Sour Cream Biscuits Recipe

These sour cream biscuits need six ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ½ cup cold butter, and 1 cup full-fat sour cream. They bake at 425°F for 13 to 15 minutes and make 12 tender, layered biscuits in about 30 minutes from start to finish. No buttermilk, no milk, no eggs. The sour cream is the only liquid.

The trick is cold butter and short mixing. Pea-sized bits of butter turn to steam in the hot oven and push the layers apart. Stir only until the flour disappears, and the crumb stays soft instead of bready.

Six Ingredients, 425°F, 12 Biscuits

• Yield: 12 biscuits, cut from a 1 inch thick slab (a cutter about 2 inches across is the right size)
• Time: 15 minutes prep, 13 to 15 minutes in the oven, 30 minutes total
• Oven: 425°F (220°C), baking sheet lined with parchment or lightly greased
• Ratio: 2 cups flour to 1 cup sour cream by volume, which is equal weights: 240 g of each, plus ½ cup (113 g) butter
• Lift: 1 tablespoon baking powder and ½ teaspoon baking soda
• Flour: plain all-purpose, spooned and leveled or weighed

Why Sour Cream Does Two Jobs in This Dough

Sour cream is the liquid and part of the fat at the same time. Regular sour cream is at least 18% milkfat, so it tenderizes the crumb the way extra butter would, while its water hydrates the flour. Its acidity is what the ½ teaspoon of baking soda reacts with. The tablespoon of baking powder adds the rest of the lift. Leave either one out and the biscuits bake flat and pale, because the soda also helps the tops brown.

Use thick, full-fat sour cream straight from the fridge. Light sour cream has more water and less fat, and the biscuits come out drier and tougher. A runny brand makes a sticky dough that tempts you to add lots of flour, and that dries them out too.

All-purpose flour has enough structure to hold the folds. Cake flour is too soft, and the biscuits slump. Spoon the flour into the cup and level it, or weigh 240 g. Packed flour is the most common reason this dough turns stiff and the biscuits taste dry.

Can Greek Yogurt Replace the Sour Cream?

Yes, cup for cup, as long as it is full-fat. Greek yogurt is already strained, so there is nothing to drain. Expect a slightly tangier biscuit that is a little less tender, since yogurt carries less fat. Skip nonfat yogurt here.

Cut Biscuits or Drop Biscuits From the Same Dough?

This dough works both ways, and the choice changes the texture. Folded and cut, you get tall biscuits with layers you can peel apart. Dropped, you skip the folding and cutting and divide the shaggy dough into 12 rough mounds on the sheet with a large spoon.

Drop biscuits bake up craggy and crisp on top with a softer, more cake-like inside. They save about 5 minutes of work. Start checking them at 12 minutes, since the rough peaks brown faster than flat cut tops.

Choose cut biscuits for breakfast sandwiches, or anything you want to split and fill. Choose drop biscuits on a weeknight, next to soup, when nobody cares about layers.

Cutting In Cold Butter and Folding the Layers

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together first. Pockets of unmixed soda taste bitter and leave little brown specks in the crumb.

Add the cubed butter and work it in with a pastry cutter or your fingertips until the mix looks like coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces left. Those visible pieces are the point. Work fast, because warm hands soften butter within a couple of minutes. Butter that looks greasy or smeared needs 5 minutes in the fridge, bowl and all.

Stir in the sour cream with a spatula just until no dry flour is left. The dough will look shaggy and feel slightly sticky. That is right. Stirring until smooth builds gluten and gives you tough, chewy biscuits.

Turn the dough onto a floured counter, press it into a rough rectangle, and fold it over itself 2 or 3 times. Each fold stacks thin sheets of butter and dough. Then pat it out 1 inch thick with your hands. On a warm day, chill the slab for 10 minutes before cutting.

Cutting Straight Down and Baking at 425°F

Use a sharp round cutter or the floured rim of a glass. Press straight down, then lift. Twisting pinches the edges shut, and the biscuit rises lopsided or barely at all. Press the scraps together instead of kneading them, pat to 1 inch again, and cut the rest. The last few will be a little shorter. That is normal.

Spacing is your call. Set them touching for soft, pull-apart sides that climb taller, or 1 to 2 inches apart for crisp edges all around. Bake 13 to 15 minutes.

How to Tell They Are Done

Look for deep golden tops and lightly browned bottoms. Press the side of one: it should spring back, not dent. Still unsure? Split one open. The center should look flaky and dry, not glossy or doughy, and an instant read thermometer should show about 200°F. Past 15 minutes the edges dry out quickly, so start checking at 13. For soft, shiny tops, brush them with melted butter straight out of the oven.

Flat, Dry, or Lopsided Biscuits: What Happened

• Flat and spread out: the butter got warm or the dough was kneaded. Chill cut biscuits 10 minutes before baking. Also test your baking powder: a spoonful in hot water should fizz hard.
• Dry and crumbly: packed flour, light sour cream, or more than 15 minutes in the oven.
• Tough and chewy: mixed too long after the sour cream went in, or scraps worked over more than once.
• Leaning or uneven: a slab thicker on one side, or a twisted cutter. Pat it to an even 1 inch.
• Bitter spots: the baking soda was not whisked evenly into the flour.

Cheddar, Chive, and Honey Butter Versions

For savory biscuits, toss ¼ cup shredded sharp cheddar and a tablespoon or two of chopped chives or parsley into the flour after the butter is cut in, so they spread through the folds. Crumbled cooked bacon goes in at the same point. For a sweet breakfast plate, brush the hot tops with honey butter, or serve them with cinnamon butter or maple butter. A teaspoon of lemon zest in the dry mix is nice when jam is on the table.

Freezing Unbaked Biscuits and Reheating Baked Ones

Baked biscuits keep for 1 day at room temperature in a sealed container, or up to 3 days in the fridge. Reheat them at 300°F for 5 to 8 minutes. The microwave makes them chewy.

For fresh biscuits on a busy morning, freeze them unbaked. Cut them, freeze on the sheet until hard, then bag them for up to 2 months. Bake straight from the freezer at 425°F, adding about 3 minutes. Do not thaw them first: thawed dough loses the cold butter that gives the rise.

What to Serve With Sour Cream Biscuits

Warm with butter and jam is hard to beat, especially strawberry freezer jam or blackberry jam. Split them for ham and egg sandwiches, set them next to soup or chili, or put a basket beside an overnight breakfast casserole.

On a brunch table they sit well next to brioche French toast. And if the sour cream tub is still half full, it goes into sour cream pancakes, sour cream scones, or sour cream muffins.

Biscuit Baking Questions

Do Sour Cream Biscuits Need Buttermilk or Eggs?

No. The 1 cup of sour cream is the only liquid, and there are no eggs in the dough.

Can I Use Self-Rising Flour?

Yes. Use 2 cups self-rising flour, leave out the baking powder and salt, and keep the ½ teaspoon baking soda for the sour cream.

How Do I Make Mini Sour Cream Biscuits?

Cut the same 1 inch slab with a 1½ inch cutter and start checking at 10 minutes. You will get roughly 20 small biscuits.