Southern Biscuit Recipe (3 Ingredients Only)
Made with just 3 ingredients, this classic Southern biscuit recipe is a staple in Southern homes. Soft and scrumptious, they’re delicious to eat from breakfast to dinner.
You’d be hard-pressed to visit the South and not see homemade Southern biscuits at many meals. We have them for breakfast, as the base of a sandwich at lunch, and often as the main bread at dinner. Many restaurants you visit are likely to plop down a plate of warm biscuits before even taking your order! My grandmother grew up during very difficult times, and often a biscuit and some gravy were all that kept them from starving.
Recognizing the beloved heritage of delicious flaky biscuits among Southern families, White Lily created a wonderful campaign to encourage folks to get back to basics and share the easily acquired skill of biscuit making with others. I’m honored to have been chosen as a White Lily Ambassador to help do just that.
Today I’ll be sharing White Lily’s classic, 3-ingredient Southern biscuit recipe with you and I’d like to hear your biscuit memories, too! 
Who taught you how to make biscuits? Who made the biscuits in your family? Maybe you’ve never had a biscuit or to you, a “biscuit” is what we think of like a cookie – that’s just fine, too.
Let’s hop to it!
Recipe Ingredients
- (self-rising)
- Shortening
- Milk or buttermilk
How to Make This Classic Southern Biscuit Recipe
Place the flour into a medium bowl and add the shortening. Cut in with a fork or pastry cutter.
It will look like this when you are done.
Not incredibly different but you won’t be able to really see the shortening anymore once it is incorporated into the flour.
Most recipes will tell you to cut the shortening into the flour until it resembles peas. I’ve never, in my life, seen peas that look like this, or a flour/shortening mixture that looked like peas. It must have been a high imagination day when that analogy was thought up.
Add in your milk.
Stir that milk in until your dough starts to stick together good.
Sprinkle flour onto a surface. I like to lay out a piece of parchment paper and sprinkle it on top of that for easy clean-up later.
Dump your biscuit dough out onto the floured surface.
Now you need to knead it.
However, you don’t want to over-knead it or you’ll end up with my Daddy’s hockey pucks.
I tell my kids “In biscuits, as in relationships, it’s never good to be too kneady.” LOL
Then, I cut your Southern biscuits.
Cut your biscuits with a biscuit cutter or small glass that has been dipped into flour to keep the cut biscuits from sticking to it.
Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and place your cut biscuits in it, making sure the sides touch. This helps them to rise because they support each other as they bake and rise up.
I tell my kids “You want them touching because biscuits are like good friends, they help each other rise up.”
Bake these at 500 for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
Remove from oven and brush tops of these classic southern biscuits with melted butter, if you’d like. Enjoy all the delicious .
Storage
- Store leftover biscuits in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Reheat in a low oven or in the air fryer.
- You can also freeze the baked biscuits or unbaked for up to 3 months. Thaw both the and overnight in the fridge before reheating as above or following the instructions.
Recipe Notes
- Here are some fun variations to make with this Southern biscuit recipe:
- For a savory alternative, add shredded cheddar cheese, chopped chives, or chopped bacon to your dough.
- For sweet, sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar into your dough.
- To make a scone-like biscuit, add dried fruit.
- These pair best with your favorite Southern . This might be fried chicken, , pimento cheese dip, or bacon, egg, and cheese for the ultimate breakfast sandwich.
Recipe FAQs
Why does the recipe have such a large range for how much milk to use?
Sometimes, your flour will need a little more, sometimes a little less. I could have used a little more in this tutorial but it’ll turn out just fine. Biscuits are really hard to mess up, so if yours end up a little dry, no worries, they’ll still be delicious! They’ll actually absorb honey and butter a little better. My daddy used to make hockey puck biscuits on Sunday morning but they still tasted good and we gobbled ’em all down! What’s even better, if there were any left we could use them as weapons on each other out in the backyard. Always a plus side!
How do I avoid over-kneading my Southern biscuit dough?
To avoid over-kneading, I press my dough into a ball and then press it out flat. I do this no more than two or three times. The dough should still stretch. If it rips or tears then it’s probably over kneaded. So once the dough is soft and springs back a little, it’s done.
You may also enjoy these other Southern biscuit recipes:
Easy Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits
Easy Chicken and Dumplings (With Canned Biscuit)
Homemade Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups White Lily self-rising flour see notes if using all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup shortening
- 2/3-3/4 cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 500 degrees and lightly spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
- Place flour into a medium bowl and cut in the shortening until well incorporated. Stir in just enough milk until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl.2 cups White Lily self-rising flour, 1/4 cup shortening, 2/3-3/4 cup milk
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently knead two or three times. Roll dough out to 1/2-inch thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter or small glass that has been dipped in flour. Place the biscuits onto the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown.
Notes
Nutrition
Who taught you how to make biscuits? Who made the biscuits in your family? Maybe you’ve never had a biscuit or to you, a “biscuit” is what we think of like a cookie – that’s just fine, too.
My grandmother on my dad’s side was always known for her biscuits (and anything else she made!) She taught my mother, and my mother taught me. The recipe is the same as yours, except they are drop biscuits, and you always press them down leaving fingerprints in the top. I’ve made all different kinds of biscuits, all butter, whole wheat, different flavors, but these will always be near and dear to my heart. 🙂
My momma use to make us biscuits everyday.
God bless her heart shes 75 now and on days her health allow
her she stands in the kutchen and still prepares them
if only a pan of 6 which use to be a pan of 12-18 to feed us
children and our daddy. Aww my the light airy biscuits
were so good and each meal were full of memories
and more than anything she gave us a meal with those biscuits
and so much love that when we were done at the
table not only was our bellies full from the best home cooking
but by the Love momma put in our delicious Biscuits.
When my mom was a new bride she made tender biscuits all the time. My parents were to have dinner with his mom and dad. His mom made hockie pucks. that evening my mom made them. When his dad (not knowing who made them) pried one open and it went fling across the room.With a look a horror on his face no knowing what just happen, they were so light that he had no cue. Needlessly to say mom was in the dog house with her new Mother-in-law.
My grandmother would not use anything but White Lily. I remember her wonderful biscuits and her chicken and dumplings. I only use White Lilly also.
Our family favorite biscuit recipe came from the Capper’s Weekly newspaper, probably close to 50 years ago. It’s a little different than most biscuit recipes, because it calls for an egg and a little bit of sugar. We can’t buy White Lily flour where I live, and I would surely love to try it.
My poor Yankee Mom used the universal Fast Biscuit Mix so I thought that’s what biscuits were! I hated them! Dry, flavorless, hard lumps. One time, my daughter and I drove from Illinois to Florida. We stopped at a country restaurant in Cadiz, Kentucky, and they put a breadbasket on the table with delicious little breads which we gobbled down. I asked “What do you call these?” And was so embarrassed when she said “Those are biscuits!” Oohhhhh, now I understand….
I grew up having homemade biscuits for breakfast every morning. My mother made her biscuits with sweet milk and my mother-in-law always made hers with buttermilk. These days my husband makes our biscuits with White Lily flour, butter flavored Crisco and buttermilk. So good!