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.
Nancy
OMG!!!! These were awesome! I’m not sure why but I had never made biscuits before but I definitely will be making these again! Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Nancy! 🙂
peggy wilder
425 temp is all wrong for a gas stove. Bottom was done top was not.
Sam
I developed this recipe in a gas stove, it’s definitely not wrong, though yours may be running hot.
Jane
I made these this morning with country gravy. My kids enjoyed them! Thank you.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them, Jane! 🙂
Ree
Could I use regular butter or does it have to be unsalted butter?
Sam
Hi Ree! You can use salted butter but cut the added salt by 1/4 teaspoon. 🙂
Hannah
Have you ever frozen the cut out biscuit dough? If so, do you thaw them before baking or just add more time? I love fresh biscuits, but I’d like to be able to bake just a couple at a time.
Sam
Hi Hannah! I have not personally frozen the dough myself but many many others have told me they do. You will just wrap the individual biscuits tightly so they don’t dry out in the freezer. I would bake them from frozen just adding a few more minutes. 🙂
Scott D
These are great! I stopped making biscuits because I couldn’t get them how I liked them, but this recipe has me making them at least once a week! Frozen butter through a grater is a great tip. I love in warm climate, and cutting the butter always makes it melted by the end. Now, I grate the butter, mix with the flour so it doesn’t stick, and put it back in the freezer until I am ready to bake.
Sam
Hi Scott! I am so glad you can finally enjoy some delicious biscuits for yourself. 🙂
Kirsten Forrest
We made these for the second time and this recipe is perfection!!! All those flaky layers!!! This will be our go-to biscuit recipe from now on.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Kirsten! 🙂
Rose
These biscuits were so fun to make and tasted wonderful with strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream. Two leftover for breakfast!! I can’t wait to wake up!!!!
The frozen butter was a brilliant idea!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them, Rose! 🙂
Amy
Frozen butter in a cheese grater- brilliant! This is my new go to biscuit recipe.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Amy! 🙂
Louise
Make these whenever we have chilli, and they’ve become a firm favourite in our house! Thanks for a delicious and easy recipe.
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoys them so much, Louise! 🙂
Addie McComb
Should the dough be crumbly?
Sam
Hi Addie! The dough should not be crumbly. If it is there may be too much flour. 🙁 Make sure to check my article on how to measure flour so this doesn’t happen again. I know it can be frustrating. 🙂
Jessica Straw
Hi Sam,
I have made this recipe a few times now and it gets better every time! My family absolutely loves it. My question is, can I make the dough the night before and leave in the fridge? The dough always seems to take a long time to make (my family gets up early) and it would be nice to wake up and just cut out the biscuits and put into the oven. Thank you!
Sam
Hi Jessica! I’m so glad everyone has enjoyed them so much! You can make the dough the night before and bake in the morning. I would cut out the biscuits then store them in an air tight container until the morning. 🙂
Cindy Lee Lampert
Awesome 👌
Moses Maxen
Excellent biscuits! Quick question for you. The first couple times I made these, after stirring / mixing, the dough was very workable and similar to the video. But the last few times I made them after stirring / mixing the dough was very loose and unworkable. In those cases I had to work the dough more or add milk which made me lose the nice flaky airy layers. Any suggestions? thank you!
Sam
Hi Moses! I’m so glad you enjoy the biscuits so much! It sounds like you may have had too much flour in the biscuits the couple of times it was tough to work together. Make sure to check my post on how to measure flour so you don’t end up with too much flour, or use weights. 🙂
Amanda
Can I freeze the biscuits and have them again another time? I’m craving some now but I know I won’t finish them all and don’t want it to go to waste! Thanks in advance
Sam
Hi Amanda! That will work just fine. To reheat them you can just microwave them for a few seconds. 🙂