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.
Jessie
I’ve been making these biscuits for over a year now . They are AWESOME! I’ve made them for breakfast in the morning, I’ve made them with cheddar and chives (DELICIOUS), and I’ve also put them on top of Chicken Pot Pie it came out fabulous! My kids are 2, 3 and 9 and they absolutely love them!!!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Jessie! 🙂
Danielle
I grew up eating biscuits with every meal (my father was from Texas, and apparently this was a must) so I know my way around biscuits . These are hands down best that I have ever had. I split the butter half salted and half unsalted as I like mine to be more savory. They really take no more that 10 mins to pull together. Buttermilk is an absolute must. My husband asks for these daily. Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoys them so much, Danielle! 🙂
Natalie
Love these but would love to know – can I double the recipe? Would I need to make any adjustments to the ratios? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Natalie! This does very well doubling. You just need to make sure to double all of the ingredients. 🙂
Julia Holden
These biscuits look like scones, I haven’t made them yet, but I am intrigued.
engue
Me too
Sandra Fennelly
I posted this question before now, but it isn’t showing up any longer.
If I make the dough ahead of time, is that an OK idea? Assuming I need to put it in the refrigerator, or is that not a good idea?
Thank you,
Sandra
Sam
Hi Sandra! You can make it in advance. I would cut out the biscuits and store them in the refrigerator in an air tight container. You can bake them directly from the refrigerator. Enjoy! 🙂
Nicole
Hi these look delicious! I want to make them. Any advice on doubling the recipe? I have a big family and will need more than 6 biscuits lol.
Sam
Hi Nicole! This recipe does very well doubling. Just make sure to double all of the ingredients and follow the same tips as I give for making them normally. 🙂
Kimh
These are the best biscuits I’ve ever made. They turn out perfectly. The only thing I did different was to leave out the sugar. I don’t like a sweet taste to the biscuits. The texture was still good.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
engue
Me too
Rachael
I made these and they were great! I like flakey buttery biscuits that kinda break as your eating them. I added a extra teaspoon of sugar and omitted salt due to using salted butter. I buttered them before putting them in and after because I’m extra but this was great!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Rachael! 🙂
Angelique
I like that this recipe is simple and easy. We love making these both with plant-based or dairy. Thank you.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoy them so much, Angelique! 🙂
Mary
This recipe was fantastic & perfect! Had to substitute skim milk & cannot wait to try with buttermilk. Bye bye store-bought biscuits!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Mary! 🙂
Briana
You can turn your milk into buttermilk by adding an acid to it, do tsp of apple cider/white vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of milk. Works like a charm! I hate buying buttermilk because I’ll never finish the whole container!
Ali
This was amazing! However it’s hard to get them in presentable shapes after cooking them even if I use a dough cutter. Do you have any tips on that?
Sam
I’m glad you enjoyed them, Ali! Make sure when you are using your cutter you press straight down and pull straight up. They should turn out just like the pictures. If your dough is uneven it could cause them to be a little lopsided as well. I hope this helps. 🙂
Jan
So easy and so yummy! I will never buy store ones again, Thanks for sharing,
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Jan! 🙂
Lauren Haag
These were AMAZING!!!!! So simple to make !!! So layered and flakey! Would be amazing to use for and egg, bacon and cheese sandwich!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Lauren! They would definitely be great for a sandwich! 🙂
Patrice
This is amazing. I had leftover dough and added garlic powder, cheddar, and green onions.
Well never buy store bought again. Thank you!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Patrice! 🙂
Patrick
I’m 55 years old and a man, first time making biscuits as I couldn’t find any in a can at my local market, they turned out great and will never buy premade in a can again !
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Patrick! 🙂
Jill
Looks Good! I’m going to try this with plant based butter and almond milk.
Sam
I hope you love them! 🙂
Angie
Amazing.