Buttermilk Biscuits are an easy staple and the addition of a little cheese takes these over the top. They’re quick and easy to whip up and make a great side dish or snack. We love them alongside bbq in the summertime and hearty soups and stews in the fall. They’re also great sliced in half and stuffed with ham and cheese, or a fried egg.
Ingredient and Recipe Notes
- Cheese – Sharp cheddar is recommended. A stronger flavored cheese (like sharp) will allow some flavor to come through. Mild cheeses will add smooth cheesy texture, but little flavor.
- Butter – Real butter is recommend. If you have a food allergy or intolerance, you could sub a plant-based butter but I haven’t tried that, personally.
- Buttermilk – Low fat or full fat buttermilk will work. In a pinch you could use a buttermilk substitution by placing 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice or buttermilk in your measuring cup and then filling the remaining 1/2 cup with milk. However, real buttermilk is the best choice.
- Tip – For fluffy, flakey biscuits, make sure all of your ingredients are nice and cold. This means you should pull your cheese, butter, and buttermilk out of the fridge right before mixing up your dough.
Instructions
- Grate your cheese. Measure out your flour and take a spoonful and mix it with your grated cheese. This will prevent the cheese from sticking to itself and then it helps distribute it throughout the dough.
- Mix the rest of your dry ingredients.
- I like to use a cheese grater to grate the butter into the dry ingredients.
- Use your hands to cut in butter until it’s the size of small peas.
- Add in wet ingredients and combine with a fork until just mixed.
- Add in the cheese.
- Turn it out onto a floured work surface. Flour all sides lightly. Only if you need to, add enough flour for the dough to hold together. (note that in these photos I’m making a double batch!)
- Roll it out into a rectangle about 10 x 5 inches. Cut into squares or rectangles.
- Spread out the biscuits on parchment paper.
- Give them a quick egg wash and bake.
The little bits of cheddar woven throughout add an amazing flavor dimension, plus they look pretty too! And the insides are airy, light, and perfectly flaky.
Serving Suggestions
These biscuits are great served for brunch with scrambled eggs and bacon. They’re also a great accompaniment to a backyard BBQ with things like Baby Back Ribs, Smoked Tri Tip Roast, or Grilled Garlic Sirloin Skewers. Don’t forget the Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade and Limeade!
They’d also make a perfect accompaniment to hearty soups and recipes like these:
We also love them sliced in half with a fried egg and a thin slice of ham and/or cheese inside!
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I make these ahead of time? Buttermilk biscuits are best eaten the same day (and they are at their VERY best right out of the oven!). You could of course experiment with freezing and reheating if you’d like.
Did You Make This?
I’d love to hear from you! Snap a picture and tag me on Instagram, then come back and give this recipe a rating!
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Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits
- Total Time: 30-35 minutes
- Yield: 8-12 biscuits
Description
Quick to whip up and so heavenly delicious, these biscuits are perfect for breakfast or brunch, with soup, or as a yummy side at pretty much any BBQ.
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour (260g), plus more as needed
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup real butter (1 1/2 sticks)
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 large or extra large egg
- 1 cup grated sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese
- egg wash: 1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water or milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Measure out 2 cups of flour and then remove a spoonful of it and mix it with your grated cheese. Set floured cheese aside.
- Add the baking powder and salt to the remaining flour in a medium mixing bowl.
- Cut your cold butter into 8-10 pieces, or use a large holed cheese grater to grate cheese directly into dry ingredients.
- Combine the buttermilk and egg in a small measuring cup and beat lightly with a fork. Slowly drizzle into dry ingredients while lightly mixing with a fork.
- Dump out onto a well-floured board and knead lightly lightly 3-4 times.
- Roll the dough out to a rectangle about 10 by 5 inches. With a sharp, floured knife, cut the dough lengthwise in half and then across in quarters, making 8 rough rectangles. If preferred, cut to make 12 smaller biscuits. Transfer to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
- Brush the tops with the egg wash, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and the biscuits are cooked through. Serve hot or warm.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
- Category: baking
Questions & Reviews
I made these tonight, to accompany a delicious gazpacho recipe my dad and I found on the internet, they were delicious! So easy and fun to make! I am in college, so I find myself baking deprived whenever I come home on breaks, so this hit just the spot! My brother compared them to Red Lobster's cheddar bay biscuits.
One thing that made my life easier is that I used a floured pizza cutter (the wheel kind) to cut the dough, and I was able to get 16 good sized biscuits out of the recipe.
I dunno Annie, but if they tasted good and looked fine, then hey, lucky you!
I made these tonight and they were a big hit, but am I the only one who wasn't able to bake them for the whole length of time? I put mine in and after 10-12 minutes they were done.
Did I just totally screw something up?
YUM. I made these tonight and added two large cloves of garlic. They were FABULOUS.
Kristen- the stand mixer is actually the option I use the least when it comes to cutting in butter. It's super easy actually- check out the link I mentioned that has a great how-to with lots of options (including just using your fingers- that's what I would do if I didn't have any equipment)
https://ourbestbites.com/2008/05/cutting-in-butter.html
I just made these and am waiting for them to get out of the oven. This is my first time making homemade biscuits and it was definitely more difficult than I thought. I don't have a stand mixer and had flour flying everywhere with my hand mixer. Couldn't get the butter into small enough bits. I ended up adding and extra egg as well because it was not sticky at all when I tried to roll into a ball. But, I used large eggs rather than extra large, so maybe that is the problem…Anyway, I hope they taste good. Any suggestions for those of us who don't have a stand mixer?
I have tried several recipes from your site and they have ALL been fabulous, but these biscuits…these biscuits are…I just don't have the words. These biscuits are AMAZING! I used extra sharp white cheddar and made them to go with Pioneer Woman's Sherried Tomato Soup. Thank you so much for all the great recipes, especially this one! Love your site!
I totally loving those squareish biscuits!
When you write that book… can you dedicate it to me? hehehehe I promise to buy at least 100 copies and share them with all my carb addicted friends!
HUGS girls!
Yum! These looked so good that I went ahead and whipped up a batch for lunch. Definitely a keeper!
i'm the exact same way when I'm pregnant! except you left out 2 things: taco bell bean burritos and chocolate!!
can't wait to try the biscuits. . .
These were oh so good…thanks for sharing!
Aaaahhhh these look amazing!!!
I love bread, so I can't wait to try these. Thanks for sharing. Love & blessings from NC!
So, ummmmm….
I made these for dinner today since I have some random buttermilk in the fridge (from your Buttermilk Pancakes). WOW! I felt like a GENIUS when we were eating these biscuits. The directions were right on and set me up for real success. They were so delicious!
By the way, I didn't have any real butter so I used margarine and they were still great. Just for future reference, why do you recommend real butter?
GREAT recipe. Easy and really fast.
– Candra
Two strikes against me! Cheese and carbs!! this sounds so great. Plus so simple!!!
I love cheese biscuits! They look so delicious!
That's what I thought, but I wanted to check. Thanks!
Oh dear, yet another recipe i am going to have to try! These look so good. You can't go wrong with cheese and bread!
Ummm. WOW!!! My greedy eyeball just popped out.
Megan- You can definitely use a round cutter. Doing them in rectangles just makes it quick and easy, but if you don't mind doing the cut-roll-cut-roll thing, go for it!
Linda- Thank you! DEFINITELY baking *powder*! I'll go fix that.
knitwych- great tip, thanks for sharing!
mmmmyeah, now I'm drooling all over my keyboard! If only I'd had a batch of these babies while I was eating my scrambled eggs with cheese this morning…
Little tip for those who use stand mixers – if you put your to-be-added dry or grated ingredients on a paper plate or a flexible cutting board, you can bend the plate/board slightly to conform to the edge of the bowl and tip the ingredients in. This has saved me from having to clean up many a mess on the countertop.
These look absolutely delicious.
I'll definitely be trying these! They look amazing!
Thanks
You have baking soda listed in the directions on top and baking powder listed in the recipe. Which one should I use? These look fabulous. I agree, I think they would be great with ribs. But what isn't great with ribs?
These look wonderful. I think I will be making them this week!
Yummy! Yummy! Yummy!
OK, these look seriously amazingly delish. Seriously. I'm thinking I could use this idea with my own biscuit mix recipe (shameless self promotion coming up… wait for it… wait for it…)
I posted about it here: http://tomatosoupcake.blogspot.com/2010/02/biscuit-mix-basics.html
if you happen to be interested or anything. So yeah.
Just checking — is there any reason these couldn't be cut with a round cutter? I don't know why, but when I make biscuits, I like them round.
These look delicious, and I can't wait to try them!
oh yeah, these are gonna be made this week. maybe i'll share with my family. if I add a clove or two of garlic I bet they'll taste just like the ones at Red lobster!
The biscuit dough looks absolutely amazing!! Wow. I'm bookmarking this recipe. I love the process photos.