I Tried 12 Canned Biscuits and the Winner Won by a Landslide

Canned biscuits ranked

Homemade biscuits are a revelation. Some cooks seem intimidated by the process, but they're really quite easy to make. And yes, I'm a longtime food editor, so of course I'm going to say that, but it's true. They call for ingredients that you have on hand (flour, butter, some sort of milk product, baking powder, salt) and you can absolutely go the easy drop biscuit route instead of mixing and folding and cutting out the dough.

All of that said, even I can admit that there's definitely a time and place for canned biscuits, namely when you're tired or busy or don't like to bake (or maybe all of the above). To help make sure you're prepared for any of those occasions, I spent a few hours driving around picking up all of the different canned biscuits I could find. Once I got home, I had a massive baking session and enlisted the help of my husband and our 9-year-old son to do a side-by-side tasting. When the crumbs settled, we had a clear winner and a list of 12 popular biscuits, ranked worst to best.

Related: Dolly Parton's Famous Biscuits

12 Canned Biscuits, Ranked Worst to Best

Pull up a seat and bust out the butter. It's time to talk biscuits.

12. Pillsbury Grands Butter Tastin' Flaky Layers Biscuits

Going in, I wasn't sure that there would be a wide range of differences in the Pillsbury products, but I was wrong. In theory, it should be a good thing to have the butter flavor built into the biscuit, but that sadly wasn't the case here. We all thought this biscuit had a strange aftertaste that tasted more like chemicals than butter. Most markets carry a variety of Pillsbury biscuits, and many of those are reviewed below, so we'd suggest skipping this now.

11. Immaculate Organic Flaky Biscuits

This brand was the most expensive on the list—one can was $6.99 at my local Whole Foods. Although I don't mind paying more for organic foods, I knew that at that premium price the taste and flavor better be spot on. I went in with high hopes, but was ultimately left disappointed. The texture was gummy and the inside of the biscuit tasted undercooked, even though it looked fully cooked on both the inside and outside. It also looked flaky but didn't taste flaky, which was also a bummer. If you're looking for an organic option, we found two other brand that we strongly preferred—and they're cheaper, too.

Related: 20 Popular Starbucks Iced Coffee Drinks, Ranked

10. Pillsbury Grands Buttermilk Flaky Layers Biscuits

This option was fine, but left us all a bit hollow. All three of us found this biscuit bland and pretty one-note in flavor. It's not a terrible biscuit, but there are definitely better Pillsbury options in the refrigerator case. The layers were there, but there was no discernable buttermilk tang. That's actually something we noticed across the board: brands that touted buttermilk tasted very similar to the non-buttermilk options. Maybe buttermilk is a flavor that only comes through in a homemade biscuit? (Yes, these are the things that food editor spend their time pondering.)

9. Pillsbury Grands Original Flaky Layers Biscuits

I found this biscuit on the sweet side with a honey-like taste, but it was flaky and totally passable. My husband, however, was not a fan. "It's so chewy," he said. "Like bubblegum releasing its flavor." I've been known to make similarly bizarre food pronouncements, but I didn't get that here. Gus's verdict? "They're all starting to blend together." To be fair, this was the seventh biscuit we'd tasted, so you can't blame the kid. Because of the mixed reviews on this one, I put it toward the middle-ish of the pack.

8. Great Value Flaky Jumbo Biscuits

This was the lone Great Value option they had at my local Walmart, but I'd heard good things about the in-house brand. The biscuit wasn't as sweet as some of the others, which was a good thing, but it had a spongy texture that we we didn't love. Gus found it a little pasty and thick and Matt pronounced it "not biscuity."

That said, very few of these options tasted truly biscuity. Matt and I had a long discussion about this (cuz of course we did) and we suspect that true biscuit texture isn't something that you can get from a can. You don't hear much about make-ahead biscuit dough and probably for good reason. All of that said, if you aren't someone who nerds out about biscuit dough this one will probably do in a pinch, though there are superior options available.

Related: We Ranked 10 Popular Green Teas and You Can Buy Our Top Pick at Walmart

7. Stop & Shop Buttermilk Biscuits

I spied these little biscuits—and by little I mean they were less than half the size of the others—when I was rushing through Stop & Shop looking for any biscuit brands I missed. They're cooked at a higher temperature (400° instead of 350° or 375°) and the instructions call for snuggling them together in a round metal baking pan.

I arranged the biscuits in an 8-inch metal cake pan, which is on the small side for a cake pan. They didn't fit tightly, but I figured they'd puff up to fill the pan. Nope! these little guys stayed pretty petite, even after baking. They had a savory flavor and the texture was ok, but they didn't have a ton of flavor, and certainly no buttermilk flavor. Because this is a store brand, they're very affordable, which is a good reminder to scan the aisles for the store brands made by your local supermarket chain.

6. Bake House Jumbo Buttermilk Biscuits

This Aldi store-brand biscuit was pretty solid. Again, there was no discernable buttermilk flavor, but it had a nice light texture. This is one of two biscuit options I found at my local Aldi, which was when I realized that "flaky" must be a special biscuit formulation. This buttermilk version is not labeled "flaky," so the texture is a little fluffier with larger holes instead of the clearly defined layers of a "flaky" biscuit. You'll see that we have a mix of "flaky" and non-flaky biscuits in the top 5, so which type of biscuit you like really depends on your preference.

5. Bake House Jumbo Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits

This is the "flaky" option from Aldi and all three of us enjoyed the flavor and peel-apart layers. The top browned well, which added a nice contrast to the soft interior. Gus was a big fan of this one, saying "This is something I could get behind." He gave it an "F-," which is Gus speak for "Fantastic Minus." The upshot? If you have a choice at your Aldi location, go for the can with the yellow stripes.

Related: Fans Love Aldi Cheese—We Ranked Our Top 15

4. Pillsbury Grands Buttermilk Southern Homestyle Biscuits

Can we take a moment to marvel at the depth and breadth of the Pillsbury biscuit line? When I was growing up I think there were one or maybe two Pillsbury options, but that lineup has grown significantly. Five our our 12 options were Pillsbury because that's what you can find at pretty much any supermarket. We could have included more, but we decided to skip any biscuit flavors that weren't regular, buttermilk, or butter.

After tasting our way through all of those Pillsbury options we found that we preferred the Southern Recipe versions over the Flaky varieties. We found that Pillsbury's flaky biscuits were more difficult to bake properly. They would get a little more browned than we'd like on the bottom and sometimes also the top, but still be a bit gummy in the middle. The Southern Recipe versions, including this one, had a better texture and baked up more evenly.

3. Trader Joe's Organic Biscuits

Trader Joe's has entered the chat! This organic version was one of the first biscuits we tasted and set the standard pretty high. We liked the flaky layers (this one wasn't doughy in the center) and it had a nice tender texture. It was on the sweet side, so it might be better for making egg sandwiches and slathering with butter and jam instead of using for a plate of biscuits and gravy. We think it would be a good vehicle for a leftover ham sandwich after Easter.

2. Pillsbury Grands Southern Recipe Southern Homestyle Biscuits

Is the name of this biscuit a mouthful? It sure is! But despite that, it ended up in the #2 spot. We all liked this biscuit's pillow texture and the way it baked up nice and crisp on the outside. Matt declared it "More biscuity" and said, "I think this might be my favorite so far." And indeed this biscuit would have been crowned the winner if it hadn't been for a last-minute addition.

1. Annie's Organic Flaky Biscuits

This cute purple can swooped in in the 11th hour and stole the crown from Pillsbury. How, you might ask? Well, I drove around for hours in the rain grabbing as many different kinds of biscuits as I could find in probably a 40-minute radius of my house. When I did my initial biscuit research I noticed that Annie's had a strong fan base, so I was on the lookout for it as I made my way around Rhode Island. I went to Whole Foods, where I thought I would definitely find it, but no. I called several other local grocery store chains that are semi-fancy. No luck. And then Matt suggested Clements', a lovely market in Portsmouth, which is an hour drive from our house. I called them and they had them (of course), but it was too late and rainy for me to make the trek.

In a stroke of great luck, our dear friend Kathy was planning to go to Portsmouth to visit her dad and offered to pick up the biscuits. After all of the build-up, I wondered if they would live up to the hype, but they sure did. They were tender and flaky with a great rich flavor. They had a brown and crisp exterior and a soft and tender interior that baked up beautifully, not a gummy spot in sight. These were the clear winners and 100% worth the wait. If you can find them at a market near you (or if you have a friend as good as Kathy), then you should definitely pick up a can.

Up next: We Had Coffee Experts Rank 13 Instant Coffee Brands and You Can Buy the Winner at Target