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 10 to 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 would the measurements be if I were to cut the recipe in half? I’m just making this for my husband & I.
For half of the recipe, you would use:
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons (45 grams) cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold buttermilk
Easy recipe. Yes to all who grate the frozen butter. Yes to those adding 3 T more buttermilk. Yes to those who said only get 6 biscuits (pushing to get 7) when truly measured dough at 1/2 in. Yes to using your hands and no rolling pin.
OMG this was easy and good. After making one batch, I doubled an other batch, easy sausage and biscuits for morning rush. If they last that long.
I actually made this recipe using whole wheat flour AND did them as drop biscuits. (I.e., no kneading, rolling out, etc., just clumped some of the dough in my hand and dropped on baking sheet). They do not taste like old-fashioned buttermilk biscuits, but they were quite yummy and VERY easy. I recommend!
I would double the amount on everything in advance. These are so yummy!!!
I definitely want to try my hand at these this weekend! Have you tried gluten free all purpose baking flour it east of regular flour? Also have you tried freezing them at all? Pre or post baking? I am only making them for myself but I like to make batches of things and have in the freezer so it’s easier on me when I am crunched on time. Thank you!
I haven’t tried gluten-free flour, but if you’ve had success using a certain brand that substitutes 1:1 for all-purpose flour then in may be okay. I also haven’t tried freezing them before baking, but I have had a couple readers have success doing that. I have frozen them after baking and they freeze just fine!
Just attempted with Bobs Red Mill 1-for-1 and they were flops.
This recipe is delicious. I’ve added this recipe to my favorites. Thanks for sharing, my family loved this recipe.
Made mine not as thick and the bottoms were deliciously crispy and did real well. Made cinnamon and sugar tiny biscuits from scrap dough.
We made these and were very disappointed. They were not tall and look nothing like picture at all. Picture looks much taller than 1/2 inch. As husband says they were more like hockey pucks. And no we did not over work dough. Suggestions?
Hi, Barb! Overworking the dough is only one reason they won’t rise. I share a lot of tips in the post, but you want to make sure not to twist your cutter (this can seal off the edges), you want your butter to be cold (if it’s not cold the biscuits won’t rise nearly as tall), you also want to make sure to pat the dough out to the correct thickness and place them side by side on the baking sheet.
We may retry. We did twist cutter, butter was cold but wonder if cut in too much. We did not put touching. Thanks for reply!
They will come out better with those few tips. I’m a baker, and these were the best recipe I’ve made. Thanks for it. I love it. Long ago I. Ame across a bakery in Marathon TX. Called Shirley’s burnt biscuit. Cool name, right? I always think of that cool place.
IHi Danielle– just made this and only have 10 biscuits which are about 1″ thick? I am not sure how you could get 12 biscuits with 2.5″ thick. It tasted delicious–flaky on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside but I am missing the ‘height’ (tallness) of these biscuits. Please would you advise what did I do wrong?
Hi, Jan! I have a lot of tips in the posts on how to get them to rise taller. You want to make sure not to twist your biscuit cutter, your butter needs to be very cold, and it helps to place them side by side on the baking sheet. These are just a few reasons, but I do recommend reading thoroughly through the post too.
She said to use a 2.5″ cutter, not to make them that thick. For thickness she says 1/2″.
Just a small tip this might help some people I don’t have a biscuit cutter so I use a knife and just cut the dough in even squares it eliminates scrap dough so all the biscuits come out equally fluffy and delicious! I also almost never have buttermilk on hand but substitute with milk mixed with a little less than a tablespoon of white vinegar works beautifully and I’ve used honey in place of sugar as well. Overall love this recipe very versatile and quick to whip up.
These biscuits turned out great. I have tried different recipes as well as different brands of flour, but using Cup 4 Cup multi-purpose flour and this recipe together made my biscuits turn out great. I wouldn’t cook them as long next time. Maybe just 12 minutes. Also my batter only yielded 6 biscuits. I am unsure why.
Good thing I checked them at 13 minutes as the were almost overdone. This hasn’t happened to me before with my oven. Hmmm otherwise easy and tasty
I need a video, or photos. What do you mean by cut the butter into the dry ingredients?
Hi, Cedric! It means to use a pastry cutter or fork to break down large chunks of butter into the dry ingredients until you have smaller chunks. I have some step by step pictures in my cheddar bacon biscuit recipe here that may be helpful for you.
I freeze the butter then use a grater into the bowl
Great recipe! I’ve never had success with biscuits (always ended up with hockey pucks), but I finally did with this recipe.
Couple of things…
-I froze my butter, then grated it and put it back in the freezer to stay cold until I was ready for it. Was easy to stir in without having to handle the dough too much and stayed cold.
-I found the dough a little too crumbly to be able to full gather it together, so I added 2-3 more Tbsp of buttermilk. Worked like a charm and didn’t change the end result.
-The folding was amazing. I’ve never done that with biscuit dough before (with puff pastry dough, yes). You have to be gentle with it, but it gives the biscuits those super flaky layers.
This will be my go to biscuit recipe in the future. Very happy about it.
Hey! I want to make this for Thanksgiving on Thursday, can I make them 1 day ahead or do I have to make them on that same day of serving?
Hi, Mariana! Do you mean fully prepare and bake them a day ahead? If so, that would be fine. They won’t taste quite as fresh, but you can rewarm them in the oven at 300°F or until warmed through.
Can I freeze these and bake them frozen?
I’ve had success freezing my scone recipe (which is kind of similar) recently, so I think it would be okay. You will need to increase the baking time though.
They tasted like biscuits but they were super dry.
These were delicious, but there is no way that they made a dozen. What size cutter did you use? I would double the recipe. or at least make 1 and a half times the ingredients.
I use a 2.5-inch cutter.
This is my new go to recipe for biscuits. I even took a picture of my biscuit this morning and posted it in a baking group on Facebook (along with a link to the recipe) because I was so proud! It only took 42 years of trying. Thank you for this easy recipe!
1st time making biscuits, and this was a very easy recipe. Used 1 tablespoon of sugar, and cooked at 17 minutes which burned the bottoms of the biscuits, so next time I’ll cook at 350 for 12-15 mins other than that, great recipe.
I usually get 9 biscuits out of this recipe. I cut the butter with a filet knife on a cutting board before I toss it in. They turn out great!
So easy to make and taste so delicious!! Everyone loved them.
Fantastic as always Danelle! I didn’t have the right cutter size so I used a mini tube. I also used a pie technique of chilling the dough after a rough coming together, and before the second roll out. Just a few minutes in the fridge forgives the over rolling. They rose beautifully and they are so cute; I will call them Mini Biscuit Buttons. Thank you for a wonderful way to start the morning.
Fantastic recipe biscuits are so fluffy. I added crumbled bacon as well. If you don’t have buttermilk use 1 cup milk to 1 tbs lemon juice or white vinegar.
Hello there! I made this recipe two days ago and used the classic milk + vinegar substitute for buttermilk since that was hard to find locally. These turned out beautifully. Good rise and perfect amount of flakiness. It was a hit with my family and I wish I didn’t halve the recipe xD Thank you so much!
This is my first time ever making American style biscuits and they came out perfectly!! Because I don’t have a pastry or biscuit cutter I used a fork to cut in the butter and a sharp kitchen knife to cut my dough into squares after it was mixed. Although I used freezing cold butter and buttermilk right out of the fridge, by the time I got ready to cut my biscuits, the dough was pretty moist with melted butter bits. I think also because the kitchen was rather warm given the 450 deg. oven. So after transfering the raw biscuits to my baking sheet and brushing with buttermilk, I stuck the whole thing in the fridge for about 15 mins and then put it in the oven to bake. Another small change – I cut the sugar amount in half and I used light brown sugar because that’s what I had. Excited to be able to make these again and again!!
This recipe is absolutely wonderful! I’ve been searching years for a great biscuit recipe that I absolutely love! This one is the WINNER! I am printing it now and putting it into my binder of delicious recipes.
A couple of notes before using or rating this recipe:
1. This recipe needs a little bit more closer to 1 Cup of buttermilk. You don’t want your dough to be dry or overly wet;
2. You’re a magician you if you can get more than 6 to 7 biscuits out of this recipe;
3. Read ALL OF THE NOTES provided with this recipe. Biscuits are finicky, and the notes provided and tried and true!
4. If at first you don’t succeed, try again.