7UP Biscuits

These 7UP biscuits are light, tender, and made with just four ingredients: Bisquick, sour cream, butter, and a splash of cold lemon-lime soda. It sounds like an odd combination, but trust me, this one works! Ten minutes of prep and you have a hot pan of bread ready for the table.

Before You Get Started

There is not much that can go wrong with a four-ingredient biscuit, but there are three things that decide whether they climb in the oven or spread out flat. Read these before you open the Bisquick:

1. Keep everything cold: Pull the soda and the sour cream straight from the fridge, and do not skip the short freezer chill before baking. Cold dough hitting a hot oven is what creates the lift.
2. Flour your hands and counter: This dough is softer and stickier than standard biscuit dough. Use regular all-purpose flour on the work surface, not more Bisquick.
3. Use full-fat sour cream: The fat is what makes these tender rather than dry. Full-fat plain Greek yogurt is the only swap I would make here.

How To Make 7UP Biscuits

This recipe originally came from the 7UP website, and I have tweaked the process over the years for better rise and a softer crumb. Here is the full walkthrough with my best tips:

Step 1: Butter the Pan

Pour melted butter into the bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish or a 9-inch to 10-inch cast iron skillet. 

This is not just to keep things from sticking. The biscuits sit directly in that butter, so the bottoms fry a little as they bake and come out golden and crisp at the edges.

Step 2: Cut the Sour Cream Into the Bisquick

Put the Bisquick in a large bowl, add the cold sour cream, and cut it in with a pastry cutter, a fork, or two knives. 

Stop when you have little pea-size clumps scattered through the dry mix. Those clumps are pockets of fat, and they become the tender spots in the finished biscuit.

Step 3: Stir in the Cold Soda

Pour in the soda and stir just until there are no dry pockets of flour left. The dough will look shaggy and wetter than you expect. Resist the urge to keep stirring.

The carbonation acts as a leavening agent, the sugar adds a faint sweetness in the background, and the liquid moistens the dough. It is the same principle behind my 7UP Pound Cake.

⇢ Any cold lemon-lime soda works: Sprite, store brand, and diet versions all behave the same way. What matters is that it is cold and still fizzy, not which label is on the can.

Step 4: Fold and Pat the Dough

Turn the dough onto a well-floured counter with well-floured hands. Fold it over onto itself six to eight times, just until it holds together. 

Do not knead it. Those folds are what create the flaky layers you will see when you pull a biscuit apart. 

Pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick (no rolling pin needed!).

Step 5: Cut and Arrange the Biscuits

Dip a round biscuit cutter in flour and punch straight down, then pull straight back out. Re-roll the scraps and keep cutting until the dough is used up. 

Arrange the biscuits in the buttered pan so they are touching their neighbors as closely as possible, which gives them something to climb against as they rise.

⇢ Never twist the cutter: Twisting seals the cut edges shut and the biscuits will not rise as high. Straight down, straight up.

⇢ No biscuit cutter? No problem. Pat the dough into a square and cut it into nine pieces with a floured knife. You lose the round shape and nothing else.

Step 6: Chill, Bake, and Butter

Cover the pan and chill in the freezer for about 15 minutes while the oven preheats to 425°F. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are deep golden brown. 

Brush the warm biscuits with another tablespoon or two of melted butter and serve them hot.

The oven has to be hot: At 425°F the water in the cold sour cream turns to steam fast and pushes the dough upward. At 350°F or 400°F the fat melts before the biscuits can rise, and you get flat, heavy biscuits.

⇢ Easy add-ins: Fold a handful of grated cheddar into the dough before shaping for a savory version, or swap the lemon-lime soda for ginger ale if you want a warmer, spicier note.

Ways to Serve These Biscuits

These are equally at home on a breakfast plate and a dinner table. Either way, split one open while it is still warm enough to melt butter.

At breakfast:

• Strawberry Freezer Jam: jam or honey on a hot biscuit is about as good as it gets.
• Biscuits and Gravy
• Country Ham Biscuits

At dinner:

• Slow Cooker Chili: the pairing we come back to all winter.
• Chicken Stew: something brothy to soak up.
• Mississippi Pot Roast

They also make good sandwich bread for leftovers. A slice of ham or a fried egg tucked inside turns two of them into lunch.

Storage

Store: These are best warm from the oven, but they keep well at room temperature for up to 3 days in an airtight container or wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. They do not need to be refrigerated, though the fridge will buy you an extra day or two if you want it.

Freeze: Cool the biscuits completely, then wrap tightly in an airtight container or a zip-top freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter overnight, or in the microwave for a few seconds.

Reheat: Warm day-old biscuits on a baking sheet in a 300°F oven for about 10 minutes, which brings back the crisp edges. A single biscuit reheats in the microwave in 15 to 30 seconds, though it will be softer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use Sprite instead of 7UP?

Yes, and you will not taste a difference. Any cold lemon-lime soda works here, including Sprite, store brands, and diet or sugar-free versions. What matters is that the soda is cold and still carbonated when it goes in, since the fizz is doing part of the leavening work. 

If the can has been open in the fridge for a couple of days, use a fresh one. Ginger ale also works, but it changes the flavor and gives the biscuits a warmer, slightly spicier note.

Can I make these without Bisquick?

You can use any all-purpose baking mix in its place, cup for cup. Krusteaz and most store-brand pancake and baking mixes behave the same way in this recipe. A homemade baking mix made with flour, baking powder, salt, and shortening also works, though the biscuits tend to come out slightly denser than they do with the boxed mix. 

What you cannot do is swap in plain all-purpose flour on its own, since the mix is carrying all of the leavening and the fat.

Why didn’t my biscuits rise?

There are four usual culprits. Warm ingredients are the most common, so the soda and the sour cream both need to come straight from the fridge and the shaped biscuits need that freezer chill. Second, twisting the biscuit cutter seals off the cut edges and stops the rise, so punch straight down and pull straight up. Third, biscuits spaced apart in the pan have nothing to climb against, so nudge them until they touch. And fourth, an oven below 425°F lets the fat melt before the steam can lift the dough.

Do I flour the work surface with Bisquick or plain flour?

Plain all-purpose flour. Adding more Bisquick to the counter throws off the ratio of leavening to dough and can leave a chalky taste on the outside of the biscuits. Keep a small bowl of all-purpose flour next to you and use it generously on the counter, your hands, and the cutter, because this dough is genuinely sticky.

Can I use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream?

Full-fat plain Greek yogurt is the one substitution I would make without hesitation. The texture and tang are close enough that most people will not notice. Stay away from low-fat or nonfat versions of either one, since the fat is what keeps these biscuits tender. Regular plain yogurt is too thin and will make the dough too wet to shape.

More Easy Bisquick Recipes

• Bisquick Sausage Balls
• Bisquick Waffle Recipe
• Baked Pancakes with Pancake Mix
• Bisquick Chicken Pot Pie
• Bisquick Peach Cobbler