I tried 8 different types of store-bought biscuits, and the best melted in my mouth

There are a lot of options in grocery stores, so I decided to try all the biscuit mixes and doughs I could find — both in my local store and online — ahead of my Thanksgiving feast.

I was looking for biscuits that were light, flaky, and buttery, with a hint of sweetness. I'm put off by biscuits that are thick and cakey, and seem more like dinner rolls.

In my opinion, a good biscuit will taste delicious without needing butter, so I didn't add any butter to the ones I bought, apart from when the biscuits came with it.

I bought bake-at-home biscuits from Annie's, Red Lobster, Trader Joe's, Immaculate Organic Biscuits, Pillsbury, and Happy Belly, which has since rebranded to Amazon Fresh.

The Red Lobster biscuits were the only ones to come in a box, and its recipe yielded six to 10 biscuits. The other types, which were all canned, each contained eight.

I did this seven times, and it scared me every time.

The oven temperatures ranged from 350 to 375 degrees, but that was essentially the only difference between recipes.

I appreciated that the Pillsbury options included directions for using an air fryer, too.

The recipe required combining the dry mix, water, and cheese. I then had to portion out the biscuits, leaving me with sticky, messy hands.

Pillsbury's Butter Tastin' flavor, pictured, looked slightly different — it had butter flecks that were visible in the dough.

It took a few hours of swapping out baking sheets in my oven, but eventually it was time to taste them.

The biscuits, which cost $4.99 for eight, emerged from the oven looking golden and smelling delicious, but unfortunately, they tasted dry and cakey to me.

I thought they were more like thick dinner rolls than light biscuits. But at $2.69, these were nearly half the price of the Pillsbury Southern Homestyle Southern Recipe.

I thought Annie's Organic Flaky Biscuits ($6.49), Trader Joe's Organic Biscuits ($3.99), and Immaculate Organic Biscuits ($7.39) ranked equally.

Since the Trader Joe's biscuits were the cheapest, I'd recommend them first, but you can't go wrong with any of these three options, if they are the brands available to you.

These cost $4.99 for eight, putting them in the middle of the pack in terms of price.

I was apprehensive that the butter flavoring would be overwhelmingly artificial, but instead, I found there was more of a hint of butter.

These also cost $4.99 for eight.

During the tasting, I described these as the "platonic ideal of a biscuit."

At $2.99, they also cost less than most of the others I tried.

Plus, the garlic butter complemented the sweetness of the biscuit.

If you're short on time and are looking for a more classic biscuit, you can't go wrong with the Pillsbury Original Flaky Layers. But if you have any extra time and counter space this Thanksgiving, I'd recommend the Red Lobster biscuits.