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
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Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set aside.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Arrange the biscuits on the baking sheet touching each other. Brush the top of each biscuit with a little bit of buttermilk.
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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.
I believe that anyone, even beginners, can bake amazing desserts!
These were quite tender and delicious. Though I had to turn my oven down as I have a double oven so the upper one is quite smaller. Very tasty.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the biscuits, Veronica! 🙂
Just made these biscuits and they look good and taste very good
Glad to hear that, hope you enjoyed the biscuits!
Just made these for lunch and they are the best I’ve ever made and I’m 81. Our Home Ec teacher specialized in teaching baking powder biscuits but she didn’t know your secret. Chill, chill, chill! :)… But where we live in NE Montana 450 degrees is too hot. (Also it’s been minus 20 for a couple weeks and that’s too cold.) I preheated to that temp but after they were in the oven I cranked it down to 400. Only to10 to 12 minutes and they were browned top and bottom. I used an insulated cooky sheet thinking it would prevent burning. And it did, but another couple minutes and they would have. Haven’t been to the grocery store for awhile so had to substitute non fat dry milk soured with bottled lemon juice for buttermilk. I cut in the ‘chilled’ cubed butter into the dry stuff and put the whole bowlful in the fridge till I was ready to mix. Long story short…I’m convinced I’d have got an A in Home Ec today, for these Chilly BPB’s! 🙂
Oh wow! Minus 20 is so cold, Arlene! I’m glad to hear that you liked the biscuits! 🙂
These are the best biscuits I have made! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Thank you, Jackie! I’m glad you liked the biscuits!
Great recipe, thorough directions, and the best tips! I’ve never made biscuits before, this was my first time and they tasted better than I could have imagined! I didn’t have a biscuit cutter, so I used a glass cup (worked out well), I also used salted grass-fed butter and only added 1/8th tsp of Celtic sea salt. Printed this recipe off to add to my file of recipes to be passed on to my daughter, thank you for sharing!
So happy to hear that you loved the recipe, Sara!
I love to make biscuits. These are excellent. An important thing you did was the tips. Most people don’t realize how cold the butter and buttermilk need to be. You made that important. Also to not twist the biskit cutter. Another perfect hint was put the biscuits so they are touching to rise better. All things I learned from older folks and videos on Appalachia homestead on utube. Thanks
Thank you, Jane! I’m glad you liked the biscuits!
I would really like to try these for dinner later but don’t have any buttermilk, can I use the subtitute of adding either lemon juice or vinegar to the milk or does it have to be real buttermilk? Thanking you in advance.
Hi, Linda! I’ve used a buttermilk substitute in other baked goods and haven’t had any issues. But I haven’t tried it with these biscuits yet. I will say that I think real buttermilk is always best, but it may work to use a substitute. If you try it, I’d love to hear how they turn out!
Hey Danielle,
I did use the buttermilk substitute and I thought they turned out great. They were moist, light and flaky. I will have to make another batch using actual buttermilk so I can compare them. Thank you so much for sharing such an awesome recipe with us. My previous attempts using other recipes were unsuccessful. One other thing, i used salted butter cuz I didn’t have unsalted but didnt add the salt that was listed in recipe so they did lack a little salt.
Glad to hear the biscuits turned out great, Linda! A good rule of thumb when using salted butter in a recipe that calls for unsalted is to reduce the salt by 1/4 teaspoon per stick of butter. If you do use salted butter again, I would reduce the salt down to about 3/4 teaspoon. Hope that helps!
Could I use salted butter and leave out the 1 tsp salt?
Yes, but I wouldn’t leave out the salt completely. I would reduce it down to about 1/2-3/4 teaspoon.
Had to make a few substitutes, but even then they turned out fantastic!
Thanks for the recipe~
Ill be sure to get everything together properly this time
Glad your subtitutions worked great and that you enjoyed the biscuits, Sam!
Came across your blog tonight while searching for buttermilk biscuit recipes, so glad I did as I made them for supper and they were the very best biscuits I have ever made! My hubby loved them too and said they were great! It is a keeper for sure! Now we are searching through the rest of your wonderful recipes, already found more we cannot wait to try! Thanks so much for the recipes, I appreciate it!
So glad to hear that, Brenda! Let me know if you try any other recipes 🙂
Can you add cheddar cheese to this recipe? If yes how much?
Yes, absolutely! I would probably start with 1/3-1/2 cup and then add more depending on your preference.
These were so tasty! I was looking for a good biscuit recipe, and this is going to be my go to one!
So glad you liked the biscuits, Grace!
Hi, would love to see a video of someone making these .
Hi, Lynn! I have a few videos on my site with recipes, but not for this one yet. I do plan to add more videos in the future and I’ll keep this recipe in mind.
I just made these! I didn’t change a thing! They came out PERFECT! My great grandmother used to make her own, but no one was ever able to get the recipe because she made them “by feel”. These are the closest to hers I have ever found. Thank you for sharing.
So happy to hear that, Michelle! I’m glad you liked the biscuits 🙂
Can I make these and freeze them after i cut them out? Thank you for a great recipe! It looks great!
The baking powder is activated once you add the liquid (buttermilk) so I wouldn’t suggest it. If you let them sit overnight, they won’t rise quite as high.
This are the best biscuits. My kids loved it. Thank you for sharing.
So glad you and your kids enjoyed the biscuits, Lorena!
These were great! Very close to my mother’s and grandmother’s.
They never measured anything going into the sifter. Since they did not and any time I tried to get them to messure, they never turned out the ssme, this recipe will go into my book as a staple.
I did not have butter milk so I used a trick I learned on-line for biscuits. Short your milk volume by the 4 table spoons, then wisk in 4 table spoons of sour cream (not low fat). Works like magic. You get the get the extra milk fat and the acidity to activate the baking soda.
Thank you very much for sharing this.
Glad you liked the biscuits, Bryan! And thanks for sharing about the buttermilk substitute, that will be helpful for others who may not have any on hand.
I’ve been looking for a better biscuit method and recipe for some time. Yours is perfect. Thank you.
So glad you liked the biscuits, Brook!
Can I pre-make the dough and cut biscuits in the morning? Would I need to wrap in Saran Wrap and refrigerate?
The biscuits won’t rise nearly as tall if they sit overnight. I wouldn’t suggest it for this recipe.
I found this recipe when I looked up buttermilk biscuits. I am so EXCITED to say that I followed your recipe on every step of the way plus all the extra tips that you gave AND they turned out GREAT. I love the taste of them and will NOW be using ONLY this recipe. Thanks for all the pictures too, will be making some of your other recipes when I go to the store.
So happy to hear that they turned out great for you, Dorothy! I’d love to hear if you try any other recipes.
I forgot to leave a 5 STAR rating….oops
Dumb question, is everyone using a convection oven? I have a woefully slow 1948 gas range oven and am experiencing slow rise and bake.
Also, How’d you manage a dozen biscuits…I only formed 7 and one free form for doggie ?
I’ pretty certain once I get them cooked they are going to be delicious…
Thanks for sharing.
Scooter
I don’t use a convection oven, just a conventional oven. I’m usually able to get at least 10 biscuits, did you make sure to measure the dough when you flattened it out and make sure it wasn’t too thick?
Yes, kiddo… and we’re getting ready to make these most delicious biscuits again… Thank you for sharing 🎅
OMG! These were the most amazing, melt-in-your-mouth biscuits!! Thanks for all the great tips. The science behind tender biscuits is the cold wet ingredients. I was a little skeptical about the sugar in the recipe but the slight hint of sweetness was perfect. Next time I will lower my oven temperature because they were golden brown several minutes earlier than Recipe called for and the middles could’ve used a minute or two more. Overall a fantastic recipe that will be my “go to “ for my family.
So glad you liked the biscuits, Tammy! You can also cover them with some foil if the tops get too brown before they’re finished baking.
Very nice biscuits, they were well received at breakfast.. A few modifications that you or someone might want to try: For a savory biscuit, I left out the sugar (recommend less salt in that case) and substituted a half-cup buckwheat flour and a handful of grated cheese. They were brown, hearty, but nonetheless good under butter and jam, or peanut butter. The only other departure from the very good instructions: I cut them square, in order to avoid re-forming the scraps and re-cutting.
So glad you liked the biscuits, Steve! And I love the suggestions too, especially cutting them into squares. Definitely can make it a bit easier!
A rather simple to follow recipe! I didn’t realize that I had a pastry cutter until after I used a knife to cut in the butter. I added honey to the dough (about 3 tablespoons) and made a honey maple and butter glaze for the top. A great balance between sweet and savory!
I’ll return to this recipe again for certain…Thanks for sharing this!!!
A knife works just fine too, Kevin! The honey sounds like a fantastic addition as well, I’ll have to give that a try next time I make a batch.