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.
Tina
Oh how I love this recipe. I love the tip about using the grater. That was so much better than cutting it in. I will be using this recipe again and again!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Tina! 🙂
Gumbo
So good!!! I now keep a stick of butter in the freezer just for this. I use a grater for the butter and then it cuts in quickly. This is weekly tradition now. TY.
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoys them so much! 🙂
Mary
Picked strawberries today and decided to make biscuits. I googled “best baking powder biscuits.”
I looked at the reviews and thought I’d try these. They truly are the best and I will not have to search again! Made a double batch as 6 would not be enough. Thank you for a great recipe and for sharing it.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Mary! 🙂
Deb
They were easy to make I only got 5 biscuits which was plenty I don’t have a biscuit cutter I used a glass. They were delicious will make them again and again.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Deb! 🙂
Linda
Finally found a biscuit recipe that is perfection!!! These were light, fluffy with a crisp top!!! Made for a perfect Father’s Day breakfast!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Linda! 🙂
Miranda
I’m officially called the biscuit queen thanks to this recipe ❤️
Sam
That is so awesome! I am so glad everyone enjoys it so much, Miranda! 🙂
Don van den Berg
Hi,
My wife suggested instead of a box grater, use a flat one bridged across the top of the bowl and grate the butter directly into the flour. I also used a whole stick of butter and quit grating when I had two tablespoons left (my handle) so I didn’t need to use a knife to finish cutting up the last bit. They are easy and good. I didn’t read all 4000 comments so someone may have made these comments before.
Sam
That is a great suggestion! I am glad you enjoyed them, Don! 🙂
Rj
The best recipe and instructions. We made this with my 2 and 4 year old boys for the Father’s Day and turned out delicious. Thank you!!!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Tracy D
The flavor of the biscuits was fantastic! Mine did not look like yours though! They were tall and mimicked the leaning tower of Pisa. Lol. How do you use the grater and not have half the butter stay in it? My butter was fully frozen and I still had the problem.
Sam
Hi Tracy! I am glad you enjoyed the biscuits. Sometimes mine come out in a funny shape just depending on how I work it together, or cut it out. I do have an issue with the butter sticking sometimes. To get it out I either just bang it on the counter or use a knife to scrape it out. 🙂
Steph
These were so good! They didn’t really rise much though. Did I overwork it maybe?
Sam
Hi Steph! I’m glad they tasted good. They could have been flat because you over-worked the dough or your baking powder could be bad. I don’t think it was the baking powder here though, a lot of times it will taste funny if it’s bad. I hope this helps! 🙂
Ellen
Great Father’s Day biscuit!! Will be my go-to perfect biscuit recipe! Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Ellen! 🙂
Kim Rogers
I’ve made these multiple times and the family loves them! Has anyone tried with buttermilk yet?
Sam
I am so glad you have enjoyed them so much, Kim! I have had many readers report making them with buttermilk. 🙂
Rosie
Do you think I can double the ingredients so I can make more biscuits?
Sam
Absolutely! 🙂
Amy Smith
Do you think I could make the dough tonight and bake them off in the morning?
Sam
Definitely! I’d form the dough and probably even cut out the biscuits, then store in an airtight container (or wrap in plastic wrap) in the refrigerator until you’re ready to bake. Enjoy! 🙂
Kim
Fluffiest biscuits I’ve ever made! This recipe is so easy to makevegan, i swapped the butter with vegan butter and used almond milk (with a tsp of apple cider vinegar bc I love buttermilk flavor)
These are SO soft and SO tall! I have a go-to biscuit recipe finally.
Thank you!!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Kim! Thank you for the update using vegan butter and almond milk. I have a lot of questions about this exact substitution and I never knew the answer. 🙂