There is nothing quite like warm, flaky, buttermilk biscuits served fresh from the oven!
With just a handful of pantry ingredients and some butter & buttermilk, these biscuits are easy to master.
Spread each one with sweet homemade jam, honey, butter, or smother in sausage gravy.
Why We Love Buttermilk Biscuits
- Pantry ingredients: These biscuits have such simple ingredients, most are probably already in the pantry. Buttermilk can be easily substituted!
- Extra flaky: These come out layer upon layer of flaky buttery goodness.
- Sweet or Savory: Anything goes. Serve with honey butter or bacon/sausage gravy.
- Add-ins: Mix in some finely shredded cheddar cheese & chives, bacon, or fresh herbs and parmesan.
Ingredients & Variations
Flour – I use all-purpose flour in this recipe as I always have it on hand.
Butter – For the best flaky layers, ensure you use cold butter. Cut it into pieces and then blend until the flour mixture resembles small peas. Using a pastry cutter will help this process.
Buttermilk –Buttermilk adds tenderness and helps them rise. It has a very slightly tangy flavor. Combined with baking soda, buttermilk makes baked goods extra light and tender.
Variations – There are so many variations to these biscuits. Add some cheddar cheese with chives, feta, dill, or bacon. Use part whole-wheat flour or brush with melted butter or garlic butter after baking!
No Buttermilk? No Problem!
Make your own buttermilk substitute by adding 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon to 1 cup of regular milk.
How to Make Buttermilk Biscuits
Here are the steps to the best buttermilk biscuits:
- Combine dry ingredients per the recipe below.
- Cut in the butter until crumbly. Add in buttermilk until moistened.
- Flour surface. Knead gently. Pat dough & fold over a few times to create layers.
- Cut with biscuit cutter and bake until golden brown.
Serve these with anything from hamburger gravy, brown gravy to honey butter.
Tips for Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits
Biscuits are easy to make but like pie crust, scones, and other quick dough recipes, the key to success is the way the dough is handled. Here are a few tips to make sure these are the fluffiest biscuits:
- Ensure butter is COLD. I stick the butter in the freezer for a few minutes before starting.
- Cut in the butter until you have coarse crumbs about the size of peas.
- When cutting the biscuits, don’t twist the cutter. Just do one simple cut straight down. If twisted, this seals the edges and the biscuits won’t rise as well. The dough can also be pat into a rectangle and cut into squares.
- Use a sharp cutter or a biscuit (or even cookie) cutter. While a round glass will produce the same size, the blunt edge will cause the same issue as above.
- Don’t overmix, the dough needs to just hold together and the butter needs to stay cold. Handling the dough too much will result in a tough biscuit. The heat from your hands will melt the butter.
- Use a lightly floured surface so you don’t add too much additional flour to the dough.
Freeze Before or After Baking
To make these ahead of time, prepare the dough as directed, cut out biscuits, and freeze on a tray. Once frozen, store in a freezer bag. To prepare, bake from frozen at 425° for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Any leftover biscuits can be kept inan airtight container on the counter for 1-2 days. They will keep it in an air-tight container in the freezer for 1 week. Reheat in the oven
More Easy Sides
Did you enjoy this Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and a rating below!
Flaky Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup cold butter
- 1 cup buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, & salt in a large bowl.
- Cut in butter using a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles large crumbs (about the size of a pea). Add in buttermilk and stir until moistened. (You may need about 2 tablespoons more or less of the buttermilk).
- Lightly flour the surface and turn dough onto the surface. Knead gently just until the dough holds together.
- Pat the dough and fold it over on itself 5-6 times (this creates the layers in the biscuits). Pat to 1″ thick and cut using a biscuit cutter.
- Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes or until golden.
Video
Notes
- Ensure butter is COLD. I place the butter in the freezer for a few minutes before starting.
- Cut in the butter until you have coarse crumbs about the size of peas.
- When cutting the biscuits, don’t twist the cutter. Just do one simple cut straight down. If twisted, this seals the edges and the biscuits won’t rise as well. The dough can also be pat into a rectangle and cut into squares.
- Use a sharp cutter or a biscuit (or even cookie) cutter. While a round glass will produce the same size, the blunt edge will cause the same issue as above.
- Don’t overmix, the dough needs to just hold together and the butter needs to stay cold. Handling the dough too much will result in a tough biscuit. The heat from your hands will melt the butter.
- Use a lightly floured surface so you don’t add too much additional flour to the dough.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Bread, Side Dish
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Recipe slightly adapted from Food.com
Absolutely LOVE THIS RECIPE! Simple and they taste so good! I put my butter in the freezer, then I grate it! Works really good that way….
That’s a great tip Cheryl! I am so glad you love this recipe!
I’ve tried so many biscuit recipes- some made with 7Up, or just cream, etc. and they were good but these are great! So tall and fluffy and tender! Made them spur of the moment while fixing breakfast and they were quick and easy to make. I have a convection oven so I lowered the temperature to 425 and they turned out perfect! Thank you for the great recipe!
Made the beef stew and the flakey biscuits! They were amazing! You made me a star in my house
I am so happy to hear the recipes were a big hit J!
I used cheddar and chives for the biscuits (just a handful of cheese and 1/4 c of chives. The recipe was easy to follow. The results were STUPENDOUS! I’m very happy with yet another one of your recipes!
That sounds delicious! I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Lisa!
Can anyone tell me what size biscuit cutters they used to get this quantity equally to the recipe ? I have a set of cutter rings and unsure what size makes 10 biscuits
I used a 3-inch biscuit cutter. I hope this helps Bill!
I use frozen butter which I grate into the dry ingredients. Easy peasy
That’s a great tip Brenda!
Absolutely the best biscuits. I baked them in a cast iron pan . It made the bottom very yummy.
Great biscuits love them my all time favorite
This is an amazing biscuit recipe!
They just came out of the oven & of course we had to try one immediately. They came out Marvelous! I followed the recipe to the letter. Freezing the butter made all the difference.
The only thing was that they tilted. One side was higher than the other.
Does anyone know why that happened?
I didn’t place them very close together because the recipe didn’t say to one way or the other. So they were about 2″ apart. They may not look great; but they’re going to be smothered in sausage gravy.
This was my first time making homemade biscuits, other than using boxed Bisquik.
These Are Waaay Better!
I am so glad you enjoyed these Patti! When you cut out the biscuits, did you twist the cutter? That can cause the biscuits to be lopsided. You can also bake them with the sides touching and that should help!