Small Batch Chili Cheddar Biscuits You’ll Love with Anything
Sometimes, you need something with a kick to go with your soup and salad dinner. And sometimes, your anaheim pepper plants are going crazy and you just need to use them in something other than tacos. In any case, you need to try my chili cheddar biscuits.
Starting with roasted anaheim chilis, which you can make ahead of time and keep on hand for all kinds of applications, this small-batch chili cheddar biscuit recipe is easy as can be.
I use self-rising flour to keep the ingredients list short and make the recipe ultra easy for you. My other secret is grating in the butter and cheese. So, let’s talk more about how stinking easy this recipe is. You can have just enough biscuits for your family dinner in under an hour!
Let’s Make Some Chili Cheddar Biscuits
Throwing back to my garlic cheddar biscuit recipe, this recipe is meant as a quick an easy bread basket filler to round out a simple meal. So, here’s what you need:
- 1/3 cup roasted chilis, chopped
- 1/4 cup cold butter, shredded
- 1/2 cup cold cheddar, shredded
- 1 cup self-rising flour
- 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
- 1/2 cup cold milk
The base of the biscuit recipe is just the self rising flour, butter, and milk. Seriously? 3 ingredients for amazing biscuits is a pretty good deal! The other 3 ingredients are for a flavor explosion.
Nutritional Yeast is Optional but Try It
Nutritional yeast, or nooch, is my secret weapon in cheesy baked goods. It has that salty, funky flavor that comes from good cheese, and it’s packed with great B vitamins and protein. This is a low-calorie way to turn pretty good biscuits to “HOLY COW THAT’S GOOD” biscuits.
So, yes, I call this optional, and yes, you can leave it out, but I seriously recommend trying it at least once.
Putting the Chilis in Your Chili Cheddar Biscuits
I’ve got two options for you here. If you have pepper plants, it’s a great idea to roast them up and use them in this recipe. However, that may be just too much work for you. I get that! So, it’s totally cool to use store bought. I have some tips for that, too.
Roasting Your Own Anaheim Chilis
So, we have four anaheim pepper plants growing in the garden, and they are very productive right now. I love using them for taco bowls and eggs, but I needed to do something different. Here’s how you optimize them for biscuits.
Put down a little aluminum foil on your sheet pan and set the oven to 450ºF. Lay out 4 fairly large Anaheim chili peppers, and give them a little spritz with olive oil.
Roast them for about 15 minutes until the skin starts to blacken. Then, turn them over and give them another 15 minutes. They should be soft with loose, bubbly skin.
Remove them from the oven to a glass or ceramic bowl and cover until totally cooled. I use the same foil that I used to line the pan to cover so it doesn’t go to waste.
Once they’re cooled, separate the skin from the flesh and pull out the stems. I don’t worry too much about the seeds at this stage. They add heat, and that’s what we want! Chop up the soft pepper flesh and add to your biscuit mix with the butter and cheddar.
Don’t Be Afraid to Use Store Bought Chilis!
If you’re like, “No, I’m not roasting peppers. Are you kidding me?” don’t shy away from this recipe just yet! It’s time to hit the international aisle at the grocery store. Where ever they keep the salsas, you can find a tiny can of green chilis. These are packed in water and one can is the right size for this recipe!
Remember Proper Biscuit Technique
So, this recipe can be done in 3 ways, but in any case there are a couple things you need to do to make sure they turn out great.
First of all, keep your butter, cheddar, and milk ice cold. This will help make your biscuits nice and tender and flaky.
Second of all, do not over mix your dough. You want chunks of butter to show! If the dough looks too smooth, your biscuits are probably going to come out tough.
Third, you need the oven hot. 450ºF is my preferred biscuit making temperature. It superheats the butter so the water evaporates and puffs the dough up nice and tall while creating tender flaky layers. Perfection!
3 Ways to Make Chili Cheddar Biscuits
I mentioned above that there are three ways you can get biscuits on the table. Are you ready for this?
Chili Cheddar Drop Biscuits
Once your dough is mixed, scoop out 6 even portions of dough and drop them on a lined baking sheet. Done. It’s literally that easy.
Flaky Layered Chili Cheddar Biscuits
Reduce the milk from 1/2 cup to 1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon. When the mixture is looking shaggy, but there is still a lot of unincorporated dry stuff, dump the whole thing on the counter.
Use a bench scraper to fold it up and over about 12 times. Then, press your dough out to about 1/2 inch thick and cut it into 6 even squares.
Chili Cheddar Scones
Follow the same steps as for flaky biscuits. You’ll reduce the milk to 1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon and mix the dough until it’s just barely combined. This time, you want to make sure you get it slightly more mixed together in the bowl before you dump it out.
Form your dough into a round on a lined baking sheet. It should be smooth around the edges and 1/2 inch thick. Use your bench scraper to cut it into 6 wedges, and separate them so there’s about 1 inch of space between each.
Are You Ready to Bake?
Alrighty, now it’s time to throw these babies into a hot oven for 15 minutes and set the table. Once they’re out, pop them in the breadbasket and go! They’re best served hot.
Comment below and let me know if you’re looking for a little kick in your biscuit! I can’t wait to hear how yours turned out! And don’t forget to subscribe for an awesome freebie!
Small Batch Chili Cheddar Biscuits
Equipment
- Sheet pan
- Parchment Paper or a Silicone Baking mat
Ingredients
- 1 cup self-rising flour
- 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- ¼ cup unsalted butter cold
- ½ cup cheddar cheese cold and shredded
- ⅓ cup roasted anaheim chilis, chopped or canned chilies, drained and patted dry
- ½ cup milk cold
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In a medium mixing bowl, grate cold butter and cheddar into the self rising flour.
- Add the chopped chilis to the mix, and toss it all together so the butter, cheese, and peppers are evenly distributed and coated in flour.
- Fold in the milk. When everything is moistened, scoop out 6 portions onto the baking sheet.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm.
