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.
Rev. Bob
We’ve been searching for a simple biscuit recipe for quite some time. This one is so simple it seems foolish, but it works. However we’ve made the recipe three times, and each time they come out flaky, too flaky, and dry. What is our problem?
Sam
They are supposed to be flaky, but if they are dry, maybe you accidentally over-measured your flour. I hope this helps. 🙂
Kate
Excellent recipe & instructions! I’ve tried several recipes over the years, mostly resulting in flat paperweights. 😉 But these were perfect – airy, flaky, and delicious! Definitely adding to my list of “go-to” recipes.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Kate! 🙂
Bella B
YUM!! They turned out perfect!! I definitely measured my flour on my scale and froze my butter some!! Thank you so much!! We love these!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Bella! 🙂
Darryl Newsome
I followed the recipe to the letter and my first time making biscuits turned out be Fantastic. So flaky and soft thank you Sam 😊
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Darryl! 🙂
Sherryl French
Just trying your recipe tonight. But I am at 8400 feet, I will let you know if it works at high altitudes also!
Sam
I hope you love it! 🙂
Sherryl French
The recipe worked VERY well as for taste and texture. But down here in Ecuador, the quality of ingredients leaves a lot to be desired. Mine rose only to half the hight, but that being said, there was not a single crumb left. I will try again with less flour and BP. But I think this recipe is a winner! PS As it was accompanying my beef stew, I added fresh type and rosemary MMMMM GOOD!
Sam
I’m so glad they turned out. 🙂
Stella wiggins
I could never make baking powde biscuits up until l I found your recipe! They r urged out very fluffy and moist! I was so proud of myself
Thank you!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Stella! 🙂
Georgia
I tried and they came out runny….. I kept adding flour but it didn’t help…. what did I do wrong????? When they were baking, it’s like they melted and spread out thin!!!! I triple checked my ingredients and they were correct!!
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear that Georgia! Did you make any substitutions? Was your butter REALLY cold?
Steph
I’m giving three stars because of taste only. My family all thought they had very little flavor…needed more butter and definitely more salt. I’m not sure how one can fold and flatten the dough 5-6 times and not overwork it….Mine came out rather flat and lacked the airy, fluffiness of biscuits. That may very well have been my fault for overworking. I think I’m going to need a little practice and more salt next time.
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear this Steph! It sounds like there may have been a little too much flour in the biscuits. If you don’t weigh your ingredients I would make sure to check out my post on how to measure flour. This will make them easier to fold together and you’ll get much more flavor if you have the proper amount of flour in them. I hope it goes better next time. 🙂
Bill
Hi Sam, first time making the biscuits and everyone enjoyed them, so easy and delicious! I love making from scratch and your instructions were so clear! My two jack russells, Hank and JR said thanks.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them, especially the pups! 🙂
Melanie
I made these biscuits over 10 years ago after a trip to the US where I tried them and fell in love (I’m in the UK).
I haven’t thought about these for years until I came across this recipe and decided to give them another go, and they tasted just as delicious as I remembered.
My son tried them for the first time and enjoyed them, although he found them a bit too salty with melted salted butter on top. He prefers them plain or with unsalted on top.
I did struggle with grating the frozen butter though as I don’t have much strength in my wrists and hands.
Do you know if the butter would grate in a food processor?
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Melanie! If you have the grating blade for your food processor I think that could work. I would chill the butter again after you do that because the food processor can warm up the butter a bit. 🙂
Aisha
OH MY GOSH SO GOOD!!!
This was my first time making biscuits but certainly not my last! My family absolutely loved them and this will be my go to recipe from now on ❤️ I will never EVER use a dreadful can of biscuits ever again!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Aisha! 🙂
Trish
I have made these biscuits twice within a period of 3 weeks. They are absolutely delicious and rival the ones my mother (now deceased) used to make. Thank you for this fail-proof, easy recipe. I am going to try making them with gluten-free flour and hope that they turn out as well as the two prior batches.
Sam
I’m so glad you have enjoyed them so much! I would love to know how they turn out with gluten free flour. 🙂
STEPHEN GLINES
I was trying to grow brain cells on the holiday so I got out of my comfort zone to make biscuits. My wife and mother-in-law always make them so I wanted to take a shot. Overworked a little bit but nailed four out of six of them and the wife gave me an A-. Grating the butter was an A-ha moment for everyone in the kitchen.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Stephen! 🙂
Kristina
This was my first time ever making homemade biscuits. I haven’t had homemade biscuits since a little girl and these reminded me so much of my mother. Thank you! Very delicious and my husband loved it. Will definitely make again!!
Blessings to you!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Kristina! 🙂
Aubrey
I have been cooking for a long time, have made a lot of biscuits in my lifetime, but I have to say this is the best recipe.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Aubrey! 🙂
Todd Rogers
Can whole wheat flour be used instead of all purpose flour?
Sam
Hi Todd! I haven’t tried it, but I wouldn’t use all whole wheat flour. It’s a little bit “thirstier” and you could end up with really dry biscuits. You may need to add a little more liquid. Let me know how it goes if you try it. 🙂
Jada Soules
I did everything as you said, even grating the butter….my “biscuits” came out more like scones…. and the wouldn’t brown either…what do you think went wrong?
Sam
Hi Jada! These biscuits are very similar to scones so that doesn’t sound too odd. They don’t get terribly brown but if you would like them to be a little more brown you can brush the tops with butter.
Julie Bell
wow! these were fabulous! the layers were light and flakey.
Sam
I’m so glad you have been enjoyed them, Julie! 🙂