Homemade southern biscuits are made with just four ingredients and cook up buttery, flaky and delicious in about 15 minutes.
This easy homemade biscuits recipe is perfect for serving with any meal and would make your grandmother proud.
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There is something about biscuits that conjure up thoughts of an apron-clad, flour-dusted grandma working hard to get an early morning breakfast on the table for her busy family.
She makes the dough and pops a pan of biscuits into her farm kitchen oven while bacon sizzles on the stove and a barn cat laps up yesterday’s leftover milk from a saucer on the other side of a screen door.
It’s an idyllic picture that we’re really not that far removed from, but in many homes, canned biscuits have become the norm.
Let’s be honest, canned biscuits may be convenient (especially for these chicken and dumplings with canned biscuits), but there is no comparison between the canned flaky biscuits and a batch of soft, fluffy, homemade biscuits.
More Simple Breakfast Recipes:
- Glazed Cinnamon Sugar Drop Biscuits
- Fluffy Pancakes Made with Self-Rising Flour
- Easy Homemade Blueberry Biscuits
- 30 Minute Cinnamon Rolls
- The Best Bisquick Biscuits
- Easy 7-Up Biscuits
- Appalachian Cathead Biscuits
- Air Fryer French Toast Sticks
Southern Homemade Biscuits
Here’s a secret–making biscuits from scratch is so simple, and you probably didn’t even realize you have everything you need on hand.
Everyone needs a delicious and easy homemade biscuit recipe and these southern homemade biscuits fit the bill.
There are no hidden ingredients, no sugar, and you can mix the 4-ingredient dough in just minutes–no need to fight just to open the can!
I love to spread these easy homemade biscuits with Instant Pot Apple Butter or Instant Pot Peach Jam. They’d also be delicious with sausage gravy!
You can also enjoy a buttery biscuit alongside Copycat Cracker Barrel Chicken and Dumplings or simply top it with fresh strawberries and whipped cream for a delicious dessert!
Of course, they’re also amazing with a smear of salted butter, too. Your grandma would be proud!
The Secrets To Easy Homemade Biscuits
Honestly, for several years, I’ve been using a different biscuit recipe. And I thought those biscuits were pretty darn good.
But once I started tweaking the recipe a bit, I realized what I’d been missing out on. In my opinion, these are the best biscuits–they are simply heavenly!
Making buttery and fluffy biscuits doesn’t have to be mysterious. If fact, it’s really quite simple. Here are some of my tips and tricks:
- Use Cold Ingredients – If you want incredibly fluffy biscuits, keep your ingredients cold. I will often stick the milk and sour cream mixture back into the fridge while I mix the butter and flour. You can also freeze the butter for a bit to make sure it’s super cold. Room temperature butter will be too difficult to grate.
- Grate the Butter – It’s SO much easier to cut the butter into the flour if it’s been grated instead of cubed. Trust me on this one.
- Don’t Over Mix – Overworking dough can make your biscuits tough. This dough will not be completely smooth, so lumps are to be expected. Mix the ingredients until just combined.
- Mix By Hand – I love my stand mixer as much as you do, but biscuits need to be mixed by hand. Invest in an inexpensive pastry cutter if you must but a fork or just your hands will work perfectly.
- Don’t Add Too Much Flour – When you’re patting out the dough for cutting, it can be tempting to add a bunch of flour. Just give it a light dusting, adding only enough so you can handle the dough. I use my bench scraper so it doesn’t stick to my hands too much.
- Use Cast Iron – Cooking biscuits over melted butter in a cast iron skillet gives them crispy bottoms that I adore.
- Don’t Fear The Sour Cream – Sour cream is a scary ingredient for many people, but baking with sour cream is going to give you flavorful, light, fluffy biscuits–even better than using buttermilk, in my opinion.
How to Make Biscuits with Sour Cream
It’s really easy to make these southern homemade biscuits. All you need is a few simple ingredients!
Ingredients You’ll Need:
- Milk (I prefer whole milk or 2% milk)
- Sour Cream (I use full-fat sour cream)
- Self-Rising Flour
- Unsalted Butter
How to Make this Easy Biscuit Recipe:
(Full printable recipe is available below)
Prepare the dry mix. Add self-rising flour to a large bowl–that’s all the dry ingredients required!
Next, you’ll use a box grater to grate the butter. Use a pastry blender or a fork to blend the butter into the flour, and coarse crumbs are no larger than peas.
Grating the butter with a cheese grater eliminates the need for a food processor to cut the butter in!
Combine the wet ingredients and make the dough. Next, you’ll whisk together the milk and the sour cream until no lumps remain.
Then, you’ll stir the milk into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon to form a slightly wet and sticky dough.
Form the biscuits. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently fold the dough over on itself 3-4 times (I use a bench scraper for this) before flattening into a 1-inch disk.
If you need to add a bit more flour at this point, so that it isn’t too sticky, you can, but start with just a little bit and add as needed.
You don’t even need a rolling pin–just your lightly-floured hands or a bench scraper!
Then, use a lightly-floured round biscuit cutter to cut the dough into biscuits. Gently press and fold scraps together and repeat until no scraps remain.
Bake the biscuits. Last, you’ll melt butter in a skillet (I let it melt in the oven while preheating, but you can do this on the stove top if you prefer) and add the biscuits to the melted butter.
Transfer to the preheated oven and bake for 14-16 minutes, until your perfect biscuits are golden brown on top.
Enjoy a warm biscuit fresh out of the oven!
Notes and Adaptations:
- If you don’t have sour cream on hand, you can use 1 1/4 cup buttermilk instead of the milk and sour cream.
- If you don’t have self-rising flour, you can make your own using all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.
- I love the crispy bottoms on these biscuits from baking in a cast iron skillet. However, you can also bake them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper if you prefer.
- I use a 2.5-inch biscuit cutter and usually end up with about 8 biscuits. If your cutter is larger or smaller, you may end up with more or less.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container. You can also freeze them in a freezer bag once they’re cooled completely.
Recommended Equipment:
Easy Homemade Biscuits
These fluffy, buttery biscuits are perfection! Enjoy them for breakfast or as a side dish with dinner.
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 cups self-rising flour
- 3/4 cup + 2 TBSP unsalted butter, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450F.
- In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together milk and sour cream until no lumps remain. Set aside.
- Add flour to a medium mixing bowl. Use a box grater to grate 3/4 cup butter and add it to the flour. Use a pastry blender or fork to cut the butter into the flour, until pieces are about the size of peas.
- Using a wooden spoon, stir the milk mixture into the flour mixture, stirring just until combined. The dough will be somewhat wet and sticky.
- Add remaining 2 TBSP butter to a cast iron skillet and place in the oven to melt while you cut out the biscuits.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Dust the top of the dough with flour. Use a bench scraper to fold the dough over onto itself 3-4 times, dusting lightly with flour as needed (for fluffiest biscuits, you want to handle the dough as little as possible and add as little extra flour as possible, just enough to make the dough manageable).
- Pat the dough to 1-inch thick using your bench scraper. Dip a round biscuit cutter into flour and use it to cut biscuits, pushing straight down into the dough (no twisting) to cut. Combine scraps of dough and pat down again, repeating the process until no dough remains.
- Carefully remove pre-heated skillet from the oven and swirl to coat the bottom with the melted butter.
- Place biscuits into skillet so they are touching each other, then transfer skillet to oven. Bake for 14-16 minutes, until biscuits are golden-brown on top.
- Remove from oven and serve warm.
Notes
- If you don't have sour cream on hand, you can use 1 1/4 cup buttermilk instead of the milk and sour cream.
- I love the crispy bottoms on these biscuits from baking in a cast iron skillet. However, you can also bake them on a baking sheet if you prefer.
- I use a 2.5-inch biscuit cutter and usually end up with about 8 biscuits. If your cutter is larger or smaller, you may end up with more or less.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 166Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 390mgCarbohydrates: 25gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 4g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and is not guaranteed for accuracy.
jeff says
Try your own recipe and see how it come out. Ive made it 2 times and had to add flour both times. Waste of time and money spent on ingredients.
Chrysti Benner says
Hi Jeff–Do you mean the dough was sticky? The dough is a bit wetter than some biscuit recipes, which is why I mention adding enough flour to be able to handle the dough. I’m sorry they didn’t work out for you!
Jessica says
Do you know how many grams of flour you use. I know that measuring flour by cup can have wildly varying results depending on the method used. I had to add over half a cup and even then it wouldn’t have been manageable without a dough knife. Which is essential to your recipe. With that said the biscuits were some of the best I’ve ever had. The flavor, texture, and fluffiness was amazing.
Chrysti Benner says
Hi Jessica! No, I don’t measure my flour by grams, but you’re right that weighing it is more precise. I use the scoop and sweep method of measuring, where I scoop my measuring cup through the flour and use a knife to sweep off the excess from the top to even it out. Adding enough flour to make the dough manageable is totally fine–I’m glad you enjoyed the biscuits! 🙂
Maria L Sykes says
Absolutely love your biscuits! Nothing like homemade!! Kudos
Chrysti Benner says
Thank you so much, Maria! It makes my day to hear that you enjoy them as much as we do! 🙂
Judith says
Oh my goodness, these biscuits were just awesome..I’m 80 years old and from country cooking and still enjoy making biscuits..you just can’t beat the ones you make yourself..now I’m teaching my granddaughter and grandson how to make biscuits and I love your recipe, it’s so easy for them to understand and yes I grew up on a farm and used lard for our biscuits..love your website!
Chrysti Benner says
Thank you so much, Judith! That’s the highest compliment! Your grandkids are so lucky to have you to teach them how to make homemade biscuits. 🙂
Michele says
Great moist, layered biscuit recipe!!!
Chrysti Benner says
Thank you, Michele! I’m so glad you enjoyed them! 🙂