11 Canned Biscuit Brands, Ranked Worst To Best
Correction 3/20/23: A previous version of this article stated that Laura Lynn wasn't affiliated with a supermarket chain. It is the store brand of Ingles.
Having a quality biscuit can elevate even the most basic of meals. Heck, ask anyone who has served in the armed forces will likely tell you about biscuits and gravy (but with a more "colorful" name). While freshly baked from scratch is the way to go in terms of taste, it's not always possible to dedicate the time. Plus, when preparing a large, holiday meal, who has the counter space to dedicate specifically to mixing, prepping, and baking a batch of biscuits?
In a pinch, there are plenty of canned biscuits out there. They are incredibly convenient, are readily available, and even the smallest of grocery stores is likely to carry several brands and flavors, so you'll have options. Maybe you've tried a few in the past: Did you just go for the one with the lowest price, or did you grab the known brand because you assumed it must taste better? Because you likely don't have biscuits on a regular basis, it is difficult to form a definite opinion on which is the best, and which brands you should bypass. That's where we come in.
We want to do the heavy lifting (or baking) so you don't have to. To help guide you in your next quest of buying canned biscuits, here is our list, ranked from worst to best.
11. Great Value biscuits
Great Value is better known as the Walmart store brand. This is probably the easiest one to scoop up, regardless of where you live. Some of the others on this list can be ordered online for, at times, less, but unless you want to wait for shipping, Great Value is the biscuit cost champion. But, we're not here to determine which is the cheapest. Sure, we'll toss in a bonus point or use it as a tiebreaker, but in terms of taste, Great Value biscuits are at the bottom.
Don't get us wrong. They have a fine lineup. You can get regular, jumbo-sized biscuits, and even buttermilk, which is more of a southern biscuit. The biscuits cook fine and, honestly, if you're loading it up with butter or coating it with gravy it's not terrible. But, if you're eating them as-is, you will taste a somewhat metallic essence. The waxed cardboard tubes look and feel just about the same as all the other brands, so maybe it is the super cheap products used to make the biscuits that give it a slight off-taste.
Beyond this, the biscuits aren't all that flaky, and you're running a real fine line between an internal doughy texture and burning the exterior if you don't watch the biscuits. In a pinch, they are fine, but we'd recommend going with something else.
10. Amazon Happy Belly biscuits
If there is one other biscuit on this list that is able to compete, and even best, Great Value biscuits in terms of price, it is Amazon's Happy Belly biscuits. If you have Amazon Prime you're able to order these online and, depending on where you live, have it delivered to you the same day. That in itself is fantastic, as sometimes you're at home cooking and you suddenly realize you didn't pick up the biscuits. You can also find Happy Belly at most Whole Foods.
You will find a regular as well as buttermilk option for sale through Amazon, and like most other Amazon brand products, it is fine. There's nothing special about the biscuits. You're not going to trick anyone into thinking you baked them from scratch, they are rather lifeless in terms of plumping when cooked, and, in general, are just kind of lifeless in terms of eye-popping taste. But then again, sometimes you just want biscuits so you have an edible scoop for mashed potatoes. If that's what you're looking for, then Amazon Happy Belly is a fine option. As long as you have low expectations for the biscuits going into it, you will be fine with what comes out of this tube.
9. Signature Select biscuits
Signature Select is Safeway's brand, but you can also find it at Albertsons as well. In general, Safeway is a rather solid store brand, and we find it to be a step up from what you find at Walmart for a similar price point. With Signature Select you'll find an array of biscuit options, ranging from buttermilk to jumbo butter biscuits. If you're someone who likes to just munch on biscuits without trying to reach across the table for the butter (or if it came straight from the fridge and now it's as hard as ice), going with the butter biscuit flavor is the way to go.
The biscuits themselves tend to have a bit of a chewy, doughy taste in the middle, but they bypass the metallic, chemical flavoring of Great Value, which alone is enough to ensure these biscuits are rated higher.
These still struggle in terms of achieving a flaky, peel-away texture, so it's better you keep on with this list. But, if you just want an inexpensive biscuit that you can pull apart and slather butter, syrup, or some other topping on, then the next time you're at Safeway grab yourself a Signature Select biscuit.
8. Harris Teeter biscuits
If you're scratching your head at this brand, then you're not alone. Harris Teeter is a chain of grocery stores that hug the East Coast, stretching from Florida up to Delaware but doesn't move inland at all. We do love a good regional chain. Heck, we'd include a Wawa biscuit if we could find a canned tube of it. Harris Teeter is just another one of the many regional grocery store chains that is now owned by parent company Kroger, so you're going to find a lot of "Kroger Brand" products inside the store. However, the Harris Teeter biscuits are all their own.
At Harris Teeter, you'll find original and buttermilk biscuits available in regular and jumbo sizes. The buttermilk biscuits are some of the lightest, most airy buttermilk biscuits up to this point. Of course, should you really expect anything less in terms of quality biscuits from a southern-based grocery chain (it's based out of Charlotte, North Carolina)?
The actual taste isn't all that special and is mostly on par with all the others before it. However, the favorable price point, the airy nature of the biscuits, and the lack of a metallic, chemical taste, help elevate these biscuits above everything else up to this point.
7. Kroger biscuits
Kroger is a store of many names, depending on where you live in the United States. While it goes by its original, Kroger brand name throughout much of the Midwest, it is known as Fry's in the Southwest. Kroger has also purchased a number of regional grocery store brands, and so these regional locations have a Kroger shell to the stores but go by the regional names selling "Kroger Brand" products.
One such product Kroger sells is the Kroger lineup of biscuits. For an inexpensive brand, this is a quality biscuit. We'd normally go for Kroger over the likes of Great Value nine out of 10 times, but it is especially the case with the biscuit offering. And it isn't just better than the Walmart competition. These biscuits are a step above most other options out there. We think the flaky buttermilk biscuits are a fine addition, and the original jumbo biscuits are solid as well.
While there is one (well, technically two) grocery store chains we think make better biscuits than Kroger, you can't go wrong with this brand. You're not going to get that chemical or metallic taste, you can actually taste the buttery aspect of the biscuits, they plump a decent amount, and the flaky biscuits actually do flake away in sections. We won't say any of the biscuits they make are the best of the best, but these biscuits are still quality at an affordable price.
6. Trader Joe's biscuits
Let's face it. It's hard, if not downright impossible, to go wrong with almost anything from Trader Joe's, the grocery store with a cult-like following. It offers some quality products at discounted prices. Now, we're not totally sure who makes the Trader Joe's biscuits because most of the chain's products are actually from larger brands, and Trader Joe's slaps a label on it. Basically, someone is acting like a ghost kitchen for Trader Joe's products.
Whoever is making the biscuits, we very much approve. You'll find everything from buttermilk biscuits to organic biscuits. In fact, up to this point we believe Trader Joe's is the first to offer organic biscuits. Everything in this particular can is organic, including organic wheat flour, organic cane sugar, as well as organic sunflower oil. The taste is only slightly different from the traditional version.
The biscuits are fluffy and have more of a butter taste to them. They are also flakier than most of the other biscuits listed before. While Trader Joe's isn't available everywhere (and TJ's doesn't offer e-commerce or delivery), if there is one by your house, it's hard to go wrong with one of the canned biscuit options offered here. Especially if you want organic biscuits for less than what other companies charge.
5. Bake House Creations biscuits
So, here's the thing with Bake House Creations; it's an Aldi's brand, and the German Aldi owns Trader Joe's. We have no way of knowing for sure if Bake House Creations and Trader Joe's biscuit brands are exactly the same, but they do taste awfully similar. We'll say we're about 95% sure the two are one in the same. The reality is Bake House Creations biscuits are on an even playing field as Trader Joe's. If you have a TJ's in the area, go there for the biscuits, and if you have an Aldi in the area, go there. You'll be equally pleased with wherever you get your biscuits from.
You're going to find the same general flavor options for Bake House Creations, and the biscuits themselves are fluffy with decent butter flavor and a lack of the fake, chemical, or metallic tastes as with other store brand options.
Honestly, we'll go out on a limb and say these (and the Trader Joe's) biscuits are the very best store-brand biscuits you're going to find. But, would you expect anything less from Aldi and TJ's?
4. Laura Lynn biscuits
This store brand of the Southeastern supermarket chain Ingles offers a handful of flavors for its canned biscuits. You can go with original, buttermilk, and flaky; although, our personal favorites are the Butter-Me-Nots. The butter actually tastes like real butter (because it is!) instead of that artificial butter taste, which we just can't stomach more than a few bites of. If you have had these biscuits before, you know they come out of the oven an almost orange color. If you haven't had them before, think glowing cornbread — if that cornbread included something radioactive.
But honestly, the biscuits are really good, so they could be purple or blue for all we care. And the color can actually be a fine talking point during your next family dinner gathering because someone will absolutely make a comment about the unique color. They might even question how delicious they are. That is until they take a bite, and then they will instantly understand why you purchased them in the first place.
3. Immaculate Baking Company biscuits
Immaculate Baking Company offers some of the very best organic biscuits on the market. Immaculate Baking Company is so much higher in the rankings because their organic flaky biscuits are some of the best, most flaky biscuits you'll find, organic or not.
The only real reason Immaculate Baking Company isn't in the top two is because of the price. These are some of the most expensive biscuits you're going to purchase. Now, if you're specifically searching for organic biscuits, then it might be worth paying the extra cash for you. But, if not, don't worry, we have other affordable options.
These biscuits are also not the best if you want biscuits with a buttery taste right out of the oven. Immaculate Baking Company biscuits are more neutral tasting. The biscuit is flighty, flaky, and fantastic, but it's designed more to hold whatever flavors you add on top of it. Plus, unlike the vast majority of other canned biscuits on this list, these include zero artificial flavors. If you're craving some buttery taste (without the addition of your own butter), you'll want to try one of the top brands.
2. Pillsbury biscuits
Yes, good old classic Pillsbury biscuits. These biscuits are truly fantastic, and there is a reason the brand dominates the canned biscuit section of every grocery store. They are just that good. And there is a flavor and variation for everyone. Like buttermilk? Sure thing. Want jumbo? Not a problem. Interested in extra butter? Brand has that covered as well. Our favorite is the Pillsbury Grands! with Flaky Layers, because we find they are fluffy, airy, and have some of the best flaky layers out there (but to each their own).
We like that you can have a more neutral biscuit, as well as a more buttery biscuit, which is one reason why this brand receives a top-tier nod. The second reason is the price. Pillsbury might be a little more than the store brands, but it's not that much more. It's close enough you can justify paying a little bit extra for better-tasting biscuits. In contrast, with Immaculate biscuits, it becomes a little more difficult to justify, especially if you're not a lover of biscuits and you're only including them with your holiday meal because people have come to expect them.
So, whether you're in a pinch, or you just want some fantastic canned biscuits that are precut and super easy to bake, there's going to be a Pillsbury option that checks off all of your boxes.
1. Annie's biscuits
We just couldn't keep Annie's from taking the top spot. The buttery taste of these biscuits is absolutely perfect. When you sink your teeth into them you might question whether or not you even need to add any other butter to the baked biscuits. The flaky nature of Annie's biscuits will also have some family members asking if you baked them from scratch, which is another major bonus point. Is there any better feeling than knowing someone thinks you spent hours of your day prepping and baking from-scratch biscuits when you actually just popped them out of a can? It's like getting credit for something you had absolutely nothing to do with.
Again, the major drawback to these biscuits is the overall price point. These are some of the most expensive canned biscuits you're going to find, and if you need to purchase a few cans at once that can really add up if you're on a fixed budget. So, there are no hard feelings about picking up Pillsbury, or one of the other store brands, if you want to cut as much money out of your grocery spending as possible. But, if you're able to swing a few extra bucks per can and really want the "did you bake these yourself" question floated your way at the dinner table, it's worth reaching for Annie's.