3-Ingredient Biscuits – What could be better than soft, buttery, homemade biscuits that you can whip together with just three (3) ingredients that you probably have in your pantry right now? It’s the ultimate comfort food staple, IMO. And believe it or not, these bad boys are super easy to make.
Making biscuits from scratch might sound intimidating, and that is precisely why I’m excited to share a few basic techniques with you that will turn you into a biscuit-baking pro in no time. (Your friends and family can thank me later. 😉)
With just three simple ingredients, the real magic is in how you bring the biscuit dough together. But don’t worry, I’ll walk you through every step.
Best of all, you can pair these three-ingredient biscuits with so many meals. Who am I kidding though, they’re great on their own too!
Three-Ingredient Biscuits for Every Occasion
Honestly, biscuits, especially these super easy 3-ingredient biscuits, are a staple in my house because they are just so versatile.
They compliment any breakfast dish perfectly, but they also make a great breakfast all on their own – especially when you smother them in butter and jam. And biscuits don’t stop there. They go great with seafood dishes and any Southern-style lunch or dinner meal you’ve got planned.
If you’re a bread with every meal person like I am, you need these biscuits in your life.
3 Ingredient Biscuit Ingredients
- Self-rising flour – This pantry staple is similar to all-purpose flour, except it already has baking powder and a bit of salt added. And, of course, it’s the key to making these fabulous three-ingredient biscuits.
- Butter – Oh, the many uses for butter! In this recipe, butter gives your biscuits that classic biscuit taste and just the right amount of tenderness when you take a bite.
- Buttermilk – Buttermilk makes the dough moist and decadent, and biscuits are no exception. Don’t have one handy?
Optional Ingredients
- Sugar – This optional ingredient is ordinary white table sugar, and it’s perfect for this recipe if you choose to include it.
- Honey – Thick, golden honey is the bee’s knees for whipping up a delicious honey butter spread. It’s not in the biscuits, but I included it because it goes so well on top.
Alternative Ingredients
- Buttermilk makes these 3-ingredient biscuits amazing, but I get it; it’s not always in the fridge. If you’re fresh out, you can substitute milk instead. Alternatively, whip up your own homemade buttermilk!
- Self-rising flour is super convenient but if all you have on hand is all-purpose flour, simply whisk together 1½ teaspoons of baking powder and ¼ teaspoon of salt to each cup of flour you plan to use.
Tips and Tricks
Many people incorporate the butter into their biscuit dough using a pastry cutter. I recommend grating your butter with a box grater while it’s very cold or, better yet, frozen into your flour. It’s super easy and keeps the chunks of butter uniform throughout the dough.
The key to a soft fluffy biscuit is not to overwork the dough. If you overwork your dough, the butter will melt, and you’ll lose that delicious, flaky biscuit texture.
Remember that biscuit dough isn’t the same as cake batter, bread, or cookie dough. You should see the chunks of butter throughout the dough up until baking time.
Can I Make These Ahead of Time?
Absolutely! If you want to have lots of ready-made biscuits for a week of hearty breakfasts, you can take one of two routes. The first is this:
Freeze. Make and bake these 3-ingredient biscuits as per the recipe, then allow them to cool completely. Wrap each biscuit individually in freezer paper, transfer them to a large ziplock bag, and place them in the freezer. You can store them this way for up to 3 months.
Reheat. To reheat them, just pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds or so.
Pro Tip: Prepare breakfast sausage, eggs, cheese, and anything else you might like in a biscuit breakfast sandwich while the biscuits are reheating.
Serving and Storage Instructions
Serve three-ingredient biscuits straight out of the oven for optimal, warm bread deliciousness. You know what I’m talking about. 🤤
Spread a healthy portion of honey butter right on top or cut the biscuit open and add it to the middle – either way, it’s to die for.
Storing. Store them in an airtight container like a ziplock bag for one to two days at room temperature. Or you can keep biscuits in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days if you’d like them around a little longer.
Reheating. If you want to reheat your biscuits to get that fresh out of the oven taste all over again, you can pop them back in the oven, heated to 350℉/176℃, for just a few minutes. The same technique will work in a toaster oven if you only want to reheat one or two biscuits at a time.
FAQs
If your biscuits aren’t rising, make sure you’re using self-rising flour, not regular all-purpose flour. If you use all-purpose flour to make biscuits, you’ll need to add baking soda to get that nice biscuit rise. Also, avoid overworking the dough, as this can keep your biscuits from reaching maximum height as well.
Oven heat hits the outside of the dough first and slowly works towards the middle. That’s the reason pushing down on the middle of the biscuit beforehand is a common baking technique – it helps the biscuits cook and rise evenly.
Cookies also contain flour and butter, but quite a few other ingredients like eggs and sugar make the dough denser. Cookies are sweet and tend to come with extra treats baked in, such as chocolate chips and nuts.
Biscuits, on the other hand, are a simpler recipe and are usually savory. The dough is lighter, fluffier, and more bread-like when compared to cookies. Of course, these definitions apply to the words as Americans use them – don’t expect your biscuits to come with gravy in the UK! 😜
What Goes with Three-Ingredient Biscuits?
Biscuits are delicious by themselves if we’re honest, but boy, do they pair well with all kinds of dishes too! Perfect with any breakfast dish, I love biscuits with a hash brown casserole or breakfast turkey sausage and eggs.
But biscuits don’t stop pairing well after breakfast. These savory treats are the perfect companion to a bowl of homemade cream of chicken soup and decadent seafood dishes like lobster mac and cheese.
More Amazing Biscuit Recipes to Try
How to Make 3 Ingredient Biscuits
Make the Dough
- Combine the Flour and Butter – In a large mixing bowl, measure out your flour and add the sugar if you choose to. Quickly grate the extremely cold butter into the bowl of flour. Alternatively, you can cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, which takes about five minutes to achieve. If there is any wait time between this step and the next, store your dough in the fridge until you are ready. (Photos 1 & 2)
- Add the Buttermilk or Milk – Make a well in the center of the mixing bowl and add the buttermilk or milk. Stir the liquid in gently until it barely comes together with the flour. Be careful not to overmix the dough. Let it rest in the fridge while you prepare a lightly floured surface like a clean countertop or a cutting board for the next step. (Photos 3 & 4)
- Prepare the Dough – Transfer the biscuit dough to your floured surface and knead it 3-4 times. Don’t overdo it – you should still see flakes of butter throughout the dough.
- Shape the Dough – Very gently pat the dough out with your hands or use a rolling pin to spread the dough evenly until it is about ½ inch thick. Fold the dough over itself 6-8 times to achieve those crowd-pleasing flaky layers. After folding, press the dough down with your hands until it is about 1 inch thick. (Photo 5 & 6)
- Cut the Biscuits – Use a 2-3-inch round cookie cutter or the rim of a glass to cut out the biscuits. Firmly push straight down and then pull straight up. Use your hands to loosen the dough from the cutter and transfer it to a baking sheet. Spread the biscuits out evenly across the baking sheet. Knead bits of leftover dough back together and repeat until the dough is used up. Your last few biscuits may not look as pretty as the first ones, but don’t worry, they’ll taste just as good. (Photos 7 & 8)
Ready for the Oven
- Bake the Biscuits – Lightly brush each biscuit with buttermilk or biscuit dough and bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes until they are lightly browned.
Honey Butter
- Make the Honey Butter – While your biscuits are baking, combine honey and butter in a small bowl. Mix until blended by hand or using a mixer. Spread over your warm 3-ingredient biscuits fresh out of the oven, or refrigerate the mix for use later.
Watch How To Make It
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3 Ingredient Biscuits
Ingredients
Three-Ingredient Biscuits
- 3 cups (375 g) self-rising flour
- 2-3 tablespoons (25-37.5 g) sugar (optional)
- ½ cup (113.5 g) butter, cold or frozen (plus more for brushing, optional)
- 1⅓ cup (325.9 g) buttermilk or milk, cold (plus more for brushing, optional)
Honey Butter
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1-2 tablespoon (18-36 g) honey
Instructions
Three-Ingredient Biscuits
- In a large mixing bowl, measure out your flour and add the sugar if you choose to.
- Quickly grate the butter into the bowl of flour. Alternatively, you can cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, which takes about five minutes to achieve. If there is any wait time between this step and the next, store your dough in the fridge until you are ready.
- Make a well in the center of the mixing bowl and add the buttermilk or milk. Stir the liquid in gently until it barely comes together with the flour. Be careful NOT TO OVERMIX the dough.
- Let it rest in the fridge for about 10 minutes while you prepare a lightly floured surface like a clean countertop or a cutting board for the next step.
- Transfer the biscuit dough to your floured surface and knead it 3-4 times. Don't overdo it – you should still see flakes of butter throughout the dough.
- Very gently pat the dough out with your hands or use a rolling pin to spread the dough evenly until it is about ½ inch thick.
- Fold the dough over itself 6-8 times to achieve those flaky layers. After folding, press the dough down with your hands until it is about 1 inch thick.
- Use a 2-3-inch round cookie cutter or the rim of a glass to cut out the biscuits. Firmly push straight down and then pull straight up. Use your hands to loosen the dough from the cutter and transfer it to a baking sheet. Spread the biscuits out evenly across the baking sheet.
- Knead bits of leftover dough back together and repeat until the dough is used up. Your last few biscuits may not look as pretty as the first ones, but don't worry, they'll taste just as good.
- Lightly brush each biscuit with buttermilk or biscuit dough.
- Bake at 400℉/205℃ for 12-15 minutes until they are lightly browned.
Honey Butter
- While your biscuits are baking, combine honey and butter in a small bowl. Mix until blended by hand or using a mixer. Spread over warm biscuits fresh out of the oven, or refrigerate the mix for use later.
Tips & Notes:
- Many people incorporate the butter into their biscuit dough using a pastry cutter. I recommend grating your butter with a box grater while it’s very cold or, better yet, frozen into your flour. It’s super easy and keeps the chunks of butter uniform throughout the dough.
- The key to a soft fluffy biscuit is not to overwork the dough. If you overwork your dough, the butter will melt, and you’ll lose that delicious, flaky biscuit texture. Remember that biscuit dough isn’t the same as cake batter, bread, or cookie dough. You should see the chunks of butter throughout the dough up until baking time.
- Please keep in mind that the nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on the products used in the recipe.
Trish W says
Do you use salted or unsalted butter for the biscuits? I’m guessing unsalted, since self-rising flour already has some salt in it.
Imma says
Yes, I usually use unsalted butter so I have more control over the salt content. If you only have salted, no worries. Just reduce the amount of salt in the recipe.
Christo Fourie says
Great recipe, amazing scones, light fluffy addictive! Thank you Imma
ImmaculateBites says
Glad to hear it worked out well. Thanks for the feedback.
John Reese says
Good recipe. Mine is almost the same. 3 cups all purpose, 4 tsp baking powder, 1 baking soda, 1 salt, 1.5 cups buttermilk, 1.5 sticks of butter cut into pats. Add the peats in 3 batches tossing between each. With both hands, rapidly squeeze all the pats into pieces, add buttermilk and mix. After working it, I cut the biscuits using my grandmother’s biscuit cutter (she was born in 1876). After baking and cooling, I put them in a 1 gal. ziplock and refrigerate. Every morning, for my wife, I cut a biscuit into three layers, butter each and add a square of colby cheese. Microwave x 25 seconds and place under the broiler just long enough to firm up the top, then the bottom of the biscuit and completely melt the cheese. With a piece of bacon on the side, I wake up my wife and she enjoys her hot cheesy, buttered biscuit. These come out the same for two weeks.
ImmaculateBites says
Great tips . Thanks for taking time out to share this with us . God Bless.