Buttermilk Biscuits
on Oct 04, 2018, Updated Sep 20, 2024
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This is the best recipe for extra tall, flaky, and fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits. They taste amazing on their own or piled high with sausage gravy, butter, or jam! This is the only biscuit recipe you need!
I have a tried-and-true butter biscuit recipe that I use all the time. I use it so often that I have it memorized. That being said, I was on the hunt for a traditional buttermilk biscuit recipe. That’s the funny thing about loving to cook and bake – you’re always looking for the next best recipe.
Why use buttermilk in a biscuit, you might ask? Well, the acid from the buttermilk reacts more prevalently with the baking powder, and it lends to extra tall and fluffy biscuits. This recipe is also unique because there’s an egg in it. Yes friends, an egg in a biscuit recipe. It made the dough nice to work with and made the biscuits extra tender.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Taste: Buttermilk gives a tangy flavor and tender texture.
- Comfort: Associated with home and tradition, offering a sense of warmth.
- Ease of Making: Simple ingredients and quick preparation make them accessible to bakers of all levels.
Recipe Ingredients
- All-purpose flour: no special flour here, just a basic go-to flour is needed
- Sugar: a little to add and balance
- Baking powder: to react with the buttermilk for extra height
- Salt: for balance and flavor *you may not need it if you use salted butter!
- Butter: must be cold butter so it can make flaky layers in the biscuits
- Egg: not traditional in biscuits, but this helps everything come together
- Buttermilk: the magical ingredient for flakiness and tenderness *it’s best to use real authentic buttermilk here, but in a pinch, try a buttermilk substitute
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How To Make Buttermilk Biscuits
- Mix together dry ingredients.
- Grate the butter into the dry mixture.
- Add the egg and buttermilk and stir until it all comes together.
- Turn onto a lightly floured surface, roll out, and cut with a biscuit cutter.
- Bake, serve, and enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions:
I prefer to use a biscuit cutter. However, if you don’t have one, simply use a knife and cut the dough into squares. A sharp edge when cutting biscuits keeps the flaky layers from getting mashed together.
Using cold butter helps to form the flaky layers in the biscuits. Pro Tip: Use a cheese grater to grate cold or even frozen butter into the flour mixture. Then you can finish working it in with a fork or pastry blender. It speeds up biscuit making a ton.
If you over-mix or overwork the biscuit dough, it will become tough and the biscuits won’t be as tall. Mix the ingredients just until combined. If the dough is still a bit crumbly, then you know that you haven’t over-mixed the dough, and you are good to go!
One of the best parts about buttermilk is that you can make it at home and substitute it for so many things.
Expert Tips
- Use a biscuit cutter. No biscuit cutter? Use a knife and cut the dough into squares. A sharp edge when cutting biscuits keeps the flaky layers from getting mashed together.
- Make sure your baking powder is fresh. Baking powder plays a big role in this recipe. If you don’t cook much, check the expiration date before adding it to the biscuits.
- Use cold butter and cold buttermilk. The cold helps to form the flaky layers.
- This recipe makes very large biscuits. You can make smaller biscuits by rolling out the dough to 1 to 1-1/2 inches thick before cutting, getting almost double the number of biscuits. Adjust baking time as needed.
Delicious Uses for Biscuits
These are great on their own, but here are a few other ways to serve biscuits that will be sure to make the whole family happy.
- Serve biscuits warm with butter and jam or butter and honey
- Use homemade biscuits to make breakfast sandwiches
- Comforting biscuits and gravy can be served for any meal at any time of the year
- Biscuits can even be used for desserts like strawberry shortcake
- Make an easy Chicken and Biscuits Casserole for dinner
How To Store Leftovers
These are best stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 days or in the fridge for 3-5 days. Reheat them gently in the oven or serve them at room temperature. They also freeze very well!
More Breakfast Recipes to Consider
Sourdough Recipes
Sourdough Cinnamon Swirl Bread – A Perfect Breakfast Loaf
From Scratch Recipes
Cherry Energy Balls
Dessert Recipes
Rhubarb Crumb Bars
Breakfast Recipes
Pineapple Zucchini Muffins
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup cold or frozen butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup cold buttermilk, or a buttermilk substitute
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together to combine well.
- Use a cheese grater to grate the butter into the flour mixture. Then use a pastry cutter or a fork to combine the butter and flour mixture well (you can use a fork for the whole process but using a cheese grater first works super well – I recommend it). The goal is to have pea-sized pieces of butter mixed into your flour mixture.
- Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the egg and buttermilk. Use a fork to whisk the two together and slowly bring in the flour mixture.
- Stir until the biscuits just come together, taking care not to over mix.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and finish combining by lightly kneading the dough together.
- Roll the dough into a 2-inch-thick slab. Use a biscuit cutter to cut out as many biscuits as you can and place them on the prepared sheet, 1 inch apart.
- Re-roll the dough and cut more biscuits until you have used all of the dough, adding a bit of flour to your work surface and rolling pin as needed. You should end up with 9-12 biscuits.
- Bake the biscuits for 15-18 minutes until the tops are very golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and serve right away.
Notes
- Use a biscuit cutter. No biscuit cutter? Use a knife and cut the dough into squares. A sharp edge when cutting biscuits keeps the flaky layers from getting mashed together.
- Make sure your baking powder is fresh. Baking powder plays a big role in this recipe. If you don’t cook much, check the expiration date before adding it to your biscuits.
- Use cold butter and cold buttermilk. The cold helps to form the flaky layers in between.
- These make very large biscuits. Make smaller biscuits by rolling out the dough to 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick before cutting, getting almost double the number of biscuits. Adjust baking time as needed.
I measured every an still all the flour didn’t mix in should of I just kept mixing I was afraid of over mixing ..what should I have done …help…
You should keep mixing, and if you were a little heavy on your flour and it’s too thick you can add a tablespoon or two more of milk to help it mix in.
I’ve been looking for a biscuit recipe that at least comes close to store bought, and finally I tried this one! So much better than the Pillsbury kind. Biggest tallest biscuits I’ve ever made by far. Perfect!
Best biscuits I’ve ever made! I always struggle with biscuits because the dough is so shaggy and easy to overwork and end up with hockey-pucks or crumbling dry rocks. The egg really helped keep it all together without overworking it. I turned the broiler on for the last minute or so and brushed butter on the tops. They turned out perfect! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I’m 51 and this is my first good batch of biscuits from scratch!
My family loves your buscuits…. Thank you for this recipe. I make 2 batches at time. They freeze well, I had to figure my oven temp out. I cooke them on 450 and they are amazing
Thank You for this fantastic recipe! The biscuits turned out beautifully, my husband told me “these are better than my mother used to make.”
Enjoyed your recipe for biscuits and gravy. Yum, made buttermilk biscuit recipe.
Thank you
Im 55 and hadn’t made biscuits since my teens but as I did this recipe today, it’s the one I’m sticking with! Came out perfect; Follow all the tips! People raved about the biscuits!
Do you use salted or unsalted butter and your biscuit recipe?
I use salted because that’s what I keep on hand but you for sure can use either.
I would like to make these gluten free with Cup 4 Cup gluten free flour. Have you tried the recipe with gluten free flour? Wondering if I need to make any other adjustments.
I haven’t tried them yet but if you did I would use a 1:1 baking flour and just swap it for the called for flour. I have really good luck with that 1:1 baking flour!
I would like your take on why the sugar in the recipe? I’m looking for a new buttermilk biscuit recipe and ran across this one, but I’ve never heard of putting sugar in. Do you think it adds to flavor? The rise?
Thanks,
Evan
I like a sweeter biscuit and I think a little sugar makes a well balanced biscuit. If you don’t like a little sweet to your biscuit though feel free to reduce it or omit it.
Generally, sugar is added to help the browning. I do not use sugar in a biscuit or in cornbread- sometimes sweetness masks the flavor of the ingredients.