These foolproof buttermilk biscuits are tender, flaky, and full of flavor—they’re the perfect breakfast for those lazy weekends, and I love to serve them warm with jam and a pat of salted butter!

When it’s good, there’s nothing better than a buttermilk biscuit. And I’ve had my fair share of them—growing up in the South, buttermilk biscuits were a regular staple in my diet for breakfasts and large gatherings, and I always slathered mine with warm butter and jam. But not all biscuit recipes are created equal! If you use the wrong method, you’ll end up with a dry and flavorless dough.

To prevent this, my recipe uses a combination of high-quality butter, White Lily’s flour, and a dash of sour cream for the perfect light and flaky texture. I often slice the dough into squares to eliminate leftover dough scraps, but either way you shape them, they bake up into perfect buttery biscuits every time!

Ingredients You’ll Need

No need for a long and fancy grocery list—for this recipe, you only need 8 ingredients!

All-purpose flour. For authentic buttermilk biscuits, use the White Lily’s brand—it has a lower protein content than regular flour that contributes to a light, flaky, and tender texture. If you can’t find any White Lily’s flour where you live, just add a few tablespoons of cornstarch to the dry ingredients! This will mimic the tenderness that a lower protein flour provides.
Baking powder and baking soda. A combination of both baking soda and powder give the biscuits the perfect rise.
Granulated sugar. Optional, though it aids in browning and a faint sweetness to round everything out.
Kosher salt. To enhance flavor and balance the biscuits.
Unsalted butter. Since biscuits require a high proportion of butter, use the best-quality brand you can find (you’ll taste the difference)! Make sure to keep butter as cold as possible throughout the recipe, since it will form pockets of steam within the dough to get those flaky layers.
Sour cream. A little sour cream adds some body and density to the dough and is my secret ingredient to perfectly moist biscuits.
Buttermilk. Binds the dough together and reacts with the baking soda to create rise. Full-fat buttermilk is best, but you can substitute the amount in the recipe with ¾ cup milk mixed with 2 teaspoons of plain vinegar or lemon juice. The milk will curdle, but this mimics the acidity of traditional buttermilk.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Incorporate the butter into the dry ingredients

Combine the flour, leaveners, sugar, and salt, then cut in the butter. I prefer to do this step in a food processor, but you can also do it by hand. Similar to pie dough, this step coats the flour molecules with fat to inhibit gluten formation (which is just a really fancy way of saying that flour + fat = flakiness).

Step 2: Add in the buttermilk and sour cream

Transfer the mixture to a bowl, then gradually add in the buttermilk mixture and toss with a fork or spatula until combined. You might not need all of the liquid, but that’s okay—just be sure not to overmix.

Step 3: Laminate the dough

For that perfect flaky texture, we’re going to laminate the dough by slicing it into four squares, stacking them on top of one another, and pressing down to flatten. This not only incorporates all of the ingredients better, but it compresses the cold butter into layers that will puff and flake once baked.

Step 4: Slice and bake

After flattening the dough into a rectangle that’s roughly 1” thick, use a biscuit cutter or knife to slice it into individual pieces. We’ll freeze the biscuits for 10 minutes to ensure that everything is cold, then bake for around 15 minutes or until crisp and golden brown all over.

Tips & Tricks for the Best Biscuits

Use cold ingredients. In most every pastry recipe, you want to use super cold ingredients—this keeps the fat cool and solid, which creates laminated layers once baked.
Leave a few chunks of butter intact. It sounds counterintuitive, I know. But for flaky pastry recipes, we actually want some of the butter to stay intact. When laminated, these dots of butter will flatten into thin layers that melt and form steam in the oven, creating those beautiful flaky layers we want.
Properly measure your flour. No one wants a dry or crumbly biscuit, so don’t over-measure the dry ingredients! Always spoon your flour into a measuring cup and level off the top.
Don’t overmix. If you stir the dough too much after adding the buttermilk, you’ll create gluten which will inhibit the rise and tenderness of the biscuits.

How to Serve Buttermilk Biscuits

You might not realize it, but buttermilk biscuits are incredibly versatile and perfect for both sweet and savory applications! Here are a few serving suggestions to get you started:

savory serving suggestions

With more butter! (let’s be real, you can never have too much).
Gravy + fried chicken. A Southern classic and ultimate comfort dish.
Eggs, bacon, or sausage. Growing up, this was always my family’s go-to to make biscuits a full breakfast. Pro tip: slice the biscuits in half and make them into breakfast sandwiches!

sweet serving suggestions

Butter + jam. For a sweeter profile, try apple, pumpkin, or honey butter.
Peanut butter or Nutella.
Whipped cream + macerated strawberries. For a quick and easy strawberry shortcake!

Make-Ahead and Storage Instructions

Buttermilk biscuits are the perfect menu item to prep for those large gatherings or last-minute breakfasts—I always prep a large batch ahead of time so I always have them on hand!

Freezing instructions. Place the unbaked biscuits onto a lined sheet tray and freeze for 1 hour or until firm. Transfer the biscuits to a Ziploc bag and store in the freezer for up to three months. When ready to serve, there’s no need to thaw—simply bake per recipe instructions and add a few extra minutes in the oven, if needed.

still hungry? Check out these other breakfast recipes!