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.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
Sabrina
Today is the 2nd time I’ve made these. They can out perfect both times!
Sugar Spun Run
That is wonderful to hear, Sabrina! I am so glad that you enjoyed them, both times! 🙂
Ruby McClure
I made these with 2% milk. They are delicious! Being that we are in this situation at the moment I could not find biscuits at the store and I found this recipe. My husband loved them! Thank you! 😃
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you came across my recipe and you enjoyed them, Ruby! Thanks for commenting. Enjoy! 🙂
Reina
Same situation here Ruby, I also could not find bisquick or all purpose flour, I have 2% milk and was able to find a bag of $7 organic stone ground flour in the “hippie” section of the grocery store, lol. I’m about to try this recipe for the first time, and hoping it becomes a keeper.
Molly
Love this recipe and have made them several times. I bought some whole wheat flour recently and was wondering if you could use this in place of all purpose flour?
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you have enjoyed this recipe, Molly! Someone recently used whole wheat flour with this recipe and they turned out well. The texture may be different than what you are used to so please keep that in mind. Let me know what you think. 🙂
Sabrina Perkins
I made these earlier in the week and they were great! Thanks for the recipe! Have you tried freezing them?
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed them, Sabrina! To answer your questions, yes, they freeze well. You can freeze the cut dough or pre-baked biscuits. Either way will do. 🙂
Gertrude
Hello can I use half and half instead of milk?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Gertrude! I think either of those would work OK, you might need a bit more since both of those are thicker than whole milk.
Ashlei
I want to use this recipe but I don’t have baking powder.. I have baking soda? Will that work?
Sam
Hi Ashlei, I’m sorry but unfortunately baking soda will not work in this recipe 🙁
Allison
Can we use buttermilk? I have some that i got for a different recipe and need an excuse to use it again. Thanks!
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Allison! Yes, buttermilk will work well in this recipe. Enjoy! 🙂
Noelle
If I don’t have whole milk will it still be okay or should I adjust the recipe some how?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Noelle! Others have used 2% milk or buttermilk instead and have had success. I hope that you enjoy them! 🙂
Rebecca
My 5 year old and I loved making these together! I baked for 10 minutes instead of 12, but I think it may be because we’re at altitude? Thanks for the delicious recipe!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you have enjoyed this recipe, Rebecca. I hope that you and your kid have enjoyed making them together too. 🙂
Marilyn Smith
if you can’t get whole milk can whipping cream or half n half be used
Sam
Hi Marilyn! I think either of those would work OK, you might need a bit more since both of those are thicker than whole milk.
Nancy Swartout
Thanks for this simple recipe. I am a high school Culinary Arts instructor trying to find delicious recipes with few ingredients to share with my students in a Distance Learning setting. After testing your recipe, I knew this would work well.
All of students were delighted with the results and feeling confident in their emerging baking skills.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that your students had such great success making this recipe and they enjoyed the biscuits, Nancy! Thanks so much for using my recipe! 🙂
Lou
These turned out great! I used salted butter but it didn’t overpower. I cut the biscuits with a mason jar and ended up with 6 full size and 2 slightly smaller ones I ate fresh from the oven 🙂 I wouldn’t call this “easy” but it was easy enough and the flavor was worth the extra effort.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits, Lou! Thank you for trying my recipe. I am glad that you found them worth the effort. 🙂
Sean F
So fast, so simple, so easy. Never made biscuits before and these are some of the best homemade biscuits I’ve ever had. Going to make some honey butter chicken biscuits with this!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits, Sean! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
Wanda
Hello, great idea, trying to teach my daughter to bake and to spend more quality time with her. I will be letting you know how things turn out. Thanks
Sugar Spun Run
That is wonderful, Wanda! I hope that you both love the cake and have fun in the process. 🙂
Keenan
I do not have a cookie cutter what are my options
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Keenan! Others have just cut them into squares and had success. You can also try using a cup. I hope that helps! 🙂
Keenan
That is so cute . Will send pictures when we bake them today.
Sugar Spun Run
Enjoy!
Gail Scott
Is it okay to use 2% milk? That’s all that is available right now!
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Gail! Yes, 2% milk will be fine. 🙂
Elizabeth
Great easy recipe, I baked them for 17 min not 12 but other than that it was a flawless recipe.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed them, Elizabeth! Thanks for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
Stephanie
Would almond milk work?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Stephanie! I have never tried it personally, however, someone recently did and reported success. I hope that it works for you as well. 🙂