These delicious and buttery southern style 3 ingredient biscuits are made tender and can be prepared 2 ways! Top them with honey or jam and enjoy a soft biscuit that melts in your mouth.
I love the versatility and simplicity of this 3 ingredient biscuit recipe and let me explain why. You can use this recipe to make biscuits so gorgeous and tall that you have to unhinge your jaw to eat them, or you can make simple pale biscuits perfect for morning jam. I'll explain how to do this in the tips section down below.
I also love this recipe because no matter which way you choose to make them (tall or short) they're soft, buttery and the PERFECT southern biscuit.
For more biscuit recipes, be sure to check out my Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuits, Air Fryer Canned Biscuits, Baking Powder Biscuits, and Chocolate Gravy and Biscuits.
Why This Recipe Works
- Minimal ingredients. The name already says it all- you only need 3 ingredients to make these biscuits. This keeps the shopping minimal, the price affordable, and the effort low.
- They're fast. Making biscuits from scratch is quick and easy to do. Perfect for a last minute side dish to go with your favorite meal.
- They're flaky and soft. Because we use frozen butter we get a flaky biscuit full of rich buttery flavor.
Jump to:
🥘 Ingredients
Self Rising Flour- Using self rising flour is preferred because it already has leveling agents and salt added to it, making it less effort to use and keeping it convenient for baking.
Buttermilk- Add in some buttermilk to give the biscuit more moisture and flavor.
Butter- You will need some cold or frozen sticks of butter to make sure that the biscuits are flaky and buttery.
For the exact amounts needed, please see the recipe card below.
🍽 Equipment Needed
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- Sifter (optional but recommended)
- Cheese Grater
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Liquid Measuring Cup
- Rolling Pin
- Fork
🔪 Instructions
Check out how to make 3 ingredient biscuits with these simple step-by-step instructions:
- Freeze your butter until solid (about an hour) and place a large mixing bowl and metal cheese grater in the fridge.
- When you're ready, pull the bowl from the fridge, but leave everything else where it is. Buttermilk and cheese grater in fridge and butter in freezer.
- Measure out 3 cups of self rising flour and sift it into the bowl to break up all of the chunks.
- Grab the cheese grater and the butter. Shred two sticks of butter into the bowl using the biggest cheese shred setting on the grater.
- Using a fork, incorporate the butter into the flour. (Just stir it around and get it coated in flour. You don't need to pastry blend or anything fancy, just remove any large chunks of butter shreds trying to form together.
- Next, measure out one cup of cold buttermilk. You may not need all of it! Slowly add in ¼ cup of buttermilk at a time. Stir with a fork. Continue as needed.
- Once you've got the dough wet enough that it pulls away from the sides of the bowl and has mostly formed together, dump it out of the bowl and onto a lightly floured surface.
- Sprinkle some flour on the dough, roll it out to about ¼inch thick, fold it up like a letter and roll it out again.
- Repeat the rolling and folding about 2 or 3 more times. This is called laminating the dough and it helps to create nice layers.
- For the final time, roll the dough out to ½ inch thickness.
- Using a biscuit cutter or a wine glass, cut out 12 biscuits. DO NOT TWIST!
- Place the biscuits on the baking sheet and bake.
- Once removed from the oven brush the warm tops with melted butter.
- If you want them golden brown, return them to the oven for a quick broil (about a minute or less) and then remove.
- Serve as desired and enjoy.
🍴 Recipe Tips
Alright, here's what you were looking for. The massive important tip to go from great biscuits to WOW biscuits. Here it is- roll the dough thicker before cutting.
Seriously that's it. You can cut these biscuits out anywhere from ¼" thick to 1" thick. They practically triple in size when baked.
If you want the golden brown top, then broil them for about 1 minute after adding the butter to the top, checking every so often because it can get away from you very fast!
Do not twist when cutting the biscuits! I learned this tip back in the 5th grade. Twisting will cause the biscuits to not rise as high. You want a straight up and down motion when cutting the biscuits. This leaves room for it to grow upwards.
👩🏻🍳 Storage
These homemade biscuits are good for up to a few days. Keep them stored in an airtight container and they can last up to a week and still taste amazing.
⏲️ Make Ahead Instructions
You can make them and bake them in advance, then set them aside until you're ready to eat. I do not recommend cutting them out and then sticking them in the fridge for hours ahead of time because the leavening agents in the flour will stop working at some point.
💭 FAQs
Absolutely! These biscuits can be frozen as cut dough rounds or as fully baked biscuits. To bake after cutting out the dough, freeze them flat on a baking sheet before transferring to an airtight container. Then thaw and bake as directed.
Southern style biscuits do not contain eggs or sugar. They're usually packed with buttery goodness and flavor with a bare minimum of ingredients.
Technically, no. But, I highly recommend it as the less contact you have with the butter the better. Using a cheese grater for the frozen butter means that you can avoid cutting in the butter and simply stir, add buttermilk, and move on more quickly and with less chance of softening the butter.
Other awesome side dish recipes to check out
- 20 Delicious Summer Squash Recipes
- Oven Roasted Green Beans with Garlic and Parmesan
- Old Fashioned Creamed Corn
- Crispy Fried Tuna Patties
📖 Recipe
3 Ingredient Homemade Biscuits
Equipment
- Sifter (optional but recommended)
Ingredients
- 3 cups Self Rising Flour ($0.60)
- 1 cup Butter (2 sticks), Frozen ($1.50)
- 1 cup Buttermilk ($0.59)
Instructions
Preparation
- Freeze 2 sticks of butter until solid (about an hour) and place your mixing bowl and cheese grater in the fridge. When you're ready to begin this recipe, pull the bowl from the fridge, but leave everything where it is and do not grab them unitl needed. We want everything as cold as possible!
To make the biscuits
- Preheat your oven to 475F degrees. (Yes, I know that's very hot. Trust me.)
- Measure out and sift 3 cups of self rising flour into the mixing bowl.
- Grab the cheese grater and the butter. Shred the butter on the largest cheese shred setting. Stir into the flour using a fork until the large butter clumps have been stirred away. Don't pastry blend just mix them in.
- Measure out 1 cup of cold buttermilk, you may not need it all. I use anywhere between ½cup to 1 cup everytime I do this recipe and it varies on a lot of things. Slowly add in ¼ cup of buttermilk and mix with a fork. Continue as needed.
- Once the dough has formed a ball that pulls away from the sides, flip it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out and laminate it a few times. This means sprinkle a little flour to prevent rolling pin from sticking, fold it into thirds like a letter and repeat about 3 or 4 times. This creates the biscuit layers.
- For a final time, roll the dough out to ½ an inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter or a wine glass, cut out the biscuits using a straight up and down motion DO NOT TWIST!
- Place the biscuits about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet and bake for 10-14 minutes. (They don't change much in texture or appearance during this time so pick a number and it's fine.)
- Remove from oven and brush the tops with melted butter (honey butter is a great option too if you want it sweet.) Brush some on the sides of the biscuits too. Be generous.
- ****Optional Step**** Set your warm oven to broil. Place the biscuits back in the oven for up to 1 minute. This gives them a nice golden top. Keep a careful eye as they can go from golden to burnt in a real hurry.
- Serve as desired and enjoy.
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