These scratch-made Southern Buttermilk Biscuits are extra buttery with lots of flaky layers. These biscuits are super soft and fluffy on the inside with perfect crispy bottoms. Serve these biscuits with a drizzle of maple syrup, honey, or a smear of jam for a true southern treat!
You can't beat a good homemade biscuit in the South and we serve 'em with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There are plenty of homemade biscuit recipes out there, but these buttery, flaky buttermilk biscuits have been perfected in my kitchen over the years and are a true masterpiece!
For more classic southern recipes, check out our Soul Food Candied Yams, and Old Fashioned Southern Tea Cakes next!
Ingredients You Need To Make This Recipe
- All-purpose flour. Use good-quality all-purpose flour for the best biscuits.
- Baking powder and baking soda. To make the biscuits rise.
- Salt. For added flavor.
- Granulated sugar. To add a hint of sweetness and a more tender texture. Sugar inhibits gluten formation, helping these biscuits turn out extra fluffy and tender.
- Unsalted butter. To add flakiness and flavor to the biscuits.
- Buttermilk. For tenderness and subtle tanginess.
- Heavy cream or melted butter. For brushing the biscuit tops before they go in the oven.
How To Make This Recipe
- Preheat your oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside. Cut the butter into cubes and place it in the freezer for about 5 minutes.
- Add the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and baking soda to a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Add the cold butter to the bowl, toss it to coat it in flour, and smush the pieces of butter between your thumb and index fingers using both hands. The butter should resemble coarse crumbs. Some large chunks are perfectly fine!
- Pour 1 cup of buttermilk into the bowl with the flour and use a wooden spoon to mix the dough until all the flour is moistened. Go in with your hands to get a feel for the moisture level of the dough. If the dough is too dry to hold together, add up to ¼ cup more buttermilk until the dough is slightly sticky but not wet. If the dough is a little crumbly but you can push it around the bowl to gather the rest of the crumbs into a ball, this is perfect!
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat it into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Fold the top third of the rectangle over itself then the bottom third. Rotate the dough 90 degrees, pat it back into a 1-inch thick rectangle, and repeat this process two more times. This is how you create flaky layers in your biscuits.
- Use a 2 ¾-inch biscuit cutter to cut out 6 biscuits. Reshape the scraps and cut out 2 more biscuits.
- Place the biscuits closely together on the baking sheet and brush the tops with heavy cream or melted butter. Bake the biscuits for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. Serve buttermilk biscuits warm.
Variations and Substitutions
- Whole milk or half-and-half can be used in place of buttermilk. However, I highly recommend buttermilk for the most tender biscuits.
- Many people make biscuits with shortening or lard instead of butter. Both will give you a delicious biscuit and my daddy made both versions regularly growing up. However, I just love the flavor of butter in my biscuits!
- This biscuit recipe can serve as a base for all kinds of delicious variations. Try adding some of the following fun ingredients to your biscuits:
- Freshly grated cheese such as cheddar, parmesan, or gouda
- Fresh or dried herbs
- Fresh fruit such as strawberries, blueberries, or apples
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- Pureed sweet potatoes
- Canned pumpkin
- Warm spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, or cloves
How To Make the Fluffiest Biscuits
- Measure your flour properly! Use a kitchen scale to weigh your flour or fluff the flour in the bag, spoon it into your measuring cup, and level it off with a knife. Too much flour in the dough can result in dense, dry biscuits. This is the kitchen scale I use - it's very inexpensive and I use it ALL the time!
- Make sure your baking powder and baking soda are fresh. Leavening agents that are over six months old lose their effectiveness and can cause your biscuits to turn out dense.
- Use very cold butter! Cold butter releases steam as it melts in the oven, creating air pockets and resulting in extra fluffy biscuits.
- Use cold buttermilk. Buttermilk helps the biscuits bake up extra tender and fluffy.
- Do not overwork the dough. Only mix the dough until the ingredients are combined. Overmixing can activate the gluten in the flour and result in tough biscuits.
- Do not twist the biscuit cutter when cutting out the biscuits. This can seal the edges and prevent the biscuits from rising tall.
What Is the Best Flour For Homemade Biscuits?
All-purpose flour works best for biscuits. It typically has 10-12% protein which is perfect for making flaky, fluffy biscuits.
Bread flour has 13-16% protein which is perfect for developing gluten and creating stretch and structure in doughs that need to rise. This is too much protein for the texture you want in fluffy biscuits.
Cake flour has the lowest amount of protein at 7-8% and is perfect for delicate cakes with a fine crumb. Cake flour can be combined with all-purpose flour to make tender, fluffy biscuits but I do not recommend using it on its own.
Do Biscuits Need To Rise Before Baking?
Biscuits are a type of quick bread and do not need any rise time before baking. They get their fluffy texture from how the fat is distributed in the dough.
Make-Ahead and Storing Instructions
This biscuit dough can be prepared a day ahead of time, shaped into a disc, wrapped in plastic wrap, and stored in the refrigerator until ready to bake. You can also cut the biscuits out, wrap them in the pan, and store them in the refrigerator until ready to bake.
Leftover homemade biscuits can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for two days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Recommended Tools For This Recipe
What To Serve With Southern Buttermilk Biscuits
Now, this is the fun part! As I mentioned, we eat buttermilk biscuits with breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the South, so serving a warm biscuit with just about anything is perfectly acceptable!
Try serving buttermilk biscuits with some of these tasty southern recipes:
- Southern Salmon Croquettes
- Cajun Shrimp and Grits
- Cajun Jambalaya Pasta
- Southern Smothered Chicken
- Southern Green Beans
- Southern Collard Greens
- Sausage Gravy
- Cajun Crawfish Etouffee
More Southern Recipes You Will Love!
- Old Fashioned Southern Tea Cakes
- New Orleans King Cake
- Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuits
- Buttermilk Cornbread Muffins
- Southern Fried Green Tomatoes
- Classic Southern Buttermilk Cornbread
📖 Recipe
Perfect Southern Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter very cold, cut into cubes
- 1 - 1 ¼ cups buttermilk make sure the buttermilk is cold, whole or low-fat works
- Heavy cream or melted butter for brushing the tops
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside. Cut the butter into cubes and place it in the freezer for about 5 minutes.
- Add the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and baking soda to a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Add the cold butter to the bowl, toss it to coat it in flour, and smush the pieces of butter between your thumb and index fingers using both hands. The butter should resemble coarse crumbs. Some large chunks remaining are perfectly fine!
- Pour 1 cup of buttermilk into the bowl with the flour and use a wooden spoon to mix the dough until all the flour is moistened. Go in with your hands to get a feel for the moisture level of the dough. If the dough is too dry to hold together, add up to ¼ cup more buttermilk until the dough is slightly sticky but not wet. If the dough is a little crumbly but you can push it around the bowl to gather the rest of the crumbs into a ball, this is perfect!
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat it into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Fold the top third of the rectangle over itself then the bottom third. Rotate the dough 90 degrees, pat it back into a 1-inch thick rectangle, and repeat this process two more times. This is how you create flaky layers in your biscuits.
- Use a 2 ¾-inch biscuit cutter to cut out 6 biscuits. Reshape the scraps and cut out 2 more biscuits.
- Place the biscuits closely together on the baking sheet and brush the tops with heavy cream or melted butter. Bake the biscuits for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. Serve buttermilk biscuits warm.
Notes
- Measure your flour properly! Use a kitchen scale to weigh your flour or fluff the flour in the bag, spoon it into your measuring cup, and level it off with a knife. Too much flour in the dough can result in dense, dry biscuits.
- Use very cold butter! Cold butter releases steam as it melts in the oven, creating air pockets and resulting in extra fluffy biscuits.
- Do not overwork the dough. Only mix the dough until all the flour is moistened. Overmixing the dough will result in tough biscuits.
- Leftover homemade biscuits can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for two days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Rebecca F
The only thing I changed was a oat milk/apple cider vinegar buttermilk because I don’t drink regular milk and I had a great result! I also made mine pumpkin shaped for the fall and I’m very pleased with this super quick and easy recipe.
Ashley Boyd
I’d so happy you enjoyed the biscuit recipe Rebecca! I love the idea of making them pumpkin shaped. Thank you for trying the recipe.