Gluten-Free Strawberry Shortcake Biscuits

Name: Gluten-Free Strawberry Shortcake Biscuits
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 17 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 1 shortcake
Ingredients: 2 pounds fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced; 6 tablespoons granulated sugar; 1 pouch (12.3 oz) Pamela's Gluten-Free Buttermilk Drop Biscuit Mix; 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, for the biscuits; 1 cup cold water; 2 tablespoons heavy cream, for brushing; 1 tablespoon coarse sugar, for sprinkling; 1 cup heavy cream, well chilled; 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, for the whipped cream; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

on Oct 13 2026

Table of Contents

Strawberry shortcake made with a biscuit is not a shortcut or a variation. It is the original. The little sponge cake cups in the grocery store showed up decades later, and they are the compromise, not the tradition.

A biscuit is the right base because it holds up. It soaks in the strawberry juice without turning to mush, it splits clean, and the slight salt in it makes the berries taste more like themselves.

These use a pouch of Pamela's Buttermilk Drop Biscuit Mix, so there is no rolling, no cutting, and no cold butter to work in. Cold water, a spoon, and about fifteen minutes.

The strawberries do most of the work, and they do it while you are doing something else. Crush some with sugar, let them sit, and they make their own sauce. So good, no one will guess they are gluten-free, the way Pamela's has done it since 1988.

Can You Use Biscuits for Strawberry Shortcake?

Yes, and you should. This is how the dish was made before anyone thought to sell sponge cake cups.

A biscuit holds its structure under the berries. Sponge cake absorbs juice and collapses into something you eat with a spoon. A biscuit stays a biscuit long enough to eat it as intended, with a fork, in layers.

What makes a biscuit right for shortcake:

A little sweetness helps but is not essential. A plain buttermilk biscuit works beautifully, and the contrast between a savory biscuit and sweet berries is the version a lot of people prefer. Adding a few tablespoons of sugar to the dough moves it toward what most people picture. Both are correct.

Drop biscuits work better than cut ones here, which is convenient. The craggy top gives the whipped cream something to hold onto, and the softer crumb takes the juice without falling apart.

Buttermilk matters. The slight tang is what keeps a sweetened biscuit from tasting flat under sweet fruit.

On canned biscuit dough: there is no gluten-free version. Every refrigerated tube on the shelf is wheat. A drop biscuit mix is the closest equivalent and it takes about ninety seconds to stir together.

Making the Strawberry Sauce

You do not cook it. The sugar does the work while you make everything else.

Slice 2 pounds of strawberries. Put about a third of them in a bowl with 6 tablespoons of sugar and crush them with a potato masher or a fork. Not to a puree, just broken up enough to release their juice.

Let them sit at least 30 minutes. The sugar draws the juice out and you end up with a loose, syrupy sauce, entirely from the fruit.

Stir the remaining sliced berries in right before serving. Those stay fresh and firm, so every spoonful has both sauce and whole fruit.

Two things worth knowing. Do not add all the berries at the start or everything goes soft and you lose the texture contrast. And the sauce keeps in the refrigerator up to 2 days, but add the fresh slices the day you serve.

A squeeze of lemon brightens it if your strawberries are less than perfect, which most supermarket strawberries are.

Sweetening the Biscuits

Pamela's Buttermilk Drop Biscuit Mix is a savory biscuit mix, made for gravy and breakfast sandwiches. For shortcake, a little sugar moves it where you want it.

Stir 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar into the dry mix before the water goes in. That is enough to read as a dessert biscuit without making it a cookie.

Brush the tops with heavy cream and sprinkle coarse sugar before baking. This is the step that makes them look like they came from somewhere, and it adds a crackly sweet top that plain biscuits do not have.

The mix these are built on Pamela's Gluten-Free Buttermilk Drop Biscuit Mix Real buttermilk in the mix, just add cold water. Bound with guar gum rather than xanthan. GFCO-certified gluten-free and kosher.

Make them bigger than usual. A generous 1/3 cup scoop gives you 8 shortcakes rather than 12 side biscuits, which is the right size to split and fill.

Leave the sugar out if you prefer. A plain buttermilk biscuit under sweet berries is the older version of this dish and plenty of people like it better.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 17 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes with macerating

Yield 8 shortcakes

Serving Size 1 shortcake

Ingredients

2 pounds fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 pouch (12.3 oz) Pamela's Gluten-Free Buttermilk Drop Biscuit Mix
3 tablespoons granulated sugar, for the biscuits
1 cup cold water
2 tablespoons heavy cream, for brushing
1 tablespoon coarse sugar, for sprinkling
1 cup heavy cream, well chilled
3 tablespoons granulated sugar, for the whipped cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Shop Gluten-Free Original Buttermilk Drop Biscuit Mix

Directions

Put about a third of the sliced strawberries in a bowl with 6 tablespoons of sugar and crush them with a potato masher or fork, just enough to release the juice. Set aside at least 30 minutes.
Heat the oven to 425 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Set that sheet inside a second sheet pan, which keeps the bottoms from over-browning.
Stir 3 tablespoons of sugar into the dry biscuit mix. Add the cold water and stir just until the dry mix disappears, about fifteen stirs. The dough should look shaggy with a few dry spots.
Drop 8 generous 1/3 cup mounds onto the sheet, about 2 inches apart, dipping the scoop in cold water between portions. Do not flatten them.
Brush the tops with heavy cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Bake 16 to 18 minutes, until golden. Cool 10 minutes.
While the biscuits bake, whip the chilled cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar and the vanilla. Start on medium-low until it thickens, then increase to high and whip 1 to 2 minutes more, until it holds a stable peak.
Stir the remaining sliced strawberries into the macerated ones.
Split each biscuit, spoon strawberries and sauce over the bottom half, add whipped cream, and set the top half on. Serve right away.

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Gluten-Free Original Buttermilk Drop Biscuit Mix

Recipe Tips & Notes

The Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream, 3 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla. Whip on medium-low until it starts to thicken, then increase to high and go another minute or two until it holds a stable peak.

Start on medium-low. Going straight to high incorporates large bubbles that collapse, and the cream ends up looser than it should be.

Chill the bowl and the beaters if you have twenty minutes. Cold cream whips faster and holds longer.

Stop at stable peaks. A few seconds past that and you are on your way to butter. If it does go grainy, a splash of fresh cream whisked in by hand will usually bring it back.

It holds in the refrigerator up to 2 days, and it can be piped into serving-sized mounds and frozen if you want to get ahead.

Common Gluten-Free Biscuit Mistakes

Warm liquid. The fat in the mix has to stay solid until it hits the oven, where it turns to steam and lifts the biscuit. Cold water, every time.

Overmixing. Stop while the dough is still shaggy with a few dry spots, about fifteen stirs. This is the most common reason biscuits come out flat and tough.

Pressing the mounds down. A tall craggy mound bakes taller. Flattening costs you height for nothing.

An oven that is not fully preheated. Biscuits depend on immediate high heat. Going in early means a slow rise.

Opening the oven early. The first ten minutes are when the lift happens.

Mixing the dough ahead. The leavening starts the moment water hits it, and a dough that sat bakes flat.

One more for gluten-free specifically: if your biscuits taste gritty, the flour blend is too coarsely milled. Pamela's mixes use finely milled rice flour and guar gum rather than xanthan, which some people find easier to digest and which gives a softer set.

Make-Ahead and Storing

The biscuits cool completely and keep at room temperature in an airtight container up to 2 days. Refresh at 350 degrees F for 4 to 5 minutes before serving.

The unbaked dough freezes well. Drop the mounds onto a sheet pan, freeze solid, then bag. Bake from frozen at 425 degrees F, adding 3 to 4 minutes. This is the better make-ahead.

The strawberry sauce keeps refrigerated up to 2 days. Add the fresh sliced berries the day you serve, not before.

The whipped cream holds 2 days refrigerated, or pipe it into mounds and freeze.

Do not assemble ahead. A filled shortcake has about fifteen minutes before the biscuit starts to give up. Set out the components and let people build their own, which is more fun anyway.

What This Contains

These shortcakes contain milk and soy.

Milk comes from the buttermilk, butter powder, and whey in the mix, plus the cream for brushing and the whipped cream. Soy comes from soy flour and soy lecithin. Both are core ingredients, so this mix cannot be made dairy-free or vegan.

If you need dairy-free, our Biscuit & Scone Mix contains no milk and no soy and lets you add your own fat and liquid. For the topping, chilled full-fat coconut cream whips well, and the coconut flavor suits strawberries.

Eggs and tree nuts are not ingredients here, but Pamela's products are made on equipment that processes both.

Every Pamela's product is certified by the Gluten-Free Certification Organization, made in a certified gluten-free, peanut-free facility, and certified kosher.

Other Recipe Notes

The 30 minutes of macerating happens while the biscuits bake and the cream whips, so the recipe takes about 20 minutes of actual work.

Leave the 3 tablespoons of sugar out of the biscuits for the traditional savory version. Both are correct.

Add the fresh sliced strawberries just before serving. Adding them all at the start softens everything and you lose the texture.

To freeze the biscuits unbaked, drop the mounds onto a sheet pan, freeze solid, then bag. Bake from frozen at 425 degrees F, adding 3 to 4 minutes.

Adapted from Gluten-Free Strawberry Shortcake by Mama Gourmand.

Recipe FAQs

Yes, and biscuit shortcake is the original version of the dish. The sponge cake cups sold in grocery stores came much later. A biscuit holds its structure under the juice instead of collapsing, splits cleanly, and the slight salt makes the berries taste brighter.

No. Every refrigerated or canned biscuit dough on the shelf is wheat-based, and there is no gluten-free version. A drop biscuit mix is the closest equivalent and takes about ninety seconds to stir together with cold water. The unbaked mounds also freeze well if you want them on hand.

Either works and it is genuinely a preference. Three tablespoons of sugar stirred into the dry mix gives you a dessert biscuit closer to what most people picture. Leaving it out gives you the older, more Southern version, where a plain buttermilk biscuit contrasts with the sweet berries.

Crush about a third of your sliced strawberries with sugar and let them sit at least 30 minutes. The sugar pulls the juice out and makes a syrupy sauce on its own. Stir the remaining fresh slices in just before serving so you get both sauce and firm fruit.

The components yes, the assembled dessert no. Biscuits keep 2 days at room temperature, the sauce 2 days refrigerated, and whipped cream 2 days or frozen in piped mounds. Assemble at the table, since a filled shortcake has about fifteen minutes before the biscuit softens.