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.
Barbara
I have made biscuits for years, but enjoyed learning new techniques through your recipe. Using a grater on the cold butter was such a revelation. Thanks so much.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Barbara! ☺️
Lisa
I doubled the recipe and that worked well. I also used a little extra butter. The biscuits are delicious and the recipe is easy and quick.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Lisa! ☺️
Jerry
Can one use buttermilk?
Sam
I haven’t, but I think it would work well with these biscuits 🙂
Jen
These are amazing! I even forgot the sugar and they were still sooooo good. Thank you so much for this easy, tasty recipe!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Jen! ☺️
Lisa
Perfect, thank you been looking for magic secret for months! Changed nothing
Emma
If I make these and want to save them to eat later, should I keep them in the refrigerator to keep them fresh?
Sam
They are best served fresh, however, you can just keep them in an air tight container on the counter for a few days and heat them for a few seconds before eating. ☺️
Crystal
I love these biscuits. Very flavorful. I do have a question, as I haven’t done much baking…. my biscuits didn’t rise very big. I don’t know what I did wrong. I thought they’d rise in the oven, they didn’t, so I told my family they were “skinny” biscuits. Still very tasty. Thanks for your advice.
Sam
There could be a few causes for them not rising. Your leveners could be bad, or you may have over worked the dough. Hope that helps. ☺️
Major Lee Good
Not a cook but I do like to eat!
Thank you for sharing.
Sam
I hope you love them! ☺️
Kelly Wagoner
Can I use buttermilk instead of whole milk?
Sam
I have not tried it, but I think it would work just fine. ☺️
catherine rogers
You would think being from the deep south i could churn out a great biscuit. I have struggled with finding a good recipe but I realize with yours that the superiority is in the technique. Grated butter and folding the dough- made for a perfect high rise biscuit. I did add buttermilk powder to the recipe pluc the whole milk it called for. Have to double the recipe next time for my crew of 6 biscuit eaters!
Thanks for sharing your great techniques!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoys them, Catherine! ☺️
Bob Finney
Excellent recipe. I was out of white flour, but I had some whole wheat flour in the freezer. This worked out well, as the cool flour helped keep the butter in pieces. Between the grated butter and the folding, my whole wheat biscuits were excellent. My two variations were using skim milk, as I had no whole milk and adding some buttermilk solids to richen up the skim milk.
I also like the six biscuit yield. We are a household of two and six biscuits is just right. Too much work for less than six and wasteful to bake a full dozen.
Sam
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed them, Bob! Thanks for commenting and letting me know how they turned out for you.
Roger
As a 62-year old southern boy, I can tell you this is a great recipe. Best biscuits I have ever made!
Sam
So happy to hear this! Thank you for letting me know how you liked them, Roger!! 🙂
Ashwitha
I made these for dinner tonight and boy are they delicious. My husband went to college in thee South and he was impressed with how authentic they tasted. This is a fantastic recipe, thank you very much.
Sam
So happy to hear they were a hit! Thank you for letting me know how they turned out for you, Ashwitha!
Donnie
I think I have found the best homemade recipe here!!!!!!!
Sam
So happy to hear this! Thanks for commenting, Donnie!
Stephanie
Could you make the dough and refrigerate it until it’s time to bake? Trying to time everything for thanksgiving dinner and that would be a real time saver. Made these once before and turned out great 🙂
Sam
Yes you can! I’d probably cut out the biscuits and then store them in an airtight container until you’re ready to bake. Enjoy!