Are Popeyes' Beloved Biscuits Baked Fresh Or Frozen?

Every fast food joint has their thing: Chick-fil-A and Raising Cane's have (different) iconic sauces, Taco Bell has the Baja Blast, and McDonald's has those french fries. As for Popeyes? It's the beloved buttery biscuits that fans just can't get enough of. The side dish features flaky, disc-like, buttermilk-based biscuits (Say that five times fast) that come with most combos at the fast food chain. Of course, online dupes have been spread far and wide, letting biscuit believers whip up a batch from scratch at home to be served piping hot, fresh from the oven. But in the store, are the biscuits actually made fresh?

As with most fast food recipes, there are some specifics about the ingredients and processes used to make each chain's most popular items that, understandably, are kept tightly under wraps. The same is true for Popeyes biscuits, so it's hard to know for certain how they're made, or if it varies by establishment. At one point, they were certainly made fresh, but as demand has grown, many fast food establishments have switched to frozen biscuits — including McDonald's. And some people on Reddit think the same is true for Popeyes.

In recent years — specifically, during and post-pandemic — the amount of items being made from frozen rather than fresh at food establishments throughout the country has surged dramatically. According to a report from the American Frozen Food Institute, over 40% of food service groups reported more frozen food purchases in 2022 than in 2019. Burger King, Jack in the Box, and Sonic all serve burger patties cooked from frozen, and there have been other online claims that biscuits or breads are also cooked from frozen dough that's prepped in advance.

Cooking items from frozen helps ensure consistency, and increases efficiency for busy restaurants. The good news is that these frozen items usually aren't very old; maybe waiting a week or two in a freezer before they make their way to your plate. But, that said, freezing food can impact some of an item's flavor. Still, despite the fact that the Popeyes biscuits are likely (though not certainly) frozen at some point during the process, that hasn't stopped them from topping the list of fan favorites, and keeping customers driving to the nearest storefront to get in their craving for the joint's unbeatable flaky staple.

Want to be really, really sure your buttermilk biscuits are made fresh? You can make canned biscuits in your air fryer.