Butter Swim Biscuits are a Southern classic with a rich buttery flavor and texture. They’re simple to make and require very little effort. Baked in a pool of melted butter gives them a crispy exterior. Fabulous by themselves, served with soup, or smothered in sausage gravy.
You’ll love these Quick and Easy Swim Butter Biscuits
Swim biscuits are known by a few names: butter biscuits, butter swim biscuits, and even swimming biscuits. The name is self-explanatory: these biscuits are swimming in rich, melted butter.
While the recipe for these biscuits is quite similar to other homemade biscuits, they’re baked in a pool of melted better with even more butter brushed on top for a heavier texture and richer flavor. If you like the idea of biscuits swimming in butter but don’t have buttermilk, try making 7Up biscuits.
Some breakfasts or dinners just wouldn’t be complete without buttermilk biscuits, and everyone around here knows how much I love a buttery biscuit. All varieties of them!
When you want to add some comfort food to your menu and don’t have time for homemade yeast rolls, biscuits are a quick and easy alternative that you can whip together in 15 minutes.
They’re great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The recipe is easy enough you can throw them together as you begin making dinner.
Butter swim biscuits vs. traditional buttermilk biscuits
Both butter swim biscuits and buttermilk biscuits are delicious and easy to prepare, but they have some significant differences, notably in their texture and taste. Buttermilk biscuits are fluffy, and light with lots of layers. On the other hand, butter swim biscuits are a richer dense biscuit, with a distinct buttery flavor from butter on the inside and out.
The technique for making these two kinds of biscuits is also different. While buttermilk biscuits are baked on a baking sheet, butter swim biscuits are cooked in ppok of butter in a glass pan.
If you love butter, you’ll love swim biscuits
- They’re a Southern classic with a delicious flavor.
- They don’t take much effort to make and you don’t have to be a great baker to have success.
- You likely have everything you need on hand to make these.
- You can use the leftovers to make sandwiches or sliders.
- They freeze well so you can make a batch and save some for later.
Just a Few Ingredients
For a fill list of the ingredients, refer to the Recipe Card Below.
- Flour – I use unbleached all-purpose flour for this recipe but you can also use bread flour, check out my experiment comparing which flour to use for biscuits.
- Butter – Some of your butter will be melted, but some will need to be cold for this recipe to work well. Keep your butter cold in the fridge right up until you need it. For the cold butter in the biscuits I use unsalted, but you can reduce the salt and use salted butter. I prefer salted butter for the melted butter that the biscuits cook in.
- Buttermilk – Buttermilk is the secret ingredient here. Keep it cold.
How to make Butter Swim Biscuits
Step 1: Prepare your oven and pan.
Step 2: Begin making your biscuit dough.
Use a food processor or pastry cutter.
Step 3. Finish your biscuit dough.
Add cold buttermilk to the mixture and process just until it comes together. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and pat it into a rectangle. Cut the dough into 4 smaller rectangles and stack them on top of each other. Pat into a rectangle and repeat 3 more times.
Form the dough into the shape of your baking pan. Place the dough into the buttered dish and cut it into squares with a knife or bench scrape. Brush some of the butter from the pan onto the top of the biscuits.
Step 4. Bake.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve warm.
A Few Recipe Tips
- If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make your own buttermilk with ingredients in your pantry.
- If your butter gets to warm in your flour mixture, your biscuits will end up flat and tough. Make sure to keep your butter really cold until you use it and don’t touch the dough with your hands any more than you have to.
How to store Swim Biscuits
Homemade biscuits are always best eaten fresh. I highly recommend eating these straight from the oven. But if you have leftovers, you can store them in an airtight container on the counter at room temperature for about 2 days, or freeze them.
What to serve with Swimming Biscuits
Butter swim biscuits are thick and hearty so they’re great for sopping up thick sauces and gravies. They’re also great for making sandwiches. Here are some of the ways we like to use them:
- Serve them on the side of chicken soup
- Make breakfast sandwiches with them
- Spread strawberry jam on them for breakfast
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Butter Swim Biscuits with Double the Butter
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter cold and cut into ½ inch pieces
- 1 ¼ cups buttermilk cold
- 6 tablespoons salted butter melted
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450º.
- Melt 6 tablespoons of salted butter into a 9 x 13 glass baking dish.
- In a food processor, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Process until combined. Add cold butter and process until it resembles a coarse meal with small chunks of butter in it. Or you can use a pastry cutter.
- Add cold buttermilk and process just until it comes together. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and pat it into a rectangle. Cut into 4 smaller rectangles and stack on top of each other. Pat into a rectangle and repeat 3 more times.
- Form the dough into the shape of your baking pan if making square biscuits and roll it to fit the pan you are using. Place the dough into the buttered dish and cut the dough into squares. Brush butter from the pan onto the top of the biscuits. If using a cast iron skillet or a round pan, use a 2 ½ inch round cutter to cut dough and place the biscuits in the prepared pan.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.
Barbara’s Tips + Notes
- If you’re out of buttermilk, you can make your own buttermilk with ingredients in your pantry.
- Make sure to keep your butter really cold until ready to use it.
- You can use a 9 x 14 pan or a square pan. If using an iron-skillet, reduce the cooking time.
Nutrition
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