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 recipeย a few weeks ago,ย “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.ย 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.ย And then more butter once they’re finished baking because of course we need more butter.
I mentioned that these biscuits are easy soย do not be alarmedย by all the tips that I have for you below. These biscuitsย 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 ofย 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:ย 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.ย 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 andย 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 encourageย 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
- ยพ cup whole milkยน (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 ยพ" round biscuit cutter with flour.ย
- 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 ยฝ" apart on baking sheet.ย
- 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.
Cindy Deal
Can’t wait to try these today. Hoping to make my first fluffy biscuits! I am having a party tomorrow and need to triple the recipe. Can I make the dough today and refrigerate until morning when I bake them?
Sam
You can refrigerate them overnight, but I would cut them out before refrigerating. โบ๏ธ
Lisa in Houston
Definitely the best biscuit recipe out there! The recipe was so easy that my 4yo did everything except grating the butter (i used frozen). Loved the lamination and all the tips gave us the most tender and delicious biscuits- thank you!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits, Lisa! ๐
Sheri
Well, you definately caught us off guard … full 5 stars (actually used whole milk that was ready to turn on first batch along with the baking soda) as well as fresh whole milk on the next ๐
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Sheri! โบ๏ธ
Tera
I donโt know if this is a silly question or not, but can this recipe be doubled? Also, what can I use if I donโt have a biscuit cutter?
Sam
Yes it can be double. You can use the top side of a glass to cut out the biscuits if you don’t have a cutter. โบ๏ธ Enjoy!
Tera
Thank you so much! I look forward to trying this recipe!
Tera
PS the recipe was a complete success! They are delicious and really were easier than I thought. Thank you so much for the detailed video too, Iโm much more of a visual learner so that was a huge help!!
Sam
Yay I am glad the video was helpful! โบ๏ธ
Jessica Nagy
Hi Sam,
I just made your recipe and had a couple questions. My buscuit came out sorta doughy. Do you have any ideas what I may have done to cause that. I will add when I mixed the milk with the dry ingredients, my dough was still pretty dry when I dumped it on my countertop. I added it back to the bowl and added a splash more of milk because it wasn’t holding together. Any input would be appreciated, otherwise they tasted great and was very easy.
Sam
Hi Jessica! I’m wondering if they possibly just needed a few more minutes in the oven. Were the centers doughy after baking? That might’ve been the issue.
Jessica
Yes, mostly the centers. I made 2 inch biscuits. I cooked them for 9 minutes, they were nice and golden on top so I pulled them out. I noticed a few looked like they may be doughy, so I put them back in for the full 12 minutes. They we’re still a little doughy. I didn’t have whole milk, I used 1%. Could that have caused an issue
Sam
The milk likely wasn’t the issue, I think it was just the baking time. I would try baking them for 12 minutes (or even longer if needed) next time and I think you should be good to go ๐
Sarah Richardson
Can the batter be frozen and baked later
Sam
I would recommend cutting it out into the biscuit shapes first and wrapping them individually, but it should work. โบ๏ธ
Amanda
I can do just about all things Southern except make biscuits. I gave up on ever getting them right! Your recipe has given me hope and I’m ready to try again. Butter is in the freezer now. Fingers crossed!
Sam
I hope you love them! โบ๏ธ
Klorissa
These biscuits were the best I have ever made. So flakey,buttery,and wonderful. Thanks so much for posting this easy and tasty recipe.
Sam
Thank you so much, Klorissa. I am so glad you enjoyed them! โบ๏ธ
Angie
Followed to a T, came out flat! What am Doing wrong? They tasted delicious ๐.
Sam
Hi, Angie. It sounds like the dough may have been over-worked. I am glad you still enjoyed them.
Audrey
I make plenty of biscuits but used your method of folding over multiple times and Eureka! I got beautiful layers to my biscuits.. never got that before. Big hit at the dinner table. Thanks for teaching me how to do that.
Sam
You’re welcome Audrey! It is such an easy but helpful step in making delicious biscuits. I am so glad everyone enjoyed them. โบ๏ธ
Scott
I cant wait to try this. I did have a question though. Can I substitute in salted butter? It’s all I have at the moment lol.
Sam
Hi Scott. You can use salted butter, you would just want to reduce the amount of salt by a little less than 1/4 teaspoon. If you ever find yourself in this situation, I have a post on using salted vs. unsalted butter. โบ๏ธ
Quinton Hamilton
Absolutely anazing!!! My wife does ALL the cooking because she’s great at it lol. I made these to help her and they stole the show! SO easy for a person like me who NEVER cooks lol. I’ll be looking for your recipes first, whenever I need something incredibly easy and equally as delicious. Thank you so much Sam!!!
Sam
Thank you so much Quinton! I am so glad everyone enjoyed them. โบ๏ธ
Flora P
I drink minimal amounts of milk – may I use water in place of milk?
Sam
Hi Flora. I wouldn’t recommend due to the lack of fat in the water.
Linda
Best buscuits I have made to date! Freezing the butter then grating it into the dry ingredients seemed to help distribution of moisture better.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Linda! โบ๏ธ
Jeff
Made them this morning using butter milk and they almost melt in your mouth. Made sausage egg biscuts with them …..delish.
Sam
Ooo that sounds delicious! โบ๏ธ I am so glad you enjoyed them.
sally hourt
Did you add baking soda with the buttermilk?
GemGem
Mine came out tasting VERY strongly of baking powder. No one else in the comments seems to have had this problem though.
Sam
By any chance did you use generic baking powder?
Michelle
Mine came out tasting of baking powder as well. I used Trader Joe’s brand. What should I use instead?
Sam
Hi, Michelle. I am sorry they came out tasting like baking powder. I use Rumford or Clabber Girl baking powder and have never encountered this issue. I hope this helps and you are able to have delicious biscuits in the future. ๐
Jessica
Are you using baking powder or soda?
Michelle McDonald
Hi Sam, I’m a little confused. The recipe on this webpage calls for baking powder. Should I replace the baking powder with the same amount of baking soda? The biscuits were the best looking ones that I have made in a long while.
Sam
Hi Michelle! It is just baking powder, no baking soda! sorry about the confusion, I don’t know why I was thinking baking soda when I answered that question, so I updated my response!