Butter Dip Biscuits
Butter Dip Buttermilk Biscuits (also called Butter Swim Biscuits) are the easiest homemade biscuits. No biscuit cutter needed! Thick, fluffy and buttery!
A.K.A. Butter Swim Biscuits
Did the title of this recipe get your attention? I first shared this recipe back in 2012 (I’ve updated the photos since then) and it has been copied by many others over the years but this here is the original! If you want to see that original post, check it out HERE. I’ve come a long way since then! This is such an easy recipe. You don’t even have to roll out any dough or use biscuit cutters! Also, if you love this recipe be sure to check out my Blueberry Butter Dip Biscuits, Cinnamon Roll Butter Swim Biscuits, Strawberries and Cream Butter Dip Biscuits or my Cheddar Garlic Butter Dip Biscuits!
The best biscuits I have ever made in my life. And I am an expert baker and biscuit maker and these are the perfect biscuits. They taste great and so much easier to make. Ask any of my family members – I am the go-to guy for biscuits so I know what. I’m talking about.
– Norman
Frequently Asked Questions
I’ve slightly modified this Betty Crocker recipe since I’ve started making these. I started using buttermilk instead of the original milk and I doubled the ingredients so that they come out thicker. So yes, you can use milk but make sure it is not skim milk.
Honestly I am not sure. I only cook and bake with cow’s milk. But if you try it, please let me know how it turns out for you!
This is totally optional. I think it can depend on the brand used as well. We use quite a bit of baking powder in these so if you are sensitive at all to specific tastes, I would recommend using an aluminum free baking powder if possible. The ingredient image below shows a brand that does have aluminum in it but Bob’s Red Mill and Rumford make aluminum free versions that I really like.
These are definitely big and fluffy which is how we like them. But you can cut the recipe in half for a thinner biscuit or spread the batter into a larger baking dish.
Yes, absolutely! Just do not add the baking powder and salt to the recipe as it is already included in self-rising flour.
Either a glass or ceramic baking dish. Metal baking dishes can heat up the butter and cause it to burn as the biscuits are still baking.
Technically you do not need to. I just like to make doubly sure that the biscuits will not be sticking anywhere in my baking dish.
Buttermilk is a man ingredient in this and I prefer the real thick stuff. When you make your own buttermilk, you don’t get that exact same taste and texture. However, if you want to make your own: the ratio is typically one cup of milk mixed with one tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar. Allow it to sit for about 5-10 minutes before using.
Absolutely! I have a Butter Dip (or Butter Swim) Yeast Roll recipe here.
Ingredients Needed: (See Recipe Card Below For The Full Recipe)
- salted butter
- all-purpose flour * (see my notes above about self-rising flour)
- sugar
- baking powder I like to use an aluminum free baking powder when possible since I am sensitive to the taste of it. Please note, the brand used below is not aluminum free but if you are looking for one, Bob’s Red Mill makes a really good one and it is usually sold in a bag.
- salt
- buttermilk – if you forgot to pick up buttermilk from the store, see my post on How to Make Buttermilk.
How To Make Butter Dip Biscuits
Preheat oven to 450F degrees. Spray a glass or ceramic 9×9-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray (I like the kind with flour in it). In a microwave-safe bowl, melt stick of butter in the microwave. Pour melted butter into prepared baking dish.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Pour in the buttermilk.
Stir until a loose dough forms. Batter will be sticky.
Pour biscuit dough into baking dish (right on top of the melted butter.) Spread it out with the back of a spoon or a butter knife or your hand.
You won’t get it perfectly even, but hey, that’s okay, these are homemade, remember? Some of the butter will run over the top of the dough, that’s perfectly okay. Cut the dough into 9 squares. This will help with cutting later when they are done too.
Bake (on the middle oven rack) for about 25-30 minutes, rotating dish once during baking.
Oven times do vary since different ovens have different hot spots, but basically biscuits should be golden brown on top and spring back to the touch.
Slice and serve with butter!
Craving More?
Butter Dip Biscuits (a.k.a. Butter Swim Biscuits)
Ingredients
- ½ cup salted butter (1 stick)
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 ¾ cups buttermilk (you may need up to two cups)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450F degrees (yes, that is the correct temperature). Spray a glass or ceramic oven safe 9×9-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray (I like the kind with flour in it). NOTE: You technically do not have to spray the pan since there is plenty of butter in this but I like to be extra careful.
- In a microwave-safe bowl, melt 1/2 cup salted butter in the microwave. Pour melted butter into prepared baking dish.
- In a medium bowl, mix together 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 Tablespoons granulated sugar, 1 Tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt.
- Pour in 1 3/4 cups buttermilk. Stir until a sticky batter forms. If batter still seems too dry add a tad bit more buttermilk until the batter is thick and sticky.
- Pour biscuit dough into baking dish (right on top of the melted butter.) Some of the butter will run over the top of the dough. Tip: I will spray my hand with some nonstick spray to help spread the dough out evenly in the pan.
- Cut the dough into 9 squares (as best you can). This will help with cutting later when the biscuits are baked.
- Bake (on the middle oven rack) for about 25-30 minutes, rotating dish once during baking.
- Oven times DO VARY since different ovens have different hot spots, but basically biscuits should be golden brown on top and spring back to the touch. Insert a toothpick into the center. If it comes out clean with no batter, they are done!
Video
Notes
- If using unsalted butter, be sure to add 1 teaspoon of salt.
- Eat within two days. Make sure to cover leftovers. If stored in the refrigerator, they will last for a week. These biscuits can also be frozen. Wrap well in freezer-safe plastic wrap and then store in a freezer-safe bag or container. Will freeze for up to 3 months.
- Self-rising flour can replace the all-purpose flour in this recipe. Just do not add the baking powder and salt to the recipe as it is already included in self-rising flour.
- If you only have an 8×8-inch baking dish, I would put a baking pan underneath to catch any possible butter drippings that may happen since it is smaller.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Originally published: February 2012
Updated photos and republished: April 2019
Absolutely. amazing and so easy! Had leftover sausage gravy made these biscuits tonight for a easy supper so good! Thank you
Very simple recipe to use with my 12 year old that likes to cook. We really liked the consistency of these. Only downside is the biscuits were too salty for our tastes. will decrease the butter and salt next time or will use unsalted butter.
love these biscuits. i drop the dough into the butter by huge tablespoon plops. they come out the same as cutting them and i dont have to get my fingers sticky patting out the dough. thanks for the recipe.
Great idea Dale!! Love it!
This may have been answered already. They have sugar in them so are they sweet enough to use as a strawberry shortcake biscuit? My mom always used Bisquik but this would be better if they are slightly sweet.
These biscuits came out delicious my family loved them. I love them because they saved me massive amounts of time. I make buttermilk biscuits that I have to cut out but these were a blessing.Thank you so much for sharing your recipe
Best biscuits I have ever had. One small problem that I’m sure is mine alone. We eat with very little salt. So I’m very intolerant of it. And these tasted incredibly salty to me. Will it ruin the recipe to cut down the salt in the biscuits? Do you think just using unsalted butter will do the trick? Thanks again for an awesome recipe.
These were absolutely yummy and so easy. I must admit my rating is with my changes which was using milk/vinegar mix in stead of buttermilk and only melting 6 Tbsp. butter; but using last 2 Tbsp. butter to make a garlic butter brushed on top after baking. I used a small rectangular pan. Another mistake I made was reading the ingredients wrong and only used 1 1/4 cups milk mix. Even with mess up, these were perfect!
These biscuits are a dang delight. I saw the recipe on fb this morning and had them for dinner tonight. My picky children looooved them and they will definitely be the new go to biscuit recipe.
Hi Christa! Woo Hoo! Loved reading your comment – ha! Thank you SO much!
Obviously the very best biscuits ever!! Everyone loves them ……… they disappear fast; (hint) make double recipe! Better have copies of the recipe to hand out to your guest as they (will) ask for it!!! Mine have always turned out beautiful …… I don’t even bother much making any other kind. “When ya have the best, why bother with the rest”?!
This is a winner!!! Sincerely, Sherry
Just tried this recipe and although they taste good we weren’t really happy with them. I think baking them in my Red Copper pan made them brown too fast on the bottom but were still sticky on top. I made it in that because I didn’t have the right size of glass pan. I’m thinking baking in a glass pan will be much better. I always love your recipes and am sure this was my fault and Not your recipe. I will try them again in a glass pan because I know glass bakes better for something like this. 😉
These biscuits look so good! I plan to make these biscuits soon. However, I plan to use an unsalted stick of butter and I see the recipe already calls for 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Do I really need to add a 1/4 teaspoon of salt too? I did some research and read that I should add 1/4 teaspoon of salt for each stick of unsalted butter. Recipe says to add another 1 teaspoon of salt. I’m afraid my biscuits will be too salty.
Made these for the first time last night. My taste buds did a happy dance after the first bite. Will make these again for sure.
the picture appears to show slicing before baking but the directions say to slice and serve. Which works better? And why don’t the pictures ever quite match the recipe? Frustrating to me. The biscuits sound delicious though. Will definitely be making soon.
Pat, you slice the biscuits so that as it bakes, you have an outline and a shape of the biscuits. As it bakes, the bread will fuse together but you’ll still have those lines there to help you cut out the biscuits.
wow, I made these this morning and they are the wow factor.
Thank you for sharing
Hi Brandie,
These look amazing. I love the fact of no kneading and no bisquit cutters. My question is this, is it possible to make these with oat flour or a gluten free flour? I just learned that I have to go on a FODMAP diet. UGH!!! Of course most if not all my favorite foods are a no no. Now I’m stuck trying to revamp my entire cooking style and learn all over again after 40+ years of cooking and baking.
Thanks
Suzette
I have never made them that way so I really can’t say how they would turn out. If you try it please come back and let us know how it turns out.
We’ve made them with King Arthur gluten free flour blend and they were amazing
I have never made biscuits before but these look easy and awesome. I would like to make a few different flavors for my brunch table. Do you think I could bacon, cheese, chives etc?
Hi Vanessa! Of course you could! 🙂
Hi. I just made these biscuits. I too had a little trouble with them being a tad doughy. But my husband and I both thought it was missing salt. I didn’t have buttermilk so I made mine with milk and vinegar. And I used salted butter. Did anyone else think it was missing saltiness? But I will definitely make these again! (But maybe add a tap of salt) thanks for the recipe!!!
Does anyone have experience with using gluten free flour bends as a sub in normal recipes? I have a 1:1 gluten free flour mix… Would it alter this recipe too much? These look SO amazing!
I have a question. The recipe states only buttermilk or bad things will happen and the southern cooking police will come find you and cart you off for ever and ever amen. We have always used soured milk when a recipe calls for buttermilk. would it turn out the same, or will I need to hide from the food police? Just came across this a few minutes ago and have pretty much everything minus the buttermilk on hand to make it. Your recipes have not steered me wrong so far and don’t want to mess any up on a techie issue.
Erin, I hear ya. For most things soured milk is fine. The only problem with using it in this is you can’t duplicate the thickness of buttermilk unless you are using heavy cream. And the thickness of the buttermilk matters here. It will still work with soured milk but you’ll notice the batter won’t be as thick as you see in my photos above and they won’t be quite as fluffy as a result. Hope that helps!
This recipe desperately needs salt. The texture was great, crunchy on the outside, soft inside, just too bland without salt. Will definitely try again with salt.
I made these tonight and was a little disappointed. I had the same issue in the previous comment. I had to add a bit more buttermilk (i used buttermilk, i did not make my own) as the dough was not at all as described. It was a very think solid mass.
But i continued to follow directions and baked them. I think 450 degrees is much too high to bake thses. They got too hard and dark on top and were not cooked inside. I turned heat down and had to cook an additional 10 minutes. While the tops and sides and bottoms were a bit crispy, they did taste good and were soft and light inside.
I just made these for breakfast. The dough came out dry so I added a little more buttermilk to make it look like the picture. Hopefully they come out good I’ll let you know.
Has anyone made these gluten free?
Will these biscuits work for strawberry shortcake? They look delicious!
I have never used them for shortcake but many readers say they have and they work out well. 🙂
Can the batter be made ahead of time and cooked later?
I haven’t tried that Barbra. I find with biscuits, it’s better to whip them up fresh.
Made these with reduced sugar almond milk by Almond Breeze. Came out wonderful, but I did find that the batter , although stiff, was not quite stiff enough to make “lines” in the batter when slicing the batter before placing it in the oven. I had to let it cook for a few minutes (about 5-7) and then slice it. They are a little bland tasting but that was probably because I used Almond Milk instead of Buttermilk. My kids ate them up in a snap! I think next time I will add the tablespoon of butter to the batter like the comment above and use Buttermilk as is called for in the directions.
These are perfect and an easy way to get into making homemade biscuits! I added a tablespoon of the melted butter to my batter before adding – amazing.
I cannot praise these enough, defintely passing along to family members!
xx
Hello,
Has anybody tried making this, putting in fridge and baking the next day? I teach a foods class and with 25 minutes of baking time we couldn’t get this done in 1 period. Hoping somebody has tried this. Thanks!
These biscuits have became a favorite of my family ! Thanks so much for the easy to make recipe!!
Thank you so much for the recipe. I am making your 3 packet pot roast and your biscuits are going to go great the meal tonight. Thank you for reposting biscuit recipe.
Made these this morning in a cast iron skillet. Were very good. I forgot to add in salt and I had used unsalted butter. They turned out buttery, fluffy, and crusty brown on top. They just needed that salt that I forgot to include with the ingredients. Will make these again with the salt next time. Great recipe, will use it very often. May only use 1/2 of a stick of butter next time. They did not stick at all. I used a #10 skillet, the biscuits rose 1 1/2 inches. Thanks so much for this recipe.
Crystal, thanks so much for your comment and letting us all know how it turned out in your cast iron skillet!
Lol thanks for the reply I reread the recipe and that’s what I get for rushing. The first time I made them I wasn’t in a rush took my time and read it. 2nd time around my baby and the the kiddos were all wanting something while I was trying to cook so I must have read it wrong.
Ok so I made these 2 days ago and they were perfect and delicious. So my boys all 7 of them asked me to make them again why not they are simple enough. Wierd thing happened this batch came out way to doughy on the inside and not only that they came out way sweeter. Only thing I can think is when I made them the 1st time I must have read the recipe wrong and only used 1/2 cup sugar and 1 cup buttermilk. I’m making another batch to test my theory.
Hi Mayra! That would have been way too much sugar. It’s only 1 1/2 tbsp not cups. Of course, the sugar is totally optional in this recipe and you shouldn’t really taste it. 🙂
Made these tonight and they are simple and delicious ! My mother used to make baking powder biscuits and we always ate them with apple butter…. had to try that and it was so good.
The video shows adding salt, but the recipe doesn’t list it. The dough could use a little salt, in my opinion. I realize there is salt in the butter, but that only salts the crust. How much salt was adding in the video?
I address that in my Cook’s Notes at the bottom 🙂
Hello. When I make biscuits, I like to cut them open and toast them the next morn if there are any left. Would these hold up for that or would they fall apart?
Crazy question, but can you freeze these?
Sorry of this has been asked already, but I was wondering if anyone has tried making this recipe in an iron skillet with any luck??…& if so, did the recipe need any changing?? This reminds me of my mother’s “batterbread” (as she always called it)….& I can’t find a recipe for it anywhere!! 🙁 So if this does the trick, I will be on cloud 9! ! ! 🙂 \0/
Hi there Kathy, there have been a few that have made this in an iron skillet and said it turned out well. Hope you give it a try and it is almost as good as your mothers 🙂
Can you leave out the sugar? I don’t really like sweet biscuits.
Hi Cathy – these are not sweet. 🙂
Made these this evening and they were fantastic. This is an easy recipe for a first time biscuit maker!
Glad they were a winner for you!
I just made these biscuits today and they came out yummy. However two issues I would like comments on. The biscuits in the middle came out doughy. Removed the outside biscuits and cooked the insides ones another 10 minutes. Second,even with all the butter the biscuits stuck on the bottom should I use parchment paper?
2 daze post thanksgiving 2016 will go down in my history book as making this biscuit/ cake recipe in place of turkey pie and or sausage gravy&biscuits!!!
This year i smoked a 28lb’er bird with a dry rub on top consisting of cumin, sage, oregano, coriander, grnd mustard and brown sugar.. Smoked for three hours then oven for about 5… The drippings make an excellent smoked flavor turkey Garvey!
So this morning (Saturday the 26th) i want breakfast of leftovers and wall, i searched a quick and easy biscuit recipe. THIS WAS TO MUCH FUN!
This recipe plus smoked turkey pieces and gravy! VOID fulfilled and taste buds totally satisfied…
Thank YOU CC????????????
I love these biscuits ! But for some reason mine stick to the bottom of the pan. Any suggestions why this is happening?
Mine too.. But I’ll make it again and again bc is just too simple.
Ok, great biscuit, very yuumy – but my butter ran over the sides and into the oven…..the kitchen and then house was full of smoke……. will put something under the pan next time.
Hi Coleen! Oh no! I haven’t ever had that happen before! But good tip in case it might happen to someone else!
i tried these, they are easy to make but you still have to put butter in the middle because they taste bland with out it. they probably would be good with gravy. I will try that next time.
i would like to take back my other comment, i ate another biscuit and it had butter in the middle and tasted sooo good. I apologize.
I don’t know what I did wrong. I did just like the recipe says. My biscuits were a bit chewy. I left them in the oven for 25 minutes. My family thinks they taste good. I just need to know what I can do to make them fluffy..
I made these again with some new baking powder and they were fluffy this time. So if your baking powder is out of date (mine was only 2 weeks out of date) then get some new before you bake these biscuits. They are very good.
Thanks Cindi!!
I made them a few weeks ago and will be making them again tonight to go w/ our chicken and dumplings. I love a good buttermilk biscuit and these definitely fit that category.
Andrea, thank you! So happy they were a hit!!
These look fantastic! Can you make them ahead and let them sit a bit before you make them? I wanted to prepare them and then my husband could bake them a couple hours later. Or do they have to be made and bed right away?
Will this recipe work if you replace with almond flour?
I have never tried this with almond flour. If you do, please come back and let us know how it turned out for you. Good luck.
Thank you so much for this recipe ! My 88 year old father-in-law from Georgia says, and I quote “Dang, these are almost as good as Mamma’s scratch!” High praise indeed for this northern city girl. These are super easy and super tasty biscuits. You don’t happen to have a super easy, super tasty southern sausage gravy recipe to go with them do you? Thanks again.
Shannon that is absolutely wonderful! Your comment just made my day 🙂 I do not have a sausage gravy recipe on the site yet unfortunately. But I really need to get on that!! SO glad your sweet daddy loved these biscuits!!