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.
Cathy
Can these biscuits be frozen? Would they still taste good if made at night and eaten the next morning?
Sam
Hi Cathy! Yes these can be frozen. I have had readers freeze them both before and after baking. Personally I prefer them fresh out of the oven, but they are still good the next day. I would just reheat them in the microwave for a few seconds. 🙂
Maria Gutierrez
I just made them today and I can’t believe how easy It was. They were flaky and buttery delish. A crowd pleaser even when they came a little undone in the middle but done and crispy on the bottom. I flattened the dough to less than and I placed them in the middle rack of a countertop oven so I’m guessing the oven was the problem. Any tips for smaller ovens?
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Maria! I wonder if your oven is running a little hotter than it says it is if the bottoms were burning and the centers weren’t fully cooked? Is this possible? For a smaller oven, if it doesn’t hold all of the biscuits I would just bake half of them at a time. 🙂
Olivia
I just used this recipe and I can’t believe how easy it is to make biscuits! I think I may have overworked the dough a little, and accidentally melted the butter when cutting it into the flour (I used my hands), but they still came out delicious! Awesome recipe!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Olivia! 🙂
Michelle
This is the third recipe I’ve tried from your site and Holy Moly you are batting 3 for 3!!
My whole family thanks you for these delicious biscuits we just had for breakfast. Soooo good!!
Sam
That is so awesome! I am so glad you’ve enjoyed everything so much, Michelle! 🙂
Janelle
These are our favorite biscuits ever. The only complaint we have is they break apart in several pieces not in half like they should
Sam
Hi Janelle! I’m glad you enjoyed them overall. They are supposed to be flaky so they will break off in many layers. If this isn’t what you mean and actual big chunks of your biscuit are coming off there may be too much flour in them or they may have been baked just a little too long. 🙂
Sylvia Blanch
for the biscuits would it be possible if I use almond milk instead of whole milk?
Sam
Hi Sylvia! I haven’t tried it personally, but I know others have done it with success. 🙂
AEason
I love love love this recipe and it is my go to! Wondering if I could make the dough the night before and keep them in the fridge until the morning to bake?
Sam
Yes that will be fine. Make sure to cover them tightly so they don’t dry out in the refrigerator. 🙂
Linda Flournoy
I think 1 TBSP of baking soda is a little to much because I can taste it , but other than that they are great. It might have been something I did wrong.
Sam
Hi Linda, unfortunately this recipe calls for baking powder and you should not be able to taste that at all. If you used baking soda as you stated then unfortunately you would be able to taste that and I imagine that wouldn’t be too pleasant :-/
Veronica
Used regular cheap butter cause that’s all I had and they were delicious! So good!! My husband’s new favorite biscuits. Thank you for the recipe!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Veronica! 🙂
Shannon
Easy and delicious. I’ve made it a few times and it always turns out great.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Shannon! 🙂
Jamee
Made it this morning- amazing!!!! Thank you for posting, and especially thank you for the tips with the butter and the folding. They turned out perfectly!!! Also, I am so glad I read the comment about baking soda vs. Powder because when I went to grab it, it was gone! All I had was soda, and I would have just substituted 😝 but it was google to the rescue and I ended up using vinegar to turn the milk into buttermilk so I would have the acid I needed to make the soda work (and also I used less of it). Either way, I can see how this recipe got so many stars! Thanks again!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Jamee! 🙂
Mary Rottert
Anxious to try this recipe. My mother made the best biscuits. My husband learned from her and always was delicious. I never was able to make good biscuits. I am going to try this recipe. Thanks
Sam
I hope you love them, Mary! 🙂
Michelle Fox
Could I bake these in a cast iron?
Sam
Hi Michelle! That should work fine. 🙂
AZMom5Fam
My family loves these biscuits. This is my go to. I have the recipe bookmarked on my computer but I just about have it memorized since it’s so simple. 10/10
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoys them so much! 🙂
Gabriella
This Biscuit Is SO GOOD OMG HOW DID YOU DO THIS?😋😋😋😋😋
Sam
🤣 Magic!! But really the answer is a lot of testing and troubleshooting. I’m glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Oksana K
As school started up for the kids, the need of easy grab and go breakfast increased dramatically. This summer we discovered that biscuit breakfast sandwiches freeze/defrost beautifully, so I was looking for a biscuit recipe that simultaneously was easy to make, and taste approved by my family. This one is a winner! Thank you! It seems like I will be making large batches of these at a time, as they are so easy and fast.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Oksana! That sounds like the perfect breakfast plan. 🙂
Carol Wahpepah
58 years old and never made biscuits. These were the best! Thank you!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Carol! 🙂