This recipe for 3 Ingredient Buttermilk Biscuits comes out flaky and perfect every time. Video instructions are included.
FEATURED COMMENT: "I made these today. Total time including baking, 20min. They are beautiful , light , flaky, and delicious !"
Jump to:
- Basic buttermilk biscuits are a homemade southern staple
- The 3 Ingredients for the biscuits
- How to make these flaky biscuits (be sure to watch the video):
- Why it's so important to keep the ingredients cold:
- Expert tips
- Storing 3 ingredient buttermilk biscuits
- FAQ's about this recipe for 3 ingredient biscuits
- 📖 Recipe
- Items you may need for making your easy buttermilk biscuits:
- Classic Southern Recipes
Basic buttermilk biscuits are a homemade southern staple
We have some fun and unique biscuits here on our site. Sweet Potato Biscuits are a fall favorite, but really they're good any time of year.
Asiago Cheese and Black Pepper Biscuits are another super easy recipe with a twist. They go perfectly with lots of soups and stews. Cinnamon Biscuits are made with a very similar recipe and are great with a little icing on top.
Mexican Style Biscuits will make you think of Mexican Cornbread, but in biscuit form. If you love a spicy kick you'll love them. And then there are Cajun Hush Puppies and Pimento Cheese Biscuits, oh my!
But, we thought it was high time we had a recipe here for basic but best recipe for 3 ingredient buttermilk biscuits. We worked a while perfecting the recipe because we want you to be sure your biscuits will come out just right every time.
The 3 Ingredients for the biscuits
All you need to make them is self rising flour, buttermilk and butter.
- Buttermilk - Naturally full fat makes the richest biscuits, but you can use low fat buttermilk. If needed you can make a buttermilk substitute with plain milk and either lemon juice or white vinegar. Just put a Tablespoon of one of those acidics in a measuring cup and then fill it up with milk to make one cup. Stir and let it sit for 5-10 minutes before using.
- Self-rising flour - You can easily make a self rising flour substitute too. For every cup of all purpose flour add two teaspoons of baking powder and one-half teaspoon of salt. Stir well and then re-measure before adding to your recipe. This works for all your recipes that call for this flour, like Brown Butter Pecan Cookies.
- Butter - Use butter in stick form. We've had equal success making these biscuits with salted or unsalted butter.
How to make these flaky biscuits (be sure to watch the video):
THE NUMBER ONE TIP FOR MAKING PERFECT BISCUITS EVERY TIME IS TO KEEP YOUR INGREDIENTS COLD!
Follow these steps
- Freeze the butter.
- Chill the buttermilk in the measuring cup.
- Measure the flour into a bowl and chill the bowl.
- Lightly flour a surface for rolling and cutting the biscuits.
- Grate the butter with a box grater on the side with the larger holes.
- Add the butter to the flour a little at a time tossing after each addition.
- Stir in the buttermilk just until blended.
- Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat down until it's about ½ inch thick.
- Fold the dough over in half and pat down, repeating this step four times.
- Roll with a rolling pin or pat down until about ½ inch thick and then cut with biscuit cutter in desired size. Use a straight down and up motion with the cutter - do not twist.
- Place biscuits nearly touching on parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Brush with melted butter if desired.
Why it's so important to keep the ingredients cold:
The little grated pieces of butter are what creates the flakes in your biscuits. If it starts to get warm the butter will just sort of "melt" into the flour.
Keeping everything cold means the butter will remain intact. When you pat down the dough you are flattening the butter bits. Your biscuits will then bake into flaky pillows of southern buttermilk goodness!
Even though we know there are times a freshly baked biscuit is what you want on your table, sometimes you just don't have the time to dedicate to them. That's why we recommend this Best Biscuit From a Mix.
Sliced open your biscuits are going to make a classic southern meal when topped with homemade sausage gravy, Cajun gravy, or old fashioned tomato gravy.
THIS RECIPE MADE OUR "BEST OF THE YEAR" LIST. ALL THE OTHERS CAN BE FOUND HERE.
Expert tips
- We can't emphasize enough how important it is to keep your ingredients and equipment COLD!
- Don't overwork the dough. Folding over and gently patting down 4 times is enough.
- Don't twist the biscuit cutter. If you do it forms a seal around the edge of the biscuit that prevents it from rising as well.
Storing 3 ingredient buttermilk biscuits
We keep them on the counter for a full day as long as they're tightly covered. After that put them in the refrigerator for up to 5-6 days, again tightly covered.
Biscuits will freeze well for up to 4 months if in an airtight container.
FAQ's about this recipe for 3 ingredient biscuits
100% the answer is butter! We know that may ruffle some feathers but Crisco has no taste. The butter and buttermilk are where the flavor comes from.
Keeping the ingredients cold is how you get flaky biscuits.
We've included an easy substitute in our recipe.
📖 Recipe
3 Ingredient Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2½ cups self-rising flour
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 stick butter 1 stick equals ½ cup
Instructions
- Freeze the stick of butter. Chill the measured flour and buttermilk.
- Grate the buttter, tossing it with the flour a little at a time.
- Stir in the buttermilk just until the ingredients are blended. If dough feels dry 1-2 Tablespoons additional buttermilk can be stirred in.
- Place dough on a lightly floured surface and pat down to about ½ inch thickness. Fold in half and pat to ½ inch again. Repeat the fold and pat down step 4 times.
- Roll with a rolling pin or pat down with hands until about ½ inch thick.
- Cut with a biscuit cutter using a straight down and up motion (do not twist). Place biscuits on parchment lined baking sheet nearly touching.
- Bake at 450 degrees 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Brush with melted butter if desired.
Video
Notes
- Using a 2 and ½ inch biscuit cutter will yield approximately 12 biscuits. You can cut biscuits once and then re-roll the dough and cut again to get the most biscuits from the dough.
- Salted or unsalted butter may be used.
- Check the recipe post for substitutions for self rising flour and buttermilk.
Nutrition
Items you may need for making your easy buttermilk biscuits:
This post contains affiliate links, which means if you click on an affiliate link and buy something, we may receive a very small commission. It does NOT result in additional charges to you or cost you anything extra. Click here for our full privacy and disclosure policy. As an Amazon associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
- Glass measuring cups
- Box grater for grating the butter
- Rolling pin (we love a traditional wooden one)
- Biscuit cutters
- Parchment paper
- Sweet Potato Butter for spreading on those biscuits
If you make any of our recipes we'd love for you to leave us a comment and star rating. If you're into sharing your creations, snap a photo and tag us when you post it to Facebook or Instagram.
Classic Southern Recipes
- Easy She Crab Soup Recipe
- Fresh Peach Bread Recipe
- Fried Green Tomatoes
- Charleston Chewies Recipe
- How To Make Tomato Gravy (Easy Southern Recipe)
- Shrimp and Grits -- The Only Recipe You Will Ever Need
- Gullah Recipe for Red Rice
- Smoked Fish Dip Recipe
Tania | Fit Foodie Nutter says
I can't believe how easy they were to make and how soft and fluffy they turned out! It was my daughter's first baking on her own project and long may it last! Thank you for a great recipe!
Pam says
Yay! We love seeing new cooks emerge! Thanks for letting us know.
Alisa Infanti says
These were so light and buttery... heaven!
Pam says
Awww.... thanks Alisa!
Kathryn Donangelo says
These are the BEST biscuits for any meal! I love how they are only made with 3 ingredients. I will be making these again next week. Thank you!
Pam says
Thank you for your kind works, Kathryn!
Toni Dash says
I love these!! It was a hit at my house!
Pam says
Awesome! Thanks, Toni!
Rebecca says
You had me at 3 ingredients! these are so light & fluffy! yum
Pam says
Thank you, Rebecca!
Carol says
Can you make the biscuits and freeze before baking so you can cook them later? If yes, would you cook them from frozen or would you have to thaw before baking?
Pam says
Hi Carol,
The only way we have tested freezing them is after they're baked and then thaw before warming up. To freeze them unbaked my suggestion would be to thaw before baking, but again, we haven't tested that. If you do them we would love it if you would come back and leave a comment on how they turn out.
Carol says
Hi Pam,
I tried freezing the biscuits before baking and then cooking at 450 for 14 minutes from frozen. They rose good and tasted good. The only thing I noticed was that the tops were a little crunchy. I also tried freezing before baking, thawing an hour or so and baking. That didn’t work - they came out like hockey pucks. So, while it kind of worked, there is nothing like making and baking right away.
Pam says
Thank you for reporting back Carol. It's so great when readers can share their experiences with each other and with us.
Debbie says
I gave up making biscuits years ago. But I saw your recipe and thought I’d try one more time and boy am I glad I did was so easy and tasted absolutely wonderful flaky and so buttery. Thank you for posting this recipe I will be making these very often.
Pam says
Thank you so much for letting us know Debbie! Hopefully your comments with encourage others to give them a try too!
Beth says
These look so yummy and easy! I can't wait to make these! My family is going to love them!
Pam says
They really are simple. Thanks, Beth!
Patty at Spoonabilities says
These look so fluffy and soft! What great tips for making the perfect biscuits!
Pam says
Thanks much, Patty!
Nathan says
I am a HUGE fan of biscuits, and the fact that these are just 3 ingredients is so convenient!
Suzy says
Can't believe how easy these are to make and how fluffy they come out! Perfect!
Pam says
Thanks so much, Suzy!
Jamie says
These look fabulous and I love how they're made with just three ingredients! Saving to make later this week!
Pam says
Thanks, Jamie! Bet they'll be awesome!
Rachel says
I’ve never baked biscuits before, but these turned out great! Thanks for creating such a detailed recipe and explaining not only how to make my own buttermilk and self-rising flour (can’t get either where I live) but also explaining why the ingredients need to be chilled (otherwise I probably would have skipped those steps to the detriment of the biscuits)!
Really delicious and easy to make!
Pam says
So happy they turned out great Rachel! Thanks for coming back to let us know.
Rachel says
Sorry, I forgot to rate the recipe!
Pam says
Thank you so much!
Donna says
Thank you. I have made these these several times and they are delicious! Question... any tricks for grating the butter? It’s always very time consuming and really hard on my wrist and hands using my standard cheese grater.
Pam says
Donna, have you looked for a rotary grater that makes larger pieces? Most of them have small holes for grating, but possibly you could find one with larger holes and that would be easier on your wrists. I always grate it pretty fast for a few seconds and then take a break to toss the butter in the flour. Another idea is trying the frozen butter in a food processor, but I've not tested that.