With a few very modest adjustments to the ingredients and proportions, this deceptively straightforward buttermilk biscuit recipe can be made in a myriad of various ways. My favorite is this one since it’s flaky without being dry, chewy without being tough, and crunchy in the ideal places. Every buttermilk biscuit that is baked to a golden brown color has several flaky layers thanks to ice-cold butter and additional folding of the dough.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 35 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 biscuits |
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled in freezer and cut into thin slices
- ¾ cup cold buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons buttermilk for brushing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Add cold butter slices and cut into the flour with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Make a well in the center of the mixture. Pour cold buttermilk into the well and stir gently until just combined.
- Turn dough onto a floured work surface and pat it together into a rectangle.
- Fold the rectangle in thirds. Turn dough a half turn, gather any crumbs, and flatten back into a rectangle. Repeat twice more, folding and pressing the dough a total of three times.
- Roll dough on a floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick. Use a 2 1/2-inch round biscuit cutter to cut biscuits. Reroll any scraps to cut more biscuits; you should get 12 total.
- Transfer biscuits to the prepared baking sheet. Press an indent into the top of each biscuit with your thumb. Brush buttermilk over the tops.
- Bake in the preheated oven until biscuits are flaky and golden brown, about 15 minutes.
- Enjoy!
- DOTDASH MEREDITH FOOD STUDIOS
- Make sure you use cold butter and cold buttermilk for this recipe!
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 143 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 17 g |
| Cholesterol | 19 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 321 mg |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 7 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
These were perfect! I used to work with my dough way to much. I followed this recipe step by step and cut the baking back by a few minutes and they came out great. Everyone else agreed. Thank you Chef.
This has been my go-to biscuit recipe for 5+ years…it’s delicious, and Chef John has always been reliable! However, I noticed today that the webpage seems to have been updated (pics added, some wording changed). The recipe proportions also seem off – the dough was far wetter than usual when I made it. Perhaps the flour was decreased? Whatever it was, I was disappointed. I’ll keep making this recipe, but I’ll also tweak the ingredients until the dough is the texture that I’ve made for years.
I Wouldnt make again. They were flat even the suggested measurement and they were dry. I recommend doing 2 cups flour, 1tbsp baking powder,1/4-1/2 tsp of salt 1/4 tsp baking soda, cut in 1/3 cup shortening and then 3/4 cup buttermilk. Cut 1/2 inch thick and baked at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Got it out of an old cook book and it looks and tastes so much better than these.
Since I had self rising flour, on hand, I use that. The biscuits did not rise as much time as I had anticipated. What should I do to make them “fluffier? ” they taste fine.!
Chef John has never disappointed me; however, this recipe only got a 3-star from me. The first time I made it, I followed the directions exactly but did increase the recipe amount. I was disappointed that the biscuits did not rise as I expected and they were very small. I picture a Southern biscuit as being large and with a lot of height. Because I trust Chef John, I made them a second time, thinking I must have made a mistake. This time I rolled them thicker and cut them larger (I got 7 biscuits, not 12). They were better but not what I would call Southern buttermilk biscuits.
Surprisingly easy & delicious
I don’t know if I was not doing it right or I didn’t like the taste. Tasted too much like Bisquick to me. Chef John is wonderful So I assume I did something incorrect.
Perfect recipe! I wouldn’t change anything about this recipe, just make sure to follow the recipe. I did brush them with butter when I took them out of the oven, and they baked for 20 minutes. Thanks for this recipe!
Awesome biscuits. No changes needed.
Great recipe! Tip on the butter: Use a cheese grater to cut up the frozen butter and it is a lot easier to mix into the flour! 😀
Easy to make and so delicious!
These biscuits were awesome! I used King Arthur all purpose flour which is light golden in color and has a subtle nutty flavor. The only thing I did differently was I added 1 Tbl. Sugar. Voila!!
My family loved the biscuits.
Best recipe I’ve found. Today I substituted a half cup of corn meal for a half cup of flour. Wow! Could eat these until I burst.
These biscuits turned out perfectly, the kind we dream about getting at a restaurant but they are so often not the greatest. I followed the instructions exactly, and to speed things up, used my mini food processor to hack up the frozen butter into little pieces. Had to improvise a little bit with it sticking to the sides but next time I will butter the sides of it first. I am so pleased with this recipe!!
I am not exaggerating when I say these are the best biscuits I’ve ever had. I used homemade butter and buttermilk. And put butter & jam on them as soon as they came out of the oven. They came out delicious, had so many soft flaky layers and a golden brown crust. Definitely will be making this recipe over and over!!
When I mixed it , it seemed a little dry….added some more buttermilk and it was great….I just cut them in squares….saves time and still tastes great….Catherine H
I’ve been using this recipe for years. It is the best I’ve ever tried! My family loves these biscuits!
Easy & quick with all the flavour. Tried to take a picture of them but as you can see, I wasn’t quite fast enough. I’m already planning chicken & biscuits with gravy.
Love it! I am always searching for the perfect biscuit recipe, and this may be it! That having been said, I agree with another on here that said they used salted butter and then used almost a teaspoon of salt that was called for. Perfect!
very yum