My Ham and Swiss Biscuits have cheese tossed into the dough and then ham, and even more cheese, layered inside, for flavor and texture in every bite!
A variation on my classic Buttermilk Biscuits, these Ham and Swiss Biscuits are the the ultimate salty, sweet combo! Being a Southern Girl at heart (and by birth, in Chattahoochee County, Georgia), it's in my DNA to love biscuits, but this version has my heart.
This new biscuit was developed when I wanted to make something for my family, in this case for breakfast, without having to go to the store. I looked in the refrigerator that morning and saw just a bit of leftover ham and some Swiss cheese (not enough for even one sandwich) and that was all it took.
These Ham and Swiss Biscuits are amazing on their own, or slathered in Sausage Gravy (don't @ me till you've tried it!) Don't let the idea of biscuit making intimidate you. With simple ingredients and clear directions, you're going to make something amazing!
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Ingredients
- All-purpose flour I use King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, but any brand will do.
- Baking soda Baking soda reacts with the buttermilk right away to give your biscuits a nice lift.
- Baking powder Baking powder also works right away, but is "double acting", meaning it continues to add fluff to your biscuits all the way to the end.
- A touch of sugar The sugar doesn't really add a lot of sweetness here, but it does help to tenderize the biscuits by breaking up gluten strands.
- Salt Unless a Medical Doctor told you to leave out salt, don't leave out salt. Whether baking or cooking, salt enhances the flavor of all the ingredients.
- Butter Cold. Cold. Cold 🥶 The high heat of your oven hits the cold, cold butter. The butter releases steam that pushes up and out of the dough, creating flaky layers as a fabulous side effect. I love science!
- Buttermilk Buttermilk helps to create an overall taller, tastier, flakier, fluffier biscuit. Who doesn't want that?
- Ham and Swiss cheese I'm not asking you to get Berkshire Ham and fancy Emmentaler cheese here. Deli ham and some sliced Swiss is absolutely fine. Use what you have. For a fun twist, try bacon and cheddar instead of ham and Swiss. Food should be fun! Are you having fun yet?
Substitutions
Buttermilk: If you don't have any on hand, you can make your own substitute. For every cup of buttermilk, add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice and let it sit for 5 minutes to thicken. There's a bit of science that you can Google if you'd like, but what matters is, it works. In this recipe, we call for ¾ cup of buttermilk so it's just a bit of math. I'll do it for you: measure ¾ cup of milk (I recommend whole milk) and add 2 and ¼ teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice and let sit for 5 minutes. Done.
Ham, cheese, etc.: Okay, it's a ham and cheese biscuit, but... if you want to use another meat or cheese, it's your kitchen. Go ahead. Try my Gruyère Biscuits with Bacon and Chives!
Instructions
1. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, mix in the cold butter until you have a mixture of flat pieces and crumbly bits of butter mixed into the flour.
2. Toss in about ⅓ of your grated or chopped swiss. Pour over top with cold buttermilk.
3. Gently mix it together with a spatula or danish dough whisk until you have a fairly uniform loose dough.
4. Turn out your dough onto a lightly floured surface.
5. Pile it up and push the dough together until you can pat it into a big square. With a bench scraper or knife, cut into four smaller squares.
6. Sprinkle ham and the rest of the Swiss on three of the squares.
7. Stack the pieces of biscuit dough on top of each other, finishing with the plain one on top.
8. Smush it all down into a square again (the ham and Swiss will be all snuggled into the layers). Repeat this cutting and stacking procedure 2 more times.
9. Use a biscuit or cookie cutter to cut your biscuits. Do not twist when cutting. Push straight down and pull straight back up. This is how you form your flaky layers! Place cut biscuits on parchment lined baking sheet.
10. Brush with egg wash and bake at 450°F for 18 to 20 minutes. Brush with melted honey butter, if desired. Remove from oven and brush with melted honey butter, if desired.
Drop Biscuit Alternative
Okay, I think I've made biscuits sound a little less scary. However, if you don't feel up to all the rolling out and cutting out (or are feeling a bit lazy this morning 🥱), I've got you covered.
One of the most common biscuits in the South are simple drop biscuits, where you literally mix everything up and "drop" spoonfuls into your skillet, or on a sheet pan, and bake. How can you convert this biscuit recipe to drop biscuits?
- Mix all the dry ingredients and cut in the butter. No change.
- Add ham and Swiss directly to the dry ingredients and toss together.
- Add 1 cup cold buttermilk (an extra ¼ cup than original recipe) and mix. It will be sticky.
- Drop large mounds of biscuit dough either into a cast iron skillet or a parchment lined sheet pan. I like to use a 2 oz (¼ cup) scoop for an even easier biscuit.
- Brush with egg wash and bake as directed.
Serve these Ham and Swiss Buttermilk Biscuits with butter, jam, gravy, or honey or enjoy them all on their own.
Variations
Sometimes it's a good idea to play with your food! Don't let a recipe hold you back! As long as you're not messing with the liquid content of the biscuits, you can substitute other yummy bits for the ham and Swiss. You can do cheddar and chive, fresh or dried Italian herbs and mozzarella, or just black pepper and parmesan.
I even made spiced bacon and gruyere biscuits and slathered them with blueberry jam! I glazed them with an egg wash and sprinkled the tops with fresh black pepper and flaky sea salt before baking and they were the perfect blend of salty, sweet, peppery, and cheesy. Don't knock it till you've tried it! You gotta try it!
Expert tips
Making ham and cheese biscuits doesn't have to be complicated. Once someone gives you the correct formula (I think it's this one), it's just a matter of following the directions. I mean, yes baking is a science, but biscuit making should be fun!
- Make sure your baking powder is fresh! That way, you'll get the light and fluffy biscuits of your dreams. Check the expiration date!
- Use cold butter and buttermilk. The key to getting the flakiest biscuits is having the heat of the oven hit the cold liquids in the butter and the buttermilk, turning those liquids into steam that pops out all those layers. That's the science part.
- Don't handle the dough too much. Pat it out or roll it out gently to not only keep the butter cold, but to reduce gluten formation. That'll make a tough biscuit. More science 🤓
- Place the biscuits in the freezer while you preheat your oven. This will help to re-chill the butter before baking.
- When cutting out your biscuits, don't twist your biscuit cutter. Lift straight up. Just the simple act of twisting out the biscuits can seal the edges and keep you from reaching your layered potential!
- As soon as your biscuits come out of the oven, give them a brush of honey butter glaze. An extra bit of joy!
These ham and swiss biscuits should last 2 to 3 days when refrigerated in an airtight container.
Yes! Wrap each biscuit individually in plastic wrap and then all together in a zip top bag in the freezer for up to 30 days. Allow to thaw in the refrigerator overnight to eat in the morning.
Wrap in aluminum foil and reheat in the oven at 350°F for 10 to 15 minutes, or until hot.
Did you try this recipe? Tell me all about it!
Leave a ⭐️ review and comment below!
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More tasty breakfast recipes
- Buttermilk Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
- Italian Frittata
- Cinnamon-Cardamom Mini Donut Muffins
- Cinnamon-Cardamom French Toast
- Chicken Chilaquiles Verde
- Biscuit Eggs Benedict with Country Gravy
Ham and Swiss Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cup (240 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon (12 g) baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon (1 g) baking soda
- 2 teaspoon (8 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) kosher salt
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter cold and cut in cubes
- ¾ cup (180 g) buttermilk cold
- 4 oz (120 g) Swiss cheese finely chopped
- 4 oz (120 g) ham finely chopped
- 1 large egg for egg wash
- 2 tablespoon (28 g) unsalted butter melted, optional
- 2 tablespoon (42 g) honey optional
- Pinch of kosher
- Flaky sea salt (optional)
Instructions
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly butter a cast iron pan and set aside.
- Finely dice both the Swiss cheese and the ham and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients. Toss the butter cubes into the dry ingredients and, using a pastry cutter or your fingers, mix in the cold butter until you have a mixture of flat pieces and crumbly bits of butter mixed into the flour. Toss in about ⅓ of your grated or chopped swiss.
- Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the cold buttermilk. Gently mix it together with a spatula or your hands until you have a fairly uniform loose dough. It won't look all mixed in and that's okay. It will come together.
- Turn out your dough onto a lightly floured surface. Pile it up and push the dough together until you can pat it into a big square. With a bench scraper or knife, cut into four smaller squares. Sprinkle ham and the rest of the Swiss on three of the squares.
- Stack the pieces of biscuit dough on top of each other, finishing with the plain one on top. Smush it all down into a square again (the ham and Swiss will be all snugged into the layers). Repeat this cutting and stacking procedure 2 more times. This is how you form your flaky layers!
- Pat or roll dough to ½ inch thickness. Use a biscuit cutter to cut into traditional round biscuits, or you can use a knife or the bench scraper to make square biscuits. If you use a biscuit cutter, dip it in flour first to make sure it doesn't stick to the biscuit dough. And remember: Do not twist as you cut the dough or you'll seal all the layers you created with the stacking technique!
- Place the biscuits, sides touching lightly, on your parchment covered sheet tray or in your cast iron pan. Place the finished biscuits in the freezer while you preheat your oven, to firm up the butter before baking. Remember, cold butter creates steam in the oven, and that creates layers! (See where we're going here?)
- Brush tops of biscuits with an egg wash made of one egg whisked with 1 tablespoon of water. Bake at 425° for 18-20 minutes or until nicely browned on top.
- Next make your honey butter, if using. In a small pan, or in the microwave, melt the butter and combine with the honey. Stir in a pinch of kosher salt.
- Brush with honey butter as soon as they come out of the oven, if desired. Sprinkle with a bit of flaky sea salt for a nice salty sweet combo, if you like. Let cool a bit before eating. Just a bit. We made beautiful Ham and Swiss Biscuits! We're amazing! Now, let's eat.
Notes
- Don't handle the dough too much. Pat it out or roll it out gently to not only keep the butter cold, but to reduce gluten formation.
- Place the biscuits in the freezer while you preheat your oven. This will help to re-chill the butter before baking.
- When cutting out your biscuits, don't twist your biscuit cutter. Lift straight up. Just the simple act of twisting out the biscuits can seal the edges and keep your biscuits from fully rising.
Nutrition
The nutritional and caloric information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It does not assert or suggest that readers should or should not count calories, and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s or doctor’s counseling.
Ruth says
First time mint
First time making biscuits. A bit too labor-intensive for me. But absolutely delicious!! My husband, who is not a biscuit eater, absolutely devoured these. Trying to figure out how to make these from canned biscuits.
Cynthia says
I’m glad you and your husband loved them! I get it that trying a new recipe for the first time, it can be a lot! It was for me to at first. But now I can get these in the oven in 10 minutes. I hope you’ll try a few more times; I think it’s worth it! If not, there’s no shame in canned biscuits. They just won’t be quite as good.
Mmabatho says
Thank you for gram measurements. I am making these this morning!
Cynthia says
Wow! I hope you love them as much as I do!