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.
We love this recipe.
These are very good!! Easy to make as well. I used a food processor for adding the butter. I swear these taste like chicken express biscuits, their flavor and texture!
Best recipe for biscuits yet in my opinion. Whipped these babies up in little time. Family loved them. Thank you for sharing. 👍😄
Good afternoon. I was wondering if there was a way to incorporate sour cream into the recipe, so there’s both buttermilk and sour cream. Thank you for your time.
You could probably substitute some of the buttermilk for sour cream, maybe 1/4 cup.
Can I make dough the night before
I wouldn’t recommend it for this recipe, the biscuits may not rise quite as high if you let the dough sit overnight.
This recipe is so easy and so delicious. They came out perfect! This was the second time we made them and we used Kerrygold butter and oh man, they seemed flakier!
Just took these out of the oven!! Look perfect! Hold on…Yep they are!! Tender on the inside and a lil crusty on the edges! Flavorful with the hint of sugar! Thank you for the easy, perfect recipe!
Can these be made with self rising flour and forego the baking powder/soda?
It should be fine to use self-rising flour, it usually has about 1 tablespoon of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon teaspoon salt per 2 cups of flour. I would still add the baking soda and maybe 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
I absolutely love this recipe, they turned out beautifully. I too used Kerrygold butter and they are delicious and buttery, the only thing is the butter is salted so omit the salt in the recipe otherwise they may be too salty for your taste. But otherwise than that they are so moorish that I can’t wait to bake more. Thank you for this beautiful recipe.
Can these biscuits be frozen? I have a small family and we tend to only use 3 or 4 biscuits at one time.
After you bake them, you can freeze them, but I wouldn’t freeze the dough otherwise they may not rise well once you bake them. You can cut the recipe in half to just make 5-6 biscuits too.
I usually make one batch. Can I safely triple this recipe with all the same mesurements? I’m using pink Himalayan salt and I don’t want these to be too salty. I’ve seen other Baki recipes where if you double or triple , you sometimes need adjustments and not a strait 1:1 on all ingredients. I’ve already sifted all dry ingredients. Will I be ok here or did I just trash my biscuits? I like mine a bit thicker so wanted to double but wasn’t paying attention and ended up with 6 cups of flour (thinking I saw 3 cups instead of two). Please advise. Never screws up my biscuits before. Thank you.
It think it would probably be okay to double or triple this recipe. If it’s a lot of dough, you may need to divide it in half just so you don’t overwork it too much.
Ok, cool. I’ll make it tomorrow and report back. I never overwork the dough. I even grate in frozen butter and refrigerate the dry ingredients. I usually don’t handle it enough I’ve found as they have sometimes broken apart in my hand! I’ve never been one to make a tough biscuit. Never developing the gluten by over handling nor letting butter melt, keeping the all important pockets of air during cooking. I will make them tomorrow and report back. Thank you kindly for your reply. Be safe and happy cooking! (Sorry for typos)
Is the 450 degrees correct? My biscuits almost burned.
Yes, 450°F is correct. The higher oven temperature is what helps the biscuits rise. If they almost burnt it’s likely that your oven may have been a bit too hot or they were starting to over bake. If they start to brown on top too much before they’re done in the center, you can cover them with a little foil until they’re done inside.
I love this recipe! Could I substitute 1/2 of white flour with whole wheat flour?
That should be fine! You may need an extra 1-2 tablespoons of buttermilk.
Our frozen biscuits had expired and I didn’t want to go to the store so I found your recipe and I think this is the best biscuit I have ever made. I was discouraged before because other recipes had not yielded good results and I thought it was me. But these biscuits turned out beautifully! They were a tad thin (my fault for not measuring) but the layers were glorious!! Delicious on their own but heavenly with some homemade sausage gravy. Thank you so much for this recipe and salvaging my almost ruined anniversary brunch.
Didn’t have buttermilk, so substituted a quarter or a third plain yoghurt for milk I added some grated cheddar cheese. Cheese biscuits quick and easy. Delish! Thank you!
My third batch is cooking right now. I’ve had to share the recipe with my Friends. It is simple, but oh so good…..
My biscuits turned out well but did not rise much at all. The only thing I didn’t do was put them into the pan touching. Could this be the problem? Should I let them rise before baking?
Hi, Lisa! There are several other reasons – if the butter wasn’t cold enough, the oven wasn’t hot enough, if you twisted the biscuit cutter and sealed off the edges, or patted the dough out less than 1/2-inch thick it can cause that to happen.
Would these freeze well after baking?
I think these are best the same day they’re baked. That being said, they do freeze fine for up to 3 months.
These were most excellent! After trying many recipes for Buttermilk Biscuits, these have been the best. Super fluffy and tasty! Thank you!
BTW, after Step 4, I froze them. Once ready to bake them, took them out of the freezer, brushed them in Buttermilk, placed them with the edges touching on a baking sheet, and baked them in a toaster oven at 450F for 17 minutes and they were perfection!
I wanted to thank you for such a clear, concise and DELICIOUS recipe. We are beginning bakers and my 11 and 8 year olds helped me from start to finish. Your baking tips were so helpful (such as spooning flour and not over-working the dough) and made it rewarding to turn out a good product instead of being disappointed. 🙂 Thank you again!!!
I did want to ask – we only got 10 biscuits out of the batch. Did we make the dough too thick? If we’d gone any thinner it would have been well below 1/2 inch. Thanks!
Hi, Dana! It may have been a little thicker when you first patted it out and that’s why. I don’t think you really did anything wrong though, I think 10 is a decent amount to still get for this recipe. I’m glad you enjoyed the biscuits!
Fantastic introduction to buttermilk biscuits, so easy to follow and bake. Will definitely be cooking these all the time.
How would this work with pastry flour, would I need to change anything else around?
I think it would be okay to substitute it 1:1.