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 recipeย a few weeks ago,ย “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.ย 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.ย And then more butter once they’re finished baking because of course we need more butter.
I mentioned that these biscuits are easy soย do not be alarmedย by all the tips that I have for you below. These biscuitsย 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 ofย 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:ย 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.ย 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 andย 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 encourageย 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
- ยพ cup whole milkยน (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 ยพ" round biscuit cutter with flour.ย
- 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 ยฝ" apart on baking sheet.ย
- 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.
Peggy
Oh my word! My husband said that these were the best biscuits Iโd ever made! Weโve only been married 33 years!!! Lol. Thanks so much for the recipe and tips!!!!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed the biscuits so much, Peggy! ๐
Monica
These are soooo easy to make. It took a couple of attempts. They are not too heavy. Great with my sausage gravey. Yummm…No more store biscuits for me..
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Monica! Homemade is always better if you ask me. ๐
Liam
Love the biscuits but why is the recipe so far down? Put all the filler below the recipe please
Sam
Because this is my personal blog where I also share completely free recipes. Hit the “jump to recipe” button next time please.
Andrew
Very delicious recipe. I can verify that the biscuits still taste great even if you substitute almond milk for the whole milk. I just had to bake them a bit longer to get the right texture.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Andrew! Thank you for the feedback using your substitutions. ๐
ben
very good! i make at home as stuck college student with oak milk instead and veg spread instead of butter ans still comes out very nice!
Sam
I am so glad you have enjoyed it so much, Ben! ๐
Jenelle Hawkins
Tries this recipe with cheese and chives, absolutely amazing!!!!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Jenelle! ๐
Alana Pace
Best biscuit recipe ever. We’ve made it three times now. We only have 1% milk in our household and it still turn out absolutely perfect. I agree that freezing and grating the butter + laminating but not overworking the dough makes them incredible.
Sam
I am so glad you have enjoyed them so much, Alana! ๐
Kathleen C.
Would they turn out if I used skim milk? Thatโs all I have at home…
Sam
Hi Kathleen! The skim milk should work, but the biscuits would turn out a little bit more dry. ๐
Doreen
Iโve used this recipe for a while now. Iโve used half and half, cream, and whole milk. It always has amazing results!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Doreen! ๐
Vince
Can salted butter be used?
Sam
Hi Vince! You can use salted butter, just cut the salt by a little less than 1/4 teaspoon. ๐
anaya
This is my go to recipe now! I finish them off with some melted butter and honey right as they come out, and I do add a little extra sugar since I make a double batch and for some reason it just doesn’t taste as sweet when you double up the entire recipe? So I add an extra tablespoon with no issues.
I will say this is the easiest recipe to double though! I even tripled it for freezing and it was fine.
I also tried with brown sugar and a bit of wheat flour instead of plain all purpose. And it tasted so warm. It was lovely! If you use brown, hold back a tiny bit of the milk. You might find you don’t need it because of the moisture in the brown sugar.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Anaya! I have not tried it with brown sugar, but it sounds super tasty. ๐
Laura Wright
I checked the comments for precisely this! Good to know it doubles well. We really like bread around here…
Don Farmer
I made this recipe gluten free and vegan and baked it in an air fryer, 400 degrees for about 12 mins. Outstanding! First good biscuit Iโve had in years. Thanks for the recipe.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Don! ๐
Laura Wright
What kind of flour did you use for your GF recipe? Iโd love to try.
Felicia
Best biscuits ever!!!! Easiest recipe to follow! I loved to substitute buttermilk for the whole milk for true taste perfection. Crisp on the outside, fluffy inside!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Felicia! ๐
Ellie
Iโve baked a lot of biscuits in the past but this is by far the best recipe Iโve ever used. Quick, flakey and great layers.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Ellie! ๐
Colette
Can you substitute buttermilk for the whole milk?
Sam
Hi Colette! People do it all the time and love the results. ๐