These chocolate chip buttermilk biscuits are the same tall, flaky biscuits you already love, with chocolate chips in the dough and a chocolate gravy glaze on top. They’re nowhere near as sweet as a donut, but the chocolate makes them feel a little decadent. The method is the same as a traditional buttermilk biscuit, and the steps below walk you through it.

Chocolate Chip Biscuits covered in rich chocolate, with visible chocolate chips peeking through, are arranged on metal plates. The background is softly blurred, and a light cloth is set underneath for an inviting presentation. — Tall, flaky chocolate chip buttermilk biscuits with semi-sweet chips baked into the dough and a chocolate gravy glaze made from chocolate chips, butter and light corn syrup

Chocolate Gravy You Dip Instead of Pour

In the South, a chocolate sauce for biscuits is called chocolate gravy, though this one is thicker than the old-fashioned kind. It’s more of a dip, and it sets firm on top of the biscuit without cracking or turning hard. My girls love chocolate much more than I do, and they talked me into using it instead of a powdered sugar glaze. The chips go into the dough too, pressed in before the folds so they don’t make the biscuits heavy.

Drop Biscuits Were Faster, but the Layers Won

I’ve been making biscuits my whole life, and they show up at our table for both breakfast and dinner. These are the ones I make when my girls come home to visit. I tried them first as drop biscuits since that’s the quicker way, but I liked the traditional layered biscuit better, so that’s the one I kept. If you’ve made my buttermilk biscuits cut into squares with no scraps, the folding and freezing will feel familiar.

A close-up of chocolate chip scones stacked on a dark plate, with a textured gray cloth underneath. Reminiscent of classic Chocolate Chip Biscuits, the scones are golden brown and fluffy, showing visible chocolate chips.

Why I Add Corn Syrup to the Chocolate

I tried the chocolate topping a few different ways before landing on this one, and the version with light corn syrup was my favorite. Just 2 teaspoons keeps the chocolate glossy and soft. Microwave the chips, butter and corn syrup at 50% power, stirring as you go, then whisk until smooth before you dip. Let the biscuits cool before you dip them so the chocolate sets on top instead of sliding off. If you’d like a sweeter breakfast biscuit, try these cinnamon roll biscuits with a pecan filling and no yeast.

Small Things That Keep These Biscuits Tall

Give yourself some extra time. The folding and the 10-minute freeze take longer than a drop biscuit, but most of it is hands-off.
No food processor? Cut the cold butter into the flour with a pastry cutter until the pieces are the size of peas.
Want a fruit version? Tall and flaky strawberry buttermilk biscuits use the same fold-and-freeze method, with mashed strawberries in the dough.

What Goes Into the Biscuits and the Chocolate Gravy

Various baking ingredients on a blue surface, including flour, baking powder, baking soda, chocolate chips, buttermilk, two butter sticks, and a small bowl of sugar—everything you need to whip up delicious Chocolate Chip Biscuits.

A gold-wrapped Guittard semisweet chocolate bar, an empty Karo light corn syrup bottle, and a stick of unsalted butter on a blue surface—classic ingredients perfect for baking homemade Chocolate Chip Biscuits.

The exact amounts are in the recipe card below.

Buttermilk. Keep it cold. If you don’t have any, stir 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar into a measuring cup, add whole milk up to 1 ¼ cups, and let it sit for 5 minutes.
Semi-sweet chocolate chips. You’ll use 1 cup in all, ½ cup pressed into the dough and ½ cup melted for the glaze. Dark chocolate chips work if you want a deeper chocolate flavor.
Light corn syrup. Use light, not dark, so the glaze tastes like chocolate and not molasses.

Two chocolate chip scones, reminiscent of classic chocolate chip biscuits, are topped with a rich chocolate glaze and sit on a plate, one with a bite taken out. More scones are visible on a plate in the background.

How to Make Chocolate Chip Biscuits with Chocolate Gravy

Step One: Cut the Butter Into the Dry Ingredients

Stop at pea-size butter. Those small butter pieces are what make the biscuits flaky. Process too far and you lose the layers.

A food processor bowl with flour and cubes of butter inside, ready to be mixed for delicious Chocolate Chip Biscuits on a light blue countertop. — Add the cold cubed butter to the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.

A food processor bowl filled with flour and small pieces of butter, ready to be mixed for making chocolate chip biscuit dough. The background is a light blue surface. — Process until the mixture resembles coarse meal with butter pieces about the size of peas.

Step Two: Add the Buttermilk

A food processor bowl filled with partially mixed, crumbly chocolate chip biscuit dough, sitting on a light blue surface. — Add buttermilk and mix just until the dough comes together. Don’t overwork it.

Step Three: Add the Chocolate Chips

Rolled-out dough for Chocolate Chip Biscuits topped with chocolate chips on a wooden cutting board, with a rolling pin nearby. — Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top and press them into the dough with a rolling pin.

Step Four: Stack and Fold

The folds build the flaky layers. Each stack-and-roll creates thin sheets of butter and dough that puff apart in the oven. Don’t skip the repeats.

A block of chocolate chip cookie dough, soon to become delicious chocolate chip biscuits, rests on a wooden cutting board next to a rolling pin. Chocolate chips are scattered throughout the dough. — Cut the dough into sections and stack them on top of each other. Roll it back into a rectangle, then repeat this two more times.

Step Five: Roll, Cut, Freeze & Bake

Chocolate chip-studded dough on a wooden board with a round metal biscuit cutter and a rolling pin, ready for baking delicious Chocolate Chip Biscuits. — Cut biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, cutting straight down without twisting.

Twelve unbaked chocolate chip scones, reminiscent of classic Chocolate Chip Biscuits, are arranged on a parchment-lined baking sheet, ready to be baked. The background is a gray-blue countertop. — Place the biscuits on a rimmed baking sheet and freeze for 10 minutes.

A batch of golden-brown chocolate chip scones, reminiscent of classic Chocolate Chip Biscuits, arranged closely on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. — Bake until golden brown.

Step Six: Make the Glaze and Finish

A glass bowl filled with melted chocolate, perfect for making Chocolate Chip Biscuits, is being whisked with a metal whisk and placed on a light gray textured surface. — Combine the chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup & microwave.

Four chocolate chip scones, reminiscent of classic chocolate chip biscuits, are topped with glossy chocolate icing and arranged on a round metal plate, set on a soft grey cloth. — Let the biscuits cool and then dip in chocolate.

These are from-scratch Southern biscuits with a little something extra on top, the kind worth making whenever someone you love is coming home, and they’re simpler to pull off than they look.

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