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Angel Biscuits

Averie Sunshine

4.72 from 14 votes

Updated: Mar 04, 2026

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🥖 These Homemade Angel Biscuits are the lightest, fluffiest, flakiest, melt-in-your-mouth biscuits you’ll ever eat! Thanks to a trio of leavening agents, plenty of butter, and buttermilk, these EASY biscuits will become a family FAVORITE in no time! Serve them in place of regular biscuits or dinner rolls, or make them for a special brunch or holiday meal, and I promise no one will eat just one!

The BEST Angel Biscuits Recipe

If you’re unfamiliar, angel biscuits are a cross between a dinner roll and a traditional Southern-style biscuit. They’re easy to make and ready from start to finish in under 2 hours!

Thanks to a trio of leavening ingredients, including two tablespoons of yeast, plus baking powder and baking soda, these biscuits are light as an angel flying about.

They’re a family favorite comfort food recipe in myhouse. No one can eat just one! They’re a perfect addition to a holiday brunch, such as for Easter or Mother’s Day, for a big Sunday family dinner, or even as a weekday or weeknight treat.

Whether you want to serve them on the sweeter side with butter and honey or jam.

Or serve these angel biscuits alongside a savory dish to mop up extra sausage gravy or sauce, with a hearty bowl of slow cooker beef chili, or alongside air fryer twisted bacon and eggs, you can’t go wrong! 

Ingredients Needed

The ingredients in angel biscuits are easy-to-find and very common fridge and pantry ingredients, including the following:

• Warm milk: I use 2% milk, although you can use 1% milk, whole milk, or plant-based milks such as soy, almond, or cashew
• Lemon juice: When combined with the milk, this creates homemade buttermilk, using a method similar to that used in my  Lemon Buttermilk Cake or Irish Soda Bread 
• Active dry yeast: Make sure you’re using active dry yeast rather than instant dry yeast. While you could potentially use instant yeast, the recipe wasn’t designed that way. So, I can’t guarantee it will work out as you want
• Granulated sugar: This adds sweetness and structure and activates the yeast
• All-purpose flour: Do not substitute self-rising flour for all-purpose flour. I can’t predict exactly what will happen because the biscuits will have far too many leavening agents in them (that’s what self-rising flour is – flour, baking powder, salt), other than to say they won’t work out
• Salt
• Leaveners: I use both baking powder and baking soda for ultra-fluffy biscuits
• Shortening and unsalted butter: These add rich flavor and contribute to the tender, flaky texture. I find the texture is best with a combination of shortening and butter, but you can use all butter if preferred. For the best results, make sure they’re cold
• Sour cream: If you want to use plain, full-fat Greek yogurt in place of sour cream, that is fine
• Heavy cream: Brushed over the top of the biscuits before baking, this adds richness and contributes to the beautiful golden exterior

Note: All ingredients amounts are listed in the recipe card section when you keep scrolling down.

How to Make Angel Biscuits

Follow my straightforward steps, and even if you’re new to making biscuits or yeast breads and rolls, that’s okay because this is a very approachable recipe. Let’s get started.

1. Activate the yeast by combining milk, sugar, and yeast in a bowl and letting it rest until the mixture is bubbly and foaming. In the meantime, whisk the remaining milk and lemon juice in a bowl, and set it aside to curdle.
2. Whisk the dry ingredients in a third bowl, add the cold butter and shortening, and cut them into the mixture with a pastry cutter, pastry blender, or two forks.
3. Add the buttermilk mixture and sour cream to the proofed yeast, whisking to combine. Pour the mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients, and stir to combine.
4. Use your hands to fold the angel biscuit dough on a floured work surface, and press it into a thick rectangle. Then, use a 3-inch biscuit round cutter or a 4-inch biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits, placing them on a greased baking sheet or jelly roll pan.
5. Cover the dough with greased plastic wrap, and let it proof at room temperature. Then, brush the tops with heavy cream, and bake until golden brown.

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4.72 from 14 votes

Angel Biscuits

By Averie Sunshine

🥖 The lightest, fluffiest, flakiest, melt-in-your-mouth biscuits you'll ever eat! Thanks to a trio of leavening agents, plenty of butter, and buttermilk, these EASY biscuits will become a family FAVORITE in no time! Serve them in place of regular biscuits or dinner rolls, or make them for a special brunch or holiday meal, and I promise no one will eat just one!

Prep Time: 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes minutes

Rise Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 2 hours hours 3 minutes minutes

Servings: 32 servings

Equipment

• 2 Large Bowls
• 1 Medium Bowl
• 1 pastry cutter
• 1 round biscuit cutter (2 3/4-inches)
• 1 Large Baking Sheet
• 1 Wire Rack

Ingredients 

• ▢ 2 ¼ cups warm milk, divided*
• ▢ ⅔ cup granulated sugar, divided
• ▢ ½ cups warm water
• ▢ 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
• ▢ 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• ▢ 5 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
• ▢ 2 teaspoons salt
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ▢ 1 cup 16 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
• ▢ 6 tablespoons cold shortening cubed**
• ▢ 2 tablespoons full fat sour cream, full fat Greek yogurt may be substituted
• ▢ ¼ cup heavy cream, for brushing before baking
• ▢ ¼ cup melted butter, optionally for brushing after baking

Instructions 

• To a large mixing bowl, add 1/4 cup milk, 2 teaspoons granulated sugar, all the active dry yeast (yes, it's tablespoons and not teaspoons), and whisk to combine. Tips – Warm the milk according the temperature on the package directions on the brand of yeast you're using. The temp can vary from brand to brand. For this recipe, in general I aim for between 105-110F. Check the temp with a digital thermometer and do NOT guess. Proof means "to prove" that the yeast is alive and well. You will know this if the mixture turns bubbly and frothy looking. If it does not, it means that the yeast isn't alive and your biscuits won't rise later on. So you need to start over until you see bubbles and a frothy looking mixture.
  
• While the yeast is proofing, in a separate medium bowl or large glass measuring cup, add the remaining 2 cups milk, lemon juice, stir to combine, and let stand for about 5 minutes, or until milk curdle. Tip – You are making buttermilk here by souring regular milk. This is an essential step for the recipe so don't skip it!
  
• After the yeast has proofed, add the milk/lemon juice/homemade buttermilk mixture to the yeast mixture and stir to combine.
• Add the sour cream and stir or whisk to combine; set aside momentarily.
  
• To a separate very large bowl, add the remaining sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and whisk to combine.
• Add the cold butter and shortening to the dry ingredients.
  
• Using a pastry cutter or two forks, cut in the butter and shortening into the flour mixture. Tips – The mixture is still going to be very dry and sandy looking after cutting in the butter and shortening, so don't presume that it's going to come together like a pie crust dough, because it's not. It's okay to leave it very crumbly and dry looking because the next step will take care of it.
  
• Pour the wet yeast and buttermilk mixture over the dry ingredients, and using a wooden spoon, stir to combine. It's a very wet and sloppy mixture.
  
• Turn the dough out onto a well-floured, clean countertop or work surface.
• Using your hands, fold the dough together until it's no longer sticky, but still soft. Tips – The dough is intended to be a very wet, sticky, and tacky dough which creates lighter and fluffier angel biscuits. However, if it's too ridiculously wet and moist to work with, you can add an additional 1/2 to 3/4 cup flour (or as needed), adding a little bit at a time and working it in, bit by bit, until the dough comes together.
  
• Once the dough is no longer sticky, using your fingertips, press it out into a 1/2-inch thick large rectangle.
  
• Use a 3-inch biscuit cutter (or 4-inch, noting you'll yield about a dozen less biscuits), and cut the biscuits out as close together as possible.
  
• Place the cut biscuits on a well-sprayed, large baking sheet with a lip or two smaller baking sheets. Tip – Make sure it has a bit of a lip or edge, something that prevents the biscuits from sliding off.
  
• Fold the remaining dough together with your hands and press it out, then cut out the final biscuits from the remaining dough. You should get about 32 biscuits total. Tip – It's okay if they're very close together and touching.
• Cover the baking sheet(s) with plastic wrap. Tips – Spray the underside or the side that comes in contact with the biscuits with cooking spray so it doesn't stick, and allow for them to rise for 1 hour. They'll rise faster/better if your kitchen is on the warmer side. If it's colder, you may want to give them an extra 15 minutes or so.
  
• In the final 20 minutes or so of rising, preheat your oven to 400F.
• Before baking, using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the biscuits evenly with the heavy cream.
• Bake the biscuits on the center rack of your oven for about 18 minutes, or until lightly golden browned. Tip – Rotate your pan once midway through baking for more even baking and better results. Because this is a hot oven and a delicate dough, start checking at 15 minutes to make sure they're not done early, just in case.
  
• Optionally brush baked biscuits with melted butter.
• Allow biscuits to cool sufficiently to serve immediately, or cool them completely on a wire rack.

Notes

*While technically you could use water in place of the milk, I don’t recommend it because your biscuits just won’t have the same wonderful texture and flavor. I use 2% milk but you can use 1%, whole, or plant-based milks such as soy, almond, or cashew milk.

**Some people don’t like using shortening (Crisco or similar) and that’s fine. If you’re one of those people and want to use exclusively butter, go ahead. Therefore, you need 1 cup (16 tablespoons) butter + another 6 tablespoons butter to make up for the shortening.

Storage: Extra biscuits will keep airtight at room temp for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. I do not recommend storing them in the fridge as they will just dry out and harden prematurely.

 

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 149cal, Carbohydrates: 21g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 10mg, Sodium: 236mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 5g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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