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.
Cindy says
I’m not an experienced biscuit baker. I found this one and decided to plan my meal around it. ( cream chicken ) the biscuits turned out wonderful. Seriously, so good, fluffy. . I did eat 2, lol. Had to have one with butter & jelly! Yum o!! I will be using this recipe again & again. The sticky part was a bit intimidating but so worth it!! Thanks for sharing!!
Sally says
Awesome Cindy! Thank you!
Cal Abriola says
I want to learn to make biscuits so bad. Every time I try it is a disaster. I chose your recipe because of the comments and it seemed easy, plus I wrote down all your tips. The dough was"so wet" that I couldn't handle them; tried more flour-nope. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I used full milk with white vinegar to make buttermilk, and room temp butter. I just hope that what I tossed in the back yard won't kill the deer. Help!
Sally says
I'm sorry ... I'm not sure how to help you ... More flour should help, adding a bit as needed to help you handle the dough. Wish I could be there with you in person to help you get it right ...
I'mBakinBiscuits says
Followed the recipe exactly. Had to bake a bit longer, but that was probably just a difference in oven temp calibration.
Flaky, delicious, light and absolutely perfect. First time making biscuits from scratch, rather than the boxed mix. Super easy; this is how I'll make them from now on! Thank you for a great recipe!
Sally says
Fabulous! Thanks for letting me know!
Joy says
These are the best biscuits I’ve ever made! I used 2% milk and they are still delicious. Only thing is I had to cook them for about 18 minutes instead of 10 minutes. But they are my fave biscuit recipe and I’ll be making them over and over!
Sally says
I love to hear this, Joy! Thanks for letting me know!
Jill says
I love these biscuits! I used frozen butter that I grated. Eliminates the need for a pastry cutter. I had to cook them for 16 minutes in my 8 inch cast iron skillet. But of course baking time is dependent on oven and ingredient temperature. These biscuits are buttery and light and crispy. My search for the perfect biscuit recipe is over!
Sally says
So happy to hear this, Jill! Thanks for letting me know!
Jean says
Just made these this morning with country gravy. No need to go to a diner.
They are great. Thanks.
Sally says
Awesome Jean! Thanks for letting me know!
Rhonda says
Hey Sally, Just wondering if the dough could be made in advance (Overnight)? Thanks
Sally says
Rhonda - thanks for your question! I haven't tried making it in advance, but you could certainly give it a try - it should work. Let me know!
Elizabeth says
Forgot rating so here it is they are wonderful!
Sally says
Thanks Elizabeth!
Elizabeth says
I just made these tonight and they are Amazing!!! I grew up in the South and these are Southern Biscuit's for sure! They turned out raised and perfect~ I followed your recipe as written~~~ I did use your tip of laying them so the touched each other and was surprised having made many biscuits how much the sis rise~ Thankyou for that tip 🙂
Craig says
Sorry, forgot the rating. 😊 Definitely worthy of 5 stars!!
Craig says
Hi Sally,
I see some people having to add a little more flour. That’s because you are teaching a bad habit when packing the flour when all chefs know to scoop the flour into the cup and level off the top. Instead of telling people to pack the flour, take your method (only for you) and measure it. This way people can get the exact amount that you use by weight. I was a bit skeptical with the amount of butter at first until I tasted them. They were a big hit!! I made one batch with milk and another with buttermilk. Both came out great!! Another tip if I may. I use an external oven thermometer because ovens never preheat accurately. Just hang on the oven shelf and when “it” hits 400 put them in and start the time. I also had to bake 10 min rotate and put in another 10. Thanks!! 😊👨🏻🍳
Sally says
Thank you, Craig, for your constructive critique. You're right - I have had this bad habit forever - probably got it from my mom. I agree that I should do as you mentioned in order to get a more accurate measurement for the flour. I am not a baker - more of a cook - so baked goods are not my specialty. I appreciate you taking the time to provide detailed feedback. Always appreciated!
Craig says
P.S- I meant weigh (not measure)it using the method you were taught so that others get your amount perfectly. As far as the thermometer, I use it for both baking and cooking. When my oven beeps when it hits the preheat temp. At 350 the external thermometer reads 275 so I wait until it goes to 350 before putting the food in. This way the cooking time is as it says on the recipe. I always wondered why my food took longer than the recipe called for. LOL AH HAH!! 😊
Sally says
Duly noted - thanks!
Sheri Bobd says
These are easy, and taste great.
One simple thing I do is grate the butter, that way I am not messing with the dough for very long. Keeps them very tender.
Love this recipe.
Thank you.
Sally says
Thank you, Sheri!
Heather says
I’ve been making biscuits for years...these are delicious!
Sally says
That's awesome, Heather! Thanks for your feedback!
Laurel Wollweber says
Sally, I had to comment on your biscuit recipe. When I was a little girl in So. California, our neighbor was from the south and practically every day made biscuits for her family and would graciously share. When I made your recipe tonight, the biscuits brought back the memory of my neighbor! They were delicious and my husband said they were the best he has ever had! Obviously I will be making them whenever biscuits are on the menu!
Read many of the responses you received and just want to comment that I make a lot of my meals “ from scratch”. Funny what people think about Americans.
Again, thank you for sharing your recipe. Tomorrow morning they will be served with eggs and bacon, which I will make from scratch! 😂
Sally says
Thank you, Laurel!
Elva the Baker says
I just made this recipe! I modified it just a bit by cooking them on a cast iron skillet and at 425 degrees for about 13 minutes. They were delicious!!!
Sally says
Awesome, Elva! Thanks for letting me know!