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
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.
Georgia
All your recipes come out perfect every single time!!! Keep giving us more! I look forward to trying all your recipes! I’ve just found your blog about a month ago and I’ve since tried your pizza dough recipe about 5xs and your this biscuit recipe 2xs, I’m baking my 3rd batch of biscuits this morning and I cannot wait to eat one of these buttery flaky biscuits!!! They are absolutely THE BEST!!!
Sam
Thank you so much, Georgia! I am so glad you have enjoyed everything so much! 🙂
Stacey
Wow these were so good! I was unsure if the they would really be as quick to make as it said, and they were. I didn’t make any changes, and they came out perfectly as is. 12 minutes exactly! Everyone loved them. Well done.
Wondering if you’ve tried any additions? Herbs or cheese or anything?
Sam
Hi Stacey! I am so glad you enjoyed them so much! I have not played with any additions, but a few herbs or cheese would be great! 🙂
denise
Quick and easy and SO good! Also recipe makes a manageable amount of biscuits. Definitely saving this recipe as my, now, go to recipe for biscuits. Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Denise! 🙂
Angie H
These are excellent. I made a quick batch with beef stew the other night and am makign a double batch today to freeze and cook later. Great for camping!
Sam
So glad you enjoyed, Angie! Thank you so much for commenting and letting me know how they turned out for you!
Mary
So yummy and easy!! Impressed my southern friends lol.
Thank you!!!
Sam
I’m so glad to hear it! Thanks for letting me know how they turned out for you, Mary!
Kristen Catlin
These turned out amazing! First time making biscuits. I’ll be saving this recipe. Drizzled melted butter and honey on top!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Kristen! 🙂
Tom Salvador
Best biscuit recipe ever! Thank you
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Tom! 🙂
Georgette Mitchell
I have never been a “good baker” I was raised in the Deep South. But never could make bisquits lol. Im super excited to say for the 1st time in MY LIFE I have finally made bisquits! Thank you so much for the easy and delicious recipe!
Sam
I am SO happy to hear this recipe was such a success for you, Georgette! Thank you so much for letting me know how it turned out for you! <3
Tish
Just tried your recipe. Doubled the batch. They came out perfectly delicious. The only change I made was to increase the time the baking time by 3 minutes for 12 biscuits.
Thank you!
Sam
I’m so happy you enjoyed, Tish! Thank you so much for trying my recipe and for letting me know how it turned out for you! <3
Kari
Thanks for this amazing biscuit recipe! I’ve used it once already and they turned out great! One quick question- Can these biscuits be made ahead of time then warmed up? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Kari! Several people have made these in advance, either baking them and storing in an air tight container or freezing the uncooked dough to bake when needed. 🙂
Jennifer Unruh
Can I freeze these after they cook?
Sam
Yes that will be fine! They can also be frozen before baking. Enjoy!
Remi
These were delicious. First time I’ve made biscuits. I didn’t have any milk at home, so used unsweetened almond milk at 1:1 and came out perfectly! 12 minutes baking time and threw them on a greased and floured baking tray.
Casey Jordan
Thanks for mentioning the almond milk, I’ll be trying the recipe out tonight with the substituted dairy 🙂
Lenora DeSanctis
You have the best recipes and make it always so easy for the lay person. Thank you so much. I have made your biscuits and scones and my family loves them.
Sam
You’re so sweet, thank you for this kind comment! I’m so glad you enjoyed the biscuits! 🙂
Angela
These turned out amazing! I only had unsweetened almond milk and they still turned out perfect. Used the same amount of milk. Thanks for this easy and delicious recipe!
Sam
You’re very welcome, Angela! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed 🙂
Zavina
Absolutely love this recipe! I love how easy it is since I’m just starting out in baking! 🙂 thank u <3
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Zavina! Thank you so much for commenting!
Mary
I’ve been using in this recipe for ever now. I love it and so does my family thanks for the great recipe.
Sam
You’re very welcome! Thank you for using my recipe and letting me know how it turned out for you, I appreciate it!