Product Review: Gluten Free Bisquick Pancake and Baking Mix

First Published September 28, 2010

Update: General Mills Gluten Free Bisquick is still a big part of my cooking and baking. So this post is still good today.

Thanks for reading. September, 2025

Eating Pancakes

Original Post: Bisquick, the pre-mix packaged product for baking, was introduced by General Mills in 1931. Now, in 2010, General Mills offers Gluten Free Bisquick Pancake and Baking Mix, and I decided to test it against my own pancake mix.

Gluten Free Bisquick is available in a 16 oz package, and the cost at my local supermarket was $5.99. On the back of the package, the pancake recipe calls for 1 cup of the mix, 1 cup of milk, 2 tbsp of vegetable oil and 1 egg. That recipe yields 10 pancakes.

I made up a batch of Bisquick pancakes and served them to my son, asking him first if they tasted good, and then if they were better than mine.

Now, he may be biased because I am, after all, his mother, but he said the Bisquick pancakes were good -he gave them an exuberant thumbs up- but he claimed mine were better.

I had tasted the pancakes on trial here and found them to be quite tasty. They were a little denser than those from my own mix and so had a little more texture. But the taste was spot on, equal to that of any pancake house.

The most attractive feature of this mix is the convenience factor. Though I make up my own mixes and store them for use, there are times when I'm caught short. Having a mix on hand, ready to use, that tastes good and isn't expensive is a real boon for those who cook gluten free.

Disclaimer: I did not receive this product as a promotional item or for review from the producing company. I paid for it myself.

Olive Oil Cake and Cereal

First Published May 3, 2010

Update: The gluten-free market, the 'clean eating' market, and the 'bake it from scratch' market are all changing, rapidly. But I've noticed in a couple of my local stores that these specialty items are sometimes no longer available. I guess it just depends on what's on social media at any given moment. When you have to cook in this contemporary way, these on-again, off-again trends can be disruptive.

Thanks for reading. September, 2025

Original Post: Baked goods are usually well received in my household and I like to try new things. I recently tried to bake an olive oil cake, a cake supposedly better for us low-fat dieters because there's no butter in it, just a healthy dose of olive oil.

Well, I made the cake and had a hell of time getting it out of the pan, but did manage, though it was a bit broken up. When my husband, that less-than-tolerant food tester, tried it, he said it was all right but tasted like it needed butter.

I did not consider the cake a success. This is something I've learned over the years, that to be a good cook you need to accept that not all your efforts will result in good stuff to eat. And you just have to let that go.

On the gluten-free front, General Mills is looking to get its share of the food sensitivity market. In stores now, you can find gluten-free Chex cereals. We tried the Cinnamon Chex, made from whole grain rice. It's very good and if you're not a fan of cinnamon, there's gluten free Corn Chex as well.

As the mainstream companies move in on these markets, I noticed that the mainstream supermarkets devote a little less room to the smaller pioneering companies' products, with one exception. Sprouts Farmers Market does not carry Betty Crocker mixes or General Mills cereals.

The convenience of having gluten-free packaged foods in the supermarket is undoubtedly a boon for us contemporary cooks who need to provide specialized diets for our loved ones. But are these giants of the food industry going to hurt the pioneers who so diligently worked to provide convenient mixes that are preservative and additive free?

What happens to these smaller companies, now that the Big Dogs are moving into the marketplace?

Betty Crocker's Gluten Free Mixes

First published on March 1, 2010

Update: Betty Crocker is still a stand-out gluten free product, but the cost now can be a bit much; I've seen prices as high as eight dollars for single box of yellow cake mix. 

The gluten free market is expanding, and Betty may find consumers are looking at other options. In the original post, I note the price for a box is under five dollars. Not anymore. And now I often opt for a lesser known, less expensive brand, and they are often comparable in flavor and texture.

Yes, Betty Crocker is the standard, but as you shop, keep an eye out for other gluten free mixes. Because it shouldn't have to cost more to eat, just because you have a medical condition.

Thanks for reading. September, 2025

Gluten free baking mixes have been available on the market for a few years now. Many of the manufacturers were small companies, and the products were marketed in specialty shops or online. And they were, and still are, quite expensive.

Enter Betty Crocker, a leader in the industry and a 900-pound gorilla in the gluten free product market.

Not only are the boxed mixes less expensive, under five dollars, the resulting baked goods taste every bit as good as their wheat-based counterparts. 

The brownies I made up from the brownie mix, for example, are rich in flavor and have a moist, airy texture. No bitter aftertaste or dryness. No crumbly texture. No dense “wet spots”. I’ve tried quite a few of the gluten free mixes now, and Betty Crocker outperforms them all but Bob’s Red Mill and Cherrybrook Kitchens.

The 16-ounce box yields an 8x8 pan, which makes the cost a little higher than the mainstream mixes, but compared to other gluten-free mixes, the price is on the low end of the scale.

Betty Crocker produces not only the brownie mix, but also a chocolate chip cookie mix, and two cake mixes: devil’s food and yellow cake.

I find them in my local supermarket and usually pay $3.99 a box. That I can pick them up during my regular shopping trips, and don’t have to make a special trip, is a real boon.

That Betty Crocker is able to get these products onto the shelves of conventional supermarkets demonstrates not only that gluten-free has gone mainstream, but also that large food corporations, such as General Mills, are finally paying attention to the plight of those consumers who deal with food allergies every day of their lives.

Betty Crocker, just as in 1924 when General Mills aired “The Betty Crocker Cooking School of the Air” on radio for information hungry cooks, is once again turning a niche market into a mass market. Those in the food industry should be watching, because that Betty, she’s one smart cookie.

Note: I have not received any compensation from Betty Crocker or General Mills, nor any other product mentioned in this review.