Imagine soft and buttery-tasting vegan biscuits without plant-based butter, oil, or shortening. It's true! As a biscuit snob born and raised in Alabama, I can tell you that these oil-free vegan biscuits are breaking the rules in the best possible way. The two secret ingredients might surprise you, but the tender, golden biscuits won't let you down!
Biscuits and gravy is one of my all-time favorite comfort foods. So I'm kind of embarrassed that it has taken me 7 years to share a vegan biscuit recipe. Then again, maybe that makes sense because when you care this much about something, you want to get it right!
It's easy enough to make biscuits with plant-based butter, and I've done that plenty of times over the years. But I don’t cook with vegan butter very often, and I know many of you don’t either. So I wanted to create a different kind of vegan biscuit recipe, one more true to style.
After twenty-one test batches (yes, 21), I was almost ready to give up. 😅 Apparently, being stubborn and obsessed paid off. Now I'm excited to share this oil-free biscuit recipe with you!
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Why This Recipe Works
Biscuits need fat. Otherwise you’ve got a hockey puck, and nobody wants that. I tried applesauce and other low-fat swaps first, but those weren’t biscuits.
Cashews seemed like an obvious choice (light in color, no skins, easy prep), but the flavor and texture were off. A rich homemade almond milk came closer, but it added extra steps and made the dough too sticky.
After more trial and error it finally clicked. What if I use blanched almonds to make “white” almond butter and cut it into the flour, just like butter? Eureka! Finally, I had the flavor, texture, rise, and golden color I wanted.
Okay yeah, making the nut butter is an extra step, but it’s worth it! And once you have blanched almond butter in the fridge, biscuits come together in no time! 🥳
Bonus: regular almond butter works too, if you don’t mind the flecks of almond skin.
What You'll Need
- Flour: I've tested regular all purpose flour (not self-rising) and whole wheat pastry flour with good results. I suspect white whole wheat flour will also work as a whole-grain option. Sorry, but I haven't tried a gluten-free flour yet.
- Blanched almond butter: Regular almond butter also works, but for biscuits like you see here, you need almond butter made from blanched (skinless) almonds. You can either buy blanched almonds (I use these), and blend them into butter. Or start with whole raw almonds and blanch them yourself. It's easy to do, but a bit tedious slipping off the skins. For a shortcut, you can buy white almond butter, but it's pricey! So I like to make my own.
- Corn: Since corn has a naturally buttery flavor, I figured why not blend some into the milk! In addition to flavor, it adds color, and I suspect that the natural sugars help the biscuits brown. I always have bags of corn in the freezer, which makes it easy.
- Non-dairy milk: You want a plain, unsweetened variety. I find that soy milk works best in biscuits and for making vegan buttermilk because of the higher protein content. Other varieties, like oat, cashew, and almond milk, are also good.
- Apple cider vinegar: Added to the milk, this creates vegan "buttermilk" and is important for rise and even cooking.
- Baking powder and baking soda: Most biscuit recipes rely primarily on baking powder for rise, but I found the best results also including baking soda. It reacts with the vinegar and causes quick lift, then the baking powder continues the job in the oven.
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Recommended Equipment
I love my 14-cup food processor for tasks like making nut butter and pesto, kneading dough, and quickly shredding vegetables.
How to Make Vegan Biscuits
First, make blanched almond butter: this works best if you use 2 ½ to 3 cups of blanched almonds (more than you'll need for one batch of biscuits). The process takes a few minutes, so be patient. Keep going until it's smooth and creamy. Transfer to a container and refrigerate until cool.
If you're new to making nut butter, here's a full tutorial with helpful tips.
Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C), and line a small baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk the dry ingredients: combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk well and set aside.
Make vegan buttermilk: combine the non-dairy milk and corn kernels in a blender. Blend until smooth (this will take longer if the corn is frozen). Pour in the apple cider vinegar and set aside.
Cut the fat into the dry ingredients: drizzle about half of the almond butter into the dry mixture, and use a fork to cut into the flour.
Finish cutting in: add the remaining nut butter, and continue to mash with the fork, cutting it into the flour until there are no large clumps.
Tip: unlike butter, almond butter doesn't melt. So it's important to be thorough in this step. Basically, its purpose is to coat some of the flour with fat, inhibiting gluten formation so the biscuits are soft and rich, without being dense or gummy.
Add the liquid: pour the blended vegan butter milk mixture into the bowl. Very gently fold the ingredients together until you have a shaggy dough. Do NOT overmix. Less is more!
Important tip: again, be gentle! Stir as little as possible. The dough will look somewhat dry, clumpy and ragged at this point.
Shape: Scoop the dough onto a floured surface. Gently roll it around with your hands, pulling it all together. Sprinkle with flour if it's too sticky.
Gently flatten the dough into a rectangle (or square-ish shape is fine). We're sort of doing the classic "fold over" technique used to create flaky layers in biscuits. But since we aren't using butter, we're only doing it once or twice to avoid overworking the dough.
Flatten the dough until it's about ¾-inch thick. With a biscuit cutter, press straight down and lift straight up - don't twist. Cut out as many biscuits as you can. Then gently pull the scraps together and press out again.
Arrange the rounds of biscuit dough on the pan so they're up against the edge, if possible, and so that they are just touching each other. This helps them rise.
Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the tops and bottoms are light golden brown.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can. The nutty flavor of the almond skins doesn't affect the overall flavor too much. Note that the color of the biscuits will be darker, similar to whole wheat biscuits.
The small amount of corn adds a subtle buttery flavor and helps with color, but you can leave it out if needed. The biscuits will still be tender and delicious.
I haven't tested them with gluten-free flour yet, but a 1:1 gluten-free baking blend might work. Biscuits can be more finicky than other baked goods, though. So try at your own risk!
Biscuits are best enjoyed fresh. If you do have leftovers, keep them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. For longer storage, refrigerate for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 2 months.
Wrap individual biscuits with foil so they don't dry out, and warm them in the oven or air fryer at 350°F (175°C) for about 10 minutes. Like all breads, microwaving makes them tough and chewy, so try to avoid it.
Tips for Making Vegan Biscuits
- Make the nut butter in advance. It will be warm after blending, so try to allow at least 30 minutes to 1 hour for the almond butter to chill before making biscuits.
- Properly measure the flour. Ideally, weigh it with a kitchen scale (120 grams per cup of flour). Otherwise, whisk the flour, spoon into the measuring cup, and level off the excess.
- Don't overwork the dough. I can't emphasize this enough! Be gentle yet efficient when stirring in the vegan buttermilk and pressing out the dough.
Any other questions? Drop a comment below, and I'll get back to you! I hope you enjoy these healthy vegan biscuits as much as we do. Stay tuned for the vegan sausage gravy recipe!
Recipe
Vegan Biscuits Without Butter or Oil
Equipment
- baking sheet - and parchment paper
Ingredients
- ½ cup blanched almond butter - or regular smooth almond butter; see Notes
- 2 cups all purpose flour (240g), plus more for shaping the dough - or whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ⅔ cup plain unsweetened soy milk - or other unflavored non-dairy milk
- ¼ cup yellow corn - I use frozen
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Prep: Review the Tips and FAQs in the recipe notes below. Additional helpful info about ingredients can be found in the post above.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C), and line a small baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- For the vegan buttermilk, combine the milk and corn in a blender. Blend until completely smooth. Stir in the vinegar and set aside.
- Drizzle about half of the almond butter onto the dry ingredients and use a fork to cut it in. Add the rest, and continue to break it up with the fork until there are no large clumps of almond butter. Tip: The purpose of the nut butter is to coat some of the flour with fat, but it doesn't melt like butter, obviously! So we don't want any big clumps remaining.
- Pour the blended vegan "buttermilk" into the bowl. Use a folding motion to gently incorporate wet and dry, stirring as little as possible and working quickly. Do NOT overmix. The dough will look clumpy and shaggy.
- Scoop the dough onto a floured work surface. Gently pull it together with your hands. If it's too sticky, sprinkle with a little flour. Use your hands to flatten the dough into a rectangle about ½-inch thick. We're doing an abbreviated version of the classic fold over technique used to create flaky layers in biscuits. Since we aren't using butter, only do the fold over once or twice to avoid overworking the dough.Like you're folding a letter to fit in an envelope, fold one side toward the center, then the other.
- Now gently flatten the dough into a circle about ¾-inch thick. With a biscuit cutter, press straight down and lift straight up - don't twist. Cut out as many biscuits as you can. Then pull the scraps together, press out again, and cut the remaining biscuits.
- Place the biscuits on the baking sheet so that they're barely touching each other and are up against an edge of the pan, if possible. Having support on the sides helps them rise. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the tops and bottoms are light golden brown.
- Allow your vegan biscuits rest on the pan for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Make the nut butter in advance. It will be warm after blending, so allow at least 30 minutes for the almond butter to chill in the fridge before making biscuits. It doesn't need to be super cold, just not warm.
- Properly measure flour. Ideally, weigh flour with a kitchen scale (2 cups flour=240 grams). Otherwise, whisk the flour, spoon into a measuring cup, and level off the excess.
- Don't overwork the dough! Be gentle and efficient when stirring in the vegan buttermilk and pressing out the dough. Less is more. Feel free to skip the foldover step if you're concerned. It's true that biscuit-making is as much about technique as it is ingredients.
Estimated Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition information is an estimate and will vary depending on the exact amounts and specific products and ingredients used.
Emma says