Mayonnaise Is The Creamy Shortcut Your Homemade Biscuits Need

Mayonnaise might be your go-to condiment for sandwiches, tuna salad, and more, but if you've never used it in baking, you're missing out. Just as mayo can replace butter in a grilled cheese recipe, this creamy condiment can sub in for butter, oil, and other fats to create tender and delicious baked goods, including super easy biscuits. Rather than taking out a dozen ingredients to make biscuits from scratch, you can whip up a batch with nothing but milk, self-rising flour, and mayonnaise.

The first two ingredients are commonplace for a biscuit recipe, but why add mayonnaise to the mix? First of all, this condiment's main ingredients are eggs and oil (i.e. fat), both of which are necessary to add moisture and structure to biscuits. By using mayo, you knock out two birds with one stone: Just scoop some out of a jar and mix it into your biscuit batter, no cracking eggs or measuring oil required. 

Mayo also has some acidity, due to the inclusion of vinegar or lemon juice. This makes it function similarly to buttermilk, a fatty, slightly acidic dairy product that often stars in recipes for the fluffy and tender biscuits. Mayo delivers the right amount of fat and acid to make your biscuits super soft, all-in-one staple that's easy to find and simple to use. With a few extra tips in mind, your jar of Hellmann's, Dukes, or even Kewpie mayo is a surefire shortcut to delicious biscuits with only a fraction of the effort.

Making three-ingredient biscuits is so easy, you'll be left with plenty of time to whip up a dish to serve them with, whether it be crispy fried chicken or country-fried steak and gravy. Per Tasting Table, just mix milk, self-rising flour, and mayonnaise in a bowl to create a batter. The mayonnaise will create biscuits that are perfectly tender, yet hold together well. They can stand up to sausage gravy, eggs, or even a boozy compound butter. If you manage to resist devouring the whole tray, use leftover biscuits to sop up soup at lunchtime, or as a tasty vehicle for your favorite fruit preserves. No matter which way you slice 'em, you can't go wrong.

For the best results, follow a few prep tips that apply to most biscuit recipes. Use cold ingredients for the batter rather than room-temperature ones, which will help the dough to really puff up when exposed to heat. Also, mix the dough only until the ingredients are fully combined, as mixing any further will overwork and toughen the biscuits. Be sure to give each biscuit plenty of its own space on the baking sheet, with no dollops of dough sitting too close together, so they can expand and fluff up beautifully. And don't worry about letting the dough rest so it can rise when baked — the self-rising flour will take care of that.

Although the main draw of mayo biscuits is the super-short ingredients list, you should feel free to add extra flavorings according to your mood. For instance, try shredded cheese, garlic, and Old Bay seasoning for a homemade version of Red Lobster's famous biscuits (with barely any extra effort, compared to ordering a basket at the restaurant). Try folding in diced scallions, jalapeños, and pepper jack cheese for a spicy kick, or include bits of bacon for a savory crunch. 

Perhaps the easiest addition is dried herbs like rosemary, dill, basil, thyme, sage, or parsley. You can grab whatever's sitting on your spice drawer to customize your biscuits in seconds. A little bit goes a long way, though, so be sure to start with small amounts of seasoning. 

To get really creative, take your mayonnaise biscuits out of the realm of salty and savory preparations. Drizzle them with honey, stuff them with jam, or even dust them with cinnamon sugar before serving. They even make a spectacular base for a PB&J. With such an easy recipe, you can run wild with customizations, and still end up spending less than an hour on your batch of homemade treats.

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