20 Clever Ways To Use Canned Biscuits

If you've ever tried making buttermilk biscuits at home from scratch, you probably know what true frustration feels like. The dough never comes out fluffy and layered, your butter seeps out while the dough is baking, or the tray comes out as pale as it went in. Biscuits might just be the food that is always better to buy from the store. 

And we're not talking about the already-baked biscuits from the bakery section; if you want a from-scratch taste with the easiest assembly, you'll want to pick up a can from the refrigerated foods aisle. Not only does this dough keep fresh until you're ready to pop the can and bake, but it produces perfectly round biscuits with distinguishable layers every single time. Perhaps, though, the best part about canned biscuit dough is that you can use it for more than just making biscuits and gravy. Here are some of our favorite ways to use canned biscuit dough. 

Pizzas are more fun when you're using unconventional ingredients to replace standard pizza dough. Instead of going for a mini bagel or an English muffin, use canned biscuits as an easy option for quick mini pizzas. It's perfect when you're craving a slice of pizza but don't feel like leaving the house or can't justify ordering an entire pizza just for yourself. 

Start by popping your can of biscuit dough and rolling it out flat. Then, add your favorite custom topping and sauce blend, pack on the cheese, and bake at 375 degrees F for 10 to 15 minutes. It's a kid-friendly recipe too, which means that you can get little ones involved by having them flatten out the dough and pack on the toppings. 

Pie crust is a pain to make, roll out, and bake. But, with food like chicken pot pie, you have to have a pie crust to help seal in the moisture and provide that crunchy, bready element to the dish. 

Instead of using a layer of pie crust on your next batch, try substituting it with canned biscuits instead. This from-scratch chicken and biscuits recipe can be made a bit more approachable by substituting homemade biscuits with canned ones. Once the base of your dish, which includes the chicken, peas, soup, and carrots, is on the bottom of the baking dish, you can layer a tube of dough on the top. Break the biscuits into small pieces and scatter them over the top for a more rustic appearance. 

Chicken pot pie isn't the only homestyle recipe that benefits from canned biscuits. You can also use canned biscuits to add a bit of bulk to your chicken and dumplings. The best part about this chicken and dumplings recipe is that it's made in a slow cooker. All you have to do is cook the chicken with the veggies and aromatic ingredients for about four hours before adding par-baked biscuits to the crock. 

Par-baking the biscuits is an important step that isn't always conventional for chicken and dumplings. However, if you add the raw dough to the slow-cooking broth, it will just dissolve or remain raw. You'll need to bake the quartered biscuit dough for about 7 minutes or until they have risen but are still doughy inside.

Hand pies are a delicious way to make pie recipes portable. And with canned biscuit dough, you won't have to worry about making and rolling out your own pie crust for hand pies ever again. Start by rolling a piece of biscuit dough out into a 6-inch disc. Add a few tablespoons of filling to the center of the pie before rolling over one side into a half-moon shape. From there, you can crimp the edges of the hand pie shut with a fork and poke a few steam holes in the top. For the perfect color, swipe your hand pie with a wash before baking. 

The filling possibilities for hand pies are endless. Stick with sweet favorites like apple pie filling or peaches, or go savory with your favorite pre-cooked meats and veggies. 

We want to give a great big hug to whoever invented monkey bread. This sweet, pull-apart dessert bread is made from small pieces of dough covered in a sticky, syrupy sauce. Canned biscuit dough is the perfect ingredient for monkey bread because it has a soft, buttery texture to it and puffs up when baked in a bundt tin. Plus, the butter (or butter alternative) in the biscuits melts out into the tin and helps keep the dish moist. 

To make the monkey bread, start by cubing the biscuits into quarters with clean kitchen scissors. Then, coat the pieces in cinnamon sugar and drop them in the bundt tin with the syrup mixture. You'll need about three 8-ounce tubes of biscuits to make a standard bundt-size monkey bread. 

If you're cooking an Italian pasta dinner, you have to make garlic knots to go with it. This carby side can be made with leftover pizza dough, but using canned biscuit dough is even easier to handle and shape into knots. 

Start by slicing each biscuit in half with a sharp knife, then roll it out into a log shape. Afterward, you can tie the biscuit into the familiar knot shape, slather on any sort of butter, cheese, or garlic topping, and bake the rolls until golden brown. Each roll comes out decadently soft, fluffy, and perfect for dipping into leftover marinara sauce. We recommend finishing the rolls out with an additional sprinkle of parmesan cheese and freshly chopped parsley. 

Everything more fun when it's in a waffle-ized. One of the absolute best uses for your waffle iron is for transforming your biscuits into fun shapes that are perfect for serving as the base for chicken and waffles or topping with fresh fruit and eating with other breakfast favorites. 

Once your waffle iron is adequately heated and sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, you can drop the biscuit rounds in. Close the iron and bake for a few minutes until golden brown and puffy; it will be finished in far less time than making waffles with conventional batter. Our favorite ways to use these waffle-ized biscuits are as the base for a breakfast sandwich with layers of egg, cheese, and breakfast sausage. 

If you've ever wanted to try to make your own donuts at home, canned biscuit dough is essential to have on hand. You won't have to worry about dealing with tricky yeast dough that never seems to rise right, nor will you have to worry about shaping the dough into the perfect round before plopping it into the oil. 

Start by cutting a small hole in the center of each biscuit with a biscuit cutter or jar-and-knife. You'll want to be sure that your oil is adequately heated so it will sear the outside of the dough rather than cause it to soak up all that oil. Fry in batches for about a minute on each side before drying off the oil with a paper towel and rolling them in sugar or adding a frosting.

Pull-apart bread is one of the most underrated foods you can serve at a gathering. It's more attractive than serving just a bowl full of rolls, and you can pair it with a dipping sauce or soft cheese.

Rather than making your own dough for this pull-apart bread, use canned biscuit dough. Slice each biscuit in half and roll the dough into a ball. Then, roll the balls in melted butter (this will help the pull-apart bread stick together), cheese, and your other favorite toppings. From there, you can drop the balls into the greased bunt pan and bake the bread until golden brown. Once you pop it out of the tin, you'll have a handy spot to fit a small dipping sauce ramekin. 

If you have a muffin tin and a tube of premade biscuit dough, you can have a portable meal or dessert option ready to go in under an hour. Place the biscuit dough into a greased muffin tin and fill each cup with your favorite fillings. Bake until the filling is set and the sides of the cup are golden brown. 

There are a ton of possibilities for adapting this recipe. You can make breakfast muffin cups with a few slices of par-cooked bacon and a raw egg, or stick with a sweet filling like apple pie. You can also make them taco Tuesday style by filling each with seasoned ground beef and gooey cheese and topping each with some guacamole, sour cream, or salsa.

"Breakfast bombs" are the portable breakfast wraps of the future. Instead of having to wrestle with a pesky tortilla, you'll just need to have a tube of refrigerated biscuit dough on hand. 

To make your biscuit bombs, start with two rounds, partially opened. Spoon in a mixture of cooked eggs, cooked sausage crumbles or crumbled bacon, and cheese into the pocket. Each standard biscuit pocket should be able to fit about ¼ cup of filling. Once the filling is in the pocket, use your fingertips to seal the edges closed. Then, brush each with an egg wash for the perfect golden color and bake in your own until flaky. 

To freeze these biscuits, adequately cool them before wrapping them in plastic wrap and foil. When you're ready to reheat, wrap the biscuit in a paper towel and microwave on each side for a couple of minutes or until warmed through. 

Who doesn't love a cold ice cream on a hot summer day? We reckon you'll like this frozen treat much more if it involves biscuit dough. This dish uses sweetened biscuit dough; Pillsbury sells both chocolate-chip and blueberry-flavored varieties with accompanying icing that is perfect for transforming into the base of an ice cream sandwich. 

Start by heating up your greased waffle iron and cooking two biscuits at a time. In between baking, be sure to clean off your waffle iron to prevent any residue from sticking and becoming a pain to clean off later. Once your biscuit waffles have adequately cooled, you can add a scoop of ice cream to the middle, roll in toppings, or drizzle with the accompanying sweet icing.

Sandwich melts will become your go-to dish for family gatherings and parties. You won't have to labor over cooking each sandwich individually. Instead, place a tube of biscuits onto a baking sheet and partially bake until risen but not browned. Then, half each biscuit and assemble them in a large baking dish. Our favorite ingredients to stuff inside each sandwich include deli meats and cheese, but you can get creative and stuff each with ground meat or pulled pork too. Before baking, top each with a butter or egg wash and seasonings and bake until golden brown. 

This is the perfect hack for assembling tailgate-ready sliders that are easy to eat. You can also place the baking pan on the grill to keep it warm while you're prepping the rest of your game-day fare. 

Casseroles are easy to make when you have a tube of biscuits in your fridge. Instead of meticulously layering tater tots in the bottom of your baking dish, use cubed biscuits. After you've greased your skillet or baking pan, layer the cubed biscuit pieces in the bottom of the pan, top with your desired casserole toppings, and bake until cooked through. The biscuits will puff up during baking and come out deliciously golden brown and flakey — and complement nearly any casserole filling. 

Alternatively, you can also make the base of your casserole on the skillet and top it with the cubed biscuit pieces. This will promote a little more browning on the top of your dish and result in a more satisfying scoop. 

Bready or not, here we come! If you're serving an appetizer section at your next function, you're going to need to bake up some breadsticks for dipping. The handling and shaping for this recipe is super minimal; just twist each biscuit half into a thin rope and bake until golden brown. 

You can make several different variations on these breadsticks by doing a quick inventory of your spice cabinet. Some of our favorites include swiping with a bit of butter, garlic powder, chili flakes, and Italian seasoning for a proper savory breadstick. If you like things sweet, try coating each in cinnamon sugar right after baking. Although this won't leave you with clean fingers, it is a great vector for dipping into a caramel pecan cheesecake dip. 

Baked brie is a sophisticated cheese concoction perfect for serving at a dinner party or holiday celebration. The easiest way to make stuffed brie with canned biscuit dough is to bake the biscuits individually on a baking sheet until slightly golden but not fully baked. Once the rounds are finished with the first bake, hollow out a hole in the center of each — just like a tiny bread bowl. You may have to press down the inside of the biscuit so the filling will be able to fit. 

Add a few slices of brie or Camembert to the hole and top it with jelly before placing the biscuit cutout back. Then, return the tray to the oven for a few minutes to allow the cheese to melt and the biscuit to finish browning. 

Fruit cobbler is traditionally made with a pastry topping, but our recommended recipe rendition uses biscuits instead. The flaky layers biscuit variety tends to have the best texture; plus, you can pull them apart if you want to make a bottom and top layer of biscuits on your cobbler, or you can just stick to the top layer. Add your filling, brush with heavy cream, and bake the dessert until golden. 

There are endless opportunities for the kinds of ingredients you can use to fill your recipe based on seasonal availability. Make a peach cobbler in the summertime or stick with a strawberry surprise in early spring. We also won't blame you if you stick to canned fruit fillings. 

Instead of biting into a freezer-burnt, "not-so-soft" pretzel, make your own DIY recipe out of canned biscuit dough. Cut each biscuit round in half and roll it out into a thin rope. Then, twist the rope around itself to form a familiar pretzel shape. 

The key to making these pretzels taste like pretzels is boiling them in a concoction of baking soda and water. Once the water starts to foam, you can carefully drop your pretzels in for a mere minute before removing them from the water. From there, brush each pretzel with a bit of melted butter and coarse pretzel salt. You can dress your pretzels up with many different toppings, including a creamy cheese sauce, parmesan and garlic, aioli, or spicy mustard. 

If the store is low on refrigerated cinnamon rolls, stock up on canned biscuit dough instead. Long gone are the nights of making and resting your homemade cinnamon roll dough; this recipe can come together in less than an hour. 

To transform your canned biscuit dough into cinnamon rolls, you'll need your favorite cinnamon roll filling and a tube or two of standard biscuits. Instead of rolling the individual biscuits out, arrange them to touch sides before rolling out the entire sheet into one giant rectangle. 

Add your cinnamon roll filling and roll the dough tightly into a log. Cut with a sharp knife or unflavored dental floss to get uniformly-shaped rolls. From there, you can bake your cinnamon rolls until brown and puffy before finishing the dessert with a homemade sweetened glaze.

If you go to New Orleans, you have to try beignets. But if you don't have Louisiana on your travel itinerary any time soon, try making these beignets at home with canned biscuit dough. Cut up your biscuits into small quarters and roll each around in your hand to seal the layers of the biscuit together. Then, you can plunge them into a shallow pot of hot oil. Like with frying other types of donuts, oil that isn't hot enough will merely soak the fritter and cause it to come out greasy rather than reach the perfect brown hue on the outside. 

Once your beignets are fried, cool them on a wire rack to allow the remaining grease to drip off. While the tiny fritters are still warm, cover them with powdered sugar and enjoy.