Buttermilk Biscuits
Updated Feb 03, 2025
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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
Beverages
Chai Tea Concentrate Recipe
Freezing Foods
How to Freeze Eggs
Healthy Snacks
Medjool Date Protein Bites: No-Bake Sweet Treat
Healthy Snacks
Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Balls
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.
- Grating the butter makes it easy to work with. Measure the butter before grating.
When you grate the butter, you advise needing 3/4 cup.
Now is that a packed cup or just the flakes of butter that lovely fill up to the 3/4 level?
Thank you!
You’ll want to measure the butter before you grate it. I’ll change that to be reflected in the recipe!
Love this recipe! I’ve never used eggs in a biscuit recipe and it made for a delightful biscuit. Also, I made these two days in a row to go with some sausage gravy (because they were demolished the first day😂). The first day I forgot to add the sugar. So I baked a second batch making sure I added the sugar. My family and I actually preferred the taste and texture without the sugar. I did a side by side taste comparison with a leftover biscuit from day one. They didn’t brown much, but they had a soft, pillowy, melt in mouth texture that was perfect with the gravy! So I will use your amazing recipe but omit sugar! Thank you for a great recipe.
I have made these MANY times and they turn out delicious every single time. Everyone loves them! I have even baked them, then refrigerated them for 3 days while camping, and reheated them, and they were still delicious.
Can I do the dough the day before I use them if so for How many days?
I don’t normally make it ahead of time but if you do will you let us know what worked for you?
Hubby said to give it a 6 rating, but there wasn’t one! I love it too. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve been trying for decades, yes, decades to reproduce my daddy’s baking powder biscuits to no avail. Until now! . I had never used egg before and perhaps that was Daddys secret ingredient that I missed somehow. This recipe, minus the buttermilk, comes the closest to his. Thank you for the recipe/secret!
Ruth!! I love this so much. Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. I hope you think of your Daddy every time you make these. That’s really special.
Hi Melissa ,
Tgank you for this recipe. I made it but added baking soda because of the buttermilk. Why is there no baking soda included in this recipe? I looked it up and because of the acidity normally there’s baking soda.
One of the ingredients in baking powder is baking soda.
The biscuits are good. But, I only got 6 biscuits and rolled
Out to only 1 1/4″ thick.