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.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.
Mallory
Can I prep these a day before n just store them in the refrigerator?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Mallory! Yes, you can. You will make the dough, cut them, and store them well wrapped in the refrigerator until the next day. I hope that you enjoy them! 🙂
Julia
Can I make these biscuits with 1% or 2% milk with the same results? Will I have to add something else if I use 1 or 2% milk?
Thanks,
Julia 🙂
Sam
Hi Julia! The 1% or 2% milk will have less fat than the whole milk which could dry the biscuits out just a little bit. That being said, I have had many many people comment saying they have used 2% milk with lots of success. 🙂
Sandra
You are such a joy to watch. You speak clearly, you don’t waste words, and get right to it. I have now made your recipe 3x, it’s so simple it’s easy to memorize. Now I know how all those mothers got up in the morning and had hot biscuits on the table ready to be devoured. We have started a new tradition in our house, and you know what comes from tradition . . . Memories. So it’s more than just biscuits. Thank you.
Sam
Thank you so much, Sandra! I am so glad you are able to enjoy the biscuits all the time. Most of my favorite memories are based around food. 🙂
Leticia A. Flores
Pease look no further. Thank you for the video and the recipe.
Lamination was a first for me but I got the results.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Terri Hayter
Made this recipe this morning. My family loved them!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Terri! 🙂
pat weigel
Love the tree bark spoon in the soup…….can you please share the source of purchase?? Please??
Sam
I am so sorry, Pat! I really can’t remember where I even found it. Normally I would say Amazon but I don’t even think that’s where I got it. 🙁
Brenda Doss Doss
Best biscuits I have ever made and I cook all the time. So excited I am going to make a bunch and try freezing them!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Brenda! 🙂
Terri Hayter
Did you try freezing them? I was thinking about trying to freeze some.
Robert
I’ve tried this recipe 3 times, and each time some of the biscuits rise “too high”, causing the top to sort of flop over. But other biscuits in the same batch come out great. Any suggestions?
Sam
Hi Robert! That is so weird. When you are laminating the dough you may just be pushing some parts together better than others. 🙂
Luke
I have been looking for a perfect biscuit recipe for years. This is AWESOME. They turned out great. Thanks so much. Luke
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Luke! 🙂
Nita
Can you use Almond milk? Thx
Sam
I haven’t tried it myself, but I know others have done it with success. 🙂
Nita
I just tried it with almond milk and a small amount of whipping cream, since I didn’t have milk. They were great!
Priscilla
Can you freeze the dough
Sam
Hi Priscilla! You can freeze the dough. I would recommend cutting out the biscuit shapes and wrapping them individually to freeze. 🙂
Priscilla Gillespie
Thank you for the quick reply! I made the biscuits this morning I think the butter is the part of messed up. I should have used frozen butter.
Sam
Frozen butter definitely helps here. Hopefully they turn out better next time. 🙂
Pj
Does it have to be unsalted butter
Sam
You can use salted butter, I would just reduce the salt by about 1/4 teaspoon. I have a post on substituting salted for unsalted butter if you ever need it for future reference. 🙂
Megan Goodman
Can you use heavy cream? What if you don’t have a biscuit cutter? Thank you!
Sam
I think heavy cream would work but you might need a bit more since it’s thicker than milk. I would either use a sharp knife and press straight down into the dough to cut out squares, or you could turn a glass upside down and use that 🙂
Somer
I used a small juice glass with approx 2 3/4-3 inch opening. Worked perfect! I also used salted butter without reducing salt and it didn’t taste overly salty. I also used 1% milk and just added two tbs melted butter to the milk and it worked just fine. Seriously flaky and tender biscuits and so easy! I’m not much of a baker and I these seem pretty forgiving and hard to mess up, even when subbing slightly different ingredients. Add a little jelly and perfect for dessert! Can’t say this is a healthy recipe, but when you are eating biscuits, I doubt calorie counting is anyone’s top priority. Was hard to cut myself off at 2! Was nice to find a recipe w/out buttermilk bc who usually has that on hand?? Ha. Made twice so far and I think these will be my go to biscuit recipe from now on. Thanks!!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that they have become a hit in your home, Somer. Thank you for the feedback. I am so glad that you enjoyed them. 🙂
Patti Robertson
I made these biscuits ( a double batch) to have with strawberry shortcake. They were amazing. I will never use bisquick again. my husband ate the last two biscuits for breakfast this morning.
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Patti! 🙂
Koree
Can you use 2% milk?
Sam
Hi Koree! You can use 2% milk. Many others have with success. 🙂
Becky spears
Oh my goodness this was a fantastic recipe. I followed the recipe exactly step-by-step and they turned out amazing I love the little bit of sugar because you can actually has a tinge of sweet fantastic. I’m actually going to print this one out and put it in my book.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Becky! 🙂