My easy Southern biscuit recipe was handed down to me by my mom, a fabulous Southern cook, and is simple and quick to put together. It's gotten rave reviews all over, and I think you too will find these easy homemade biscuits to be outrageously fluffy, flaky, and delicious!
Great all by themselves. Or add jam, honey, or molasses. Or you can make them into a breakfast sandwich with ham, egg, and cheese or break them open and cover them with gravy (try my Homemade Turkey Gravy) ... or just scarf them down fresh and hot out of the oven 😉
These biscuits are also perfect with my Southern Homemade Chili, my Ham and Bean Crockpot Soup, my Southern Black Eyed Peas with collards, or as your go-to easy side bread for regular or special meals.
Crisp and flaky on the outside, soft and tender on the inside - can't you just taste them now!
🔎 Quick Look: Southern Biscuits Recipe
- ⏲️ Prep Time: 10 minutes
- 🍳 Cook Time: 20 minutes
- ⌛ Total Time: 30 minutes
- 🍽️ Servings: 4
- 📊 Calories: 470 kcal/serving
- 💖 Why You'll Love: Easy, quick, fluffy, flaky, go with anything.
- 📜 Ingredients: All-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, salted butter, milk.
- ♨️ Cook Method: Oven
- 🥣 Tools Needed: Large bowl, biscuit cutter, rolling pin, sheet pan or cast iron skillet
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💖 Why You'll Love These Biscuits
- Easy - These biscuits are so easy, they're practically fool proof. I love easy, and I believe you do too. No need for special techniques or methods. Just mix, roll out (or not - you can also make drop biscuits with this dough), bake, and enjoy!
- Quick - Takes about 30 minutes from start to finish - 10 minutes to mix ingredients and about 20 minutes to bake. So these are great for last-minute preparation. Also easy to double the recipe for larger (or hungrier) crowds.
- Fluffy & Flaky - Everything you love about a great biscuit.
- Go with Everything - So adaptable and great with anything you're serving. Great to use for a breakfast sandwich, eaten with just butter or jam, or dipped in your favorite chili or soup.
I believe you'll also love these easy homemade biscuit variations - my Cheddar Biscuit Recipe, Blueberry Biscuits, and Ranch Cheddar Bacon Biscuits. Give them a try!
Ingredients You'll Need
- Flour - I typically purchase and use all-purpose flour. If you use self-rising flour, you will need to omit the salt and baking powder.
- Butter - I use salted butter. If using unsalted butter, add ¼ teaspoon more salt per ½ cup of butter.
- Milk - You can use milk or buttermilk. If using plain milk, I like to use whole milk, as the extra fat adds to the flavor and success of the biscuits.
- Baking powder - Make sure you are using baking "powder" and not "soda," as they are completely different ingredients. Baking powder is a rising agent and necessary for your biscuits to fluff up and not turn out flat. Make sure your baking powder is fresh and not outdated - very important for a good rise of your biscuits!
(See recipe card below for ingredient quantities and full recipe instructions)
📖 Substitutions / Variations
- Flour: If you want to use self-rising flour, leave out the baking powder and salt in this recipe.
- Milk: You can use buttermilk instead of whole milk. Just use the same quantity.
- Butter: I use salted butter, but you can also use unsalted. If you do, make sure to add an additional ¼ teaspoon salt to the ingredients before mixing.
- Drop biscuits: If you want to make these even easier, you can skip the rolling out of the dough and just drop the dough by large spoonfuls onto your baking sheet. They will turn out fluffy with a nice outer crust.
🔪 How to Make Easy Southern Biscuits (Step-By-Step)
Step 1: Preheat oven to 450F. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add butter in smallish pieces.
Step 2: With your hands (or a pastry blender), combine flour mixture and butter until butter is pea sized and mixture is crumbly.
Step 3: Pour in milk and combine with a wooden spoon until well incorporated, taking care not to over mix.
Step 4: With floured hands, form dough into a ball and place on a floured surface.
Step 5: Roll out dough to about ¾ inch thick.
Step 6: Cut out biscuits with biscuit cutter, cookie cutter, or glass, making sure not to twist.
Step 7: Add each biscuit to an un-greased cookie sheet or iron skillet. For a higher rise during baking, make sure that the biscuits touch each other.
Step 8: Cook biscuits on 450F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 7-9 Southern biscuits that are 2-½ to 3 inches across.
(Scroll down for full recipe and print capabilities)
💭 Expert Tips
- One of the keys to making easy homemade biscuits is to use softened butter. This means leaving it out on the counter for an hour or two when I plan to make biscuits. You don't want melted butter - just softened so it's easier to handle and mix together with your dry ingredients.
- Mixing all of the dry ingredients together with the butter with bare hands is easier, in my opinion, as it feels like it all gets mixed better and more evenly distributed.
- Make sure the dry ingredients, specifically the salt and baking powder, are well incorporated into the flour so you don't have patches of saltiness in your biscuits.
- After the dry ingredients are well blended with the butter, you will pour in the milk and combine with a wooden spoon until well incorporated. Take care not to over mix, as the biscuits could turn out tough.
- It helps to flour your hands before you handle the dough. This way you don't add unnecessary flour, but it's easier to handle.
- I like to pour out a small pile of flour on the counter nearby so I have easy access to more flour for my hands, the rolling pin, or the cutter.
- Don't twist your cutter as you're cutting out the biscuits, as this will seal the edges and make it more difficult to get a good rise.
- As oven temperature settings vary, you may have to cook them for a longer (or shorter) time. Ideally, you would use an oven thermometer to check your oven's temperature accuracy. I found out that my oven gets 50 degrees hotter than what is indicated. This is very useful to know in order to get accurate results.
- Pack the flour before adding - scooping out the flour with the dry measuring cup in the flour bag and leveling on the side before adding to the bowl. If you add the flour gently to your measuring cup or sifting, you will end up with less flour (which could definitely cause a problem with dough being too wet). I know this is unconventional, but this is the way I do it.
🧐 Southern Biscuit Recipe FAQs
The dough is supposed to be a bit sticky and hard to handle - this makes for softer biscuits. It shouldn't be "wet," but it will be "sticky."
Therefore, you should flour your hands before handling the sticky dough, and make sure to add the dough to a floured surface.
You want it to be as sticky as possible while still being able to handle it - this makes for softer biscuits (as above).
This could be due to old baking powder or that you handled the dough too much. Make sure your baking powder is fresh and not expired, as this will greatly hinder the rise.
Also, handle the dough as little as possible, so your biscuits remain light and fluffy and able to rise to their highest potential.
I use all-purpose regular flour. I don't buy specialty flours or special brands. Mine turn out great with the store brand.
Even if you are using self-rising flour, you will still need a fat (butter in the case of this recipe) in your biscuits in order to help the biscuits rise and also make them tender, flaky, and more delicious!
🍲 What to Serve with Your Butter Biscuits
If you tried this easy Southern Biscuit Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
📋 Recipe
Easy Southern Biscuit Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour , packed (if using self-rising flour, omit baking powder and salt)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder (leave out if using self-rising flour)
- ½ teaspoon salt (leave out if using self-rising flour)
- ½ cup butter, salted, cut in small pieces (if using unsalted, add ¼ teaspoon more salt than above)
- 1 cup milk (regular or buttermilk)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 F.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add butter in smallish pieces.
- With your hands (or a pastry blender), combine flour mixture and butter until butter is pea sized and mixture is crumbly.
- Pour in milk and combine with a wooden spoon until well incorporated, taking care not to over mix.
- Turn out onto a floured surface and roll out dough to about ¾ inch thick.
- Cut out biscuits with biscuit cutter or cookie cutter. Add each to ungreased cookie sheet or iron skillet. Make sure that biscuits touch for higher rise during baking.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until browned. Makes 7-9 biscuits that are 2-½ to 3 inches across.
Notes
- Dough shouldn't be "wet," but it will be "sticky." You should flour your hands before handling the sticky dough (as above), and make sure to add the dough to a floured surface. You want it to be as sticky as possible while still being able to handle it - this makes for softer biscuits.
- Pack the flour before adding - scooping out the flour with the dry measuring cup in the flour bag and leveling on the side before adding to the bowl. If you add the flour gently to your measuring cup or sifting, you will end up with less flour (which could definitely cause a problem with dough being too wet).
- Make sure your baking powder is fresh, as old baking powder will seriously hinder the rising of your biscuits.
- Since oven temperatures can vary, make sure to check your oven temp with an oven thermometer to ensure that your biscuits turn out as they should.
- Don't over mix the dough. This can make the biscuits tough and prevent the nice layers that create flakiness.
cATHIE says
Since someone commented that these were a little dry, I added 1 tbsp of extra butter to mine and 1 tbsp extra buttermilk. I cut them out and put them on parchment paper as I hate the clean-up mess. AWESOME, BLOSSUM!!
Sally says
Glad to hear yours turned out Awesome, Cathie! Thanks for letting me know!
Kathy says
This is a great biscuit!
But @ 400 degrees, I bake for 20 minutes. What would be a safe higher temperature to cook less time?
Sally says
Kathy - many others have voiced needing a longer cook time. I'm not sure how to increase the temperature to make the cook time shorter. Thanks for your feedback.
Martha Kaye says
I made these biscuits for supper tonight. They were utterly delicious—melt in your mouth! The recipe was super easy and quick to put together. I used the hint to soften my butter a little. For the scraps, I flattened out a rectangle, sprinkled it with butter, cinnamon, and sugar. Then I rolled it up, sliced it, and placed the circles sliced side down in a skillet and baked alongside the biscuits. My mom would do this. It brought back happy memories.
Sally says
Thanks Martha! Glad you enjoyed them! Thank you for sharing your happy memories!
Sophie says
Just made these biscuits and they are delicious and so fluffy! I freeze and then use the small grater side to add the butter and it’s much easier when blending with the flour. I used my cast iron skillet and made extra big ones so I only had 5 and it took an additional 10 min or so. I’m a butter-before-putting-in-the-oven kind of girl, so i covered then well in melted butter. They are beautiful and it was so easy. Thanks!
Sally says
So happy - thanks for letting me know, Sophie!
Jami says
Hello! I made these biscuits over the weekend and they turned out great. However, they didn’t rise much. I used a cast iron pan and crowded them in to help them rise. The only thing I did differently was use cold butter. Any tips?
Thank you!
Sally says
Thanks for your question, Jami. Perhaps you rolled the dough too thin or worked the dough too much? The cold butter may have been a hindrance, but I have gotten feedback from those who used it with good success. Those who used cold butter grated it in. Let me know what you figure out.
Karin says
Can these be used for chicken and biscuits?
Sally says
Absolutely! You can use them with anything you like inside - chicken, sausage, bacon, eggs, jam - anything you can dream up. Thanks for your question, Karin ... I hope you enjoy them!
coby says
these are not kneaded, correct?
Sally says
Correct! You actually don't want to handle them too much, as it could make them tough. Mix just until all ingredients are incorporated.
Kelli Duncan says
Melt in your mouth! Easy! Buttery awesome!
Thank you
Kelli
Sally says
That's great, Kelli! Thanks for letting me know!
Judy Johnson says
These turned out totally awesome!!! I have tried making tea biscuits many times and always I was so disappointed in the end result. I followed the recipe exactly and made only 6 so they required a total of 20 minutes to cook instead of the suggested 10. Lovely - thank you!!!
Sally says
So happy to hear your feedback, Judy! Thank you for letting me know!
Kathleen says
Hi Sally, I can’t wait to make these, but I was wondering if I can use heavy cream. I have 2 types of milk in my house. 2% or heavy cream. I’d hate to use 2%, I don’t like it and I prefer whole milk but can never use it before it goes bad. My husband is the 2% person in the house. I use heavy cream for cooking with. Thank you 😊
Sally says
Thanks for your question, Kathleen. You can certainly use heavy cream, and I'm sure they would be delicious! However, you could also consider using half cream and half 2% in order to save money. This would probably be close to whole milk. Either way, let me know how yours turn out! Glad you stopped by!
Kim says
So this recipe only makes 4 biscuits?
Sally says
Thanks for your question, Kim. This recipe makes 4 servings - not 4 biscuits. Note that in the write-up above (right above the heading "Extra Tips for Making These Biscuits") I stated "Makes 7-8 biscuits that are about 3 inches across." I'm imagining that each person would want more than one. Enjoy!
Sally says
Sorry to hear that, Alicia. Perhaps you didn't pack your flour the way I do. Thank you for your input!
Jan Martin says
This has been the way I make biscuits for years. They always come out perfect.
Sally says
Glad to hear it, Jan! Thanks for stopping by!
Sally says
Wanda - I'm sorry your biscuits didn't turn out. This recipe has been used successfully for decades by my mom and me (and others have had great success as well, as indicated here in the comments as well as on Pinterest). First of all, the dough is supposed to be a bit sticky and hard to handle - it helps to flour your hands. I should mention that in the instructions. Also, it may be that you are not packing your flour like I do. I didn't mention that in the instructions, so that's on me. I basically pack my flour before adding - scooping out the flour with the dry measuring cup in the flour bag and leveling on the side before adding to the bowl. If you are adding your flour gently to your measuring cup or sifting, you will end up with less flour (which could definitely cause a problem). I need to add this to the instructions or FAQs, as this could be why some are ending up with wet dough. It shouldn't be "wet," but it will be "sticky." You should flour your hands before handling the sticky dough (as above), and make sure to add the dough to a floured surface. You want it to be as sticky as possible while still being able to handle it - this makes for softer biscuits. Hope that helps! Will make changes in the instructions above.
Sally says
Thanks Virgie! Glad you found them easy and delicious!