These Easy Buttermilk Biscuits are incredibly soft, tall, flaky, and buttery. Serve these with some jam, gravy, or your topping of choice for an easy and delicious breakfast!
Growing up, my mom used to keep store-bought buttermilk biscuits on hand all of the time. She would use them for things like monkey bread, chicken and dumplings, or just bake them for breakfast. To say that we were huge fans of buttermilk biscuits would probably be an understatement.
A few weekends ago, I decided to test some recipes and try my hand at homemade buttermilk biscuits. And let’s just say that it took quite a few tries to find the perfect recipe. I did some research to figure out how to get biscuits that were tall, soft, and flaky. This recipe delivers all of that and the best part? They’re SO easy to make! These biscuits only take about 15 minutes to prep and 15 minutes to bake. Which means that you can be enjoying homemade buttermilk biscuits in about 30 minutes flat.
So what makes a good biscuit? First, you’ll start with some all-purpose flour. You’ll also need a good amount of baking powder and some baking soda to help your biscuits rise. This recipe uses 1 tablespoon of baking powder (yes, you read that right) and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda. You’ll also be using some salt as well as a little bit of sugar to help balance it all out.
Now here’s the most important part to making buttermilk biscuits. You want to use COLD butter and buttermilk in your recipe. I’m talking straight from the refrigerator cold, don’t leave them sitting on the counter while you’re prepping the other ingredients. You want cold pieces of butter in your dough so that when you put it into the oven, the butter melts and creates steam pockets, which gives you that soft, light, airy texture in your biscuits.
You’ll cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients until you have small pea sized crumbs, then stir in your buttermilk just until the dough starts to come together.
Once you’ve mixed up the dough, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and work it together gently with your hands. Here’s another important thing, be very gentle with your dough. Overworking your dough can lead to tough, dense biscuits. Remember, we’re going for soft, light, and fluffy biscuits here!
You want to pat the dough into a rectangle, then fold it into thirds, pat it down again, and repeat the process two more times. Folding the dough helps to create those beautiful, flaky layers that you see.
I honestly don’t bother using a rolling pin to make these either, I just gently pat the dough into a 1/2-inch thick rectangle. Just be sure to measure your dough before you cut it and make sure it’s actually 1/2-inch thick. I’ve made the mistake of not measuring it and guessing and the biscuits did not turn out nearly as tall.
The biscuits will only take about 15 minutes in the oven. Once they’re done, top them with anything you like! I personally love some jam or gravy on these biscuits. But honestly, these taste incredible with just a little melted butter on top too.
Baking tips for buttermilk biscuits
- Make sure your baking powder and baking soda are still fresh before starting. Both ingredients are important to get a good rise in these biscuits.
- Be sure to use cold butter and buttermilk in these biscuits. Prepare your dry ingredients first, then take your butter and buttermilk out of the refrigerator to ensure that they are cold.
- Don’t overwork your dough, make sure to work it together very gently.
- Be sure to fold the dough into thirds and pat it down three times. This helps to ensure that your biscuits are super flaky.
- When cutting your biscuits out, don’t twist your cutter. This will seal off the edges of your dough and they won’t rise as high. Just cut the dough straight down and pull the cutter right back out. I like to flour the biscuit cutter to make sure the biscuit dough doesn’t stick too.
- Lay the biscuits on a baking sheet touching each other. This will help them rise taller and give them soft edges when you pull them apart!
Easy Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons (85 grams) cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) cold buttermilk, plus more for the tops of the biscuits
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt until well combined. Add the in the cubed cold butter and cut into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter (you may also use a food processor for this step) until you have small pea sized pieces of butter. Pour the cold buttermilk into the mixture and gently work it together until the dough starts to come together.
- Scoop the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently work it together with your hands. Pat the dough into a rectangle and fold it in thirds. Turn the dough, gather any crumbs, and flatten back into a rectangle. Repeat this process two more times.
- Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat it down into a 1/2-inch thick rectangle (make sure to measure!). Using a floured 2.5-inch biscuit cutter, cut out the biscuits. Continue to gather any scrap pieces of dough, patting it back down to 1/2-inch thickness, and cutting it until you have 12 biscuits. I suggest trying to get as many as you can the first time, as you continue to work the dough the biscuits won't be quite as good.
- Arrange the biscuits on the baking sheet touching each other. Brush the top of each biscuit with a little bit of buttermilk.
- Bake at 450°F for about 15-17 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Remove from the oven and brush with melted butter if desired. Allow to cool for a few minutes, serve, and enjoy!
Adapted from All Recipes and Food.com with some helpful research from King Arthur Flour.
What’s the best way to store and reheat the leftovers if I want to enjoy them tomorrow?
You can store them in an airtight container on the counter and then just reheat in the microwave or in the oven at a lower temperature until they’re warmed through.
Hi Danielle,
Thank you so much for taking the time to tell us your process of how to make buttermilk biscuits! I love it!!
but I have one question:
I like all the ingredients above, but what if people have high cholesterol? Can they substitute the butter with olive oil?
Thank you! I wouldn’t suggest it for this recipe. The cold butter helps the biscuits rise too, if you substitute it they won’t be quite the same.
I have made this simple bisquit recipe or some variation of it for years and for some reason my bisquits never rise. They always taste good they just turn out flat.
Have you tried this particular recipe and used the tips in this post? I’ve never had any issues with these not rising 🙂
I tried your recipe and loved it . Biscuits were tasty !!
I just wanted to say that I really appreciate all of the tips and the recipe came out PERFECTLY on the first try!! Thank You!
So glad to hear that, Charity!
Absolutely splendid. Followed the recipe exactly and they turned out perfectly fluffy and flaky. And tasted delicious.
So happy to hear that biscuits turned out great for you, Lucy!
I accidentally froze my buttermilk and the biscuits turned out even better than the first time I tried this recipe! They were lighter and rose so much more. Maybe it was just luck, but possibly a tip?
It could be that the dough was quite a bit colder, Lydia. Glad to hear they turned out great!
Hey there, I was thinking of making these biscuits for thanksgiving this year, but I was wondering, can you make the dough ahead of time and keep it refrigerated until needed? Will that affect how they rise? They look great so I’m excited to try them either way!
Hi, Whitney! They won’t rise as well if you let the dough sit for too long. I would definitely suggest making the dough and then baking them.
I found these easy to make. They came out perfectly golden brown outside, and inside beautifully puffy and flaky. Will be making them again and again.
So glad to hear that, Amanda!
I’ve probably tried about a dozen recipes for buttermilk biscuits, none have been as good as these. Not only do they look delicious coming out of the oven, but they are. I took a bit of one plain, and it was amazing. Well done. This ones a keeper.
Thank you, Gregory! Glad you liked the biscuits!
I made these biscuits tonight and they were great! One question though, what should the final consistency of the dough be when I start cutting out the rounds for biscuits? It seemed almost too dry and a bit crumbly.
It will be a little crumbly at first, but should come together as you work it together with your hands. If you find that it’s still too crumbly, try adding 1-2 tablespoons of buttermilk and that should help.
I am going to add cheese and the requisite seasonings and turn these into buttermilk cheddar bay bisquits. Wish me luck.
That sounds fantastic, Bernadette! I’ve added shredded cheddar cheese to them before and they turned out great.
I live in Portugal so have to use local products of course. I followed all directions, did the butter with flour mix in a food processor. My dough was SO DRY I couldn’t combine, had to work with my hands to get it even to stick together, and I´m sure I worked it too much…but biscuits didn´t rise (although they tasted good) while hot.
Sorry to hear that, Jill. Did you happen to scoop your flour from the container or did you weigh it? I’m wondering if there was just too much flour and that’s why it was crumbly. If you’re unable to work it together you can always add another 1-2 tablespoons of buttermilk and that should help.
I made these this morning for Thanksgiving and they were a hit!
Thank you!
So happy to hear that!
Made these just now and they were good and tasty. My baking soda was a little out of date… it expired in 2009 so about 9 years ago, but they still raised a little and had some nice layers. But will try again next weekend with new soda and let you know.
Glad the biscuits turned out well for you, Bruce! Some fresh baking soda will definitely give them a better rise next time too.
Good,, Good! biscuits!
However, made with the above 3/4 cup of buttermilk the resultant mixture was waaaay too dry – I had very near an additional 1/4 c of liquid needed before the dough reached an acceptable level of flexibility to roll and cut.
(I always use measurements with a small scale, by grams, so yes, exactly 250g flour and 85g butter.)
Excellent results!
Best regards from a little ‘(old) Southern lady who knows her biscuits…
So happy you liked the biscuits, Jean! I’ve never had any issues with the 3/4 cup buttermilk, it is a little crumbly at first but it always comes together when I work it together with my hands. Glad they still worked out well for you though!
How do you know if you are over working the dough? My dough was too dry & crumbly to fold.
You should be able to work it together with your hands. If not, try adding 1-2 tablespoons of buttermilk and that should help.
Mine did not rise. I had very cold butter. Not sure why…
Cold butter is just one thing that helps them rise, there are several reasons they may not have risen. It could be from twisting the cutter too much, baking powder/soda was not fresh, or the dough was too thin when you cut it.
Wondering if making the dough the night before, if they would be okay to put in the fridge, then bake in the morning… please help
I wouldn’t suggest it for this recipe, the biscuits won’t rise as well if the dough sits for too long.
They rose beautifully. The texture was fabulous! However, mine were quite bland. I was wondering what type of salt you used in the recipe. I use kosher salt. I think that the difference is probably the type of salt. Looking forward to your answer. I’d like to try them again tomorrow morning.
I use regular table salt.
These were absolutely perfect! My first time making biscuits and everyone raved about them! We even decided to have a midday snack with jelly on them 🙂 thank you!!
So glad the biscuits turned out great for you, Cher!
Its been an on-going family joke that my mother ( which is an extremely good cook of all things but biscuits) can never get her biscuits to turn out right. Always hard and flat. It makes her so angry. Lol. I’ve never attempted to make homemade bicuits until this morning and used your recipe. They were as beautiful as your picture and tasted excellent! She scowled at me while eating hers. It was great family fun !! Lol.. Thanks so much .
So glad the biscuits turned out great for you!
Just made these biscuits for myself for breakfast, on a whim. They were….AMAZING. They rose to about 2 inches (i measured) and the texture was tender, not crumbly, gently flaky (not that obnoxious phony flakiness of a Pillsbury canned biscuit) and melted in my mouth. The flavor, subtly buttery and savory. I followed the instructions exactly. My only imperfection was that some of the biscuits rose in a lopsided manner. Meh…still praiseworthy. I didn’t have buttermilk, so I used milk with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and let it sit in the fridge while I worked on the first few steps of the recipe. I used Kings Arthur organic unbleached flour, and measured not by weighing it but by spooning it into a measuring cup and leveling with a knife. And for the first time ever, I let my food processor do the work of mixing the cold butter with the flour. Instantaneous! And what a relief on my hand and wrist!!! I’ll never use that darn pastry cutter again LOLOL!!! I poured the flour/butter combo into a large bowl and poured in the ‘buttermilk.’ The dough came together very quickly and i stopped stirring as soon as the flour came off the sides of the bowl. It was very very sticky, so I had to flour my hands a little bit to keep from having doughy fingers. I lightly floured my clean counter top, plopped the dough on top of it and followed the instructions about shaping the dough into a rectangle (it was a small rectangle, maybe even smaller than the width and length of a typical loaf pan) and then folding into thirds, etc. Precision was not important here. I think what matters is that you fold the dough several times to encourage those layers. And be kinda gentle, a light touch is all it took. After that, I used a floured rolling pin and rolled out the dough right where it was on the counter top. I measured the dough to 1/2 inch. I don’t have a biscuit cutter, so I just used the mouth of a wine glass dipped in flour. Works great. Baked at 450 but only for 13 minutes. They were plenty browned by then and I did NOT want to burn them. Maybe if I had left them in the over for the total 15 minutes, some of the biscuits would not have been lopsided? Oh well. Seriously, though, these were amazing biscuits. My husband’s gonna fall in love with me all over again. And again and again. oxoxoxoxox
So glad the biscuits turned out great for you, Maria!
my grandmother always made the most awesome buttermilk buiscuits but it seemed to be such a long process that I would never try it. I just used your recipe and they turned out great with little effort on my part. Thank you for the recipe and tips!
So glad the biscuits turned out great for you, Jody!
Hi! I made these tonight. They were amazing! When I purchase parchment paper it says not to cook at temperatures higher than 425. So I made them at 420 and I don’t think they rose quite as much as they would have normally but they were still beautiful and delicious. This is now my go to recipe! Thanks so much!
You could always skip the parchment paper or use a silicone baking mat. The higher temperature does help a little as far as making them rise higher. I’m glad you liked them! 🙂
I made these for a dinner party and they were inedible. Is it really supposed to be 1 tablespoon of baking soda? That was way too much and it was all anyone could taste. I’m confused about that amount.
Did you use 1 tablespoon of baking soda or baking powder? The 1 tablespoon of baking powder in the recipe is correct.
Used your recipe for my first-ever go at buttermilk biscuits (and biscuits in general)! They turned out delicious, though the rise wasn’t as high as yours. Totally user error; I overworked the dough & probably added just a little too much buttermilk because the crumbly dough made me panic 😅. Will try again the next time I buy buttermilk, this time using the food processor!
So glad you liked the biscuits, Mary! The dough is a little crumbly at first, but it does come together 🙂
Your many special tips worked wonders, fluffiest biscuits ever. Never heard of folding the dough before. I used half whole wheat and increased the buttermilk until the texture was right. Thx.
So glad the biscuits turned out great for you, Heather!
I’ve tried about 6 different recipes for biscuits and this is by far the best! First time I made it and they came out golden, fluffy and delicious. Perfect ingredients to make great tasting biscuit free of whatever that crap is they put in the canned kind. Thanks!!!
I’m not sure if anyone pointed this out already, but when you click to adjust the yield, the amount in grams (in parentheses) doesn’t change. If anyone was having difficulty, that could be an issue! I always try to find metric so I can use a scale, so I just noticed this. That said, I made these last week with stale baking soda and I still loved them hahah! Thanks so much for this!
Thanks for the heads up, I’ll work on getting that fixed! Glad you liked the biscuits too 🙂
I made these just to try a new recipe . see if it would top my old recipe and it did! They were so soft and yummy and had a great taste ! Def saving this recipe for the books. Perfect for breakfast samdwiches!
I used Softasilk cake flour, and these turned out spectacular. I don’t recommend using regular AP Flour unless you have a brand like White Lilly or similar.
Glad the biscuits turned out great for you, Eric! White Lily has a lower protein content than other brands of all-purpose flour so it definitely creates lighter biscuits. That being said, I think most brands of all-purpose flour work fine in this recipe too.