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.
Ema
Can the dough be made the night before and stored in the fridge? Just trying to find ways to save time .
Sam
Hi Ema! It can be made the night before. I would recommend cutting the biscuits out then storing in an air tight container overnight in the refrigerator. 🙂
Ema
Thanks for the prompt reply! Unfortunately, I didn’t see it in time, so I ended up making them today, Christmas morning, but they turned out to be so easy and fast to make anyway, not to mention delicious! But I’m definitely going to try doing that next time AND doubling the recipe. Thank you!
Lena
Truly delicious! It was my first time I had ever baked biscuits and your video was really helpful. Thank you!
Lee Bass
Great recipe. Love the frozen butter idea. I use your technique on my pie crust and have a much flaker crust. Thanks
Clint Bridges
After you grate the butter, how do you cut it into the flour?
Thank you
Sam
Hi Clint! You stir it in, the video might be helpful for a visual if you want to check that out, it’s right above the recipe 🙂
Clint Bridges
Thank you for such a quick response! I watched the video but just needed a little clarity (I’m a little OCD when it comes to following recipes). I’m going to give them a try Christmas morning.
Sam
I hope you love them! 🙂
Paula
I’ve seen some recipes where people brush the tops with heavy cream before going in the oven. Would that work for this recipe?
Sam
Yes it will! It will help the tops brown a bit more. Enjoy! 🙂
Katie
How do these freeze?
Sam
They freeze well. 🙂
Brenda
Hi. Does this recipe double well?
Sam
Definitely! 🙂
Adam jones
Love this recipe thank you I have made them on a few occasions and people enjoyed them. Quick and easy
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Adam! 🙂
RACHEL ELLIS
If I make the biscuits ahead of time and put the rounds on my cookie sheet in the fridge, di I have to let them come to room temp before baking or can I bake directly from the fridge, if so does the cooking time change?
Sam
Hi Rachel! You will want to make sure the biscuit dough is wrapped tightly so it doesn’t dry out in the refrigerator. You can bake them right from the refrigerator and they shouldn’t need any extra time. 🙂
susan
Can you make the biscuits ahead of time and then cook them the next day?
Sam
Hi Susan! That will work just fine. Just cut out the biscuits then store them in an air tight container in the refrigerator. 🙂
Sarah Terrell
Please forgive me, I asked this before but missed the answer. Could I use the recipe (instead of canned) for a pull apart bread?
That recipe has pieces of biscuits in a loaf pan.
Sam
Hi Sarah! This will work for a pull apart bread. You can see my monkey bread if you are looking for more instruction. 🙂
Sarah Terrell
Awesome, thank you! We will use your monkey bread recipe for Christmas morning this year.
Sam
That is an AWESOME breakfast idea! 🙂
Cassie
Hello,
Could I prepare the dough ahead of time?
Thanks
Sam
Hi Cassie! That will work fine just cut out the biscuits then store them in an air tight container in the refrigerator. 🙂
Megan
These were amazing ! They were very easy to make. They turned out fantastic even with letting my toddler help. The directions are easy to follow and the biscuits turned out flaky and not dry-except for the ones I let my daughter make. So make sure not to over handle the dough. Thank you so much for the easy to follow yummy recipe !
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Megan! 🙂
Shan
Can I use almond milk? Add apple cider to make it buttermilk? Not sure what ratio but wanted to see if it’s been successfully subbed…thanks! 🙂
Sam
I haven’t tried it with almond milk, but I think it should work. I have a post on how to make buttermilk substitute for the ratios. 🙂
Sable
Could I make these without baking powder? I have baking soda.
Sam
Hi Sable! You need the baking powder here. 🙁
Colette Boring
Simple and delicious!!!!