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 Best Memories of biscuits are at my Grandmother’s house!! She would get up very early to make them, so I never saw her making them. This is so sad that I never helped her with the delicious biscuits. But she made LOTS of biscuits and we had them for breakfast of course; but, since she made so many there were lots left over. Grandmother had a great Brown Crock that she put the leftovers in and Grandfather and I would ‘sneak’ in to get some when we were hungry between meals!! Shhhhhhh don’t tell anyone! Thank you for the recipe, I need to practice more to get a good balance of liquids. Not Hocky pucks, but just a tad dry. And wouldn’t you know, I could not find my pastry blender OR my biscuit cutter. Hmmm I guess this is a good incentive to clean out the cupboards!! Thank you again!!
I had a southern-born sister-in-law living in Flint, Michigan who was a mom of eight sons. I had just married into the family and her cooking was my first experience of southern cooking. Raising her boys was a daunting task to keep them fed and she did so with biscuits and gravy, heavily peppered. Her husband and sons gathered around the table, said their thanks to the Lord as Vilda pulled out two cookie sheets loaded with biscuits for dinner. One time she added raccoon roast to the meal. I learned a lot from her and always enjoyed it when I could join them at table.
My grandmother and my aunt (my mother’s oldest sister) would make the biscuits when I was growing up. We stayed with my grandparents every summer while my mother would attend college to complete her teaching degree. At Christmas time we would “come home” and the last thing we would do as we would go up the stairs to bed was ask for biscuits and chocolate gravy. Mama would put White Lily in a bowl, make a well to add the shortening or lard and the home churned buttermilk. She would then work the dough with her fingers very quickly as not to overwork so they would not become tough, pinch them off with her fingers and bake in her biscuit pan at a high temperature. This was the best smell to wake up to on any morning,
My late Mother-in-law taught me to make White Lily biscuits.
My first biscuits were like hockey pucks, but with practice and White Lily I can now make delicious biscuits.
My mom made biscuits from Pioneer mix. And I do, too. My second mom can make really good biscuits from White Lily flour and shortening and buttermilk. I’ve tried with no success. But she taught my then 10-year-old daughter how and she makes them great, too! Would love to win this prize for them !:)
Raised out west and no one but Pillsbury made biscuits. After seeing your recipe, I’m wondering why anyone paid for biscuits in a can that always makes me jump when it pops when homemade are so easy!!!