Southern Biscuit Recipe (3 Ingredients Only)
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Crafted with a mere trio of essential ingredients, this timeless Southern biscuit recipe stands as an enduring cornerstone of Southern culinary tradition. These biscuits, embodying a perfect fusion of simplicity and flavor, hold a cherished place in Southern households. Soft, fluffy, and undeniably delectable, they transcend the boundaries of mealtime, seamlessly transitioning from a morning indulgence to a savory accompaniment for dinner.
Each bite carries with it a taste of Southern heritage, a testament to the art of Southern comfort food. The simplicity of the ingredients belies the rich and comforting flavors that emerge from the oven. Tender and buttery, they exude a warmth that envelopes the senses. Slathered with butter or adorned with gravy, these biscuits become a canvas for a multitude of culinary delights, adapting effortlessly to various accompaniments. These flaky butter biscuits go perfect so many types of soups like Creamy Vegetable Soup, Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup Recipe, Vegan Butternut Squash Soup, and Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup
Ingredients To Make Homemade Biscuits
- (self-rising)
- Shortening
- Milk or buttermilk
Helpful Kitchen Tools
How to Make This Classic Southern Biscuit Recipe
Place the flour into a medium bowl and add the shortening. Cut in with a fork or pastry cutter.
It will look like this when you are done.
Not incredibly different but you won’t be able to really see the shortening anymore once it is incorporated into the flour.
Most recipes will tell you to cut the shortening into the flour until it resembles peas. I’ve never, in my life, seen peas that look like this, or a flour/shortening mixture that looked like peas. It must have been a high imagination day when that analogy was thought up.
Add in your milk.
Stir that milk in until your dough starts to stick together good.
Sprinkle flour onto a surface. I like to lay out a piece of parchment paper and sprinkle it on top of that for easy clean-up later.
Dump your biscuit dough out onto the floured surface.
Now you need to knead it.
However, you don’t want to over-knead it or you’ll end up with my Daddy’s hockey pucks.
I tell my kids “In biscuits, as in relationships, it’s never good to be too kneady.” LOL
Then, I cut your Southern biscuits.
Cut your biscuits with a biscuit cutter or small glass that has been dipped into flour to keep the cut biscuits from sticking to it.
Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and place your cut biscuits in it, making sure the sides touch. This helps them to rise because they support each other as they bake and rise up.
I tell my kids “You want them touching because biscuits are like good friends, they help each other rise up.”
Bake these at 500 for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
Remove from oven and brush tops of these classic southern biscuits with melted butter, if you’d like. Enjoy all the delicious .
How To Store Homemade Biscuits
- Store leftover biscuits in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Reheat in a low oven or in the air fryer.
- You can also freeze the baked biscuits or unbaked for up to 3 months. Thaw both the and overnight in the fridge before reheating as above or following the instructions.
Recipe FAQs
Why does the recipe have such a large range for how much milk to use?
Sometimes, your flour will need a little more, sometimes a little less. I could have used a little more in this tutorial but it’ll turn out just fine. Biscuits are really hard to mess up, so if yours end up a little dry, no worries, they’ll still be delicious! They’ll actually absorb honey and butter a little better. My daddy used to make hockey puck biscuits on Sunday morning but they still tasted good and we gobbled ’em all down! What’s even better, if there were any left we could use them as weapons on each other out in the backyard. Always a plus side!
How do I avoid over-kneading my Southern biscuit dough?
To avoid over-kneading, I press my dough into a ball and then press it out flat. I do this no more than two or three times. The dough should still stretch. If it rips or tears then it’s probably over kneaded. So once the dough is soft and springs back a little, it’s done.
Can I Create Any Variations With This Recipe?
Here are some fun variations to make with this Southern biscuit recipe:
-
- For a savory alternative, add shredded cheddar cheese, chopped chives, or chopped bacon to your dough.
- For sweet, sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar into your dough.
- To make a scone-like biscuit, add dried fruits.
What Can I Serve With These Biscuits?
These pair best with your favorite Southern . This might be fried chicken, , pimento cheese dip, or bacon, egg, and cheese for the ultimate breakfast sandwich.
You may also enjoy these other Southern biscuit recipes:
- Easy Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits
- Pimento Cheese Biscuits
- Easy Chicken and Dumplings (With Canned Biscuit)
- Biscuit Pretzels
- Drop Biscuits Recipe
- Homemade Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups White Lily self-rising flour see notes if using all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup shortening
- 2/3-3/4 cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 500 degrees and lightly spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
- Place flour into a medium bowl and cut in the shortening until well incorporated. Stir in just enough milk until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl.2 cups White Lily self-rising flour, 1/4 cup shortening, 2/3-3/4 cup milk
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently knead two or three times. Roll dough out to 1/2-inch thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter or small glass that has been dipped in flour. Place the biscuits onto the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown.
Notes
Nutrition
Who taught you how to make biscuits? Who made the biscuits in your family? Maybe you’ve never had a biscuit or to you, a “biscuit” is what we think of like a cookie – that’s just fine, too.
I wish I could say that my grandmother and mother were good cooks and taught me how to cook, but that’s not the way it was. I just had the desire to learn to cook and would check books out of the library and read and read.
While most wouldn’t claim Florida to be a “Southern” state, I am a Florida girl that loves Southern cooking. My favorite baking memories are when I finally made a really good textured and tasting biscuit and a flaky piecrust.
My father’s family was from Virginia, so when I was growing up, he was the one that made biscuits and he made sure they were on the menu frequently. Whenever I make a batch of biscuits, I always think of him (rest his soul) making a big batch of biscuits for our family of 8!
White Lily Flour- I stopped by a cupcake shop in Alabama; I asked the woman how they made them so good. She had books for sell there, and I bought one. On the way back to Louisiana I was reading through, and I noticed she used White Lily Flour. We began having battery trouble and stopped in a parts store, right outside of a grocery store in Mississippi. I ran into the grocery store, and there it was, White Lily Flour. I purchased 6 bags of flour and returned to Louisiana. I made cupcakes, pancakes, cakes- you name it, I made it and everyone said they were great. Ever since then, when I drive through Mississippi, I stop in for White Lily flour. My husband keeps telling me, if I ever get stopped for speeding, I am going to have a time explaining, why I have so many bags of a white powdery substance in my vehicle. I will be hard pressed to tell Highway Patrol it is the best flour in the world. What else can I do? It’s White Lily flour and it isn’t sold in Louisiana? I guess I will have to watch my speed, because I have to have my flour. Now I have biscuits to make too.
My grandmother could make the very best biscuits. She wouldn’t cut them out. She would grab some of the dough and pat it in her hands. She then placed it in the biscuit pan. Then she would take a spoon and dip out some bacon grease from where she was cooking bacon and dap a little on the tops of the biscuits.
When I first started making biscuits my dad would call them cathead biscuits and that you would have to cut the horns off of them. They were uneven lumpy and bumpy, but did have a good taste thank goodness. To this day when I make a biscuit I always think of him calling them cathead biscuits.
My Mexican grandmother, in Memphis, TN used White Lilly to make our fresh breakfast breads, some mornings, biscuits, other mornings fresh flour tortillas. They were both wonderful. She was a wonderful cook, and a much loved and missed Grandmama.
We love biscuits in our family. My husbands makes the kind that you roll out, cut and bake on a toast pan. I make the kind that you pinch the dough off, roll them in your hands place in an iron skillet to bake. We use the same recipe for each. They just bake up differently. Both are yummy. Now that we are older and just the two of us at home we will bake up a batch of biscuits, refrigerate in bags of 4 and have them through – out the week for breakfast or supper with just a quick warm up in the oven or toast them under the broiler. Nice and quick and just as good as the first time.