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Home » Breakfast » Buttermilk Biscuits

Buttermilk Biscuits

38 Comments By Jesseca on January 9, 2023

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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!

baking tray lined with parchment paper and golden brown biscuits, with two biscuits leaning onto each other to show off the flaky layers

Recipe Features:

  • 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 sandwich!

biscuit dough on a black quarts countertop  rolled out with a round cutter pressed into a portion of the dough.

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

  1. PREP: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line the pan with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and set aside for later. P
  2. WHISK: Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. CUT: Cut into squares or use a round cutter to cut the dough into circles.
  7. 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.
close up image of a baked biscuit from the side showing the fluffy layers. Biscuit is sitting on a baking tray that is covered in parchment paper

Recipe Notes:

What is the difference between buttermilk biscuits and regular biscuits?

Long story short, the buttermilk helps to break down the gluten giving you a tender and fluffy biscuit.

How do you make light and flaky biscuits?

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!

What is the best way to store biscuits?

The best way to store biscuits is inside an airtight container at room temperature. This will keep biscuits fresh for 2 to 3 days.

Can you freeze homemade biscuits?

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.

top down image of baked biscuits on a tray that is lined with parchment paper. six biscuits are sitting perfectly round in two rows

More Must Try Bread Recipes

  • Overnight Bread

  • Pretzel Bites

  • Pizza Dough

  • Dinner Rolls

Still Hungry? Follow One Sweet Appetite on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!

4.79 from 14 votes

Easy Homemade Biscuits

Created by: Jesseca

Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
12 biscuits
These Easy Homemade Biscuits are filled with layers of buttery goodness. Made with only 5 ingredients; flour, baking powder, salt, butter, and buttermilk! The perfect addition to any meal.
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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:

  1. Follow the recipe directions all the way to cutting your biscuits.
  2. Place on a parchment lined tray.
  3. Flash freeze 20 minutes.
  4. Individually wrap each in plastic wrap and place in a labeled zip top bag.
  5. When you are ready to use: Remove from the freezer and bake as directed.

Nutrition

Serving: 1biscuit | Calories: 152kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 21mg | Sodium: 319mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g

Equipment

Silicone Spatula
Silicone Baking Mats
Baking Sheets

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pinterest graphic of baked biscuits . Two layered on each other to show the buttery layers with text overlay reading "homemade biscuits"

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    Comments & Reviews

  1. Kristen says

    May 4, 2020

    Omg! These were amazing! I should’ve doubled the recipe and froze some. Dinner is done and biscuits are GONE!

    Reply
    • Jesseca says

      May 4, 2020

      Hi Kristen! I am sooooo glad you love this recipe. It is one of my all-time favorites!

      Reply
  2. KJ says

    March 22, 2020

    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.

    Reply
    • Jesseca says

      March 24, 2020

      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!

      Reply
  3. Martina says

    February 23, 2019

    I’m wondering how many biscuits this recipe makes? I’ve got a lot of boys to feed!

    Reply
    • Jesseca says

      February 23, 2019

      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.

      Reply
  4. Pat Reese says

    December 27, 2018

    5 stars
    Wow! I just made the biscuits and my batch yielded 10. Listen everyone, they are so good. We ate them with butter and honey.

    Reply
    • Jesseca says

      December 28, 2018

      Hi Pat! I am so glad you loved this recipe as much as we do! Thanks for taking the time to rate the recipe!

      Reply
  5. Shannon says

    October 27, 2018

    These are the easiest biscuits ever. So much better than store bought. I make them all the time. Thanks for the recipe.

    Reply
    • Jesseca says

      October 29, 2018

      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!

      Reply
  6. Maggie says

    June 9, 2017

    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.

    Reply
  7. Michelle says

    February 27, 2016

    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.

    Reply
    • Michelle says

      February 27, 2016

      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.

      Reply
  8. Wendy says

    May 15, 2015

    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… )

    Reply
    • Jesseca says

      May 15, 2015

      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!

      Reply
      • Wendy says

        May 15, 2015

        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

  9. Jena says

    April 15, 2015

    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!

    Reply
    • Jesseca says

      April 16, 2015

      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.

      Reply
  10. Amy says

    September 22, 2014

    I made these yesterday and they were SO easy with great results! I will definitely make these again – thank you for this recipe!

    Reply
  11. Lorann says

    September 1, 2014

    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!

    Reply
  12. Michelle says

    November 25, 2013

    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?

    Reply
    • Jesseca says

      November 25, 2013

      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.

      Reply
    • Michelle says

      February 27, 2016

      You should be able to find buttermilk in the dairy section of your grocery store.

      Reply
      • Jesseca says

        February 27, 2016

        Love all of the suggestions!

  13. Christine says

    September 10, 2013

    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?

    Reply
    • Jesseca says

      September 10, 2013

      We got 12 biscuits from the recipe.

      Reply
  14. Kacy says

    September 9, 2013

    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?

    Reply
  15. Cheri says

    September 9, 2013

    You say, “blender”…you mean food processor! I have an industrial blender; it did not work!

    Reply
    • Jesseca says

      September 9, 2013

      I’m sorry you had a rough time. I adjusted the recipe to include a food processor option.

      Reply
    • Kayla says

      August 22, 2015

      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.

      Reply
  16. Ashlee says

    September 9, 2013

    Ditto, I love a good biscuit! I haven’t made them in a while, my favorite, shockingly, is a cheddar biscuit!

    Reply
  17. marissa | Rae Gun Ramblings says

    September 9, 2013

    mmm biscuits I need them

    Reply
  18. Aimee @like mother like daughter says

    September 9, 2013

    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!

    Reply
    • Jesseca says

      September 9, 2013

      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.

      Reply
  19. Yvonne says

    September 9, 2013

    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!

    Reply
    • Jesseca says

      September 9, 2013

      Great minds think alike! You can never have too many biscuit recipes!

      Reply
  20. Kaylynn says

    September 9, 2013

    OH YES. Buttermilk would make these bad boys SO delicious. YUM! I’m definitely saving this recipe for later!

    Reply
    • Jesseca says

      September 9, 2013

      I miss your face Kaylynn! And your recipe today is so out of the norm and crazy! Love it!

      Reply

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Jesseca - Author of One Sweet Appetite

Welcome, I'm Jesseca!

I could not be more excited to have you join me in my kitchen! Everyday easy recipes are my specialty, which means you will find so many fast, quick, and delicious recipes throughout my site. My goal is to create go-to recipes using simple ingredients and pantry staples.

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