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.
Stephanie in Dallas, TX
I have been using this recipe for years. I vary up the types of milk (almond, soy, oat, whatever). Sometimes I make them sweet with cinnamon, extra sugar and pecans. Sometimes I make them savory and fold in stuff from the garden – arugula, basil, rosemary, caramelized onions. Yesterday my dad bought me some meyer lemons he had grown so today’s biscuits are vegan buttermilk (lemon juice + almond milk), pomegranate (had some to use up), garden rosemary. Yum! Sometimes I toss in some oats or berries or whatever. This recipe is versatile, simple, and reliable… every time!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Stephanie! I am so glad that you have enjoyed this recipe and found it to be versatile! Your creations sound delicious. Thank you so much for sharing. 🙂
Mike
I made these today using cake flour. My dough was very moist like cookie dough. I followed thr recipe so I am not sure why it was so runny. I added more flour to stiffen the dough. The biscuits tasted great. Why was it so moist? Just trying to learn where I went wrong. Thanks
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Mike! I am sorry to hear that it was runny. I have not had anyone report that issue. Was your butter cold when added?
Livingston
I made my first batch of biscuits from this recipe today. They taste amazing and they look “similar” to the photos. My family says mine look “more” homemade and I appreciate their kindness. Would attach a photo but not sure how. I am proud of these and THANK YOU, Sam, for this recipe
Livingston in Vermont.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Livingston. Unfortunately there isn’t a way to add a picture here, but I do have a Facebook Group you could post to or tag me on Instagram @SugarSpun_Sam. 🙂
Dianna
I can make a lot of beautiful meals, but for some reason I’ve always struggled with homemade biscuits and have often just resorted to store bought (which I find repulsive, so I usually skip). I finally decided to give this recipe a try after thinking about it since last weekend and I am so glad I did!! Perfectly fluffy, perfect layers, great taste and not dry at all. I finally got redemption with my worst breakfast enemy. The tips about keeping the butter cold (and grating it) and the emphasis on not over kneading were very helpful and I think my ticket to success. I had to add a little extra milk (I doubled my batch) and had to cook a little longer than suggest (I added 4 minutes) but they couldn’t have been more perfect! My husband said this is one for the recipe box!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so happy that you came across my site, Dianna, and that you decided to give this recipe a go! I am glad that they turned out perfectly and that you enjoyed them. 🙂
Livingston
Congratulations Dianna….Like my post indicated, this worked beautifully for me, too. Livingston
Jean
This is a fantastic recipe for the best biscuits I have ever made! It is a super easy and fast. I do grate the butter and I’ve found that we like buttermilk for the liquid part the best! Yum!!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Jean! Thank you so much for commenting, buttermilk really is a great addition! 🙂
Angela
Great recipe! I tried these using almond milk with vinegar to imitate buttermilk; I also doubled the recipe. My family thought they were the best they’ve tasted.
Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Angela! 🙂
Deanna snarky
I’m making soup tonight for dinner and I was trying to find an easy quick biscuit recipe to go with my soup.
I have found it!
I believe that this biscuit recipe is going to be a family favorite for years to come!
I used almond milk because that’s what I had on hand but everything else is exactly as your recipe says, it’s delicious.thank you very much for sharing!
Sam
I’m so thrilled to hear that the recipe was such a success for you, Deanna! Thank you so much for commenting, I appreciate it! 🙂
Kristen Romes
If you’ve got a bunch of stuff going at once but still want to serve these warm, are you able to prep and cut the biscuit dough and then keep the prepared biscuits in the fridge before baking, or do you recommend doing everything in one unbroken process?
Sam
Yes you can do that! Keep the dough covered so it doesn’t dry out. I’ve done this before, it’s not a problem at all. Enjoy!
Victoria
I made these with coconut milk (beverage not canned) and they still turned out amazing. I decreased the sugar and regret not following the recipe. I think they would have been even better with full sugar.
I never leave comments but had to this time! Sky high and sooooo flaky!
Using the box grater for the butter worked so well.
Wow!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Victoria! 🙂
j'lynn
i like your food it is amzing
Cathy
Wow, perfect biscuits the first time I tried the recipe. Easy and fast. A new favorite in my house.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Cathy! 🙂
Joni Merritt
Biscuits were great. loved your tip to grate the frozen butter, thanks!!!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Joni! 🙂
Dori R. Blacker
My biscuit cutters were too big, so I used a glass with a smaller opening. Lesson learned. While theyre light flakey, laminated…The bomb! The air pressure from the glass inhibited the rise. Ill have to look for smaller buscuit cutters for the Next batch. Videos are so helpful. Thanks! Wish I could share photos.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Dori! 🙂
Alana Pace
I’ve made these at least a half dozen times simply using 1% milk instead of whole because that’s what we tend to buy. Have to say these are hands down the BEST biscuits.
The whole family loves them!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoys them so much, Alana! 🙂
Marie
I absolutely love this recipe! It’s super easy and they make the best flakey biscuits. I do have a question tho, after you make these and cut them out, before baking are they okay to freeze? I need to make quite a few (30 lol) and thought it would be easier to make ahead and freeze then just pop them in the oven.
Thanks!
Sam
Hi Marie! I am so glad you enjoy them so much! Yes these will freeze well if you cut out the shapes and then wrap individually. 🙂
Emily
I’m not the best cook but these were so delicious and easy to make. I added a bit more sugar and it honestly was the bomb.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Emily! 🙂
Jim Montgomery
Question – can you double the ingredients to get 12 biscuits at once, or would you recommend baking in batches of 6?
Sam
Hi Jim! You can double the recipe, just be careful to not over-work the dough. 🙂