Southern Buttermilk Biscuits
Southern buttermilk biscuits are flaky, buttery, and fluffy, made with few ingredients and minimal prep time. So easy, comforting, and indulgent. Plus, they’re perfect for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
These tasty treats take you to the comfort zone that reminds you of a tight, comforting hug from Grandma. They tick every box and literally melt in your mouth. You know what? I always have a few of these in the freezer whenever the need arises—a great make-ahead time-saver, especially if you have a crowd to feed.
They’re super easy to make, not much mixing required, and yet still yield beautiful golden brown biscuits waiting to be buttered and enjoyed. With a few tips, you’ll have this often as sides on your menu, especially during the holiday season.
I love these guys with a drizzle of honey, but that’s me—the sweet tooth gal. But whatever floats your boat, savory or sweet, it sure is divine. If there’s a food that I gladly call food for the gods, then it’s the biscuit.
What Buttermilk Does for Biscuits
The buttermilk provides the acidity that activates baking soda for lots of air bubbles (carbon dioxide) and a good rise. I use both baking powder and soda for extra strength. But it does more. It tenderizes the gluten for a tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture and the perfect tang.
No worries if you don’t have buttermilk, because you can mix a tablespoon of vinegar with regular milk for a quick cheat.
How to Make Southern Buttermilk Biscuits
- Whisk the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt.
- Grate frozen butter into the flour for better fat distribution, and mix well until it’s crumbly. (Photo 1)
- Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, pour in the buttermilk, and stir until it forms a rough ball. Let it rest in the fridge for about 10 minutes. (Photos 2-4)
- Knead the dough gently on a floured surface 3-4 times, just enough for it to come together. (Photo 5)
- Roll it out to about ½ inch thick. Then fold the dough onto itself in thirds, roll it out again, and repeat the process about 6 times to ensure flakiness. Then roll the dough out to a 1-inch thick rectangle. (Photos 6-7)
- Cut out the biscuits with a 2-inch round cookie cutter or drinking glass. Space them evenly on your prepared baking sheet. (Photos 8-9)
- Brush with cream, and bake in a 400℉ (205 ℃) oven for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. (Photo 10)
- Serve hot with butter and honey or jam.
Tips and Tricks
- Keep everything for this recipe as cold as possible. You can even grate frozen butter to distribute the fat evenly throughout the dough. If things start to warm up while making your biscuits, toss them in the fridge for 10 minutes before baking.
- One way to keep your hands from warming the ingredients is to use a food processor. Mix all the dry ingredients in the food processor, cut butter into cubes, add it to the flour, then pulse 6-7 times until the mixture resembles rough crumbs.
- The traditional White Lily flour is a soft red winter wheat flour with a lower protein content and finer texture, perfect for creating softer, fluffier biscuits. While it’s traditional in the Southern U.S., you can find it online at Walmart and Amazon for a decent price. However, you may need to use extra flour if going by weight.
- Dip your biscuit cutter into flour and press it straight down to cut out the biscuits. Don’t twist the cutter so it can seal the edges for even rising.
- Brush the biscuits with melted butter for more flavor and golden tops. Or brush with cream instead.
Make-Ahead and Storage
To freeze, transfer the unbaked, cut biscuits to a parchment-lined cookie sheet and cover it with a plastic wrap. Freeze until solid (around 4 hours), then transfer them to a resealable freezer bag (label it with the date) and freeze them for 2-3 months. You can bake them as usual, straight from the freezer, adding 3-5 minutes to the baking time.
You can also freeze leftover biscuits for later. Reheat frozen biscuits in the oven or air fryer for a quick side or breakfast sandwich.
What Buttermilk Biscuits Go With
They go perfectly with almost everything: fried chicken, gravy, stew, soups, honey, eggs, and bacon. There’s a good reason Cracker Barrel puts a huge basket of biscuits and cornbread muffins on your table. You’ll definitely be wanting more of these. Guaranteed!!!
But biscuits can do more than that! They also make great sandwiches, whether with sausage, chicken, or fish. So forget waiting in line for less-than-good-for-you fast food because you can whip these up faster than you can say, “To go, please.”
More Southern Comfort Recipes to Try
If you want even more recipes, I give you full permission to explore these amazing Southern comfort food recipes.
Watch How to Make It
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”hprPfz39″ upload-date=”2019-05-07T06:42:37.000Z” name=”Southern Buttermilk Biscuits” description=”Southern Buttermilk Biscuits – Flaky, buttery and fluffy biscuits made with few ingredients and minimal prep time. So comforting and indulgent.”]
This blog post was first published in September 2017 and has been updated with additional tips, new photos, and a video.
Southern Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
- 3 cups (360g) all-purpose flour (see notes)
- 1½ tablespoons (18g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (6g) baking soda
- 1½-2 tablespoons (18-25g) sugar (optional)
- 1½ teaspoons (8g) salt
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks or 170g) butter, frozen
- 1¼ cups (295ml) buttermilk, chilled
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400℉ (205℃).
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt.
- Quickly grate frozen butter into the bowl of flour (grating butter ensures the fat distributes evenly for light and fluffy). Mix well until it resembles coarse crumbs. Or cut the butter into the 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 flour mixture, add the buttermilk, and stir with a spoon until it forms a rough ball—avoid overmixing. Let it rest in the fridge for about 10 minutes. That gives the butter a chance to firm back up.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it 3-4 times, just enough for it to come together.
- Gently pat or roll it out to about ½ inch thick. Then fold the dough onto itself in thirds, roll it out again, and repeat the folding process about 6 times to ensure flakiness. Go gently on the rolling process, and after the folding process is complete, roll the dough out to a 1-inch thick rectangle.
- Use a 2-inch round cookie cutter or drinking glass to cut out the biscuits, and space them evenly on your prepared baking sheet. (My pictures show 9, but you can knead the scraps and roll them out to make the other 3 for a complete dozen. They're just not as pretty.)
- Brush with cream, and bake at 400℉ (205℃) for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Remove and serve warm.
Tips & Notes:
- I experimented with White Lily flour, and they turned out great. However, if weighing ingredients, you may want 420 grams of White Lily flour instead of the usual 360 grams of all-purpose flour.
- Lard also makes great biscuits, but this is one recipe where margarine won’t work as a substitute for butter.
- Be careful not to overmix the dough. Overmixing can toughen the biscuits.
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.
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!
So happy to know that! Thanks for sharing your add-ins.
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!!
Wohoo! I’m happy you’ve found this recipe and how it turned out for you. Thank you for trying it out!
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
you might of work the dough to much
I agree. It could be overworking the dough or too much liquid. Flour can have different hydration levels.
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.
Awww. So happy it turned out great for you, Lindsay. Thanks for dropping by. God bless you, too!
Hi! The video shows you rolling out the dough, but the directions don’t say to, so just wondering which is correct? Thanks! Also, can you please recommend a buttermilk substitute? Thanks!
Hi Annemarie,
You roll out the dough. And a good buttermilk substitution is to use 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar plus enough milk to fill up one cup. Mix, then let stand for 5 minutes.
These came out so flaky, moist & delicious! I’ve tried a couple other recipes from other sites, but these are the best hands down & sooo much better & healthier than store bought biscuits! Never buying those again! These really tasted like biscuits where other biscuit recipes taste more like rolls! Thank you so much for all your detailed baking tips. I’m a baking/cooking rookie so I really appreciate them! Also, these are teenager approved! Woot woot!
Awesome! Thanks for taking the time to let me know. 🙂
At the end you mentioned brush with cream, what cream?
Heavy cream, if you have any on hand, or ignore and brush with butter when it comes out of the oven.
These look amazing, and I am eager to try them! But I thought White Lily flour was self-rising, meaning it already has baking powder and soda in it. Is there a kind that isn’t self-rising? I have actually found soft red wheat flour locally up north in both self-rising (King Arthur makes it) and not self-rising (00 or pastry flour) varieties. Do you have better luck with one vs the other? And I woldn’t add baking powder and soda if I use self-rising flour, right?
I usually get the one without baking soda or powder- all purpose flour. I get mine from Walmart – order on line . If making with self rising flour then omit the baking powder, soda and salt. Happy Cooking!!!
Thank you so very much Imma this is what I’ve been looking for. Mine came out from the oven perfect nd delicious. Thank you once again Imma.
Awesome! I’m so happy it all turned out well for you, Malefu.
How do you freeze these?
Hi, Ami. 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 out of the freezer. 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. Hope this helps.
Easy recipe, turned out delicious, thanks for sharing
Awesome!!! Thank you for dropping by, Latisha!
Excellent. Very Pretty too. Been making biscuits 40 years but this is the best recipe I’ve tried. Thank You for the recipe. It’s going in my 3 Ring Binder where only the best of the best gets put….. my 15 year old daughter requested I bequeathe it to her!
YAY! Thank you SO MUCH!!!!
made these a couple of times b4 and they were good. Husband liked them. Pretty sure i added in some vegetable shortening in there too with the butter. Thanks
I know I have to add salt,, but how much do I need.
You add 1½ teaspoons salt. Recipe updated!
I’m confused about which flour to use. Self rising or all purpose. In the hints you say self rising is the way to go and the ingredients list calls for all purpose.
My bad! Go with all purpose flour.
Made these over the weeekend and it it’s really delicious! Thanks for sharing
Thanks for feedback!!! Glad you enjoyed them.
Homemade biscuits are definitely one of my favorite things. They’re so simple, really, but totally take a meal up a notch!
These southern buttermilk biscuits look irresistible! Pinned to try later on.
Awesome! Thanks for pinning!!
Hallo, Imma!
I’ve really been enjoying your recipes… particularly some of the African ones. My partner loves lentils, and your recipes have been real life savers.
On this recipe, though, I’m a bit confused in the directions…
At the end of step four, you cut the biscuits with a biscuit cutter – but then in step five, you’re folding the dough again and pressing it flat – is this the dough left from the initial cutting pass?
And I’m assuming that the ‘wedges’ in step 7 then are the remnants from the second cutting pass?
Sorry to be so dense, but I’m less confident with my baking than other cooking skills.
Thanks ever so much for sharing!
Hello Jaime!
I have updated the instructions to make it more clearer. Thanks for trying out my recipes and glad to know they’ve been working out well for you.
Have a great weekend!
Looking forward to making these delicious biscuits in the morning.
Love your recipes. Have made several of them.
Thanks