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Scratch buttermilk biscuits are a Southern kitchen staple; golden and crisp on the outside, soft and fluffy in the center, with rich buttery flavor in every layered bite.
This recipe leans on classic Southern biscuit-making technique, using cold butter, gentle handling, and tangy buttermilk to create tall, tender biscuits that practically pull apart on their own. Whether served with gravy, jam, or alongside Sunday supper, homemade biscuits carry that unmistakable comfort and tradition that defines soulful Southern cooking.
If you like flavorful breads like this to pair with dishes try this sweet potato cornbread recipe.
These homemade buttermilk biscuits bring the kind of comfort that makes a Sunday morning feel sacred. Fluffy, buttery, and quick to pull together, these drop biscuits are perfect for breakfast, brunch, or a late-night snack, solving the problem of dense, dry biscuits by relying on a careful balance of flours and cold butter. In less than 30 minutes, you can have soul food worthy biscuits straight from your oven.
Beats and Eats (music to pair with recipe)
Song: “Simple Man” – Lynyrd Skynyrd
The song’s slow, heartfelt rhythm mirrors the warm, comforting pull of fresh biscuits. Just like “Simple Man” takes you back to the basics of love and life, these breakfast biscuits remind you why simple, well-made ingredients always sing.
Flavor Profile (what makes this scratch biscuit recipe unique)
Tender & Fluffy:
A combination of self-rising and cake flour produces biscuits that rise high but stay soft, never dense.
Buttery & Rich:
Cold unsalted butter melts into layers, creating pockets of buttery goodness in every bite.
Key Flavor Ingredients
- Self-Rising Flour: Provides lift and structure, ensuring airy, tender biscuits.
- Cake Flour: Softens the crumb, giving a delicate, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
- Buttermilk: Reacts with the leavening, adding tang and keeping biscuits moist.
- Unsalted Butter: Creates layers and richness, yielding that golden, flaky texture.
- Honey: Adds subtle sweetness and aroma, balancing the tang of buttermilk.
Serving Suggestions
Serve these cast-iron biscuits with your favorite fried chicken recipe. I like jerk fried chicken, crispy dry rubbed Dallas style fried chicken, or buttermilk fried chicken wings. These are also great with fried pork chops or country fried steak and gravy. Also include Southern sides like green beans, collard greens, or pinto beans if eating these for dinner or lunch.
They also make for good soppin of creamy sauces like in this NOLA style bbq shrimp.
Recipe Variations & Ingredient Substitutions
- Cheese Biscuits: Fold in shredded cheddar or pepper jack for a savory twist.
- Herb Biscuits: Add fresh thyme or chives for aromatic depth.
Test Kitchen Tips for Best Results
- Use a light touch when mixing; overworking the dough makes dense biscuits.
- Bake immediately, do not let the dough sit, or rise will be compromised.
- As you load the biscuits in the skillet make sure the individual scoops are close or even touching.
- Make sure the butter you're using for the dough is super cold. I like to use frozen butter with mine. Cold butter doesn't melt until in the oven and leads to more air pockets on the biscuits which means lighter texture and fluffy biscuits.
- Lard makes for even lighter biscuit. Because I like the flavor butter adds, I do half lard and half butter if adding lard.
- Grated butter works great in this recipe. Just take a cheese grater and use the large hole side to grate the frozen butter into the flour mixture.
- Flour type matters. I'm more a fan of soft wheat, lower gluten flours like White Lily. I also use self-rising which is the norm down South. Self-rising eliminates the need for baking powder. But if you're not using self-rising just use an all-purpose flour plus baking powder.
These buttery biscuits are simple, soulful, and satisfying, warm, buttery, and singing the kind of comfort you can taste, just like the timeless groove of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man.”
Dish proves that a few simple ingredients, handled with care and good technique, can deliver the kind of flaky, buttery comfort that’s been holding down Southern tables for generations.
Keep up with my food exploits on Instagram and YouTube. If you like any of the music you find on the site, visit me at Spotify to find curated playlists.
Southern Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose self rising flour
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick butter
- 1 ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon honey
Method
- Sift the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
- Add the cubes of butter to the flour mixture. Make a well in the center of the flour.
- Give the buttermilk a good shake then slowly add ¾ of the buttermilk into the well. Mix delicately and add remaining buttermilk if needed.
- Grease the bottom of a cast-iron skillet with butter or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Using an ice cream scoop place scoops of the batter into your skillet.
- then place scoops on a greased skillet or baking sheet.
- Bake the biscuits at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes. While biscuits bake, mix honey with a tablespoon of melted butter in a bowl.
- Remove the biscuits and brush the tops with the honey butter mixture.
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