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 grew up on Mama’s homemade biscuits and gravy. She made them every day and of course, being a child, I just took it for granted. Well now, I’m old and miss her so much. I would love to wake up in the mornings to those homemade biscuits.
White Lily is the best for biscuits. Made biscuits every morning for my husband as long as he worked at public work. Anxious to try your recipe becaus I am now out of practice and they don’t turn out too good.
What precious stories! Thank you for doing this, Christy….nothing like homemade biscuits and sawmill gravy…yum….
My Grandma taught me to cook in a very small middle Georgia Town. I still make biscuits like this but when I really want them to taste close to hers, I use lard.
I still only use White Lily–is there really any other flour?
My mother taught me the art of biscuit making. 🙂 She made the best biscuits I’ve ever put in my mouth. She never measured a single ingredient and mixed everything by hand and rolled out the prettiest shaped biscuits you’ve ever seen. All perfect and the same size. No biscuit cutter needed. The tops were imprinted with the backs of her precious fingers where she pressed them down a bit. I loved that! Neighbors would offer to pay her to bake them a pan of her biscuits that should tell you how good they were. And White Lily was the very flour she used. She wouldn’t buy anything else…
I grew up watching in amazement as my mother got down her big ole Pyrex bowl that had about 4-5 cups of flour in it at all times, and begin her magic. First, she would make a well in the center of the self rising flour, then she would get an egg sized glob of lard and begin working that in while bringing some flour down from the sides of the bowl. The she would pour in a little sweet milk or buttermilk, whichever she had into it to make a wet dough. She would roll it around in the bowl until she had a good sized ball of dough. Then she would pinch off a golf ball sized piece and roll it around in her hands till it was nice and round. Then she would put it in an iron skillet and repeat the pinching/ rolling until all dough was used up. Then she would dip a spoon into the pan of frying bacon and spoon grease over the tops, flattening the tops a little as she did so. Then she put them in a 500 degree oven and baked until brown. The amazing thing is, she never used up all the flour, just continued to add a little now and then, and when she got through, she just set her flour bowl with flour still in it, back into the cabinet, ready to go again!
Carolyn,
My mom, too, made her biscuits this way, except she used cooking oil instead of lard. I loved to watch her make them, but I’m more of a “measuring cook!” She always made a tiny “baby biscuit” for each of the children!
Love those biscuits