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
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.
Evvie
These are amazing! And so easy. I cooked mine at a lower temp to make sure they cooked all the way through (°355). They were really a warm smile for my family breakfast♡
Sam
I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you so much for commenting, Evvie! 🙂
Sharon
Hi! I loved the biscuits but my husband said they were a little too sweet for him. Can I leave the sugar out of the recipe? If I do leave the sugar out, will I need to change the amount of salt?
Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Sam
Hi Sharon! You can definitely leave the sugar out, no need to make any other adjustments. Enjoy! 🙂
Kathy
The first time I ever made biscuits was with your recipe! So easy and so delicious! I freeze the butter too and grate it in. I don’t have whole milk, I have 1% and buttermilk. Which is better to use?
Sam
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed them!! I would use buttermilk, it works great with this recipe 🙂
Kathy
Thanks so much for the quick response, Sam! Love the name…that’s my daughter’s name. One more question, can I double the recipe?
Sam
You’re very welcome! And yes absolutely, this recipe doubles well 🙂
Brittany
What if you don’t have a biscuit cutter ?
Sam
Sometimes I’ll turn a glass upside down and use that, or you can form the dough into a square and cut it into squares with a sharp knife 🙂
Andrea
Seriously the best biscuits I’ve ever had. They were so fast and easy to make. We get fresh milk and butter right from the farm so I loved being able to use those ingredients. I’ll be making these over and over. Thanks for the video too, so helpful.
Sam
Thank you so much, Andrea! I would love to have fresh milk and butter at my fingertips. That sounds awesome! I’m glad you enjoyed the biscuits. 🙂
Andrea
This site or the Weston Price Foundation are good resources to find fresh dairy in your area or maybe a Co-op that brings it in. I’m in NV, so no local farms here but our milk comes from UT and we have fresh butter shipped in frozen from PA. It’s extra effort but worth it!
Sam
Thank you so much! 🙂
jeni
What do you change for high altitude?
Sam
Hi Jeni! Unfortunately I am not familiar enough with high altitude baking to make any recommendations. 🙁
Courtney
So excited to do these this morning for Easter brunch! I am curious if I can refrigerate the dough for a couple hours before baking?
Sam
Hi Courtney! You can refrigerate them for a few hours after you make them. I would keep them covered so they don’t dry out in the refrigerator. 🙂
Bridgett
Hello making these now what us the best way to store and serve left over?
Sam
Hi Bridgett! The best thing to do is store them in an air tight container at room temperature. Since I love my biscuits warm I always microwave them for a few seconds the next day. 🙂
Joe
Hi! Can you make the dough ahead of time? If so, refrigerate or room temp? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Joe! You will want to cut out the biscuits and then refrigerate the dough, but make sure you cover it when putting in the refrigerator. 🙂
Kristen
These turned out perfect! I’ve been trying to find a good biscuit recipe that’s easy to make for years!
Sam
Thank you so much, Kristen! I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits. 🙂
Mary Beth
These are my favorite biscuits and I’ve tried many recipes over the years! It really does make a difference, using all the helpful tips listed here!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits, Mary Beth! 🙂
Tanja
Can I keep the biscuits (ready to go on a baking sheet) in the fridge for a few hours before baking?
Sam
Hi Tanja! You can refrigerate the biscuits. I would put them on the baking sheet and then wrap the baking sheet so the biscuits don’t dry out. 🙂
Melissa C. Barron
It’s Easter morning and I decided to treat myself to some biscuits.. boy, did this recipe turn out wonderfully!! I used skim milk as that was all I had on hand, and the frozen butter grating was a lot of fun. 😁 These warm buttery babies sure did bring a smile to my face. Thank you so much!! ❤️🐥
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits, Melissa! That’s a great treat. 🙂
Rachael K Skibbe
I thought the same! Its Easter…treat myself!
These came out AMAZING!
Can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
Thanks for sharing. 😊
Lowie
Hi! Any tips for adding other ingredients (cheese, scallion, etc) in terms of portions? Was thinking of adding maybe 1/2 cup of these “extra” ingredients, without compromising the texture… Thank you can’t wait to try this!!
Sam
Hi Lowie! 1/2 cup would work fine for the add in’s here. It’s really a matter of preference, but I would probably do about a cup total. 🙂
Elizabeth
Can you freeze uncooked biscuits?
Sam
Hi Elizabeth! The uncooked biscuits should be fine to freeze. I would just wrap them individually then store them in an air tight container. 🙂