Popeyes is undoubtedly one of the most famous brands in the fast-food chicken industry. You’re getting terrific Louisiana flavor, headlined by the iconic chicken. Whether you’re getting a bucket of fried chicken or lining up for the legendary chicken sandwich, you’re always in for a treat.
But the side dishes that come with the chicken aren’t just there as an afterthought. A lot of them are great in their own right, and plenty of people come in to Popeyes in the middle of the afternoon just to snack on these terrific sides. And of these terrific sides is the Popeyes biscuit.
The Popeyes biscuit only appeared on the menu in the early 1980s, even though Popeyes was launched in the early 1970s. It’s made with buttermilk, which definitely enhances the flavor. Popeyes sells hundreds of millions of their biscuits, as it’s popular among all ages. It’s a definite Southern classic.
Though some might object to the dryness of the Popeyes biscuit, its flavor has garnered quite a few fans. It doesn’t hurt that it’s not all that expensive either (see full Popeyes prices).
But even then, you can have an adventure in your kitchen and make your own version of the Popeyes biscuit. It’s not actually all that difficult!
Ingredients
Start by gathering all the necessary ingredients first:
1. All-purpose Flour
2. Baking Powder
3. Baking Soda
4. Sugar
5. Salt
6. Unsalted Butter, this should be cold and cubed.
7. Buttermilk, check that the buttermilk is cold before you add it to the mixture.
Steps to Take
1. Gather the first 5 ingredients on the list (all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt), and set them inside a large mixing bowl. Whisk them all together.
2. Add the cold, cubed unsalted butter on top of the mixture.
3. Using a pastry cutter or a potato masher, cut the butter into the mixture. Continue doing this until you don’t see any large chunks of butter remaining.
4. Pour the cold buttermilk into the mix. Use a spatula to fold everything together. Continue mixing until the dough comes together.
5. Take out the dough and set it onto a lightly floured surface. Gently knead the dough, and pat the dough into a rectangle.
6. Fold the dough into thirds.
7. Turn the dough, and then flatten the dough into a bigger rectangle. Do this step 2 more times (3 times all in all). Finally, pat down the dough into a rectangle that’s half an inch thick.
8. Use a 2.5-inch cookie cutter to cut out the dough into the familiar small round circles. Once you’re done with the first small round circles, gather the remaining scraps of dough and use them again for more of these circles. Keep doing this until you have about 12 to 14 pieces for your biscuits.
9. Set the round pieces of dough on a baking sheet. Try not to have them touch each other, or at least have them only slightly touching each other. Then brush the top of each piece with some buttermilk.
10. Set these into the oven, and bake them at 450 degrees F. Wait until the biscuits are all light golden brown, which should take perhaps 15 to 17 minutes.
11. Remove the biscuits from the oven. Brush the biscuits with some melted butter, if you want.
12. Serve them hot, and savor the yumminess. Obviously, this goes great with some fried chicken, but it matches with lots of other foods. Enjoy them with your breakfast meats as well, and try them as a snack in the afternoon. They’re great with some hot coffee.
Additional Tips
Newbies might make mistakes on the first few tries, as this might involve a lot of trial and error. But you might reduce your mistakes with these tips. You might even get it right on the first try!
· It’s absolutely imperative that you use cold butter. If there’s only one tip on this list that you’ll heed, this is it. You need the cold butter to make sure that you end up with soft, fluffy, and flaky biscuits. When you use warm or melted butter, you generally won’t get the same kind of texture.
· And while you’re at it, make sure you also use cold buttermilk. It’s always a good idea to store your butter and buttermilk in the fridge, and you only take them out right before you start mixing them in.
· Be careful that you don’t overmix the dough. It won’t rise properly if you do.
· If you prefer super-flaky biscuits, fold the dough into thirds and pat it down, and do this step 3 times overall.
· Having the biscuits just slightly touching each other is alright. This actually helps the biscuits to rise up properly.
· Brushing a bit of buttermilk on the top of the dough helps to get you a crispier top crust.
Final Words: Storage
In the off chance that you don’t get to finish all the biscuits in one sitting, you can store them at room temperature for 2 days.
But for longer storage, you can go with the fridge for a full week. Then you can always reheat the biscuits in the oven (or with your microwave) when you’re ready to finish them off!