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.
Treat yourself to a FREE E-BOOK!
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
- 3/4 cup whole milk (177ml)
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.
- 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 3/4" 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 1/2" 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.
Nutrition
Penny likes to supervise the photography process. Fortunately, this setup got her vote of approval.
RiverLife says
OMG!! These homemade biscuits were easy peasy and fantabulous!! I gave up making biscuits because every time I attempted them they ended up like hockey pucks. BUT not anymore Thanks to you, Sam!! Hubs LOVED them so I guess I’ll be making a LOT more. Thank you for adding the tips of freezing the butter and using the box cutter. I even put the milk in the freezer. I thought I was going to mess up the recipe because the milk got a little icy but they came out just wonderful & fluffy. Thank you again for making my baking life easier. I have subscribed and can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so happy that this recipe turned out so well for you and you now have a new-go! Thank you for commenting and for subscribing! I can’t what to see what you try next! 🙂
Kara says
Thank you so much! I’ve never made anything like this before and I was super proud of the results – thank you for your great and very clear recipe! I loved learning how the folds make those delectable layers, which worked really well.
I used coconut almond milk which I was a little worried about because of the lack of fat content, but they still came out great. I also just used a Bell jar instead of a cutter thingy and it was the perfect size.
Thanks again!
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so happy that you enjoyed the recipe and found it easy to follow, Kara! I am glad that the coconut almond milk worked well for you too. Thank you for trying my recipe. 🙂
B says
These biscuits were great! I grated the butter and used 1% milk and they turned out wonderful and fluffy.
Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so happy to hear how much you enjoyed them, B! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
lisa g. says
Do you have a recipe for 6 jumbo blueberry muffins? I thought I saw the recipe & video at your website. Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Lisa! I have a blueberry muffin recipe that you can use in a jumbo-sized pan if you wish. You may be thinking of my bakery-style chocolate chip muffin recipe where I do use a jumbo muffin pan. Either recipe will work! 🙂
Amanda says
I have been hunting for a biscuit recipe that is quick and easy. I have found so many that want you to chill and fold dough for hours, ones that call for crazy ingredients, ones that are full of sugar, etc. and the one recipe I did try a few months back was a FAIL. I found this and had the ingredients so I set to work. I was afraid to handle the dough too much so I ended up getting a gorgeous rise. And holy cannoli. we blew through the first batch as the second baked. And then I quickly packed those up and drove them to friends and family to show off my newfound biscuit skills. 😂 and then I came home and made more for tomorrow’s breakfast. All the while lecturing my kids about how lucky they are to have homemade biscuits because the only kind I ever ate growing up came from a can. Thanks for gifting me this recipe and a way to poke a little guilt at my kids. (All in fun, we laugh.)
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so glad that you finally found a no-fail recipe that you enjoyed, Amanda. Your kids may not appreciate it now, but I hope they will later. lol. Thank you so much for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
Angelina says
i’m 14 and never baked anything from scratch and this was super easy and very good definitely gonna make them again
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Angelina! 🙂
Anna says
I don’t have a biscuit cutter, nor a ring mold. Could I use a wine glass top possibly?
Sam says
Hi Anna! That should work just fine. 🙂
Anthony says
Complete novice here, but these turned out GRRRRREAT! I packed ‘em down a little too flat though, so they didn’t rise as much as I would have liked, but I’ll remedy that next time. 😉
Thanks so much for sharing this awesomely delicious and easy recipe! #dadapproved
Sam says
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Anthony! 🙂
H J says
Soooo yummy! I have made your biscuits a couple of times and my whole family loves them! I use different shaped biscuit cutters, but they always come out delicious. 🙂
Sam says
I am so glad everyone enjoys them so much! 🙂
Torey says
These are so good, especially considering how easy they are. This was my first time making biscuits and they turned out perfectly.
Sam says
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Torey!
Jasen Metras says
This is my go to biscuit recipe! They plump up beautifully. Delicious flaky biscuits
Sam says
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Jasen! Thank you for commenting!
Mary Bear says
The only difference between your recipe and mine is that I use half cake flour and a full stick of butter. Try using heavy whipping cream in place of regular milk for a richer taste. You can also replace 2T of whole milk with either sour crean or plain yogurt for a slight tart taste.
Bert says
I do a lot of cooking, but not so much baking. Whenever I use butter, disaster ensues. I make a great shortening piecrust and shortening biscuits.Butter, not so. Froze butter,as you advised. It stuck to the grater and my hands. Had to use effort to get all the butter in the bowl. Mixing resulted in a mess. Oven was disappointed, as I threw all those lovely ingredients. So much for that.
Sam says
Hi Bert, try with a food processor using the same method that I use in my scone recipe, that might be easier.
Tricia says
If you dip your stick of butter in some flour, grate and repeat when it sticks a little you’ll master grating butter in no time 😁
Alex says
Made a vegan version of these using Earth Balance (put in the freezer for 20 min and then grated) and Silk almond milk. They turned out INCREDIBLE, hands down best biscuits I’ve ever made. So excited to make them again, thought about trying a richer milk like oat, but I’m not sure I will because they turned out so well this time.
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Alex! Thanks for the feedback on your substitutions. 🙂
Fred says
This was a relatively easy recipe to make and it came out fantastic! My whole family really liked the biscuits. The video was very helpful as well. Will definitely be making these again – I know it was good because my wife asked me for the recipe! Love your website. Thank you!!!!
Sam says
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Fred! 🙂