These homemade buttermilk biscuits are super easy to prepare with just 5 ingredients and are always a welcome addition to any meal. If you love your biscuit with a buttery texture and loads of soft, flakey layers, then you have to try this recipe! These biscuits are the BEST!
Contents
🌟 Why this recipe works
This easy buttermilk biscuit recipe is a staple for any home cook. With just a few simple ingredients, it's possible to make delicious, fluffy biscuits that are sure to please your family.
Biscuits are similar to dinner rolls, with the main difference between the two recipes being yeast. Biscuits don't use yeast but rather a combination of baking soda and powder to act as leavening agents, creating air pockets that make them light and flaky - and absolutely heavenly!
The butter and buttermilk in this recipe are what make these biscuits the best. The butter gives them a rich, buttery flavor, while the buttermilk helps to create that soft, flaky texture. In addition, the buttermilk also helps to create a slight tanginess, which is balanced perfectly by the salt.
This simple buttermilk biscuit recipe is an ideal way to make a delicious breakfast, snack, or side dish. They're perfect on their own with just some butter and honey or served with your favorite soups, salads, and stews.
If you love homemade biscuits as much as we do, you might also want to try our easy chicken and biscuits recipe or biscuits and gravy.
🍽 Key Ingredients
To make these delicious buttermilk biscuits, you'll need a few pantry staples:
Four - All-purpose flour gives the biscuits the perfect soft and fluffy consistency.
Baking powder & baking soda - These leavening agents create air pockets that give the biscuits their light and flaky layers.
Unsalted butter - Cold butter is essential in making biscuits. Apart from adding a buttery texture, butter helps form the biscuit dough.
Buttermilk - Cold buttermilk helps to create a soft and fluffy texture, while also adding a slight tanginess.
Substitutions
Buttermilk
You can use a combination of 1 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice if you don't have buttermilk.
Flour
You can substitute all-purpose flour for self-rising flour if you like, but you will need to reduce the baking powder and soda to half a teaspoon.
🔪 How to make
Making delicious buttermilk biscuits from scratch doesn't have to be complicated. With just a few key ingredients and some basic instructions, you can make these easy buttermilk biscuits that are sure to please everyone at the table.
Preparations
- Cut the butter into small cubes.
Cooking instructions
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit (220 degrees Celsius) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Step 2
Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together in a bowl.
Step 3
Add the unsalted butter pieces to the flour mixture and use a pastry blender or your hands to mix them.
Step 4
When the butter is completely mixed with the flour, add ¾ cup of the buttermilk and mix until just combined - do not overmix. If the mixture is not very wet, add a bit more buttermilk.
Step 5
Transfer the biscuit dough to a heavily floured surface and flatten it with your hands to form a rectangle about ½ inch thick.
Step 6
Fold the biscuit dough over onto itself several times, then pat out to a thickness of about 1 inch.
Step 7
Use a biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits.
Step 8
Place them on the lined baking sheet and brush the tops with leftover buttermilk or melted butter.
Step 9
Bake biscuits in the preheated oven for 15 minutes until the tops are golden brown and the flaky biscuits have risen.
Step 10
Remove the baked biscuits from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes.
Step 11
Serve the warm biscuits with butter and jam.
💭 Cooking tips
Brushing the tops
Brush your uncooked biscuits with remaining buttermilk or melted butter to achieve crispy biscuit edges and golden color. You can also use honey butter for a sweeter glaze.
Cold butter
To make sure the butter stays cold while mixing it into the flour, cut it into cubes and then freeze them for 30 minutes.
Don't overmix the biscuit dough
Once the dough just about comes together, it is time to fold it on the work surface. The biscuits will become dense if the dough is worked too much.
Butter
If you're using salted butter, you won't need to add a pinch of salt to the flour.
📖 Recipe Variations
This is my go-to biscuit recipe, but if you want to upgrade the best buttermilk biscuits, you can add some favorite herbs, spices, or other ingredients to the dough. Here are a few ideas:
Cheddar biscuits
Cheese biscuits are equally as good, if not better than standard buttermilk biscuits. Add 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese to the dough and mix until just combined.
Chive and garlic biscuits
A bit of fresh chives and minced garlic adds a delicious flavor to the already tasty biscuits. Add 1 tablespoon of chives and 1 teaspoon of minced garlic to the dough.
Cheddar and bacon biscuits
Who doesn't love the combo of bacon and cheese? Add ½ cup of cooked, crumbled bacon and 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese to the dough.
🥗 What to serve with
Homemade buttermilk biscuits are incredibly versatile - they can be served as a side dish with your favorite soup or stew or as the main dish, topped with your favorite savory toppings such as chocolate gravy or country-style white gravy.
Soup
If it's soup recipes you're looking for, we have loads of delicious recipes for you to pair with these biscuits, from homemade cream of chicken soup to tomato bisque and Hungarian mushroom soup.
Stew
These biscuits are a great complement to any stew, from beef paprika and chicken paprika to easy Cowboy stew and beef burgundy.
Fried food
Fried food like fried pork chops is also a favorite pairing with biscuits.
🙋 Frequently asked questions
What does buttermilk do for biscuits?
Buttermilk helps to make biscuits light and fluffy. The acidity in the buttermilk reacts with the baking powder and soda to give the biscuits a lighter, fluffier texture.
What is the secret to an excellent biscuit?
The secret to an excellent biscuit is to keep the butter cold and not overmix the dough. If the butter melts, it will cause the biscuits to be heavy and dense. Overmixing will cause the gluten in the flour to become too elastic, resulting in a tough biscuit.
🧊 Storing and ♨️ reheating
Once cooled, these easy buttermilk biscuits can be stored and reheated to enjoy later.
Room temperature - Biscuits can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
Refrigerator - If you want to keep them fresh for a few more days, store them in an airtight container or zip-top bag in the refrigerator.
Freezer - You can freeze buttermilk biscuits for up to 3 months. Wrap each biscuit individually in plastic wrap and place them in a zip-top bag before freezing.
Reheating - To reheat refrigerated or frozen biscuits, place them on a baking sheet and bake at 350F for about 8-10 minutes. Bake them for a few more minutes if they are still cold in the center.
🍳 Related recipes
If you love these homemade buttermilk biscuits and need something savory to pair them with, try them with one of our easy potato soup recipes with few ingredients.
If you are in a mood for country-style food then you should try my braised pork shanks recipe that pairs deliciously with these biscuits.
👪 Serving size
This recipe yields 12 large buttermilk biscuits. If you want to make smaller-sized biscuits, this batter can be divided into 16-18 portions for bite-sized treats!
Whether you’re serving them as a side dish with fried chicken or the main event, these biscuits are sure to be a hit. With their light and fluffy texture, and endless flavor variations, these biscuits are perfect for any occasion. So grab your ingredients and get baking - you won’t be disappointed!
You can try this recipe with my country style white gravy. It is super easy to make and tastes fenomenal.
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page.
Try one of my comfort dinner recipes for your next family meal! And if you have any questions, I'm here to help!
📋 Recipe
Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour - plus more for dusting
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup butter - cold and cut into small pieces
- 1 cup buttermilk - cold
- salt - a pinch
Instructions
Preparations
- Cut the butter into small cubes.
Cooking instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit (220 degrees Celsius) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together in a bowl.
- Add the unsalted butter pieces to the flour mixture and use a pastry blender or your hands to mix them.
- When the butter is completely mixed with the flour, add ¾ cup of the buttermilk and mix until just combined - do not overmix. If the mixture is not very wet, add a bit more buttermilk.
- Transfer the biscuit dough to a heavily floured surface and flatten it with your hands to form a rectangle about ½ inch thick.
- Fold the biscuit dough over onto itself several times, then pat out to a thickness of about 1 inch.
- Use a biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits.
- Place them on the lined baking sheet and brush the tops with leftover buttermilk or melted butter.
- Bake biscuits in the preheated oven for 15 minutes until the tops are golden brown and the flaky biscuits have risen.
- Remove the baked biscuits from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes.
- Serve the warm biscuits with butter and jam.Cooking tips
Janis
If you let your biscuits touch they will raised high
I would use self rising flour since it has baking powder and baking soda in it. Would I use the same measurement too?
Have you tried the two ingredients biscuit recipe?
Two cups self rising flour
Two cups heavy cream
Knead 10-15!times
Cut out
Bake 10-12 mins 425 degrees