Buttermilk Biscuits
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Making homemade buttermilk biscuits has never been easier. Light, fluffy, with butter filled flaky layers and made with only five ingredients! The perfect addition to any meal.
Love bread? Honestly, same. You can’t go wrong with this recipe but be sure to try some of my other favorites like my Olive Oil Drop Biscuits, Blueberry Biscuits, 7 Up Biscuits and my Humanmade Pancake Mix!
Why You’ll Love These Easy Biscuits
- 5 Ingredients: This recipe calls for only 5 pantry staple ingredients!
- 30-Minute Recipe: From start to finish, this southern biscuit is ready in 25 minutes.
- Perfect for Beginners: With clear and easy step-by-step instructions, this is considered a no-fail recipe which is ideal for new bakers.
Bread can be tricky. I’ll be the first to tell you that I have my struggles. That being said, this recipe is so simple to make. I have made it dozens of times and have not messed it up once. Every single batch produces the most amazing and fluffy buttermilk biscuits.
They take only 10 minutes to prep and have won the approval of my very picky eater. He goes crazy for these biscuits and loves them drizzled in a little honey, smothered in sausage gravy, or filled with eggs and bacon for a killer breakfast pizza!
Buttermilk Biscuit Ingredients
Like I mentioned above, you only need five very simple ingredients to make these biscuits. Most of these items are pantry staples, which means you can whip these up asap!
- Flour: Use all-purpose flour. I’m sure it could work with other flour varieties, but this is the one we use and love.
- Baking Powder: This is the leavening agent which gives your biscuits lift. So it is important to use fresh baking powder. I suggest replacing this ingredient after it has been open for six months.
- Salt: Just a pinch goes a long way in boosting the buttery flavor.
- Butter: I personally like salted, but you can definitely use unsalted. DO NOT use shortening.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk is what helps break down the gluten slightly to give you that soft and wonderful texture.
Buttermilk Substitute
While I always suggest sticking to the original, sometimes I don’t want to run to the store for one simple ingredient. In that case, you can make your own buttermilk substitute. Here are a few variations:
- Place 2 tablespoons of lemon juice into a measuring cup. Fill the remaining with milk up to the one cup line. Let this mixture sit for 10 minutes before using.
- Place 1 tablespoon of white vinegar into a measuring cup. Fill the remaining with milk up to the one cup line. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes before using.
How To Make Biscuits
- PREP: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line the pan with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and set aside for later. P
- WHISK: Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- SHRED: Carefully shred the frozen butter using a cheese grater or food processor, pulsing only one to three times to keep the butter chilled. Gently toss the butter shreds in the dry ingredients until coated and combined with the flour.
- MIX: Slowly mix in the buttermilk, using a wooden spoon, until combined and the dough begins to form, try not to mix too much, in order to keep the butter cold.
- PAT: Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface. Use your hands to pat the dough into a 1 inch thick round. Fold the dough into 1/3’s over the top of itself and press down to 1/2 inch thickness.
- CUT: Cut into squares or use a round cutter to cut the dough into circles.
- BAKE: Place onto the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes, or until the biscuits begin to brown. Be sure to watch closely to avoid overbaking.
Helpful Tools
- Baking Trays: Having a quality set of baking trays (affiliate) is a life saver in the kitchen. They are a tad thicker and help heat everything evenly.
- Silicone Baking Mats: Not technically something you need, but silicone baking mats (affiliate) are used almost daily in our home. They keep almost anything from sticking to a baking tray AND are reusable so cut back on waste from foil and parchment.
- Pizza Cutter: Hear me out, I actually use my pizza cutter (affiliate) for EVERYTHING. Quesadillas? Pizza cutter. Grilled cheese? Pizza cutter. Pancakes? Pizza cutter! It’s perfect for cutting square biscuits.
Recipe Notes:
Long story short, the buttermilk helps to break down the gluten giving you a tender and fluffy biscuit.
The key to keeping these flaky is to handle to dough as little as possible.
You do not want the butter to melt at all so be sure you work quickly.
There are only a few basic ingredients to mix together but if you feel the dough start to get tacky I recommend some chill time in the refrigerator.
Another tip? Pat the dough- DO NOT roll.
With cold hands gently pat the dough down before cutting into your favorite shape. Bake and enjoy!
The best way to store biscuits is inside an airtight container at room temperature. This will keep biscuits fresh for 2 to 3 days.
One of the best things about this recipe is that it is FREEZER FRIENDLY!
Follow the recipe directions all the way to cutting your biscuits.
Place on a parchment lined tray.
Flash freeze 20 minutes.
Individually wrap each in plastic wrap and place in a labeled zip top bag.
When you are ready to use: Remove from the freezer and bake as directed.
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Easy Homemade Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 8 Tbsp cold butter (I recommend salted with these)
- 1 cup buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line the pan with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and set aside for later.
- Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Carefully shred the frozen butter using a cheese grater or food processor, pulsing only one to three times to keep the butter chilled. Gently toss the butter shreds in the dry ingredients until coated and combined with the flour.
- Slowly mix in the buttermilk, using a wooden spoon, until combined and the dough begins to form, try not to mix too much, in order to keep the butter cold.
- Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface. Use your hands to pat the dough into a 1 inch thick round. Fold the dough into 1/3’s over the top of itself and press down to 1/2 inch thickness.
- Cut into squares or use a round cutter to cut the dough into circles.
- Place onto the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes, or until the biscuits begin to brown. Be sure to watch closely to avoid overbaking.
Notes
How to freeze biscuit dough:
- Follow the recipe directions all the way to cutting your biscuits.
- Place on a parchment lined tray.
- Flash freeze 20 minutes.
- Individually wrap each in plastic wrap and place in a labeled zip top bag.
- When you are ready to use: Remove from the freezer and bake as directed.
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
These are fool proof and so delicious, I usually make a way more time consuming biscuit but this is my go to now. Lovely.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! It’s always a win when a simple recipe becomes the new go-to. Thanks for sharing your feedback—it means so much!
Omg! These were amazing! I should’ve doubled the recipe and froze some. Dinner is done and biscuits are GONE!
Hi Kristen! I am sooooo glad you love this recipe. It is one of my all-time favorites!
Best homemade biscuits we’ve ever had! We make biscuits and sausage gravy more times than we probably should eat, but it’s difficult to pass up great meals. We tried this recipe this morning and for the first time the biscuits outshined the gravy. Fluffy, soft, and most importantly it had a very buttery slight crisp top and bottom and we will now make these to have with jams or honey. Great recipe, easy to assemble, and didn’t take much time at all. Thanks for the recipe, we are keeping it.
Thank you for your review! This is one of our favorite recipes and I’m always so glad when others love it as much as we do!
I’m wondering how many biscuits this recipe makes? I’ve got a lot of boys to feed!
Hi Martina,
Depending on the size of your cutter you could get up to 12. I would double the recipe if you are feeding an extra hungry group.
Wow! I just made the biscuits and my batch yielded 10. Listen everyone, they are so good. We ate them with butter and honey.
Hi Pat! I am so glad you loved this recipe as much as we do! Thanks for taking the time to rate the recipe!
These are the easiest biscuits ever. So much better than store bought. I make them all the time. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Shannon, I’m glad you love the recipe as much as I do! It has to be one of my favorites. We especially love to use it with my easy sausage gravy!
I had an abundance of nectarines so I made cobbler. Just added 2tbsp of sugar and I just dolloped the mixture and dabs of butter sprinkled with coarse sugar. Baked at 450 for 45min. OMG!!! Best cobbler. I ever made. Thanks. The biscuits are great too.
I made these as drop biscuits for quick biscuits and gravy. They were golden brown on the bottom and lightly brown on top, tender on the inside. My guy said they were perfect. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Oh, I used powdered buttermilk. I whisked 4 tablespoons with the dry ingredients, cut the butter into it until it was slightly crumbly, then added the required amount of water. I stirred it until it made a sticky dough then dropped it by big spoonfuls onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Hi, Do you think I can substitute the buttermilk with Yakult? (Hope you know what yakult is )… And another question… Can I use My mixer instead of the blender? (I read that someone made it in her industrial blender (mine’s also industrial) and didn’t work very well and My food processor is really small… )
hm… I’m not sure about the Yakult substitute. i have a new biscuit recipe that doesn’t require a blender going up next week. check back!
Thanks!!! I’ll be waiting for it:)
I just made this one (made my own buttermilk 1C milk+1T lemon juice) but I needed to add more flour, and baked for more time… they tasted real good
The batter for mine came out so sticky! I followed the recipe and used them in the food processor, but I think I would rather have done this by hand. I’m not sure what happened but I had to add lots of flour to get them to not be sticky, I’d say about another 1/2 a cup at least. I wish these would have worked!
I just got an email with a similar problem. I’ll make the recipe one more time and see if I maybe wrote something wrong in the directions or ingredients.
I made these yesterday and they were SO easy with great results! I will definitely make these again – thank you for this recipe!
I have made biscuits before and today mine turned out awful! I’m looking for a new recipe. Do you use self – rising flour? I made my own buttermilk, which may have been my problem. I don’t know where I went wrong and I was so disappointed! I will be trying this recipe next!
I’ve never cooked with buttermilk, and have no idea where I’d find it. Could I use something else instead? Like 2% or cream? Will it come out the same?
You can use regular milk if you aren’t sure where to find the buttermilk. Or you can add a bit of vinegar to your glass of milk and let it sit for a few minutes before adding.
You should be able to find buttermilk in the dairy section of your grocery store.
Love all of the suggestions!
You mentioned that if you have a small family you might not want to make “so many” biscuits. I was wondering, how many biscuits does this recipe make?
We got 12 biscuits from the recipe.
We made these today for brunch and didn’t have a problem. The dough was a little wet, but I assumed it was the way it was supposed to be. Did you change the recipe Cheri?
You say, “blender”…you mean food processor! I have an industrial blender; it did not work!
I’m sorry you had a rough time. I adjusted the recipe to include a food processor option.
I made these tonight. I don’t know what I did wrong, but they turned out horrible. It was my first ever attempt to make biscuits and no success.
Ditto, I love a good biscuit! I haven’t made them in a while, my favorite, shockingly, is a cheddar biscuit!
mmm biscuits I need them
Oh my gosh, these biscuits look perfect! I love biscuits and still haven’t tried homemade, can you believe it? I’m afraid they won’t be fluffy, but these look amazing and I am trying these soon!
I hadn’t tried them until I decided we needed biscuits and gravy the other day. They are AMAZINGLY easy. And you can’t mess it up. They turn out fluffy every time.
Yum! They look delicious 🙂 I just made some biscuits too this weekend (small world right??) I needed something for my apple butter recipe going up this week! You can’t go wrong with biscuits!
Great minds think alike! You can never have too many biscuit recipes!
OH YES. Buttermilk would make these bad boys SO delicious. YUM! I’m definitely saving this recipe for later!
I miss your face Kaylynn! And your recipe today is so out of the norm and crazy! Love it!