Southern Biscuit Recipe (3 Ingredients Only)
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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.
My grandmother was the wife of a sharecropper from the Mississippi Delta. As many women of her time, she worked hard from dusk to dawn. While Granddaddy was at work, not only did she do the normal cooking and cleaning, she also took care of the huge home garden where all of our food was raised: planting, weeding, harvesting, canning. She sewed all of our clothes, curtains, sheets, & quilts … and all this while tending the Grand kids. Aside from the tender love and spritual gifts she freely gave, the thing I remember most about her is her biscuits. Every morning at sunrise, without fail, she made the best, fluffiest biscuits. We’d all sit down together and have hot biscuits with a few pats of cold butter cut into a pool of Blackburn syrup, with fresh milk from the dairy across the road. Those days are long gone, but the memories are just as sweet today as that Blackburn syrup.
When I make biscuits, I try to ‘stack’ the dough so that the biscuit will split easily. One way to do this is to roll out the dough thinner than listed in the instructions, then cut the dough in half. Lay one half on top of the other half, then continue through the process of cutting out the biscuits. My favorite quick biscuit consists of self-rising flour, melted butter and then either sour cream or plain yogurt. I can mix up a batch of biscuits quicker than taking the canned ones out of the frig.
Looks good and easy too!
My mother made homemade biscuits every morning of my childhood.
My husbands grandmother would stay overnight with us occasionally and always be up early t o make biscuits. We miss her .
Well Christy, other than ones from a refrigerated can I have never made biscuits! So I guess the person who taught me how is YOU! LOL, at any rate, I don’t think they even have White Lily here in KC or in Denver where I grew up. you love it so much, I would love to try it.
A good friend just gave me an early birthday present of a breakfast sandwich maker that can use english muffins or biscuits so these will be getting a try out this saturday. Thanks for the super easy tutorial.
Many, many were the days that I watched my Grandma make biscuits. She turned biscuit making into something magical for me from the time I was old enough to sit in one of her kitchen chairs. Grandma made her biscuits in an old wooden biscuit tray worn so thin in the middle from years of making biscuits. No measuring cups for her, she used her hands to acurately measure flour, her fingers to measure the amount of “lard” and always used buttermilk. It was amazing to see how each & everytime her biscuits turned out perfectly. She would make a “well” in the flour and add her “lard” & then little by little add her buttermilk & blend the flour in. It was fascinating to see her “pinch off” her dough, barely roll it once in her hands and place in it the pan. Each one of her biscuits was uniform in size, something that was aquired from years of biscuit making. Her biscuits were brown & crusty on the outside and melt in your mouth soft on the inside. I’m sorry to say that as many times as I watched her make them, I never thought to have her teach me. I remember as a little girl, left over cold biscuits in her “pie safe” that were so good with Molasses.