Cookie

The Biscuits on 'Ted Lasso' Are Legendary—& We Got the Recipe

One bite will make you as happy as a goldfish.

October  6, 2021
Photo by Courtesy of Apple TV

After a year and a half of living in a global pandemic, the world was desperate for a bright spot. Enter: Ted Lasso, season two. Even if you haven’t watched an episode because you refuse to download yet another streaming service, you’ve certainly heard of the award-winning, feel-good show on Apple TV. But trust me, this one is worth seeking out. To quote the man himself, "I feel like we fell out of the lucky tree and hit every branch on the way down, ended up in a pool of cash and Sour Patch Kids." That’s how I feel about the 30-minutes of heartwarming television that we’re graced with every Friday.

We got even luckier recently because Apple TV shared the official recipe for Ted Lasso’s biscuits. And with the season two finale just days away, there’s no better time to time to test out out the famous Ted Lasso Biscuit recipe. But according to Ted, these cookies—“or biscuits, as y’all call them over here”—are not to be smothered in gravy. They’re best served with tea, aka garbage water. Bake a batch and soon enough, you too may be having Biscuits With the Boss.

What’s So Great About These Biscuits?

Loyal Lasso fans will admit that biscuits are a thread in each episode. Every morning, Ted enters the office of Rebecca Welton (played by Hannah Waddingham), the fictional owner of the also fictional football club AFC Richmond. He hands her a little pink cardboard box filled with half a dozen biscuits; she immediately cracks it open and stuffs a biscuit in her mouth. It’s funny and out of character for the perfectly polished professional to take bite after bite of the sweet biscuits, ignoring the buttery crumbs that fall on her silk blouse. At first, Ted doesn’t reveal to Rebecca that the biscuits aren’t store-bought but rather, baked from scratch by the football coach himself. The biscuits are a way for Ted to break through Rebecca’s tough exterior and get to her soft core, the way you would with any good cookie.

Like many iconic moments from the show’s first two seasons, the internet became obsessed with recreating the biscuit recipe on TikTok. There are a few different recipes floating around, but this is the official Ted Lasso biscuit recipe, courtesy of pro-baker Jason Sudekis Apple TV.

How to Make Ted Lasso Biscuit Recipes

Ted’s a simple man, so it only makes sense that his biscuits would be too. These are a pretty classic, buttery shortbread. All it takes is four basic ingredients—two cups all-purpose flour, ¾ cup powdered sugar, one cup of softened unsalted butter, and ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt—to make the biscuits that won over Rebecca...and every Apple TV subscriber.

To start, preheat the oven to 300℉ and butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter for three to five minutes until it’s light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, being careful not to get sugar all over your countertops and yourself. Next, add sifted flour and salt and mix until the dough comes together. Transfer the dough to the pan and flatten it using your hands or a metal measuring cup to ensure that it’s spread evenly. Now you have to practice patience. The dough needs to chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and then bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until it looks golden-brown but is still a little soft to the touch. Once the biscuits have finished baking, take the pan out of the oven and let it cool completely before cutting them into Ted’s signature slices and serving (in a pink cardboard box, of course).

How Do They Taste?

To misquote Dani Rojas, biscuits are life. Immediately after I baked a batch and pulled them from the oven, I sprinkled them with sanding sugar because that’s what Ted does. Are they the best I’ve ever tasted? No. But they’re soft on the inside, chewy on the outside, and buttery all the way through. The recipe is uncomplicated, a little old-fashioned, and totally dependable—just like Ted.

Are you obsessed with ‘Ted Lasso’ like the rest of the world? Softening butter as we speak? Spread the love in the comments below!

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • CliffG
    CliffG
  • carswell
    carswell
  • Cheffzilla
    Cheffzilla
  • Tucker & Me
    Tucker & Me
  • Marilyn Harter
    Marilyn Harter
Former Food52 Staff Editor

106 Comments

CliffG March 13, 2023
Shortbread has been one of my signatures for pot lucks, party contirbutions, etc. For over 30 years. My recipe is a 3 ingredient simple one: 4c flour, 1c sugar and 1# butter, sometimes 1/2 t salt. I've found the quality of the butter is critical and nothing works as well as the 1# blocks of Plugra butter. The 1/2# Plugra is different. I've tried many differrtn butters from other countries as well but the 1# brick is the best solution. My professional pastry and kitchen chefs agree. I do not chill the dough, mix it with a knife blade in a food processor in two half-batches and press it into a ~9 x 13 glass pan, bake at 350 for browner, lower temp to make it more cake-like. This is not as tall as Ted's--could use a smaller pan if you want it taller.
 
[email protected] March 22, 2023
Thank you for sharing your precious recipe! I think I’ll try yours during Easter. ❤️
 
carswell March 13, 2023
They are a classic shortbread - and identical to the recipe I got from my late MIL. I love shortbread.
 
Cheffzilla March 11, 2023
Recipe is almost perfect. I make mine exactly like this, but add 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp almond extract. Two more layers of subtle flavor that make the biscuits sing.
 
Tucker &. December 19, 2022
So a dear friend loaned me one of those lovely wooden embossing (I think that’s the right word 🤦🏻‍♀️) rolling pins. Could I use it with this recipe after the dough was chilled. I was thinking I could press it onto parchment in the pan with enough of an overhang to lift it out once chilled, roll it a bit then fit it back into the pan without the paper. Am I nuts??
 
Penny P. March 11, 2023
No, the dough is too soft. When I make sugar cookies to use my carved rolling pins I make a regular recipe but replace 1/4c flour with 1/4 cup potato starch/flour. After embossing and cutting out your cookies chill them well on the baking pan (with cookies on parchment paper on pan) before baking. After finished allow to cool a bit before removing to a cooling rack.
 
Paula March 13, 2023
I disagree with Penny. For one, she is giving advice for sugar cookies and this is a shortbread recipe. Shortbread is traditionally embossed, so while I've never made this particular recipe, yes, I think you could successfully emboss them. Worth a try, anyway.
 
Marilyn H. December 19, 2022
Your recipe doesn't include vanilla but the Tik Tok video mentioned in the article shows 1 tsp of vanilla added. What is correct?
 
Barbara C. October 21, 2022
In the 1800's, Queen Victoria was served Scottish Shortbread in Scotland that had an egg in the recipe. Recipes change over generations to include or exclude different ingredients. Please make a recipe according to how you like it and don't slavishly copy a recipe because someone tells you that THIS recipe is the only one, the be all and the end all. I am nearing 78 next month, have studied food chemistry when young and have made studying food in general a life long passion ever since. Add coloured sprinkles if you like; add vanilla if you like; add an egg if you like; use fruit sugar; use icing sugar; use rice flour; use corn starch; use chocolate chips; use silver dragees. But please don't become a recipe nazi. Food is meant to be enjoyed first and foremost!
 
Penny P. March 11, 2023
Recipe nazi! Really! If posts like this get people baking for themselves, great! If they are a novice they have a perfect forum here to ask questions. Try to be a little kinder please.
 
Tracie March 12, 2023
Simmer down—it’s just an expression {eyeroll}. She’s not accusing anyone of anything and thus she doesn’t merit being shushed about kindness for pete’s sake. She’s encouraging creativity and relying on your gut when baking instead of being rigid. There’s nothing unkind in her post.
 
Rachel March 13, 2023
Please consider the use of this ugly noun and how it lands on people whose people suffered under the Nazi regime. I get so tired of people using it thoughtlessly, even though I know they don’t mean any harm. And, I agree with the underlying message of this poster 100 percent! We need more creativity and freedom in the kitchen. Don’t worry about wonky deviations. Live and learn and laugh about them.
 
KB October 21, 2022
Calm down, people. It is just a Plain Shortbread recipe. The same recipe and same way they have been making it for ages now. What's wrong with people raising all the hells for usual stuff nowadays?!
 
Barbara C. October 21, 2022
actually there are many recipes for shortbread. Make it the way you like it.
 
[email protected] January 10, 2022
Will you PLEASE edit the favorites pull-down menu so I can save to
DESSERTS
Instead of deserts
 
Barbara C. October 21, 2022
h to find shortbread in a desert -- my one passion left in life!!! hahaha
 
Paula January 3, 2022
If you think you don't like shortbread, you didn't have enough salt. The salt is what brings out the flavor of the butter. Don't skimp. (I actually use salted butter, which contains a lot more salt than this recipe.)
 
judy December 19, 2022
I only bake with salted butter. I know, it is against all the recommendations. But it makes the better in the recipe taste better. I then reduce the amount I use in the actual recipe.
 
[email protected] March 22, 2023
Agreed. Unsalted butter is a travesty against nature!
 
Sandra R. October 28, 2021
Hello people: Shortbread never should have or should have, vanilla. Sugar cookies and butter cookies have vanilla and egg yolk. Shortbread’s flavor is from flour, butter and just enough sugar. This recipe is perfect as is. I cut before baking and again out of the oven as it creates crisp straight edges.
 
Vikita17 October 22, 2021
Personally I like a little honey on top instead of sugar, like Churches does. Probably heat the honey with a little butter and brush on while still hot from oven.
 
ka October 21, 2021
Sooo, if these aren’t the best you ever tasted, which ones are?
 
ellen October 21, 2021
So, if you bake by volume, it's 2 parts flour, 1 part butter, and powdered sugar to your taste (1/4 - 3/4 part - I go with the least), plus a pinch of salt and a tsp vanilla (if you wish). Variation: replace some of the flour with ground almonds and press sliced almonds into the top before baking
 
[email protected] October 21, 2021
Honestly, I make many different kind of cookies but, my shortbread cookies are always the winner even over chocolate chip. Thanks for the suggestion. I will definitely try your suggestion.
 
AdventureGirl October 19, 2021
When chilling the dough, is it chilled in the pan that will be placed into the oven? Or should I flatten the dough and then remove it from the pan for refrigeration? I've always used a non-cold pan for baking. Should the dough and pan be brought to room temperature prior to being placed in the oven?
 
Barbara C. October 19, 2021
I have always chilled the dough before rolling out - like pastry. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate maybe a half an hour. Then roll and cut. It cuts much better when it is cold. Place on baking pan and away you go.
 
Kelly V. October 20, 2021
For this recipe, the dough should be pressed directly in the pan and then chilled. No need to bring the dough or pan to room temperature before baking!
 
Chez.Chel October 15, 2021
Ted Lasso may be a grown-up version of a sit-com but everything about it defies the label. The writing. The freshness. The comedic timing and talent of these actors. On my second pass through two seasons, it's lucky I'm seated on a sofa; I might just laugh my ass off. We can't miss the irony that Apple, the company that might actually make the planet spin faster one day, produced this heart-warming gem, almost retro in its sincerity. "Releasing" the biscuit recipe is pure genius PR. Feta Pasta made Finland run out of the cheese. Will the world now run out of butter?
 
Barbara C. October 15, 2021
the world might not run out of butter but it seems that it might run out of truck drivers to get it to market.
 
Chez.Chel January 11, 2022
true that... lots of empty shelves here in western CT
 
Felis October 14, 2021
But Hannah said the biscuits were awful… 🤣
 
MarinLover January 9, 2022
Hannah said they were awful one time, and Ted revealed that he may have mistaken salt for the sugar.
 
Aris S. October 14, 2021
Thank you for this recipe and all the funny comments about the show which I love! Who wouldn't love Ted Lasso?! My mouth was truly watering each time Rebecca literally shoved a biscuit in her mouth. Can't wait to try the recipe and even use some of the suggestions.
 
Kelly V. October 15, 2021
Totally agree with other commenters who recommended good butter and vanilla. Hope they turn out delicious and you love them as much as the show!
 
Paula January 3, 2022
No vanilla!!! That's a whole different flavor.
 
KB October 21, 2022
yes, then, it becomes Vanilla Shortbread ;-)
 
Geegee October 14, 2021
The recipe starts with pre-heating the oven. However, the dough needs to be refrigerated for 30 min. Would it be more energy efficient to pre-heat the oven while the dough is in the fridge?
 
Kelly V. October 15, 2021
That's a great idea!
 
sadenis October 14, 2021
I haven’t made these ones yet, but I grew up in Canada eating British shortbread and the list of ingredients is indeed accurate. Good butter is key. Extra typically sweetening ingredients are North American additions to make shortbread into a “cookie” which it is most definitely not. It may be underwhelming to our palate but the taste of good butter will shine through. Enjoy. I’ll be making these for the next family gathering.
 
Kelly V. October 15, 2021
Good butter makes everything better!
 
Kelle October 15, 2021
Agreed, this is the same as my family's traditional Christmas shortbread cookies. My grandfather would make them as a dropped, pressed cookie with glace cherries but I would either roll them out and cut them in shapes or roll the dough into a log and cut slices of the refrigerated dough.
 
Kelly V. October 15, 2021
What a sweet memory! Thanks for sharing Kelle.
 
Vikita17 October 22, 2021
Try warm honey on top instead of sugar.
 
Jennifer October 14, 2021
Hands down the best shortbread!
 
Kelly V. October 15, 2021
Love to hear that!