a bread basket before you put all your golden-brown rounds inside. Toss the napkins in the washing machine when dinner's done.
I baked all six types of biscuits on my beloved sheet pans. I set up a cooling rack, a spatula and some jam for tasting.
As each tray came out of the oven, I let the biscuits cool on the sheet pan, and then I transferred them to a wire rack. While they were still warm, I split them open and tasted them plain and then with some jam. Yum.
Trader Joe's Organic Biscuits: These were so similar to the Immaculate Baking biscuits, I wouldn't be surprised if those are the inspiration or even the manufacturer of the TJ biscuits. The shape, look and taste were almost identical.
Pillsbury Grands Original Biscuit Dough: If you grew up making these at home, you know how big, soft and fluffy they are. They're the same rounds as they were back then, but they didn't have as much texture or flavor as the Immaculate Baking ones. They are available in many variations, such as Buttermilk, Honey Butter, Sweet Hawaiian and more.
Annie's Organic Flaky Biscuits: The Annie's biscuits were close behind the Trader Joe's version. They too were a bit craggy on top with a hexagonal shape and tender on the inside. I liked them, but they weren't my favorites.
Mason Dixie Buttermilk Biscuits: These were the only biscuits I tried that were fully cooked (you heat them in the oven) and sold in the freezer aisle. They are smaller in size and also the most expensive of all the brands. However, these were the biscuits that most closely resemble homemade with a denser texture that's less buttery. They were the only biscuits that contained real butter and buttermilk — the others were made with palm oil.
Amazon Fresh Jumbo Flaky Biscuits: Unfortunately, the Amazon Fresh biscuits were a miss. The dough was an odd yellow shade. They baked up to a puffy pillow, but there wasn't much flavor and they felt greasier than the others.
