Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Once you make this recipe for easy buttermilk biscuits you won’t need to buy store-bought biscuits again. These can also be used as drop biscuits. Top these beauties with honey, butter or jelly. Use my fried chicken tenders recipe to make chicken biscuits. Or make sausage, egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches. Smother them in my sausage gravy just beware, you will become addicted.
Introduction
I don’t bake much. You will not find a lot of baking recipes on this website. It is a matter of exact measurements that my free spirit just doesn’t like. I like to eat baked goods, but I don’t love to make them. You see, I’m like a mad scientist when I get into the cooking groove. I don’t want to be weighed down by rules, totally not my style.
Now, I have only attempted to make a biscuit from-scratch once in my life. It was in high school home economics class, and it was a disaster. I did pass the class but the biscuit making experience left me dry and crumbly. Over the years I have gotten very good at opening a can of store-bought biscuits. It’s the easy route, I know.
I have also found that you just can’t buy buttermilk in small quantities, and I had a lot on my hands after making some homemade ranch dressing. By the way, you should check that recipe out, its delish. Anyhow, I was searching for a recipe that would use up the buttermilk and BAM! This easy buttermilk biscuit recipe was found.
In my search I came upon this genius recipe for biscuits from Cooks Illustrated and it kinda blew my mind. Then my mind said, “you can do this” and so I did. When I pulled these beauties out of the oven, I exclaimed, out loud, one of my dad’s favorite lines “No guarantees!”. My gosh people! I made biscuits and they were shockingly easy and so dang good! I barely even made a mess and that’s saying a lot! so, if I can make biscuits like this, you can too. And most likely your 5-year-old, I guarantee this!
Ingredients
- Flour
- Buttermilk
- Butter
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Sugar (optional)
- Salt
Instructions
There’s no cutting in of butter, no pastry cutter or shortening required. The culinary geniuses at Cooks Illustrated melted the butter in the microwave and then added it to very cold buttermilk that is chilled in the freezer for 10 mins prior. The butter turns into clumps and those clumps are what makes your biscuit flaky.
I don’t own a biscuit cutter, so I used a tumbler the first time to make circles. It worked great! The second time I made these, I just cut them into squares and triangles. I’m not one for appearance, plus, they taste amazing regardless of their shape.
Make sure to sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder as it will make for a better biscuit.
Uses for buttermilk biscuits
These easy buttermilk biscuits hold up great for a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit. Smothered in sausage gravy, this biscuit holds up spectacularly. Place fried chicken tenders in between a sliced biscuit and cover it in sausage gravy. I have covered them in blueberry compote and also drizzled local wildflower honey on them.
They reheat perfectly in the oven and maintain their texture. I can openly admit that I am totally addicted to them and I’m going to need to up my gym time but for now I’m just proud that I made delicious buttermilk biscuits.
Extra buttermilk?
Do you have an excess of buttermilk after making this recipe? If so, then use it to make Buttermilk ranch dressing, Buttermilk fried chicken tenders or add some to grits to make them extra creamy.
Check out some of my other recipes
EASY BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
Ingredients
- 2½ cups flour all purpose, whole wheat
- 1 cup buttermilk see notes to make your own
- 8 tbsp butter unsalted, 1 stick
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 with oven rack in the middle.
- Place 1 cup buttermilk in freezer, leave for 10 mins. Melt butter in microwave in 30 sec intervals, set aside.1 cup buttermilk, 8 tbsp butter
- In a large bowl sift 2 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda and 2 tsp baking powder. Add sugar and salt and whisk together.2½ cups flour, 1 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt
- When buttermilk has become very cold but not frozen (about 10 minutes), add to warm butter and stir to incorporate. This will be clumpy. Add to the dry ingredients and mix until it is well combined, and it pulls from sides of bowl.1 cup buttermilk, 8 tbsp butter
- Lightly dust work surface with flour (2 tbsp) and dump dough onto it. Knead dough 10 times and then form into a square. Use a rolling pin covered in flour to roll dough out but leave it about 1 inch thick. Add additional flour to keep dough from sticking to rolling pin or work surface.
- Cut into any shape/size biscuit you like and then knead the remaining dough to cut more. Yields 8 biscuits.
- Bake in 450 degree oven for 15-20 mins.
Notes
