These homemade buttermilk biscuits are soft and buttery with hundreds of flaky layers. This biscuit recipe only requires 6 simple ingredients and they’re ready in about 35 minutes.
I originally published this recipe in 2017 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and more helpful success tips.
One reader, Marcia, commented: “Finally, a biscuit recipe that worked for me. I especially appreciated the notes which, in fact, had me change some things I had been doing. The detail at all levels, both visual and written, is very helpful. ★★★★★“
Another reader, Maggie, commented: “One of my favorite biscuit recipes! They are so consistently flaky and delicious, every single time! ★★★★★“
Biscuits. Let’s do it BIG. Big as in mega flaky, mega fluffy, mega layers, mega golden brown, and mega buttery. It’s quite serendipitous that this “side dish” may taste even more remarkable than the main event. No, no… it WILL taste more remarkable. Just look at these buttery layers! Nothing can compete.
What are Biscuits?
The term “biscuits” has different meanings depending where you live in the world. In the U.S., biscuits are similar to a dinner roll, but are denser and flakier because they aren’t (typically) made with yeast. Since there’s usually no yeast involved and the rising agent is either baking soda, baking powder, or both—biscuits are considered a quick bread, like banana bread and no yeast bread. In other parts of the world, “biscuits” are more like cookies or scones.
6 Key Ingredients in Buttermilk Biscuits
You need just 6 basic ingredients for my homemade biscuits recipe:
- All-purpose Flour
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Cold Butter
- Cold Buttermilk
- Honey
With so few ingredients, it’s important to reach for quality ingredients and avoid any substitutions. Notice the emphasis on cold? See tip #1 below.
Success Tips for the Best Homemade Biscuits
Let me share what I’ve learned in the world of homemade buttermilk biscuit recipes. I’ve made plenty of mistakes so you don’t have to. These tried-and-true tricks will turn your flat, dry biscuits into the best biscuits ever. And that’s a guarantee.
- Cold Fat: For flaky layers and pockets, use cold butter. When little pieces of butter melt as the biscuits bake, they release steam and create little pockets of air–this makes the biscuits airy and flaky on the inside while remaining crisp on the outside. It’s the same thing that happens when making these ham & cheese scones.
- Buttermilk & Honey for Flavor: Real buttermilk and teeny drizzle of honey balance out the salt. Buttermilk creates the most tender biscuit! If you’re interested, I have plenty more on this topic in my Baking with Buttermilk post (including a DIY buttermilk substitute recipe).
- Don’t Over Mix: Never overwork biscuit dough. Overworking and over-handling biscuit dough will result in tough, hard, and flat biscuits. Mix the ingredients together *just* until combined. Dough will be crumbly; that’s normal.
- Flatten & Fold Method: The most important step of all is folding the dough together. Turn the scrappy dough out onto a work surface and flatten it with your hands. Form into a rectangle. More below.
- Don’t Twist the Biscuit Cutter: When cutting the dough with a biscuit cutter, do not twist the cutter. Press the cutter down into the dough firmly. Twisting it will seal off the biscuit edges, preventing the biscuits from rising.
- Bake Close Together: Biscuits rise up nice and tall when they are touching, pressed snuggly against one another in the oven.
How to Fold Biscuit Dough
Flattening and folding biscuit dough creates multiple flaky layers, just as it does when we make homemade croissants, rough puff pastry, mille-feuille, and croissant bread. This step will take you no more than 2 minutes and you’ll be rewarded with the flakiest biscuits in the world. First, shape dough into a rectangle:
Then fold one side into the center:
Then the other side:
Turn the folded dough horizontal, gently flatten, and begin that folding process 2 more times.
The dough should be about 3/4 inch thick and the biscuits will rise as they bake.
Honey Butter Topping
The honey butter topping is optional, but it will set your biscuits apart from the rest. When the biscuits come out of the oven, brush with a mix of melted butter + honey. You use both ingredients in the biscuit dough, keeping the count at 6 ingredients total.
Serve your homemade biscuits with jam or homemade raspberry sauce, or biscuits and gravy—I love this particular recipe. Or a swipe of homemade honey butter really kicks it up a notch!
Biscuit Variations
I bake biscuits often, and use the same process and success tips when making all of my favorite variations including cheddar biscuits, everything bagel biscuits, and zucchini biscuits. I also make biscuit-topped vegetable pot pie and biscuit breakfast casserole. And you can absolutely turn these into dessert with my recipes for biscuit-topped berry cobbler and homemade strawberry shortcake!
I make these biscuits on almost a weekly basis, and what makes them a hit every single time, is the combination of very cold butter and buttermilk. Also, be sure to use the amount of baking powder in the recipe below, or try the baking powder and baking soda combination I explain in the recipe Note.
Bake the biscuits in a cast iron skillet, which helps the edges crisp up beautifully. Additionally, use a pastry brush to coat the tops of the biscuits with a little buttermilk before baking.
You can use a food processor to cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients, but if you do not own one, you can use a pastry cutter instead. A pastry cutter is an extremely helpful baking tool!
If you enjoy biscuits, try homemade ham & cheese scones and/or my easy no yeast cinnamon rolls.
Even More Biscuits
Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits (Popular Recipe!)
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 8-10 biscuits
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These homemade buttermilk biscuits are soft and buttery with hundreds of flaky layers! This biscuit recipe only requires 6 simple ingredients and they’re ready in about 35 minutes.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed for hands and work surface
- 2 Tablespoons aluminum free baking powder (yes, Tablespoons)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, cubed and very cold (see note)
- 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons (270ml) cold buttermilk, divided
- 2 teaspoons (14g) honey
- optional honey butter topping: 2 Tablespoons melted butter mixed with 1 Tablespoon honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C).
- Make the biscuits: Place the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl or in a large food processor. Whisk or pulse until combined. Add the cubed butter and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or by pulsing several times in the processor. Cut/pulse until coarse crumbs form. See photo above for a visual. If you used a food processor, pour the mixture into a large bowl.
- Make a well in the center of the mixture. Pour 1 cup (240ml) buttermilk and drizzle honey on top. Fold everything together with a large spoon or spatula until it begins to come together. Do not overwork the dough. The dough will be shaggy and crumbly with some wet spots. See photo above for a visual.
- Pour the dough and any dough crumbles onto a floured work surface and gently bring together with generously floured hands. The dough will become sticky as you bring it together. Have extra flour nearby and use it often to flour your hands and work surface in this step. Using floured hands, flatten into a 3/4 inch thick rectangle as best you can. Fold one side into the center, then the other side on top. Turn the dough horizontally. Gently flatten into a 3/4 inch thick rectangle again. Repeat the folding again. Turn the dough horizontally one more time. Gently flatten into a 3/4 inch thick rectangle. Repeat the folding one last time. Flatten into the final 3/4 inch thick rectangle.
- Cut into 2.5 or 3-inch circles with a biscuit cutter. (Tip: Do not twist the biscuit cutter when pressing down into the dough because this seals off the edges of the biscuit which prevents them from fully rising.) Re-roll scraps until all the dough is used. You should have about 8-10 biscuits. Arrange in a 10-inch cast iron skillet (see note) or close together on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Make sure the biscuits are touching.
- Brush the tops with remaining buttermilk. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until tops are golden brown.
- Remove from the oven, and then brush warm tops with optional honey butter, and serve warm.
- Cover leftovers tightly and store at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Baked biscuits freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or in the refrigerator, then warm up to your liking before serving. You can also freeze the biscuit dough. Prepare the dough in steps 2 through 4. Wrap up tightly in plastic wrap (plastic wrap is best for freshness) and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then continue with step 5. Also, after step 4, you can wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days before continuing with step 5.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Pastry Cutter or Food Processor | 2.5- or 3-inch Biscuit Cutter | 10-inch Cast Iron Skillet (or Baking Sheet with Parchment Paper) | Pastry Brush
- Baking Powder: To avoid a chemical aftertaste, make sure your baking powder is labeled aluminum free. I usually use Clabber Girl brand and though the ingredients state aluminum, I’ve never noticed an aluminum aftertaste. Alternatively, you can reduce the baking powder down to 1 Tablespoon and add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda.
- Butter: Cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Keep butter as cold as possible until you need it. I recommend placing the cubed butter in the freezer for about 15 minutes before you begin.
- Buttermilk: You can substitute whole milk for buttermilk if desired. However if you’d like the tangy flavor, which I highly recommend, you can make your own DIY buttermilk substitute. Add 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice or white vinegar to a liquid measuring cup. Add enough milk to make 1 cup. (You need 1 cup in the recipe, plus 2 Tbsp for brushing–you can use regular milk to brush on top.) Whisk together, then let sit for 5 minutes before using in the recipe. Whole milk is best for the DIY sour milk substitute, though lower fat or nondairy milks work in a pinch. (In my testing, the biscuits don’t taste as rich or rise quite as tall using lower fat or nondairy milks.)
- Cast Iron Skillet: If your cast iron skillet isn’t well seasoned, I recommend greasing it with a little vegetable oil or melted butter. Brush a thin layer of either on the bottom and around the sides. No need to heat the cast iron skillet before using, though you certainly can. Place in the preheated oven for 15 minutes before arranging the shaped biscuits in it.
- Flavors: Try my flavorful biscuit variations: cheddar biscuits and everything bagel biscuits.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 biscuit
- Calories: 212
- Sugar: 2.4 g
- Sodium: 283.5 mg
- Fat: 9.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 27.5 g
- Protein: 4.1 g
- Cholesterol: 25.4 mg
Not only are these delicious, but my daughter has to photograph them every time as they are so gorgeous.
These are lovely biscuits and the addition of the honey is delightful. I used 1 tsp of kosher salt and they are on the saltier side…They were perfect with gravey but alone they tended to need something sweet added to cut the salt.
Made these as a surprise for my husband, he loves biscuits. Rated these as one of the best ever. They are beautiful in color and taste great with my apricot jam!
Thank you!
Paula
I prefer a saltier biscuit to a sweeter one. Do I have to add the honey?
These biscuits are not overly sweet. I recommend keeping the honey in the dough but for the top you can brush them with just plain melted butter instead of honey butter. Enjoy!
These biscuits are heavenly! They rise so well in the oven and are so tender and flaky! One thing I do before baking is freeze the biscuits while the oven is preheating to make sure they are EXTRA cold before going into the oven!
They were absolutely delicious, but I ended up with burnt bottoms! I don’t know which instruction I missed. I used parchment paper on a baking sheet. The tops and middles came out glorious! I just had to peel the bottoms off to enjoy 🙁
Any tips to avoid burnt bottoms? I’d call my first batch a 90% success haha
If the heating element is on the bottom of your oven, try moving the rack up to a higher position when you bake them!
made these yesterday with dinner and everyone loved them. I am making them again tonight and putting cheddar cheese in them for a change.
These biscuits are fool proof! Lots of lovely flakey layers and delicious crispy edges!
I am the worlds worst biscuit maker. Seriously.
I tried these and they’re great! For the first time in my 45 years, I made edible and delicious biscuits! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Mine didn’t rise too well, but that was my fault. You know what I did. Lol
The best buttermilk biscuit recipe I’ve made in many years. My 89 year old father in law loves bread of any sort and these were crispy and flakey..the honey butter and folding did make a difference!
Second time around making these, they were perfect! My only taste testers were my two boys (3yo and 9m) but they both devoured them. I also made the gravy from the recipe you recommended and it turned out great. Can’t wait to make these for my husband and hopefully get his approval. He’s the picky one!
Hi, Sally! First of all, want to say thanks for so many great recipes. You’re my go-to when I want to bake up something tasty, and my six-year-old is always telling people “that’s Sally’s recipe!” 🙂 I made these this morning and while they were DELICIOUS, mine barely rose and took longer than the 15 minutes to bake through. This is my first time making biscuits (and I’m Southern … gasp!), so I don’t know where I went wrong. Any tips?
Hey Amanda! So glad you tried the biscuits, thank you! Is your baking powder fresh? That will make or break the recipe. I always recommend tossing it and buying a fresh container after 3-4 months. It begins to lose strength after that.
I cannot believe I just made homemade biscuits from scratch!!! I’m shocked I was able to pull this off. The recipe is perfect. There’s room improvement, on my end of course, but overall they were good! Thank you, Sally!!
Sally, I made these for one of our friends who is a connoisseur of tea biscuits. He loved them and I wholeheartedly agree. They were light and fluffy and yet flaky.
I think every time I made them before I rolled them too thin and didn’t use buttermilk which is the key. Also the folding over.
This another of your recipes that is my go to from now on.
Thank you
Can i use bread flour instead of ap flour?
You can use bread flour, yes. The biscuits will be chewy.
These are the most perfect biscuits ever! I finally found a foolproof recipe. Thank you so much Sally!! My husband said they’re fluffy in the middle like a cloud and I love the crust from the cast iron pan. I doubled the recipe for our family of seven and yielded 17 good sized biscuits.
Biscuit HEAVEN! The layers… the crispy outside. Sheer perfection girl!! My husband was a fat happy man!
Wow. that was a tasty biscuit. Definitely keeping this one. Thank you for the helpful explanations!
Ever since my wife passed away, and took her biscuit baking skills with her, I’ve been searching for a recipe that works for an incompetent baker like me. Eureka – I found it !
One of the best things is that you told me it’s okay for the dough to be crumbly, “shreddy” and pretty ugly looking. All this time, I’ve been trying to make it look perfect … and probably ruining it in the process.
I now have the perfect biscuit to accompany just about anything – and I will think of my wife every time I enjoy one. Thank you.
Oh my, these are heavenly. Made them with sausage gravy this morning for my husband’s birthday and they were perfect. I’ve never made biscuits where you can actually see the individual layers! Love.
These are the best biscuits I’ve ever made.
These are show stopper biscuits! We have biscuits with a meal about once a week. I’ve made many batches of different recipes and though I had found my recipe about a year ago. After baking up these biscuits my family voted these the best ever. This from a biscuit-lover family. Thank you for working all the kinks out and sharing this yummy biscuit!
I used this recipe and the biscuits were amazing. I froze the butter and grated it into the flour and they basically needed no mixing, just turned a fork around the bowl a little. I couldn’t believe how many layers were in my biscuits. I’m so excited, and thank you very much for a perfect recipe and especially for the excellent directions.
I have tried for so long to make a great biscuit. This recipe was the answer to my prayers. I made the Most Amazing biscuits for the first time in my life. Thank you so much. I did heat the cast iron skillet in the oven before coating it with butter and putting the biscuits in. I cooked them on the second shelf from the bottom. I omitted the honey when putting butter on top after they baked, didn’t want sticky biscuits. I did put 2 tsp of honey in dough. I think that was way better than sugar other recipes called for. The folding of the dough, I think was a key to the success. Thank you again for my success in biscuit making.
I have baked this biscuit recipe three times now, and they haved turned out perfectly each time. After being married to a southern guy for 40 years, I finally can say I know how to make biscuits. Thanks for your detailed instructions…and many wonderful recipes. You are my go to site for excellent baking!
I have baked great biscuits before – everyone has liked them – but THESE!!! Now I can bake AH-MAZ-ING biscuits and we fight over how many each person gets!!! Thank you for the folding trick – I use it for pie crusts and never thought to use for this application! What a difference the little things can make! Side note – I used 55 grams of coconut oil and the remainder with butter and froze the chunks before adding to the processor – worked out perfectly!!
I’ve made these biscuits for both Thanksgiving and Christmas and they have turned out delicious each time! The first time I made them, I used the food processor to incorporate the butter and a rolling pin to roll out the dough and just used a baking sheet. The second time, I used a pastry cutter and rolled it out by hand and make sure to use a cast iron skillet. The ones I did by hand were much fluffier and they looked and tasted perfect (especially with the honey butter brushed on top)! We couldn’t stop eating them. Thanks for the recipe!
Sally, I finally got a chance to make these biscuits for my husband and they are fantastic! I got 15 biscuits with my 3 inch biscuit cutter so I may have rolled thinner than one-half inch thick but they rose beautifully and the color was amazing. First time I have ever baked biscuits in a cast iron skillet, but I can guarantee you it will now be my go to pan. I could not believe the amazing color and the crisp bottoms but tender, flaky interiors. My prior attempts at homemade biscuits came out pale looking and lacked the flavor of this delicious biscuit. I feared all that baking powder would be overpowering, but it wasn’t and this is one of the best biscuits I have ever eaten.
Thanks for the detailed instructions and this wonderful recipe! I just love your website and so appreciate all the hard work you pour into it.
This makes me so happy, I’m glad you loved them and feel confident in biscuit baking!
I just made these and they were amazing! Super flaky and easy to work with. Thanks Sally!!!!