These Brown Butter Drop Biscuits with Sage and Thyme are everything you want in a homemade biscuit - fluffy, tender, and packed with the most incredible nutty, toasty flavor from browned butter. We love making drop biscuits because they're SO much easier than traditional biscuits. No cutting in cold butter, no rolling, no biscuit cutter needed! Just stir, scoop, and bake. The sage and thyme add a savory, herbaceous note that makes these perfect alongside soups and stews (especially our creamy chicken pot pie soup!), but honestly, they're dangerous straight out of the oven with a little extra butter brushed on top. 🤤
Save This Recipe! 💌
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Disclosure: This post is created in partnership with Plugrà Premium European-Style Butter, the official butter partner for our blog for 2026! 😍We love using Plugrà for recipes where butter really shines - and it makes a real difference when browning butter. The higher butterfat gives you deeper flavor, richer color, and the most amazing aroma. 🧈 As always, all opinions are our own.
The Coziest Little Herbed Drop Biscuits 🧈
These biscuits are fluffy, tender, and have the most irresistible craggy tops that get all golden and crispy around the edges. The brown butter gives them this deep, nutty richness that makes them taste way more special than a basic biscuit. By the time you add in those fresh herbs? Sheesh! Your kitchen is going to smell incredible while they bake. 🤤
They're perfect for dunking into soup, but honestly, they're just as good warm from the oven with a little extra butter, alongside a big salad, or alongside some baked chuck roast!
Don't let the fancy flavor fool you - these come together fast. The buttermilk keeps them tender and tangy, and while it chills in the freezer for a few minutes, you'll brown the butter and mix the dry ingredients. By the time you're ready to scoop, everything comes together in one bowl.
What You'll Need for Fluffy Buttermilk Drop Biscuits 🧈
The ingredients are mostly simple pantry staples here. Flour, good butter, buttermilk, leavening, salt, and fresh herbs. That's it!
How to Make Brown Butter Drop Biscuits, Step by Step ✨
The buttermilk chills while you brown the butter, and the biscuits chill while the oven preheats - so there's almost no waiting around. Let's make them!
First things first: Measure ¾ cup buttermilk into a liquid measuring cup and pop it in the freezer. It'll chill while you prep everything else - about 15 minutes.
- Step 1: Cut the unsalted butter into pieces and melt it in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat. Continue cooking, swirling occasionally, until the butter foams, turns golden brown, and smells nutty and toasty - about 5-7 minutes. You'll see little brown bits collecting at the bottom. That's the good stuff!
🧈 Use a light-colored pan! It makes it so much easier to see the butter changing color. In a dark pan, it's easy to go from browned to burnt. For more tips, check out our how-to brown butter guide!
- Step 2: Immediately pour the brown butter into a heatproof bowl, making sure to scrape out all those toasty bits. You'll need most of it for the dough, but you'll want to set aside about 3 tablespoons. Let it cool for about 5-10 minutes while you mix the dry ingredients. You want it warm but not hot.
🧈 Plugrà Premium European-Style Butter is our favorite for browning - it has 82% butterfat compared to 80% in regular American butter, which means deeper flavor and richer color.
💡 Extra brown butter? Drizzle it over popcorn, toss with roasted veggies, or finish a protein with it for tons of extra flavor!
- Step 3: While the butter cools, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, brown sugar, and minced fresh thyme and sage to the mixing bowl.
- Whisk together until everything is well distributed.
🌿 Fresh herbs are best here, but if you only have dried, use about ⅓ of the amount - dried herbs are more pungent. So roughly ½ teaspoon dried sage and ¼ teaspoon dried thyme.
🍯 Why brown sugar? It helps the biscuits brown beautifully and plays up those nutty caramel notes from the butter. You can swap white sugar if that's what you have - they'll still be delicious, just slightly less golden.
Preheat your oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Step 4: Remove the buttermilk from the freezer - it should be very cold by now. Pour it into the warm brown butter and stir to combine.
🥛 Why cold buttermilk? The temperature contrast between the warm brown butter and the cold buttermilk helps create little pockets of fat in the dough, which means fluffier, more tender biscuits.
- Step 5: Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. The dough will be shaggy, sticky, and a little lumpy - that's exactly what you want. Don't overmix!
🥛Dry dough? If your dough seems too dry and won't come together, add a splash more buttermilk, ½ a tablespoon at a time!
- Step 6: Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 1½ inches apart. You should get about 14-16 little biscuits. Pop the baking sheet in the freezer while the oven finishes preheating - about 10-15 minutes.
🍪 We use a 2-tablespoon scoop for perfectly portioned biscuits every time. No scoop? Two spoons work just fine - they're drop biscuits, so rustic is the vibe!
❄️ Why chill? Since we browned the butter instead of using cold butter, the dough needs a little help firming up before it hits the oven. This quick freeze helps them hold their shape. That said, we've baked them right away, and they still worked - they just spread a little more!
- Step 7: Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the tops are golden and the edges are lightly browned.
- Step 8: Remove from the oven, allow the biscuits to cool for 2-3 minutes, then brush the tops with the reserved brown butter (or melted butter).
Top with flaky salt if desired. Serve warm!
🌟Leave a Review!
If you make these Brown Butter Drop Biscuits, we'd love to hear how they turned out! Leave a rating and review below - it helps other readers find our recipes and means so much to us.
Take a photo and share with us by tagging us on Instagram or follow along on Pinterest. We love seeing your creations! 📸
📖 Recipe
Brown Butter Drop Biscuits Recipe with Sage and Thyme
Equipment
- light-colored saucepan
- large cookie scoop optional, 2 tablespoon size
- digital food scale optional super helpful!
- oven thermometer optional but useful
- instant read thermometer optional, helps be SURE biscuits are done!
Ingredients
Brown Butter:
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter 227g
Biscuits:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour 240g
- 1 tablespoon baking powder 12g
- ½ teaspoon baking soda 3g
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt 6g
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar 25g, packed
- 2 teaspoons fresh sage 2g, finely chopped
- ¾ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves 1.5g
- ¾ cup buttermilk 170g, cold
- 10 tablespoons brown butter from above warm, 142g
Serving:
- 3 tablespoons reserved brown butter (or melted butter) optional
- flaky salt optional
Instructions
- Chill the buttermilk. Measure buttermilk into a liquid measuring cup and place in the freezer for about 15 minutes while you prep.
- Brown the butter. Melt butter in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, until foamy, golden brown, and nutty-smelling, about 5-7 minutes. Immediately pour into a heatproof bowl, scraping out all the brown bits. Set aside about 3 tablespoons for brushing. Let cool 5-10 minutes until warm but not hot.16 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Mix dry ingredients. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and brown sugar in a large bowl. Stir in the sage and thyme until evenly distributed.2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, 2 teaspoons fresh sage, ¾ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine wet ingredients. Pour cold buttermilk into the warm brown butter and stir to combine.¾ cup buttermilk, 10 tablespoons brown butter from above
- Make the dough. Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Dough will be shaggy and sticky - don't overmix!
- Scoop and chill. Drop dough by 2-tablespoon scoops onto prepared baking sheet, spacing 1½ inches apart. You should get 14-16 biscuits. Pop the baking sheet in the freezer while the oven finishes preheating, about 10-15 minutes.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until tops are golden and edges are lightly browned.
- Brush and serve. Let cool 2-3 minutes, then brush tops with reserved brown butter (or melted butter). Top with flaky salt if desired. Serve warm!3 tablespoons reserved brown butter (or melted butter), flaky salt
Save This Recipe! 💌
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Notes
- Why so much butter? We start with 16 tablespoons (225g) of butter because it loses moisture as it browns - you'll end up with about 13 tablespoons after browning. A food scale helps here! Weigh out about 140-142g for the dough and 30-35g for brushing.
- Salt: Recipe uses Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt. If using Morton's or table salt, use 1 teaspoon instead of 2.
- Salted vs. unsalted butter: Either works! If using salted butter throughout, consider skipping the flaky salt on top.
- Fresh vs. dried herbs: Fresh is best, but if using dried, use about ⅓ the amount (roughly ½ teaspoon dried sage and ¼ teaspoon dried thyme).
- Brown sugar swap: White sugar works in a pinch - biscuits will be slightly less golden.
- Buttermilk substitute: Mix ¾ cup milk with 2 teaspoons white vinegar or lemon juice. Let sit 5 minutes, then chill in freezer before using.
- Make-ahead: Brown the butter up to 3 days ahead and store in the fridge. Let it come to room temp or gently warm before using.
- Freezing unbaked biscuits: Freeze scooped biscuits on the baking sheet until solid, then transfer to a freezer bag. Bake from frozen at 425°F for 13 minutes.
- Storage: Store baked biscuits in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. Reheat in a 350°F oven for 5 minutes to refresh.
- Optional but helpful: A digital food scale makes measuring the flour and brown butter easy, and an oven thermometer ensures your oven is running at the right temperature for perfectly golden biscuits.
Comments
No Comments