Making a 3 ingredient biscuit is the perfect way to prepare homemade flaky biscuits in 30 minutes. A perfect side for any Southern dinner.
It’s no secret that my family loves bread, biscuits, and all things made from dough. But I don’t always have time to make elaborate buttermilk biscuits or fluffy biscuits with yeast when we want a quick dinner.
This simple biscuit recipe makes it possible! It only takes about 15 minutes to prepare the biscuits, and then another 15 minutes for them to bake.
These three-ingredient biscuits use common ingredients found in a Southern household. You can find it all at almost any grocery store to make your Southern biscuits.
About the 3-Ingredient Biscuits Simple Ingredients
Self Rising Flour
The key to this recipe is using self-rising flour instead of all-purpose flour. Self-rising flour already includes baking powder and a pinch of salt. If you don’t have self-rising flour in the pantry, you can make your own self-rising flour by whisking 2 1/4 cups of regular flour with 2 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Then use that flour mixture as you would the self-rising flour.
Butter
Make sure your butter is very cold. It needs to be very cold to cut into the flour properly.
Buttermilk
The buttermilk helps give most of the flavor to the biscuits with its tangy taste that regular milk doesn’t have. The buttermilk will also help the biscuits rise, meaning you don’t need another leavening agent in the buttermilk biscuit dough. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make your own by mixing 1 cup of whole milk with 1 tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar. Stir it up and let that sit for about 5 minutes. Stir once more before adding to the flour.
Tips for Making 3 Ingredient Biscuit Recipe
- You can freeze a stick of butter then use a cheese grater to finely grate the butter and mix it into the flour. This can sometimes be easier than using the pastry blender, but you have to freeze the butter ahead of time.
- If you aren’t worried about having layers in your biscuits, you can make these into 3 ingredient drop biscuits instead.
- Add additional flour if the dough gets too sticky to roll. Add more buttermilk if the dough is too dry and crumbly.
- If you don’t have a pan the right size, you can also bake the biscuits in a cast iron skillet or on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Just make sure the biscuits are touching because that helps them rise.
Serving Suggestions
These easy biscuits are delicious as soon as they come out of the oven, but there are a few things you can add to make them even better, depending on the meal you are serving and your preferred tastes.
- Make these extra buttery biscuits by adding more butter to the top as soon as they are out of the oven.
- Drizzle with pure honey or make honey butter for the biscuits.
- Mix in some fresh herbs such as dried parsley, oregano, and thyme.
- Shred some cheddar cheese or parmesan cheese and add to the dough.
- Serve with warm sausage gravy for a delicious breakfast.
3 Ingredient Biscuits Step by Step
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups self-rising flour
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter, very cold
- ⅔ cup buttermilk
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 425F. Spray a 9-inch round pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Pour 2 cups of flour into a large bowl and cut in ¼ cup of the cold butter using a pastry cutter or two butter knives.
Mix until the lumps are coarse crumbs about the size of large peas.
Add the buttermilk to the large mixing bowl and use a wooden spoon to stir until a soft dough forms, adding a bit more buttermilk if needed.
Spread ¼ cup of flour onto a work surface and turn out the dough.
Knead for 1 minute folding the dough over itself to increase the flaky layers.
Roll out to ¾ inch thickness.
Use a biscuit cutter to cut the biscuits by pressing down without twisting or the biscuits won’t rise properly.
Continue to knead, roll, and cut the scraps until you’ve used all of the dough.
Arrange the biscuits in the prepared pan so the sides are touching.
Place the pan in the freezer for up to 10 minutes to chill the dough.
Place a small pat of the remaining butter on top of the biscuits.
Bake for 13-15 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
Serve warm.
3 Ingredient Biscuit Leftovers
Storage: Store leftover biscuits in an airtight container on the counter for 2-3 days.
Reheating: These delicious biscuits are good at room temperature, but if you want them slightly warmer you could put them in the toaster, toaster oven, oven, or microwave to warm them up again.
Freezing: Let the biscuits cool to room temperature then wrap tightly in an airtight container or freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter overnight before reheating.
Recipe
Originally Published On: June 10, 2024
3 Ingredient Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups self-rising flour
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter (very cold)
- ⅔ cup buttermilk
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425F
- Spray a 9-inch round pan with cooking spray and set aside
- Pour 2 cups of flour into a large bowl and cut in ¼ cup of the cold butter using a pastry cutter or two butter knives
- Mix until the lumps are coarse crumbs about the size of large peas
- Add the buttermilk to the large mixing bowl and use a wooden spoon to stir until a soft dough forms, adding a bit more buttermilk if needed
- Spread ¼ cup of flour onto a work surface and turn out the dough
- Knead for 1 minute folding the dough over itself to increase the flaky layers
- Roll out to ¾ inch thickness
- Use a biscuit cutter to cut the biscuits by pressing down without twisting or the biscuits won’t rise properly
- Continue to knead, roll, and cut the scraps until you’ve used all of the dough
- Arrange the biscuits in the prepared pan so the sides are touching
- Place the pan in the freezer for up to 10 minutes to chill the dough
- Melt the remaining butter and brush the top of the biscuits with melted butter before baking
- Bake for 13-15 minutes, until lightly golden brown
- Serve warm
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutrition content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
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These are so good! I love how easy they are to make, and the buttermilk gives them that classic flavor.
I love these so much! They’re much easier to make than regular biscuits, but they still have the same flavor.
These biscuits are really good! I grew up in the South, so I know biscuits, and these are on par with anything I ever had when I was living down there.
Butter, flaky and only three ingredients! What’s not to love about these homemade biscuits? Just delish!
This looks so good and easy to make. Added this to my list of recipes!! Looking forward to seeing more.
Easy side that needs to be added to our Sunday meals. I can’t wait to have these with butter!
Such a simple recipe for biscuits! My 11yr grandson wants to cook. I’ll suggest this one to him.
I just had some chicken and biscuits for dinner. Great recipe. And delicious, thanks!
I love that these are only three ingredients, homemade biscuits, so I can try and love them. It would be lovely to have it with a cup of hot chocolate.
I always just bought them. I don’t realize they were simple to make!