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.
Casey
I ended up using about a full cup of 2% milk and these came out really well, even though I had to cut them freehand
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Casey! ๐
jamie
We just finished eating our biscuits (we exercised restraint and made half the recipe, with, you know, bacon and coffee + half & half). We were just marveling at how delicious our lives have become “now that we can bake” (haha) but really we’re just following your recipes regularly and succeeding every time and so it FEELS like we now know how to bake! ๐ Actually as we were eating the biscuits, we had a realization… omg, these are BETTER than Cracker Barrel biscuits! Of course they are. Not sure why we were surprised to have that realization, your recipes are always better than their counterparts out in the world! Going to make another batch of your banana bread this weekend, too. And we’re practically giddy. As a banana bread lover, you’d think it would be impossible for the banana bread I made off the internet to be not only the best banana bread I’ve ever eaten, but also BETTER than any banana bread I’ve ever eaten! But it is! It is! My wife said, “thank you sugar-spun-run-Sam for making our lives better!”
Sam
Thank you for this wonderful comment, Jamie! This definitely put a smile on my face. ๐ I am so glad you have enjoyed everything so much, and I hope you love all of the recipes you try. ๐
Alyssa
Thank you so much for this easy recipe! I woke up this morning craving biscuits and I already had all the ingredients in my home. The only thing i didnโt have was a pastry cutter or a butter grater so I improvised and used a cheese grater instead, I hope that works. Theyโre looking great so far.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Alyssa! ๐
Olivia
Hi! Just wondering thank if almond milk/country crock butter would work for this recipe? My son canโt have any dairy. ๐
Sam
Hi Olivia! I know others have made these with almond milk, but I am not so sure about the butter substitution here. If you try it I would love to know how it goes. ๐
Bruce
A nice breakfast biscuit
LC
Hi Sam,
It it possible to make the dough the night before so that they are ready to go in the morning?
Sam
That should work just fine. I would cut out the biscuits after you roll out the dough. ๐
Donna
If you cut out biscuits and freeze them do you bake them frozen or thaw out? Also is the time and temperature the same? Love them! Thanks
Sam
Hi Donna! You can bake them from frozen. The temperature will remain the same they will just need another minute or two in the oven. ๐
Mrs. Demaaj Thomas
Hands down, these biscuits are amazing! I have made this recipe already two times and I’m about to make it again, right now! The first time I made it I didnt follow the directions. I didnt sift my ingredients first and I added my milk before my butter.They tasted so amazing my Husband took two to work and called me once he got there to say that they didnt make it! The second time I made them I didnt sift however I stirred the ingredients then added the butter first and then the milk AND I doubled the recipe. They were good however I kept tasting clumps of baking powder where butter had melted in random places of the biscuit, that part was gross. This is already my favorite biscuit recipe so I’m enjoying everything I’m learning by the way. Today, I dont have anymore granulated sugar so I’m using light brown sugar and I’m gonna sift first and mix my milk before adding my butter. Depending on how these come out, I’ll be making these again tonight for my bread to make a fruit pie, either apple or peach. Thank you so much for making this available to the public. I will be trying more of your recipes!
Sam
That is so awesome! I am so glad everyone is enjoying the biscuits so much. I hope you love all of the recipes. ๐
Tora
I had struggle to make homemade biscuits, but this recipe was easy and my family loved them. Thank you!!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Tora! ๐
Jimmy
Just wondering if you can use self-rising flour?
Sam
Hi Jimmy! I wouldn’t recommend it.
Michael
This was the first time I to make homemade biscuits
These biscuits are great.
I LOVE THIS RECIPE I WILL NOT BUY A NOTHER CAN.
THANKS A LOT FOR THE RECIPE
MICHAEL
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Michael! ๐
Christine
Yes! My family LOVED these buscuits, and they were so easy and delicious! I used a medicine cup to punch out my biscuits, and made a bunch of very MICRO biscuits! They turned out to be so much fun! We had ours with sausage gravy (for dinner!), and they were a hit! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Christine! ๐
Ambria Williams
I tried these today for the 1st using your recipe and my family loved them๐ค๐ฅฐ thanks for sharing!! Wish I could post a picture here for you but itโs not an option anyways thanks and Iโll be trying more of your recipes really soon!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Ambria! If you have a Facebook Group I would love to see any pictures you may want to share. ๐
Susan Gold
Love this recipe! Question though…can I use lactose free milk for these biscuits?
Thanks for keeping this awesome website up-to-date and super relevant; I find myself (I’m sure like many others) experimenting/baking/cooking much more these days and am grateful to have found your website! Keep up the wonderful work…Susan
Sam
Hi Susan! I haven’t tried lactose free milk, but I don’t think you will have an issue using it here. I am so glad you enjoy the website so much. ๐
Susan
Thank you so much for this recipe! I am a pretty seasoned baker but have been so frustrated by inconsistent results when baking biscuits. Searching for a reliable recipe turned up several that required ingredients that I don’t always have on hand (heavy cream, cake flour, specific flour brands, etc.), but then I found your site. Standard ingredients and an easy, straightforward approach that produced awesome results! These baked up tall, with a tender, buttery interior. Delicious plain, but even better with the fresh peach jam that had inspired me to bake them!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Susan! I love the sound of some peach jam. ๐