Buttery, soft, and made completely from scratch, this easy homemade biscuit recipe deserves a permanent place in your recipe repertoire. This recipe is made with all butter, no shortening!
With just 6 ingredients that I bet you already have on hand, these homemade biscuits are so simple to make and I’ve included plenty of tips (and a video!) to make sure you end up with perfect biscuits every single time.
Two reasons I’m super excited to share this homemade biscuit recipe with you today:
One: because homemade biscuits are delicious (obviously) and they’re so easy to make. So many people buy the canned version without realizing that they already have all of the ingredients to make them from scratch in their pantry.
The taste of a pre-made biscuit doesn’t hold a candle to a homemade biscuit. Not. even. close. Preservatives and artificial flavors, you aren’t welcome here.
Two: because ever since I started working on this biscuit recipe a few weeks ago, “Mind Your Own Biscuits” by Kacey Musgraves has been stuck in my head and I’ve been singing it off-key relentlessly.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Kacey Musgraves and her music, but every time I start singing my dog starts actually crying. It’s sad and hilarious, and if I wasn’t so embarrassed by my terrible singing voice I would have shared a video of it by now. Hopefully, by publishing this recipe I’ll release myself from the endless refrain and the animal abuse will finally stop.
But let’s talk more about the first reason.
Homemade biscuits call for just six ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, butter, and milk. And then more butter once they’re finished baking because of course we need more butter.
I mentioned that these biscuits are easy so do not be alarmed by all the tips that I have for you below. These biscuits are easy, but technique matters and I want to arm you with all the information that you need so that you can make these easily and have them come out perfectly the very first time.
The tips are simple but important, and while some more seasoned bakers already know them, I want to give everyone an even playing field.
Tips for Making Homemade Biscuits
- The butter and milk for this recipe need to be as cold as possible for fluffy and soft biscuits. I freeze my butter before using it and recommend keeping the milk in the refrigerator right up until it’s time to add it to the dry ingredients.
- Don’t overwork the dough! Keep in mind that you want your butter to stay as cold as possible when making these biscuits, and the more you have your hands on the dough the softer the butter will become. Definitely don’t use an electric mixer for this recipe.
- We’re going to do a little bit of laminating. This means folding the dough over itself multiple times (5-6 times here) to encourage flaky layers in our biscuits. You can watch the video below to see exactly how this is done.
- Don’t use a rolling pin, use your hands to gently work the dough into a flat rectangle before cutting out your biscuits.
- Don’t be afraid to add flour to the dough if it’s too sticky while you are handling it (and make sure to work on a lightly floured surface).
Visual clue: If you look at the pre-baked biscuit below, you’ll see that you can actually see the butter pieces in the dough. This is what you want, the ingredients won’t be well-combined like with a cookie dough and seeing bits of butter means you’ve actually done everything right here. Hooray!
A Few Notes on Butter in Homemade Biscuits
The butter is possibly the most important part of this recipe, and the way you handle it can make or break your homemade biscuits.
While you can certainly use a pastry cutter to cut your butter into the dry ingredients, I recommend freezing your butter for about 30 minutes before beginning. Then, use a box grater to grate the butter before combining this in with your dry ingredients.
I use this technique in my scone recipes and highly recommend it with these biscuits, too. Not only is it much easier than using a pastry cutter, but it does a great job of finely shredding and distributing the butter throughout the mixture without overworking the butter (remember, you want to manage the butter as little as possible so that it’s as cold as possible when going into the oven).
Alternatively you could also use a food processor (like I do with my pie crust recipe), but it’s just so easy to grate in the butter that I always use this method instead.
And yes, I do recommend using unsalted butter in this recipe and then adding salt. If you want to know more about why I write my recipes this way, you can read all about it (and an easy substitution if you only have salted butter on hand) in this post that I wrote about salted vs unsalted butter.
I know I’ve mentioned to you guys a few times that I’ve been working on a baking contest/challenge/I’m really not sure what to call it, but I’m planning a post where I encourage all of you to bake along with me. The goal is to get people baking recipes they may have not tried before, and I’m encouraging everyone to share their results for a chance to win a small prize.
Well, today’s homemade biscuit recipe is essentially the base for the baking challenge that I’ll be sharing in exactly one week, so take this as a hint that making today’s recipe is a great way to get a jump start for the challenge!
To make sure you’re among the first to be notified of all new recipes and baking challenges, make sure you’re subscribed to my e-mail list. It’s free, and you get a free e-book of 8 of my favorite cookie recipes.
Enjoy!
How to Make Homemade Biscuits
I know I talked a lot in this video, but I really feel that the tips are so important, and will help ensure your biscuits come out perfectly!

Homemade Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter very cold (85g), unsalted European butter is ideal, but not required
- ¾ cup whole milk¹ (177ml) buttermilk or 2% milk will also work
Recommended Equipment
- Biscuit cutter
Instructions
- For best results, chill your butter in the freezer for 10-20 minutes before beginning this recipe. It's ideal that the butter is very cold for light, flaky, buttery biscuits.
- Preheat oven to 425F and line a cookie sheet with nonstick parchment paper. Set aside.
- Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix well. Set aside.2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon salt
- Remove your butter from the refrigerator and either cut it into your flour mixture using a pastry cutter or (preferred) use a box grater to shred the butter into small pieces and then add to the flour mixture and stir.6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- Cut the butter or combine the grated butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Add milk, use a wooden spoon or spatula to stir until combined (don't over-work the dough).¾ cup whole milk¹
- Transfer your biscuit dough to a well-floured surface and use your hands to gently work the dough together. If the dough is too sticky, add flour until it is manageable.
- Once the dough is cohesive, fold in half over itself and use your hands to gently flatten layers together. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold in half again, repeating this step 5-6 times but taking care to not overwork the dough.
- Use your hands (do not use a rolling pin) to flatten the dough to 1" thick and lightly dust a 2 ¾" round biscuit cutter with flour.
- Making close cuts, press the biscuit cutter straight down into the dough and drop the biscuit onto your prepared baking sheet.
- Repeat until you have gotten as many biscuits as possible and place less than ½" apart on baking sheet.
- Once you have gotten as many biscuits as possible out of the dough, gently re-work the dough to get out another biscuit or two until you have at least 6 biscuits.
- Bake on 425F for 12 minutes or until tops are beginning to just turn lightly golden brown.
- If desired, brush with melted salted butter immediately after removing from oven. Serve warm and enjoy.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Penny likes to supervise the photography process. Fortunately, this setup got her vote of approval.
Joy
Hi
I just wanted to say I made your recipe and although these didnโt have the layers I was looking for when I found your recipe they definitely turned out very delicious. I will be keeping this recipe around for my go to biscuits and gravy recipe and I will also be adding this super easy recipe to the recipe book Iโm making for my youngest daughter who is currently in college. These are super easy to make and exactly the kind of recipes I am looking for for her. Thank you so very much for sharing. Joy
Tabby
Wow. Just wow. These were easy and amazing! I wish I had doubled it. There were no leftovers. These will for sure be my go-to. So glad I found it. Thank you!!
lorrie
I just made your recipe using water in lieu of milk, as I didn’t have milk on hand. The biscuits turned out fluffy, buttery and as close to perfect as I’ll ever get. We couldn’t taste any lacking of flavor without the milk… so I’ll probably keep on with the water. Either way, this recipe is simple and delish!
Thank you from me and the fam!
Paula
Delicious biscuits. My Dad is a biscuit snob (nothing is ever as good as Grandma’s, of course) but he loves these biscuits!! I make a double or triple batch and keep them in the freezer for easy prep.
Mae Fadaak
My ONLY to Go to Biscuit recipe! Fabulous! Thank You ! My husband & Son want it again & again..I LOVE it!
Myra
My son and I are making these to use with our honey butter chicken sandwichesโฆ I love that you took the extra time & effort to list out the ingredients after each set of instructionsโฆ So awesome! Thank you so much, we are looking forward to these! ๐
I also just subโd to your email list ๐คฉ
Sam
Yummm! I’m so glad you found it helpful, Myra! I hope you love everything you try! ๐
Ella
Hi there! I love this recipe. Iโm wondering if I can freeze the biscuits before they are baked to have them on hand for yummy breakfast postpartum? Would love some tips on this, thanks๐ฅฐ
Sam
Sure thing! They just need an extra minute to bake from frozen. Congratulations and I wish you a safe delivery and speedy recovery! ๐
Ali
My daughter is one happy baker! She is young and new in the kitchen. So I looked for a detailed recipe that would be perfect for her to preview and then follow along. She made the most delicious and irresistible batch of biscuits to go with supper tonight. Your pictures, advice, and video were the perfect aids to getting the best results. This one definitely boosted her confidence.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you both enjoyed the recipe so much, Ali! Thanks for commenting ๐ฉท
Kevin
I used 1/4 cup olive oil, and a half cup water for a vegan recipe. I’m not vegan, but I went to add milk a d realized we didn’t have any (super rare). pretty amazing turnout regardless.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re happy they still turned out for you, Kevin! Enjoy ๐
Paula
Delicious biscuits!! My Dad is a biscuit snob (nothing is ever as good as Grandma’s, of course, lol) but he loves these biscuits! I make a double or triple batch and keep them in the freezer for easy prep. Happy Easter ๐ฐ
Patricia
Good to the last drop! My family gives this recipe ๐๐พ๐๐พ๐๐พ and all your tips helped. No more Bisquick!๐
Staci
I do have to get on the bandwagon and say yes this recipe is a five! Let me be honest, I normally run to KFC to get biscuits but was so lazy thought Iโd just try my hand at making my own and since this recipe got five stars with 4.7K ratings, I thought Iโd give it a try-no more KFC biscuits for me!!! I used my handheld cheese grater for the butter (like the ones Olive Garden uses) and it was great! My next challenge will be not to eat them all in one day๐
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy you gave our recipe a try, Staci! Thanks for the review ๐ฉท
Matt
These are a HUGE success. Two of us finished the whole batch in one go, and I’ve already made them a second time just days later. Definitely a recipe that will be made often.
I don’t have a biscuit cutter, so I just cut the dough into squares. The four biscuits from the corners didn’t rise quite as beautifully, but still tasted amazing.
Also, had some leftover restaurant take-out Honey Cinnamon Butter, which was absolutely perfect for brushing on top at the end.