These mile-high, extra flaky Sage & Gruyere Biscuits are so tender and delicious. Perfect for a Thanksgiving side dish or for topping with sausage gravy at brunch!

Skip the canned biscuits because making your own has never been easier. These will be a hit at any gathering and can easily be made ahead and frozen.

The Flakiest Sage & Gruyere Biscuits

Making great biscuits was one of the first things I learned working in restaurants. I would be tasked with making hundreds of biscuits at a time for brunch service!

All of my experience has led me to sharing the most incredible sage & gruyere biscuits! They are so tender, flaky, and buttery–perfect for so many occasions.

These biscuits are incredible spread with butter, served up under gravy, made into breakfast sandwiches, or enjoyed alongside turkey, gravy, and mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving. However you plan to serve them, they’ll be an absolute hit.

Making biscuits from scratch is easy and only requires a little technique that this post will cover in depth. You’ll be making fluffy biscuits like a true pastry chef in no time!

Looking to up your Thanksgiving menu? Check out all my tried and true Thanksgiving recipes.

How to Make Sage & Gruyere Biscuits

My preferred method for making sage & gruyere biscuits is by using a stand mixer, but you can also make these by hand or in a food processor. Be sure to check out the make ahead instructions if you’re making these for Thanksgiving!

Tools Needed

• Stand Mixer
• Mixing Bowl
• Rolling Pin
• Sharp Knife
• Cheese Grater

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Flour. All purpose flour is the way to go here, I don’t recommend substituting another flour.
• Butter. All-butter is the trick to making these biscuits super flaky.
• Buttermilk. Buttermilk adds a nice tang. You can make buttermilk with milk and vinegar, but I do recommend getting the real stuff.
• Heavy cream. A touch of heavy cream adds some additional fat to the dough which makes them extra tender.
• Leaveners. I use both baking powder and baking soda to make the biscuits extra tall and fluffy.
• Gruyere. I love the salty and nutty flavor that gruyere adds! You could also use aged white cheddar.
• Sage leaves. Fresh sage leaves are best here, but if you have to use dried you’ll need 2 tablespoons.
• Black pepper. The combination of black pepper, gruyere, and sage takes these biscuits over the top. Use freshly ground black peppercorns for best results. Please don’t use pre-ground pepper!

The Process

1. Prep the butter. The trick here is to dice the butter small, into 1/4″ cubes. Place the diced butter in a bowl and transfer to the freezer while you’re getting the rest of the ingredients together.
2. Mix the dry ingredients. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, pepper, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix in the minced sage and grated gruyere cheese.
3. Mix in the butter. Remove the butter from the freezer and add it to the bowl of dry ingredients and toss well. Mix with the paddle attachment on medium-low until the mixture resembles clumpy sand with pea-sized pieces of butter.
4. Mix in the wet ingredients. With the mixer running, stream in the buttermilk and heavy cream and mix just until the dough clumps together. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and press the dough into a 8×11 rectangle.
5. Laminate the dough. Fold the rectangle into thirds, like a letter, and press/roll the dough into a 1-inch thick rectangle. Repeat folding and rolling 3 more times. Press or roll the dough out into a 9″ square that’s about 1″ thick.
6. Cut and bake. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 9 equal squares or use a round biscuit cutter dusted with flour to cut out circles. If you’re using a circular cutter, gather the dough back up and continue to cut circles until no dough remains. Transfer the biscuits to a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 45 minutes. Brush the tops with heavy cream and sprinkle with flaky salt. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until puffy and golden brown.

Recipe Tips & Tricks

Dice the butter small. This allows the butter to mix into the dough more easily. Aim for pieces that are about 1/4? squares.

Keep your ingredients cold. The secret to great biscuits is keeping everything cold! Keep your butter in the freezer while you prep your other ingredients and chill your biscuits before baking. Cold biscuits means cold butter, cold butter releases steam when baked which gives the biscuits their lift.

Use real buttermilk. While you can sub in milk mixed with vinegar, it won’t be the same. The buttermilk has great texture and tang and the acid actives the baking soda and helps the cheddar chive biscuits rise.

Don’t overwork the dough. Only mix the dough just until the dough starts to clump together, then press the dough together by hand. Less is always more when mixing biscuits so you don’t end up with heavy and dense biscuits.

Cut into squares. Most people are used to seeing round biscuits, but I’ve always made my biscuits square. Then, you don’t need a special cutter and you have zero waste of dough from cutting out the rounds.

Step-by-Step Lamination Instructions

Lamination is a process that uses folds to add layers to baked goods. It’s the process that turns croissants into a flaky thing of beauty. We’re using the same principle to make sure our biscuits are extra flaky with tons of layers.

To start the process, you’ll roll the dough out into an 8×11″ rectangle. Then, in the same way that you’d fold a letter, fold the dough in thirds. You’ll press or roll it out into a rectangle again and repeat the process.

After you’ve applied 3 sets of letter folds to the dough, you’ll roll it out into a 9×9 square that’s about 1 inch thick. Then, the dough is ready to cut into biscuits.

Make Ahead Instructions

Sage & gruyere biscuits are easy to prep in advance in several ways! Here are all the ways to prep homemade biscuits in advance:

Make the biscuits and freeze. Follow the recipe instructions up to cutting the biscuits into squares. Place the cut squares on a baking sheet and freeze for 2 hours. Transfer the biscuits to a ziplock bag once they’re frozen and store for up to 3 months. Defrost the biscuits overnight in the fridge laid out on a baking sheet. Bake straight from the fridge as directed.

Make an ingredient bag. This is a total restaurant trick! Mix all the ingredients except the buttermilk and cream in a large ziplock bag and store in the fridge overnight. Then, just dump the bag into the mixer in the morning and follow the directions as written.

Making Sage & Gruyere Biscuits Without a Mixer

While I use my stand mixer to make biscuits, there are alternative methods to making them.

Food processor: To a food processor, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and pepper. Pulse 2 to 3 times until combined. Add the cold butter, sage, and gruyere and pulse until pea-sized crumbles form. Add the buttermilk and heavy cream and pulse 6-8 times, or until a shaggy dough forms. Follow the rest of the recipe as directed.

Hand mixing: If you don’t have a food processor, use your hands to mix the dough! When adding the butter you’ll want to pinch the mixture until you get the same pea-size crumbles or use a pastry cutter to cut in the butter. After you mix the butter in, transfer the flour mixture to the freezer for 20 minutes before mixing in the buttermilk/cream and following the recipe as directed. Since your hands will warm the butter, this helps chill the ingredients before baking.

Storage & Reheating Instructions

After baking, sage & gruyere biscuits can be store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days or for 1 week in the fridge. Toast or bake for a couple of minutes before serving and brush with melted butter while still warm.

You can also freeze the baked biscuits for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight and toast or bake briefly in the oven to re-warm before serving.

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Homemade Sage & Gruyere Biscuits are the best way to elevate any meal! They’re perfect for brunch, dinner, or as a part of your Thanksgiving spread. If you do give this recipe a try, be sure to let me know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter and never miss a new recipe! You can also snap a photo & tag @JENNYGOYCOCHEA on Instagram. I LOVE hearing about & seeing your SMF creations!

More Thanksgiving Side Dishes to Try

Sour Cream and Onion Mashed Potatoes
Ham and Cheese Croissant Bake
Roasted Carrots with Whipped Feta
Homemade Green Bean Casserole
Fluffy Brioche Dinner Rolls

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