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.
Msmolly
I have made these twice and perfect each time. We like ours slightly browner so I butter the top and put back in the oven for 2 mins. ovens vary so maybe others wouldn’t need to.The layers are perfect.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed the biscuits so much! 😊
Harry Novak
Sorry Sam I said Lee Ann LoL
Harry
Harry Novak
Hi Lee Ann,
This recipe incorporates many of the techniques my mom & grandmother who owned a pie shop taught me. Cold butter & milk, the little bits of butter, hand fold over 5 or 6 times, don’t over work the dough.. I was looking for a biscuit that could stand up to homemade mushroom gravy a special treat when it is morel mushroom season in the Midwest and these worked perfectly!
Keep up the focus on technique & the little things that make your recipes special.
Good luck!
Harry
Sam
Thank you so much, Harry! 😊
Kristy
Can you substitute shortening for the butter?
Sam
It will work but the biscuits won’t taste as good.
Emilee
Wow! I’ve made a lot of biscuits in my life, but these were hands down the best! My family even commented on how they really liked them.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them, Emilee! 😊
Kimberly Lane
Hello~I was so excited to try this recipe but found that my baking powder was a few years old. The next time I ventured to the grocery store the entire shelf of baking powder was empty. 😳 I didn’t realize it was so sought after. 🤣
Sam
O no! Everyone must be making biscuits! 😉 Unfortunately the baking powder is essential here. 😊
Nancy
Hi, i live in cancun but they dont raise to much, what can i do? Can i put More baking powder?
Sam
Hi Nancy! I would not add more baking powder. My first guess would be to make sure your current baking powder hasn’t expired on you, or gotten any moisture into it.
DB
It’s a keeper. One family member said it was beat ever tasted and I could make a lot of money selling these.
Jackie Novack
I made them and they were fluffy, but didnt like the flavor. Needed more butter. I brushed butter on top and put a pat in between after baking and still had to put jelly on them to cover up flour taste.
Sam
I’m so sorry you didn’t enjoy the biscuits, Jackie! Is it possible there was too much flour in the biscuits. They shouldn’t taste like flour at all. 🙁
Mari
Used this recipe 2 weeks ago for my first try at homemade biscuits. Last night my 10-year-old requested I make them again so I made them this morning turned out great again! Super simple and delicious!!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoys the biscuits so much, Mari! 🙂
Millie
Made the biscuits with my granddaughter. Easy to make and great biscuits. A new fav. Thanks so much!!!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed the biscuits so much, Millie! 🙂
Rachel Smalley
This was my second time trying homemade biscuits. This recipe was so easy to make and so good. Perfect density for gravy. I didn’t have a biscuit cutter, so I used the lid of a mason jar, and it subbed just fine. These will definitely be a new weekend staple!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits so much, Rachel! 🙂
Scott Englehardt
A GREAT and simple recipe. It was my first time ever making biscuits and it was a success!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits, Scott! 🙂
Ashlie
My toddler loves having biscuits and gravy for breakfast on Saturday mornings and I usually use the kind from the refrigerator section at the store (I know, I know) but we didn’t have any. I stumbled upon this recipe and am so grateful I did! They were quick, easy, and delicious! Also toddler approved ☺️ Thank you!
Sam
Homemade is always better if you ask me! I’m glad everyone enjoyed them. 🙂
Grammy
I made these last night – freezing and grating the butter is genius!! They came out beautiful and flaky. They are a true “comfort food”-topped with chicken in gravy. Yummm! Thanks again!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits so much! 🙂
Lee Ann
I made these a few weeks ago with a 4 year old. They were so fun for her and delicious. I am making them again today for a weekend treat. Thank you for the great recipe and tips!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed the biscuits so much, Lee Ann! 🙂
Tammy
I love this recipe. It’s super easy to make. I make these biscuits, often.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoy the biscuits so much, Tammy! 🙂