Light Biscuits - Greek Yogurt Biscuits

Nothing beats a fresh made biscuit with breakfast.  These golden, flaky light biscuits have been a part of my meal prep for years now.  They have all the buttery tenderness of a traditional biscuit, but lightened with Greek yogurt.  Whether I’m making these with low sugar strawberry jam, turkey sausage gravy, or using them as a base for breakfast sandwiches, these biscuits have become a weekly family tradition.

These flaky, buttery, and surprisingly kind of healthy These light biscuits will be your new favorite weekend breakfast treat.

Greek Yogurt Biscuits

The secret to these higher protein and lower calorie biscuits is real butter and Greek yogurt. The Greek yogurt acts as a substitute for traditional buttermilk and some of the extra butter. My traditional biscuits I've made growing up used a whole stick of butter plus buttermilk while this only uses two tablespoons of butter for the whole recipe.

Greek Yogurt as a Butter Replacement

Greek yogurt can be used as a butter replacement in baking, but it takes balance. While there is some trial and error, Greek Yogurt can be used in a 1:2 ratio of butter to Greek yogurt in baking. If cutting calories is your goal, you could use a "light butter," but those results are a little less stable and can taste artificial.

The butter not only gives biscuits flavor and much needed fat, but it steams while cooking giving the flaky rise. This is why it is essential to use frozen butter in baking biscuits.

Greek Yogurt as a Buttermilk Replacement

Greek yogurt has similar acidic properties to buttermilk making it an excellent substitute. The main issue with replacing buttermilk with Greek yogurt is that it is thicker. I find that a good ratio for a one cup buttermilk replacement using Greek yogurt is 1/4 cup milk to 3/4 cup Greek yogurt.

The acidity in buttermilk reacts to the baking powder in self rising flour and baking powder. Without the acidity, you will not get the chemical reaction needed for a rise. This is why you sometimes see people substituting buttermilk with milk and lemon or vinegar. If possible, I do use FAGE Greek yogurt for the best, thick texture.

Biscuit Making Tips

To me, these biscuits have become muscle memory at this point. The process can be daunting to new biscuit makers, but here are some helpful tips:

• Make sure your baking powder and self rising flour is fresh. These are both leavening agents, but they won't work as well with older or expired ingredients.
• Don't have self rising flour? Make your own. 1 cup of all purpose flour + 1.5 tsp baking powder + .25 tsp salt makes 1 cup of self rising flour.
• Butter has to be cold. I slice the butter into pea sized pieces and freeze the night before if I remember, but you can also keep a stick of butter in the freezer and grate into the dough.
• If your kitchen or dough in getting warm, put your cut biscuits in the freezer for about 15 minutes before baking. You may have to add a few minutes to the baking time.
• You can use most milk products for these biscuits. I have used dairy milk, cashew milk, almond milk, and oat milk with great success and little difference in texture or taste. Just don't use flavored milk.

Yield: 8-13

Light Biscuits

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Nothing beats a fresh made biscuit with breakfast.  These golden, flaky biscuits have been a part of my meal prep for years now.  They have all the buttery tenderness of a traditional biscuit, but lightened with Greek yogurt.  Whether I’m making these with strawberry jam or using them as a base for breakfast sandwiches, these biscuits have become a weekly family tradition.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes

Total Time 22 minutes

Ingredients

• 2.25 cups self-rising flour, divided
• 2 tbsp butter cold chopped into pea-sized cubes
• 1 cup Greek Yogurt Fage 0%
• 1 tbsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 cup preferred milk, unsweetened*

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Combine 2 c self-rising flour, butter, yogurt, baking powder, and cashew milk. The key to good biscuits is to handle the dough as little as possible and to keep the ingredients cold. If you think ahead, you can chop up the butter and freeze it the night before. Use a spoon, not the mixer to mix the dough.
3. The dough will be shaggy. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 c of flour onto a cutting board. Pat the dough down into a 1/2″ rectangle. Fold the dough in half and pat down to 1/2″ thickness again. Repeat this process FIVE TIMES. It makes it flaky. The final rectangle should be about 3/4″ thick–don’t worry, it’ll rise.
4. Cut the biscuits using into 8 rectangles for sandwiches or use a 2 5/8″ biscuit cutter (or whatever size you have OR use a glass cup) for smaller biscuits. It is very important not to twist the cutter–just press all the way down. Twisting will seal the edges of the dough and make them not rise.
5. Once you get the biscuits cut, spray a cast iron pan or baking sheet with cooking spray. Place biscuits about 1″ apart. Spray the tops with cooking spray and bake for 10-12 minutes at 450. Start checking the biscuits at about 8 minutes. Pull them out when they are golden brown.

Notes

You can use most milk for this recipe. The nutritional information uses cashew milk.

I do, however, recommend using Fage because of its consistency.

Nutritional Information below is for sandwich sized biscuits (cut into 8 rectangles).

You can make smaller, round biscuits and get 13 using a 2 5/8" biscuit cutter (or glass cup) and get 13.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1 biscuit
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 156Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 10mgSodium: 404mgCarbohydrates: 26gFiber: 0gSugar: 1gProtein: 6g

Weight Watchers Biscuits - Low Calorie Biscuits

This was my first viral recipe in the Weight Watchers community. These have always been "point friendly" biscuits and make excellent meal prep breakfast sandwiches. Each biscuits (if you make 8) is 152 calories using cashew milk. If you make 13, these are under 100 calories. If you follow WW, you can track these biscuits directly in the app by clicking here.