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!
Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits
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.
- Add the cheese and gently combine.
- 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.
Questions & Reviews
We are expecting a foot of snow here in Maine today so it seemed like a good day for Beef Stew & Biscuits. These are in the oven right now and they smell YUMMY! I threw in some gahlick and chopped parsley and used Bakewell Cream instead of the BP.(not sure if you can buy it outside of New England but it makes biscuits outrageously tall). Thanks for the recipe!
I'm going to make these (with garlic) for Superbowl Sunday to take to my boyfriend's house for our "party". (:
I'm going to be using a few of the recipes on this site, too. (:
Thanks for the post. These look delish!
I can't make a recipe with out altering it… here is what I did:
*Added 2 chopped green onions
*Reduced butter to only 1/2 cup
*Discovered 1 tsp of kosher salt was TOOO much salt for only 2 cups of flour…next time I will only use 1/2 tsp of salt.
*rather than wasting time to roll them out, I just dropped a large spoonfull of dough onto a baking sheet. Rolling out the dough and adding more flour will make the biscuits tough.
Your recipe made a good biscuit…just way too salty!
These are the best things I have laid my eyes on!!!
Denise- that would be just fine, I bet it would taste yummy!
What would happen if you were to throw in some garlic salt instead of Kosher salt? Would it affect the rising of the bread?
Oh liso- that extra egg with 1T milk is for the egg wash. Sorry if that wasn't clear, I'll make it more clear in the ingredient list so people don't dump that in the dough!
Made these as part of my Easter brunch. and yep, they were delicious! …i totally echo the NEED for sharp cheddar in these – they were divine…
one little thing: I think in your shortened recipe ingredients section at the end, there's an extra egg maybe? and it said to have it mixed with just a T of the milk? not sure if I'm just reading that wrong…
I sprinkled your garlic bread topping on these…so good!
These were delicious! I tried them last week and was able to make them in no time. I had tried making a different biscuit recipe before and they turned out like hockey pucks, so I was a bit nervous making these. They were so easy to make, though and came out delicious!