Southern Buttermilk Biscuits

These Southern buttermilk biscuits come together in minutes with only a handful of basic ingredients and feature tons of buttery, flaky layers!

Your search for the perfect buttermilk biscuit is officially over! We’ve got the South’s best all wrapped up in layer after layer of flaky biscuit perfection.

And guess what, you don’t need any fancy ingredients or techniques to make the best biscuit! We’re talking 6 ingredients, one bowl, and a few simple tricks here. Everyone can nail these!

Trust me, this is a recipe you need in your life. We almost always keep a bag of these biscuits in the freezer for quick breakfasts and oh lordy, don’t even get me started on the bomb biscuit breakfast sandwiches we whip up outta these.

These biscuits are easy enough that you can whip them up at a moment’s notice BUT we also have many, many make-ahead options so you can have hot biscuits in your face stat whenever the craving hits.

Trust me, that craving will be hitting more often than ya think after one bite of this flaky, buttery goodness.

These Buttermilk Biscuits feature…

• Tons of flaky, buttery layers
• A rich and tangy buttermilk flavor
• Only 6 ingredients needed and a few minutes of prep time

Making the Buttermilk Biscuits

(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe)

Ingredients You Will Need

• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Granulated sugar
• Kosher salt
• Unsalted butter
• Heavy whipping cream
• Buttermilk

Storing and Freezing Biscuit Dough

Once the biscuits are cut out they store well in refrigerator up to 6 days. Wrap well on a plate or store in a container, being careful not to squish biscuits. Follow recipe instructions when ready to bake biscuits.

If you would like to freeze unbaked biscuits, arrange cut-out biscuits on a sheet pan and freeze about 60 minutes until solid. Place biscuits in a container or ziplock bag and freeze up to 2 months. When ready to bake biscuits, bake straight from frozen and add an additional 5-10 minutes to bake time.

Storing and Freezing Baked Biscuits

Allow biscuits to cool completely, then store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 4 days. For best results, I recommend reheating biscuits in microwave 30 seconds or in a 400F oven 10-12 minutes for serving.

To freeze biscuits, allow to cool completely, then wrap well and freeze up to 2 months. Thaw muffins completely at room temperature and store up to 4 days.

Tips for Perfect Biscuits

1. Measure flour correctly – we use the spoon-and-level technique for measuring flour as this will prevent over-measuring your flour. Use a spoon to scoop flour into the measuring cup, then level with the back of a knife.
2. Use cold butter – biscuits rely on cold fat to build the flaky layers while they bake so it’s important that your butter is as cold as possible. I recommend grating your butter on the large holes of a box grater and throwing it in the freezer for 30 minutes.
3. Do not overwork the dough – over stirring and kneading of the dough will cause gluten to form resulting in a tough scone. If you find your dough is a little too dry and crumbly during this step, add a few extra splashes of buttermilk.
4. Build layers into biscuits – pat the dough out into a 1-in thick square, cut into 4 pieces, stack the 4 pieces on top of each other, flatten them back down to 1 inch, and cut out biscuits. This is a quick little trick for getting tall biscuits with lots of layers!
5. Chill biscuits before baking – again, you want everything as COLD as possible prior to baking. Stick the biscuits in the freezer for about 15 minutes to chill prior to baking.
6. Brush tops of biscuits with heavy cream – this will helps the tops brown a bit while they bake.
7. Bake biscuits touching each other – arrange biscuits in a cluster of rows on sheet pan so they are touching each other. This will help the biscuits rise taller while they bake.

Recipe Variations

Try these ideas for a different twist on these biscuits.

• Add cheese – try adding 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, asiago, or cheddar cheese.
• Use fresh herbs or garlic – add 1-2 tablespoons minced fresh chives or parsley and 2 minced cloves garlic.
• Top biscuits with honey butter – mix 2 tablespoons honey with 1 tablespoon melted butter and brush over warm biscuits.
• Add bacon – fold 1/2 cup crispy bacon bits into biscuit dough.

It should almost be illegal how many flaky layers bake into these biscuits! Warm from the oven with a little extra pat of butter + jam and you’ve got a real Southern breakfast fit for a king.

Biscuits from a can could NEVER, y’all.

Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram with #wholeandheavenlyoven.

Watch these biscuits made step-by-step on Google web stories.

More biscuits to bake up next!

• Steak Pot Pie with Cheddar Biscuits
• Pull Apart Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuits
• Skillet Feta Sun-Dried Tomato Biscuits

This post was updated with new recipe tips and photos on 3/28/24.