This Pantry Staple Makes Near-Instant Strawberry Shortcakes (Yes, Please!)

When I was growing up, I thought the only way to make pancakes was with a box of Bisquick. It was the only way I’d ever had them! For my parents, Bisquick was the ultimate time- and ingredient-saver, effortlessly giving baked goods rise and rich, delicious flavor.

These days, Bisquick isn’t an ingredient I often keep on hand, but on the rare occasion I do cook with it (like when I tried these chicken tenders) it always surprises me with its uniquely rich flavor. Plus, that yellow box always makes me nostalgic for the pancakes I ate growing up.

With that said, it was without hesitation that I added the Bisquick Strawberry Shortcake recipe to my shortcake showdown lineup. This recipe has a 4.5-star rating from upwards of 600 votes, and many reviews describe it as “perfect.” How would it hold up to from-scratch shortcakes? I tried it to find out.

Get the recipe: Bisquick Strawberry Shortcake

You’ll start by heating your oven to 425°F. Combine sliced strawberries with granulated sugar and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine Bisquick, milk, sugar, and melted butter and stir until a soft dough forms. Drop the dough into six mounds on an ungreased baking sheet and bake until golden-brown. Whip 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream. Split the shortcakes in half, then fill and top with strawberries and whipped cream.

Let me start by saying that this recipe comes together very quickly. Thanks to the Bisquick, the ingredient list consists of just seven ingredients for all three components, and the whole thing is ready in less than 30 minutes.

When I pulled the shortcakes out of the oven, I was happy to see that they looked like really nice craggy drop biscuits! When I cut into them, I noticed they were more crumbly than the other biscuits I made, but this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It just meant that more pieces fell off when cutting the shortcakes with a fork.

As far as the flavor, let me start by saying I have a very sensitive palate. When I eat Bisquick, I immediately taste all those extra-hard-to-pronounce ingredients. But after about two bites, the flavor shifted to the delicious, deeply creamy flavor that Bisquick lends to everything it touches. In fact, these biscuits had a crave-worthy milky quality that none of the other shortcakes could compete with.

The strawberries and cream components were good, but nothing special. All in all, I enjoyed this strawberry shortcake, but it didn’t blow me away.

1. Sprinkle the biscuits with sugar. Sprinkling the tops of the biscuits with sugar before baking would give them a lovely crunch and sparkling finish.
2. Use buttermilk instead of milk. If you have buttermilk on hand, use it in place of milk to lend a bit of welcomed tang.
3. Flavor the whipped cream. The strawberries and cream component of these shortcakes was pretty run-of-the-mill. Try flavoring the whipped cream for some added excitement.

Rating: 7/10

Have you ever made Bisquick Strawberrry Shortcakes? Let us know in the comments!