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These Gluten Free Cheese Scones are the perfect savoury bake – soft and fluffy with a crispy cheese topping. They’re perfect served warm slathered with butter for a savoury afternoon tea or alongside a bowl of hearty soup for a light lunch.
The BEST and EASIEST Gluten Free Cheese Scones
- Why choose this recipe? Not only does this gluten free cheese scones recipe have 100+ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reviews, it’s also SO ridiculously easy to make. The perfect gluten free bake for beginners!
- Top Tip: Gluten free scones don’t rise as much as ‘normal’ scones, so make sure you don’t roll them too thin before cutting. They are also best served warm – my personal preference is with lots of butter! They’re also great for dipping in a bowl of tomato soup.
- Flour of choice: I always use the FREEE Self-Raising Gluten Free Flour for this but you can also use a plain gluten free flour or all purpose flour with baking powder – see the recipe notes for the full quantities.
- Updated for 2025: I’ve been making gluten free scones for years, and I thoight this post deserved some love since it was published in 2019. It now has new step-by-step photos and a recipe video (May 2025) to guide you.
Table of Contents
- The BEST and EASIEST Gluten Free Cheese Scones
- Ingredients and Substitutions
- Don’t just take my word for it…
- How to Make Gluten Free Cheese Scones
- Storing and Freezing Instructions
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Savoury Gluten Free Bakes
- Gluten Free Cheese Scones Recipe Recipe
- More Gluten Free Afternoon Tea Recipes
Ingredients and Substitutions
There’s a printable recipe card below for these gluten free cheese scones, with the full quantities. But here are the main ingredients and ideas for any swaps.
- Self-Raising Gluten Free Flour: If you don’t have self-raising flour you’ll need to use a plain or all purpose gluten free flour blend with 3 tsp gluten free baking powder – in addition to the extra baking powder in the recipe.
- Unsalted Butter: This recipe works best if the butter is cold. You can use a vegan margarine for dairy free cheese scones, but the mixture will be stickier.
- Egg: A lot of ‘normal’ scone recipes don’t use an egg but I find gluten free scones benefit from having an egg to add moisture.
- Milk: Use a dairy free milk like soya or gluten free oat milk for a dairy free recipe.
- Mature Cheddar Cheese: Use vegan cheese for gluten and dairy free cheese scones.
- Xanthan Gum: Even if your flour already has xanthan gum in I recommend still adding this as it really helps with the texture in gluten free baking.
- Wholegrain Mustard: This is optional and can easily be removed if you don’t like or can’t eat mustard.
Don’t just take my word for it…
Tania left ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and said: “These are absolutely the best. Thank you. I cook up a half batch in my air fryer.”
How to Make Gluten Free Cheese Scones
There’s a printable recipe card below with the method. But here are some step-by-step photos to show you how easy this gluten free cheese scones recipe is to make.
Preheat the oven to 200C / Fan 180C / Gas Mark 6 and line a baking tray with a sheet of parchment paper.
Add the butter to a large mixing bowl and sift in the gluten free flour, baking powder and xanthan gum, plus a good sprinkle of salt and pepper. Using your fingers, rub the mix together until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the milk to a jug and then crack in an egg and beat lightly until combined. Pour into the flour mix.
Add the mustard, and the cheese (reserve a small handful for topping) and use a wooden spoon to bring the mix together. As soon as it comes together as a dough, lightly flour the worktop and turn it out.
Knead the dough a couple of times to bring it together (you don’t want to over-knead) then use your hands to bring the dough into a circle.
Flatten using your hands (or a rolling pin) to approx 5cm thick. Using a 7-8cm fluted cutter, cut out 12 circles from the dough.
When you run out, just roughly bring the leftovers together and flatten again – don’t keep kneading in between, it doesn’t matter if they’re a bit rustic!
Place the circles on the lined baking tray with a 2cm gap between them. Brush each scone with a little milk and then sprinkle with a little grated cheese.
Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until golden on top. Cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes before serving warm.
Storing and Freezing Instructions
TO STORE: Allow the scones to cool completely the store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-5 days. I recommend reheating before serving.
TO FREEZE: You can also freeze these for up to 6 months. Defrost at room temperature then reheat to serve warm.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some FAQs about this easy cheese scones recipe. If you can’t find the answer to your question here or in the post above, please comment and I’ll try answer!
Gluten free cheese scones don’t rise as much as ‘normal’ scones do. That’s why it’s important to make sure you don’t roll the dough too thin.
Instead, roll the dough out to around 5cm and you’ll have lovely thick scones to start with. Often if your scones are too flat, you’ve either over-worked the mixture or rolled them too thin to start off with.
More Savoury Gluten Free Bakes
If you like this Gluten Free Cheese Scones recipe then make sure you check out these other gluten free baking recipes too…
- Gluten Free Scones (Plain)
- Gluten Free Mini Cheddars
- Gluten Free Pastry
- Gluten Free Bread
- Gluten Free Welsh Cakes
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Gluten Free Cheese Scones Recipe
Ingredients
- 300 g self-raising gluten free flour, (plus extra for dusting – see notes if using plain gluten free flour)
- 50 g unsalted butter, (cold, cut into cubes)
- 100 g Cheddar cheese, (grated)
- 1 large egg
- 100 ml semi-skimmed milk, (plus extra for brushing)
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 heaped tsp wholegrain mustard, (optional)
- Salt and pepper, (to taste)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200'C / Fan 180C / Gas Mark 6 and line a baking tray with a sheet of baking paper. Set aside while you make the scone mix.
- Add the butter to a large mixing bowl and sift in the gluten free flour, baking powder and xanthan gum, plus a good sprinkle of salt and pepper. Using your fingers, rub the mix together until it resembles breadcrumbs.
- Add the milk to a jug and then crack in an egg and beat lightly until combined. Pour into the flour mix. Add the mustard, and the cheese (reserve a small handful for topping) and use a wooden spoon to bring the mix together. As soon as it comes together as a dough, lightly flour the worktop and turn it out.
- Knead the dough a couple of times to bring it together (you don't want to over-knead) then use your hands to bring the dough into a circle. Flatten using your hands (or a rolling pin) to approx 5cm thick. Using a 7-8cm fluted cutter, cut out 12 circles from the dough. When you run out, just roughly bring the leftovers together and flatten again – don't keep kneading in between, it doesn't matter if they're a bit rustic!
- Place the circles on the lined baking tray with a 2cm gap between them. Brush each scone with a little milk and then sprinkle with a little grated cheese. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until golden on top. Cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes before serving warm.
Video
Notes
- Plain Flour Option: If you only have plain or all purpose gluten free flour, add 3 tsp gluten free baking powder and mix well before using, to make your own gluten free self-raising flour.
- Storing: The scones will keep for 2-3 days in an airtight container. If not eating fresh from the oven, I recommend giving them a 10-second blast in the microwave before serving. These can also be frozen.
- Weighing Scales vs Cups: You can toggle this recipe card to convert the ingredients into cups/imperial. However, I always recommend using weighing scales – these are cheap to buy and much more accurate. And in gluten free baking, a tiny variation can make a huge difference!
- Step-by-Step Photos: Check out the blog post above for step-by-step photos to guide you through how this recipe should look at each stage.
- Like this Recipe? It would mean SO much to me if you could leave a 5* rating and a little comment sharing how much you loved this Cheese Scones recipe! It really helps to support my website and get my recipes out there xx
Nutrition
More Gluten Free Afternoon Tea Recipes
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These are absolutely the best. Thank you. I cook up a half batch in my airfryer
can these be cook in an airfryer?
If you love this recipe, please leave a comment and let everyone know! xx
I batch bake these cheese scones every month.
I love them and many more of your recipes.
My cheese scone recipe, tried and tested over the years has almost the same weight of cheese as flour. 8ozs flour and 7.5ozs cheese! If it’s going to be cheesy, it’s cheesy, right?
Great recipe worked out well
5stars fir sure
I made a batch today. Very easy recipe and scones were light and delicious.
Thank you, so glad you liked them!!
Cheese scone mixture so easy to do. My friends enjoyed them not realising they
Were gluten free
Fantastic scones…so easy to make and cook in the air fryer.
Husband is devouring his second scone already. So quick and easy to make. Thank you for the lovely recipe Sarah.