My 3-Ingredient Vegan Biscuits take a classic comfort food to new heights. Whether you're vegan, or just in the mood for a dairy-free treat, these flaky and fluffy biscuits are sure to become a favorite.
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Never in my life did I imagine that I would be developing a recipe for Vegan Biscuits. I am a true Southern girl to my core and I have high biscuit standards. Butter fuels my brain and I have buttermilk running through my veins. My Grandma would be shocked.
My inspiration was a reader who messaged me asking if I could make a plant-based alternative to my buttermilk biscuits. Challenge accepted! I wanted to replicate the fluffy texture and flaky tenderness of my original recipe with ingredients that were both affordable and easy to find, making this recipe both approachable and delicious.
Using an affordable store brand of both refined coconut oil and unsweetened coconut milk, along with an easy to follow technique, gave me a biscuit that anyone can make. And guess what guys? They even fooled my husband! I had him do a taste test with both a buttermilk biscuit and a vegan biscuit and he couldn't tell them apart!
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❤️ What you'll love about these biscuits
- Dairy-Free: These biscuits are made with coconut oil and coconut milk, perfect for anyone who avoids dairy but still wants a fluffy, delicious biscuit.
- Vegan-Friendly: Whether you're vegan or just exploring plant-based options, these biscuits are an amazing choice that doesn't compromise on flavor or texture.
- Simple Ingredients: Almost as simple as my easy 2 ingredient cream biscuits, you only need a 3 affordable and common ingredients to whip these up! That makes them an easy and accessible recipe for almost any budget.
- Quick: With an easy recipe, and a short baking time, you can have fresh, hot biscuits on your table in about 20 minutes. Perfect for a busy morning, or an easy dinner side.
Ingredients
Only 3 ingredients to delicious flaky and fluffy plant-based biscuits?! You better believe it!
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Buy extra coconut milk so you can make a batch of my refreshing yogurt and mango smoothies. Delightfully creamy, and perfect for a quick breakfast or a post-workout treat!
What is self rising flour?
Although similar to all-purpose flour, self rising flour already contains baking powder and salt, eliminating the need to add either to your recipes. This means you can make light and fluffy pancakes, Greek yogurt bagels, and even cheesy biscuits quickly and easily.
Self-rising flour is especially good for making biscuits because it has a low protein content. Lower protein means that your biscuits are less likely to form gluten strands that can give you dense texture.
Self rising flour tips
Self rising flour is quite common in the American South, where we use it to make cornbread and biscuits, and just about everything else, but apparently not everyone keeps self rising flour in their pantry.
If you don't have self-rising flour, no problem. I've got you covered. For every cup of self-rising flour that you need, combine 1 cup of all-purpose flour (120 grams) and add 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder (7.5 grams) and ½ teaspoon of kosher salt (1.5 grams). If you don't have kosher salt, only use ¼ teaspoon of table salt for best results.
If you really want to duplicate the light texture of self rising flour, use cake flour in place of the all purpose flour. It has a lower protein content, and makes for a more precise duplication of the texture of self rising flour.
Substitutions
There are so few ingredients, finding ways to substitute is hard, but here are a few ways you can still get these fluffy vegan biscuits into your belly:
- Coconut oil - Try to find refined coconut oil. It does not have any coconut flavor to it at all. If you don't want to use coconut oil, you can use cold vegan butter (we called it margarine back in the olden days). And next time, if you really want to replicate the flavor of my homemade biscuits, look for butter-flavored coconut oil!
- Coconut milk - To make a sort of vegan buttermilk, you can substitute the coconut milk with 1 cup of unsweetened plant milk like almond milk, soy milk, oat milk, or rice milk mixed with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and letting it sit for 5 minutes to thicken.
- Self-rising flour - Color me surprised when I found out that you can buy gluten-free self-rising flour! I haven't tried it for myself, but a quick interweb search shows promising results!
Variations
Biscuits are a delicious blank slate that you can make your own with add-ins like these:
- Jalapeño - Add ¼ cup chopped jalapeños to your butter and flour mixture. You can remove the seeds if you want just a touch of heat, but I like to leave them in!
- Cheddar Bay - You can bring in the Cheddar Bay Biscuits vibes by adding ½ teaspoon each of garlic powder and onion powder plus 1 cup of vegan cheddar shreds. When they come out of the oven, brush the tops with melted vegan butter mixed with more onion and garlic powders plus a little dried parsley.
- Sweet biscuits - For delicious vegan shortcake biscuits, add 3 tablespoons of sugar to your flour before mixing your biscuits together and top with more sugar before baking. Top with fresh fruit compote and vegan whipped topping.
Expert tip: Coconut milk
If you haven't used coconut milk before, you may be in for a surprise when you open the can. There will most likely be a solid layer of a very thick coconut cream on the top, and a very thin and coconut water below. THIS IS NORMAL.
This can be useful if your recipe specifically requires one or the other, but in this recipe we need a fully combined coconut milk. Since we need a smooth and creamy consistency, you need to mix the two components together. Here are my favorite ways to accomplish that:
- Pour the contents of the can into a large mixing bowl. Use a large whisk or an immersion blender to mix the water and solids until they form a smooth mixture.
- If that doesn't mix the two parts, simply pour everything into a blender and pulse several times.
- Place the unopened can of coconut milk into a bowl of hot water for 10 minutes. Give it to one of your kids or a friend to shake for about 30 seconds.
Instructions
There is very little difference in technique between these vegan biscuits and my original buttery biscuits. Practice makes perfect, but even less than perfect biscuits are delicious!
Hint: If you want vegan biscuits to be a frequent addition to you table, keep your coconut oil in the refrigerator. If not, just put your tray of cut out biscuits into the freezer while you preheat the oven.
- Preheat oven to 425°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Step 1: Place self-rising flour into a large bowl. Add cold coconut oil that has been separated into small pieces. Coat in the flour.
Step 2: Use your fingers, or a pastry cutter, to rub the coconut oil into the dry ingredients until it is the size of small peas, or smaller (this can also be done in a food processor)
Step 3: Add coconut milk to flour and coconut oil mixture.
Step 4: Using a large wooden spoon or large silicone spatula, mix everything together until you have a fairly uniform, stiff dough. The flour might not look all mixed in and that's okay. It will come together.
Step 5: Dump the shaggy dough out onto a surface that has been dusted with a little bit of flour. Using your hands, or a bench scraper, gently bring everything together, folding the dough over itself until all the dry bits are incorporated. Do not knead the dough.
Step 6: To get flaky layers, use a bench scraper or sharp knife to cut the dough into four smaller squares. Stack the pieces of biscuit dough on top of each other. Smush it all down into a square again. Repeat this cutting and stacking procedure 2 more times.
Step 7: Press it down into a square again. Repeat this cutting and stacking procedure 2 more times.
Step 8: Use your hands to pat, or a rolling pin to roll, the dough to about ½ inch thick. Use a two inch biscuit cutter, or round cookie cutter, to cut biscuits.
Step 9: Gather your scraps as you go and gently re-form them together and cut as many biscuits as you can.
Step 10: Brush the tops of the biscuits lightly with more coconut milk. Sprinkle the top of each biscuit with flaky sea salt, if desired.
Final step: Bake in a 425°F oven for 13 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow your flaky biscuits to cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes before enjoying with a schmear of vegan butter and a drizzle of agave or maple syrup.
Recipe FAQs
Absolutely! After you bring your dough together, just roll it out and cut your bsicuits. You will have a pillowy biscuit that is more fluffy than flaky, but I'm not mad about that!
Yes you can! Add about ¼ cup more coconut milk and mix into a wet and sticky dough. Use a cookie scoop or two big spoons to drop portions of dough onto you baking tray. Brush with coconut milk and bake as directed.
Store leftover biscuits in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days.
To reheat your biscuits, wrap in aluminum foil and place in a 350°F oven for about 5 to 10 minutes. You can also wrap them in a lightly dampened paper towel and microwave them for about 10 seconds.
Did you try this recipe?
Leave a comment with a ⭐️ rating below to tell me all about it, and don't forget to tag me on Instagram!
I appreciate you!
-Cynthia
📖 Recipe
3-Ingredient Vegan Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups (300 g) self-rising flour
- 8 tablespoons (112 g) refined coconut oil chilled
- 1 cup (240 g) unsweetened coconut milk well shaken and more for brushing on before baking (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a large sheet pan, or other baking tray, with parchment paper or foil and set aside.
- Place self-rising flour into a large bowl. Add chilled coconut oil that has been separated into small pieces. Use your fingers, or a pastry cutter, to rub the coconut oil into the flour until it is the size of small peas, or smaller.
- Add coconut milk to flour and coconut oil mixture. Using wooden spoon or silicone spatula, mix everything together until you have a fairly uniform, stiff dough. The flour might not look all mixed in and that's okay. It will come together.
- Dump the shaggy dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Using your hands, or a bench scraper, gently bring everything together, folding the dough over itself until all the dry bits are incorporated. Do not knead the dough.
- With a bench scraper or knife, cut into four smaller squares. Stack the pieces of biscuit dough on top of each other.
- Press it all down into a square again. Repeat this cutting and stacking procedure 2 more times.
- Roll or pat the dough to about ½ inch thick. Use a 2 inch biscuit cutter or cookie cutter to cut out your biscuits.
- Gather your scraps as you go and gently re-form them together and cut as many biscuits as you can.
- Brush the tops of the biscuits lightly with more coconut milk. Sprinkle the top of each biscuit with flaky sea salt, if desired. Bake in a 425°F oven for 13 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
Save This Recipe! 💌
I'll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later, plus you'll get great new recipes from me every week!
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