These flakey, melt-in-your-mouth sourdough biscuits are great for everything from breakfast sandwiches to Southern-inspired dinners. Crazy easy & so soft!
Love buttermilk biscuits? Love sourdough bread? Well, you can have the best of both worlds with these incredibly flaky sourdough biscuits. Made with sourdough discard, they have a wonderful sourdough tang to them. Get ready to fall in love!
Need Sourdough Starter?! You can order an active sourdough starter from Amazon. We’ve heard amazing feedback about this one.
How to Make this Sourdough Biscuit Recipe from Scratch
Making these sourdough starter discard biscuits is pretty much identical to making traditional biscuits. Here’s an overview of the process.
- Combine the Dry Ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Leave the all-purpose flour out for now.
- Grate the Butter & Add the Flour: Grate the frozen unsalted butter using the large side of a grater. Toss in the flour.
- Add the Wet Ingredients: In a separate dish, whisk the sourdough starter with the buttermilk and stir it into the flour mixture with a spatula to create a shaggy dough.
- Shape the Biscuits: Generously flour your working surface. On a floured surface, roll out the dough into a 1-2 inches thick rectangle. Cut the dough into 2-inch rounds using a biscuit cutter or the rim of a glass.
- Bake the Biscuits: Assemble the biscuits on a baking sheet or in a cast-iron skillet. Bake them at 450°F for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve while warm. Enjoy!
Hot Tip: Bake the biscuits on a sheet of parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. This will help them get that perfect, golden brown bottom, while also preventing them from sticking.
3 Tips for the Perfect Sourdough Biscuit
To make sure your biscuits turn out perfectly fluffy and soft, follow these 3 cardinal rules and you’ll be golden.
- Use an active starter. For these biscuits, you need to make sure that your starter is active. This means that you need to feed the starter about 10 hours before using it. Follow this helpful guide on how to feed and maintain your starter.
- Pre-measure each roll. To make sure that your rolls bake evenly, measure them as you slice. Try and get them into the most similar size as possible and you’ll be golden.
- Work quickly with the dough. To prevent the butter from melting, work as quickly as you can with the biscuit dough. The small pieces of cold butter are what make those signature, flaky layers!
Ideas for Serving
Now that your piping hot biscuits have come out of the oven, it’s time to put them to good use. Here are a couple of our favorite ways to serve them…
- Classic Butter & Jelly: Keep things simple and serve the biscuits with high-quality European butter and your favorite jelly or jam. Our favorites include raspberry, apricot, and prune jam.
- Breakfast Sandos: Fry or scramble up some eggs and sandwich them in between the biscuit alongside air fryer bacon or baked bacon and a slice of sharp cheddar cheese. You can even use the biscuits as a base for traditional eggs benedict if that’s more your style!
- Mini Chicken Cutlet Sandos: If you are serving the biscuits for lunch or dinner, whip up some chicken cutlets and sandwich them inside a biscuit with a little mayo and sliced pickles.
- Alongside Soups, Salads, & Entrees: To be honest, you can serve biscuits anywhere you’d serve traditional dinner rolls. Trust us, nobody will complain! We love to serve them alongside classics like chicken noodle soup, cobb salad, or spatchcock chicken.
Storage Best Practices
You can keep freshly baked biscuits at room temperature for 1-2 days in an airtight container or a plastic storage bag. If you want them to last longer, store them in the fridge for up to a week. You’ll know they are past their prime when they appear dry or you see mold.
FAQ
Can you refrigerate sourdough biscuit dough?
Yes, you can refrigerate sourdough biscuit dough for up to 3 days before you need to bake it. To store it, place the pre-portioned biscuit dough in an airtight container alternated with layers of parchment paper.
Can you freeze sourdough biscuits?
Yes, you can freeze sourdough biscuits if you’d like. That said, they won’t be as fluffy and airy when you thaw them. Some things are best eaten fresh out of the oven and biscuits are one of those things!
Does sourdough starter go bad?
If you feed and take care of your sourdough starter properly, you’ll never have to throw it away. It continues to grow and develop better flavors with time. Some starters are even up to 100 years old when they are fed regularly!
Can you add anything to homemade sourdough biscuits?
If you’d like, you can add some fun mix-ins to the sourdough biscuit dough. A couple of tasty combinations include jalapenos and shredded cheddar cheese, garlic and cheddar cheese, or maple bacon and cheddar cheese.
Can you use a different dairy than buttermilk for sourdough biscuits?
It’s highly recommended that you use buttermilk for biscuits and not any other dairy. What makes buttermilk different is that it’s full of acid, making the biscuits super tender and flaky. If you use whole milk or heavy cream, you simply will not get the same results.
More Tasty Sourdough Recipes to Try
- Overnight Sourdough Bagels – Fluffy, boiled starter bagels
- (Almost) Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread – White & wheat flour sourdough
- Crazy Easy Sourdough Pancakes – Fluffy starter pancakes
- Sourdough Bread Recipe – Ultimate guide to sourdough bread
Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter frozen
- 1 cup sourdough starter
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Grate the butter using the large side of a grater. Toss it with flour as you grate in the butter.
- In a separate dish, whisk the sourdough starter with the buttermilk.
- Add the wet ingredients to the flour. Stir to combine.
- Flour your working surface. Roll out the dough to 1-2 inches in thickness. Cut 2-inch rounds.
- Bake at 450°F for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve while warm. Enjoy!
Can more sugar be added to make sweet biscuits like lemon blueberry?
I haven't experimented with making a sweeter biscuit. I would personally top the biscuits with a sweet glaze, or sweet jam. But if you experiment with adding more sugar, please report back Cindy.
This recipe was easy and so delicious. My kids and grand children love biscuits and chocolate gravy when they come over. This will be my go to recipe now. The flavor with the sour dough discard is so good. I’ve pinned your chicken cutlet recipe and am looking forward to making chicken sandwiches. Thank you sharing.
Judy, you literally made me smile while I was reading your comment. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your feedback. Chicken sandwiches sounds Amazing!
I made these tonight w/ my gf sourdough discard! These were by far the best tasting, textured, fluffy biscuits! Used them to make breakfast sandwiches for dinner tonight! We were not disappointed! This one is a keeper for sure!
I'm so thrilled to hear they were a success Beth! Thanks for sharing.
I made this recipe while we were all snowed in and now my family demands I keep them in the freezer at all times for a quick breakfast. Best biscuits we’ve ever had!
Glad you and the family enjoyed it! Sounds like a tradition in the making.. 🙂
Very good, quick recipe for tasty, fluffy biscuit’s! I used sourdough discard rather than active starter and they turned out great! Also used a cast iron skillet! Great recipe and able to use up some of my discard.
Hey Heidi, I'm glad you had great success using sourdough discard. Thanks for sharing!
Can I make the dough ahead of time and bake it another day?
Hi Marion, That shouldn't be an issue. Let me know how it works out.
Ok Ms Natalya, I have to say this.... Nobody in my family can make biscuits! They make hockey pucks, and we pretend to love them....I made your biscuits, and now, they ask for them for Christmas gifts! I make your biscuits, and some of my family stopped talking to me, because they're jealous of these magnificent biscuits!!! Thank you for sharing! I'm a hit, oh, I mean they're a hit!!! Awesome!!!
Hi Cionne, you just absolutely made my day! Thank you so much for the sweetest comment! I am thrilled that the recipe was a success and received well by the rest of the family! Thank you for sharing your feedback. Enjoy!
Thank you for this recipe, they were a huge hit. I will never buy store bought again!
Hi Shana, That's what I want to hear! I absolutely love this recipe! Glad to hear others do as well.
these bisuits are super flaky and amazing tasting! thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe
Hi Jess! So glad yall are enjoying them as much as we are! Thank you for the feedback!
YUM!! I new favorite in our house. I made them for breakfast and the whole family is asking for them again!
Hi Jessica, I love that! Thank you so much for the feedback! enjoy!