Southern Buttermilk Biscuits – Flaky, buttery and fluffy biscuits made with few ingredients and minimal prep time. So comforting and indulgent.
You’ll surely want these for breakfast, lunch, dinner and afternoon snacks. It almost goes perfectly with anything; Fried chicken, stew, soups, honey and butter to eggs and bacon. You’ll be wanting more of these.
Guaranteed!!!
These tasty treats take you to your comfort zone and just reminds you of that warm, tight hug from Grandma. It hits every spot and the flavor literally just melts in your mouth. You know what? I always have a few of these in the freezer whenever the need arises. A great make ahead especially if you have a crowd to feed.
I just love it with honey – that’s me – the sweet tooth gal.
But whatever floats your boat, it sure is divine. If there’s one food that I’d gladly call “food for the gods”, then this is “The Biscuit”.
It is super easy to make – not too much mixing required – and yet it still yields beautiful golden brown biscuits that are waiting to be buttered and enjoyed. With just a few tips and couple of attempts, you’ll have this too often as sides on your menu, especially during this holiday season.
When a friend brings this over during potlucks, consider yourself special and just thank them. Now go grab some flour and buttermilk and start whipping up this classic and heavenly Southern treats. They require a delicate touch when making them.
If you love this recipe, I give you full permission to explore these amazing Southern Comfort Food. Feast your eyes on these indulgent recipes you can make for your family.
Tips and Notes:
- You may want to keep everything in this recipe cold. The cold butter in this recipe are grated to distribute the fat evenly throughout the dough. If things start to warm while making this. toss them in the fridge for 10 minutes before you bake them in the oven.
- Making it in the food processor is a great option and is a great option if you do not like grating butter. Mix all the dry ingredients in the food processor, cut butter into cubes and add to flour, then pulse 6 or 7 times until the mixture resembles rough crumbs.
- If you truly want to make these southern style, then use White Lily Flour, it’s soft red winter wheat flour, perfect for creating light-textured and fluffy biscuits. Mostly available in the Southern parts of the U.S. However, you can easily purchase it online at Walmart. And it’s a under $3.
- The key to this recipe is not to over mix. Over mixing can cause the dough to yield tougher biscuits. You don’t even need to take out your mixer in this recipe. Just a few mix is what it all needed to have a perfectly textured dough.
- Folding the dough a few times creates numerous flaky textures on the biscuits. Make sure to handle the dough extra carefully as biscuits dough are quite sensitive. Handling the dough roughly and for for too long, releases gluten that makes tough and undesirable biscuits.
- Make sure to dip your cutter in flour and cut the biscuits straight up. Do not twist that cutter so as to seal the biscuits and keep them rising and cooking properly in the oven.
- Brush the biscuits with melted butter to lock in flavor before you bake them, or if you want a slightly brownish top just like in the picture then brush with cream.
- To freeze these biscuits, you have to transfer the unbaked, cut biscuits to a parchment lined cookie sheet and cover it with a plastic wrap. Then freeze it until solid for at least 4 hours. When the biscuits are frozen solid, transfer them to a resealable freezer bag (label it with the date) and keep it frozen for up to 3 months. You can bake the biscuits straight off the fridge. Keep in mind though that it may take additional 3-5 minutes longer to bake frozen biscuits depending on how many you bake off at time.
Watch How to Make It
Southern Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
- 3 cups ( 390 grams) all-purpose flour ( I used white lily flour, see notes 3 )
- 1 ½ tablespoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Salt
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks, 180 g,) butter chilled
- 1 1/4 cup (300 mL) chilled buttermilk
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt.
- Quickly grate frozen butter on into the bowl of flour – grated butter ensures the fat is evenly distributed throughout the dough , making it light and fluffy. Or quickly cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs,this might take about 5 minutes.
- Make a well in the center of the bowl and add buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon until it forms a rough ball , do not over mix. Let it rest in the fridge for about 10 minutes.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured board or surface; then knead about 3-4 times- just enough for it to come together .
- Gently, gently pat 0r roll out dough about 1/2″ thick. Then Fold the dough. repeating the folding process about 6-8 times. This ensures flakiness. Go easy on the rolling process After folding is complete gently press the dough down to a 1 inch thick, ready to be cut.
- Use a 2-inch round cookie cutter, or a glass to cut out the biscuits, and space them out equally across your prepared baking sheet.
- Separate wedges and place on an un greased baking sheet. Brush with cream .
- Bake at 400° for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Remove and serve warm.
Nutrition Information:
How To Make Southern Buttermilk Biscuits
Mariela says
Delicious recioe
ImmaculateBites says
Thanks
Hugo says
Making this for the first time, however the dough is really wet. I don’t think the measurements in grams and ml are all correct here. I’ll let you know how it works out
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Hugo! Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will check it out. How did your biscuits turn out?
Myla says
Thank you so much for your recipes..one of my favorites!
ImmaculateBites says
Mine too!! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, Myla!
Christopher says
Number 3 in the instructions state “stir with”, but it doesn’t say what with. What was it please? Thank you!
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Christopher ! Stir with a wooden spoon.
Enjoy!
Tia says
I made these tonight and they were SO GOOD! I tried to make biscuits with another recipe earlier in the week and they were hard enough to be used as weapons.
These, however, were flaky and soft. I brushed them with melted butter and honey before they went in and after they came out. I’m going to have to hide them from the family because I’m not sharing,
I did have one issue though. They didn’t hold their shape that well. They were still mostly shaped like Biscuits but it seemed like they spread more than they should have. The only thing I could think of was the butter wasn’t cold enough. I took it out of the freezer but then the dog demanded to be walked so it was out longer than expected. Any thoughts?
ImmaculateBites says
Hahaha! Don’t blame you . We never have leftovers..
It’s really important that you use cold butter , it helps create flaky layers . Give one more try with cold butter .
Keith Otto says
am on my way to town to get some buttermilk. Try using cake flour, it is made from soft wheat. All-Purpose is a blend of wheats, to make cake flour, from 1 cup of all-purpose, take 2 tablespoons and replace with 2 tablespoons of corn starch.
bgm says
Just wanted to thank you and let you know that this his been my go-to biscuit recipe for the last 3 years or so, without fail. Perfect every time. Unfortunately, we can’t get White Lily Flour up here in Canada so I usually use a combo of Bob’s Red Mill pastry flour and King Arthur AP flour which seems to work pretty well.
Sometimes I’ll throw in some sharp cheddar and fresh chives from the garden.
Thanks again for the great recipe!
imma africanbites says
So happy to know that! Those are great add-ins. Thank you for dropping by.
Cecy says
Thank you for this great recipe- I’ve tried making buttermilk biscuits so many times and it has not risen much- what stands out in your recipe is the White Lily flour (which I purchased in Atlanta last month) and the folding of the dough process. Having moved back to South India after 36 years in the US I’ve wanted to enjoy biscuits and happy to have found your recipe!
I will be making these again and again!!
imma africanbites says
Wohoo! I’m happy you’ve found this recipe and how it turned out for you. Thank you for trying it out!
Amy says
I tried out this recipe, it didn’t come out fluffy, but was heavy. I would like to know what you think I may have done wrong and how I can improve on it.
Thank you
Rosa parks says
you might of work the dough to much
Lindsay Hollomon says
This recipe is the best one yet!!! I have tried several other biscuit recipes and these r the best. They come out looking just like the picture and taste amazing. Definitely kid approved!!!! Will definitely be making these for life and hopefully passing down this recipe to my daughters. Thank you so much for sharing and may God bless you.
imma africanbites says
Awww. So happy it turned out great for you, Lindsay. Thanks for dropping by. God bless you, too!