Irish Biscuits
Buttery and cheesy, flaky traditional Irish Biscuits are made with 6 simple ingredients and so easy to prepare. The mild flavor of green onions and creamy buttermilk on the inside, with a light crisp on the outside, pair beautifully with a St. Patrick’s Day stew or Shepherd’s Pie! Make-ahead and freezer friendly, too.
What is better than hot Irish soda biscuits just out of the oven, served with an Irish stew, or Corned Beef and our Irish Colcannon potatoes. Oh, my. Yes, we are an Irish family (my husband’s parents are from Dublin), and we make these Irish Cheddar Spring Onion Biscuits several times a year. They spell out – comfort. There is just something about the cheese dough, layered and folded several times, to get the right texture (but not too dense).
This might be your first time to make homemade biscuits (or scones). The extra folding in these Cheddar Biscuits is well worth the extra minutes to make them, for the most incredibly tender and flaky portion of the meal. And, the combo of Irish cheese (we use Dubliner) and butter, opened up with your fingers (and possibly adding more butter?) are the most delicious served on top of stew (or on the side). My mouth is watering with these golden brown treats.
Why I love Irish Soda Biscuits
- Easy to make, with simple ingredients.
- You can make ahead and freeze!
- They make a wonderful mid-day snack.
- Perfect for an Irish dinner or accompaniment to eggs and bacon in the morning.
Gather these ingredients
- Self-rising flour
- Baking soda
- Butter: make sure it is chilled (we use salted)
- Buttermilk
- Irish Cheddar cheese (we use Dubliner)
- Green onions
How do you make Irish Cheddar Spring Onion Biscuits?
- Always start with cold butter. Whisk together the self-rising flour and baking soda, adding in the cold butter and blend with a pastry blender.
- In the center of flour mixture, make a well and pour in the buttermilk.
- Stir the mixture to form a ball of dough, not over-working the dough! It will be lumpy!
- Transfer dough to a floured work surface. Press into the shape of a rectangle, and then fold the dough into thirds using a bench scraper. Repeat and roll again to 1/2 inch thick.
- Sprinkle dough with half the grated cheese and half of the green onions.
- Roll again! Fold dough into thirds. Dust with flour, if necessary, and roll out again to about 1/2-inch thickness.
Cutting out an old-fashioned Irish biscuit
- Use round cutters: Add remaining cheese and green onions. Fold and roll again (1/2-inch thickness), using a 2- or 3-inch round cutter to cut out 12 biscuits.
- Bake: Transfer biscuits to the prepared baking sheet. Brush lightly with buttermilk and bake!
Tips and how do you freeze biscuits?
- The extra layering and folding make the biscuits not too dense.
- Keep butter cold!
- Do not use a mixer or food processor, you must mix these by hand, using a pastry blender.
- Don’t over-mix the dough. It’s okay that it will be lumpy and shaggy.
- We use a bench scraper to help scrape the dough off of your surface (see photos).
- How do you freeze biscuits? Freeze the dough before baking: Keep raw biscuits in the freezer until just before baking. By placing the cold dough into the oven ensures maximum rise and flakiness!
- Brush the biscuits with buttermilk.
- Optoinal to brush the biscuits with more melted butter and sprinkle with flaky sea salt before baking for a nice crunch.
- Don’t open the oven while they bake! It affects how the biscuits rise.
Serving & storing
We really do love these biscuits any time of year, but they are a real treat for St. Patrick’s Day. Serve them with our Corned Beef and Cabbage, or Irish Mac and Cheese. How about an Irish Pub salad? So good.
You can make ahead and freeze, or use the tip above (freeze them before they are baked). They are more fresh if you remove the frozen biscuits (unbaked) from the freezer and pop them into the oven. But to save time, you can also make, bake, and freeze them that way, too.
More Irish recipes you may want to try while you are here:
Get the Recipe:
Irish Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups self-rising flour, plus more for kneading
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 7 Tbsp very cold butter (salted), cut into pieces
- ¾ cup buttermilk, plus additional for brushing
- ½ cup shredded Irish Cheddar cheese, we use Dubliner, divided, plus more for topping
- ⅓ cup sliced green onions, divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the self-rising flour and baking soda. Add in the cold butter pieces (we cut into small cubes), and cut it into the flour with a pastry blender. Keep mixing for about 5 minutes until it is coarse crumbs.
- In the center of flour mixture, make a well and pour in the buttermilk.
- Stir with a fork just until mixture starts to come together to form a ball of dough with lumps and unevenness. Don’t over-work the dough!
- Transfer dough to a floured work surface. Press into the shape of a rectangle, and then fold the dough into thirds using a bench scraper.
- Press into a rectangle again, flouring the surface. Roll dough with a rolling pin to ½-inch thickness.
- Sprinkle dough with half the grated cheese and half of the green onions.
- Fold dough into thirds. Dust with flour, if necessary, and roll out again to about ½-inch thickness.
Cut out the 12 biscuits:
- Top with remaining cheese and green onions. Fold into thirds and roll out again to about ½-inch thickness. Use a 2-or-3-inch round cutter to cut out 12 biscuits.
- Transfer biscuits to the prepared baking sheet. Brush lightly with buttermilk.
- Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. Remove and place on a wire rack to cool.
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
