3 Ingredient Biscuits

Square close up shot of the best 3-ingredient biscuit recipe on a white plate.

5 from 47 votes

Easy, buttery biscuits that bake up tall, fluffy, and golden with only 3 simple ingredients.

Course Breakfast, Side

Cuisine American, Southern

Keyword 3 ingredient biscuit recipe, 3 ingredient biscuits, buttermilk biscuits, homemade biscuits, homemade buttermilk biscuits

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 15

Chilling Time 10

Total Time 35

Servings biscuits (with a 2 ½-inch cutter)

Calories 235kcal

Author Blair Lonergan

Ingredients

2 cups self-rising flour (I prefer White Lily brand)
¼ cup very cold butter, cut into pats, plus additional for brushing (I prefer salted butter)
⅔ - ¾ cup very cold buttermilk

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Spray an 8-inch or 9-inch round pan with a light coat of cooking spray and set aside. Place flour in a large bowl. Use a pastry cutter or forks to work the butter into the flour until the lumps are about the size of large peas. Alternatively, you can freeze the butter and use the large holes on a box grater to grate the butter into the flour. Then use your hands to make sure that the flour pieces are coated with flour.
Add ⅔ cup of buttermilk to the flour mixture. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to stir until a soft dough forms. It should hold together when pressed, but shouldn't be too wet. Add small amounts of additional buttermilk slowly, as needed, until the dough reaches this consistency.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 1 minute (folding the dough back over on itself), adding flour to the counter and your hands, as necessary, to prevent sticking. Pat the dough to ¾-inch thickness. Use a biscuit cutter to cut out the individual biscuits. Firmly press the cutter down into the dough, but do not twist. Twisting the biscuit cutter seals off the edges of the biscuits and they therefore will not rise as high. I used a 2 ½ -inch cutter here, which yielded 6 large biscuits. You can also use a smaller 1 ½- or 2-inch cutter to cut out more biscuits. Roll out the dough once or twice more to use up the remaining dough scraps.
Arrange the biscuits in the prepared pan. At this point, the dough will be a bit warmer from working with it, so I like to place the pan of biscuits in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes to chill again.
Just before you put the biscuits in the oven, brush the tops with melted butter.
Bake for 14 -15 minutes, or until the biscuits are a light golden brown on top. Brush the tops of the biscuits with additional melted butter when they come out of the oven; serve warm.

Video

Notes

Make sure that your self-rising flour is fresh. When the package is old or expired, the leavening agents in the flour may not activate properly and your biscuits will not rise.
How to Make Buttermilk at Home: You can make 1 cup of homemade buttermilk by using regular milk + either lemon juice or white vinegar. To do so, pour 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice or 1 tablespoon of white vinegar into a measuring cup. Add enough milk to equal 1 cup. Give it a stir, let it sit for about 5 minutes, and then use it in the recipe as directed.
How to Make Self-Rising Flour: If you don't have a bag of self-rising flour in your pantry, that's no problem. Combine 2 cups of all-purpose flour with 2 teaspoons of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of salt.

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