Biscuits are notoriously hard to make. Most people go years struggling through highs and lows to perfect a biscuit recipe, but there isn’t always a need for that, thanks to the ease of canned biscuits.
As a biscuit lover and food writer with 10 years of experience, I gathered all the canned biscuits I could find and baked them for a taste test. Here are the best store-bought canned biscuits, ranked from best to worst.
Best: Pillsbury Butter Tastin’
The first thing you smell when you open your oven door is the unmistakable aroma of butter. Then, it takes all of five seconds for your home to smell like an actual bakery. You pull the biscuit apart by one of its many layers and steam escapes, leaving a trail of actual flakes behind. Behold: the one and only canned biscuit that is actually flaky. Perfectly sized and plenty rich without the addition of honey, this is precisely what should be sitting in a basket in the middle of your dinner table.
2. Trader Joe’s Organic Biscuits
It should come as a surprise to nobody that Trader Joe’s has a hit on its hands. Where the insides of other biscuits feel fake and cotton candy-esque, TJ’s have spongy, doughy goodness. While other biscuits feel thick and rubbery and dry, TJ’s is hooking you up with moist layers. I love the way the crispy top crunches against the soft dough. This tastes real, and there’s really nothing else to do but give it up to the big Trader.
3. Laura Lynn Texas Style Butter Flavor Biscuits
It’s hard not to gasp a little bit when you first see a raw Laura Lynn Butter-Me-Not. The neon yellow chunks of (what must be) butter stick out like an alien life form, and there was a very real moment where I considered if the dough had actually spent a few too many decades past its expiration date.
Laura wants you to bake these guys together in a batch. The directions specifically tell you to do that. I don’t know why. Maybe we’re simulating a Parker House roll situation. They never stop looking neon yellow even after they’re baked, but the result is thankfully neither rotten nor extraterrestrial. On the contrary, they are light, buttery, and full of delightful air pockets. But wow, the yellow stains inside are an eyesore and a half.
4. Pillsbury Honey Butter Biscuits
At first bite, I was convinced these would be the winner. The honey-butter smell really fills the air when you remove them from the oven, raising expectations pretty sizably. Unfortunately, despite plenty of honey-buttery flavor, these things are essentially just a larger, less flaky version of the winner. After an initially dreamy first bite, you’re left with a weighty richness that’s difficult to shake. This biscuit is heavy-duty. Bake at your own risk.
5. Harris Teeter Jumbo Buttermilk Biscuits
Harris Teeter’s biscuits taste the most scratch-baked by far. The store’s Jumbo Buttermilk is filled with pleasantly soft dough, plenty of air pockets, and is very much like a better version of something you’d find at a hotel continental breakfast. The flavor lacks quite a bit, though, and you’re looking at an exceptionally average biscuit.
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6. Annie’s Organic Flaky Biscuits
It takes a team of highly trained individuals (me) to discern the nuanced differences in the prepackaged food world. Upon first inspection, Annie’s and Immaculate (you’ll read about them shortly) are extremely similar, both in packaging and final product. Luckily, my expertise can’t be fooled. Although there isn’t a flake to be seen, Annie’s flavor and dough consistency are significantly stronger. This is a softer, more pillowy biscuit with far deeper flavor. If “organic” is a word you look for on every food package, reach for Annie’s.
7. Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits
Even in raw dough form, you can see that these biscuits are composed of multiple layers. Pillsbury really delivers on flakiness in a way that the other brands don’t. The only problem is the dough, which is bland, oddly textured, and simply doesn’t live up to the typical Pillsbury standard.
8. Laura Lynn Buttermilk Biscuits
Laura Lynn is obviously going for something here, though we can’t seem to figure out what it is. Despite the fact that I baked these for the minimum amount of time advised by the instructions, they turned out as hard and crispy as a stale biscuit. Not a lot of flavor to be found here either, and while they function better as a drier dinner roll rather than a Southern-style biscuit, you’re better off with the Butter Flavor.
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9. Immaculate Organic Flaky Biscuits
Imagine for a minute that you are a tray of Immaculate Biscuits. Now imagine me walking into the room, doing one of those slow claps that people do to signify they’ve figured out your scheme. Quite the performance Immaculate is putting on here. Really tricks you into thinking things are going well, right up until the last minute. A comforting, buttery aroma wafts through your home as you bake them? Check. Pleasant moisture inside? Check.
But… flaky? Not even a little, which is especially tough for something branded as such. They taste like saltless Saltines, and the dough itself isn’t too far off from fiberglass insulation. Skip ’em.
Saltless Saltines is my new band name, by the way.
More Taste Tests From Cheapism
- 10 Store-Bought Flour Tortillas, Ranked — Our taste test compared softness, chew, flavor, and versatility across major tortilla brands. See which brand came out on top.
- 10 Popular Trader Joe’s Wraps and Sandwiches, Ranked — Which Trader Joe’s wraps and sandwiches are worth your money? There are some very right and some very wrong answers.
- We Tried 8 Popular White Breads And This Is the Best (and Worst) — Not all sandwich loaves are created equal — our taste test will help you decide which white breads are worth your breadbasket.
