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.
Sharon Angelillo
Love the biscuits. I have always loved homemade biscuits but was always deterred by working the butter or shortening into the flour mix after I broke both wrists in a car accident. But your idea of grating the frozen butter is awesome and so much easier!!!! Needless to say I have kept your recipe and will be making them more frequently. Thank you so much.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Sharon! 🙂
Patricia
I used almond milk. Recipe came out beautiful, but I’ll be making them slightly thinner and bake at a higher temp (475 is Clabber Girl biscuit temp). They were just a tad to light colored for my family. But they disappeared ! And now we have a new family favorite! <3 🙂
Sam
I’m glad everyone enjoyed them, Patricia! 🙂
Chris F
The perfect biscuit!! It’s the best I’ve ever tasted!!! It’s crispy on the outside and flaky on the inside. It will become a staple for our Sunday morning brunch from now on.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Chris! 🙂
Erin
Great biscuit recipe! My husband does most of the cooking around here. Neither one of us has had great luck at making biscuits (he’s an amazing cook). The first time I made these my husband and one of my kids ate them up before the rest of the food was ready. My other kiddo didn’t get any. The next time they asked for them, I doubled the recipe at breakfast thinking we’d have enough for dinner. They made mini sandwiches with them for lunch, and we had two leftover after dinner (I figured we’d have enough for the next morning, too…). I was asked to make them again this morning, and u
we happened to have buttermilk (and I used the dough hook on my mixer instead of mixing/kneading by hand this go around). One of my kids ate 7* (!!) of the 18 I made (I use a 1.5” square cookie cutter, so seven is really about two at the size this recipe calls for).
All that to say, this is great recipe, and I’ll be using it again and again! Buttermilk or whole milk, my kids love them. And we have no leftovers today.
Sam
That is so awesome, Erin! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Kris Marie
Hi Sam, first time trying these amazing biscuits to pair with your delicious white sausage gravy! My husband of 32 years was in heaven! I only wish our 4 adult sons were still living at home to enjoy it too! Thanks for another keeper!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Kris! 🙂
Ana Rafaela Kruemmel
Love the recipe. First time doing biscuits and they came out perfectly
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Ana! 🙂
Tracey
Made these gf with cup for cup flour and they turned out amazing!!! Thank you!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Tracey! Thanks for the feedback. 🙂
Selina
I’m about to try to make these my mom always made drop biscuits,but I want what ur biscuits look like I belive there’s a difference… ,thanks!!!
James
Less story time and more recipe. Jfc, why does everyone have a Tolstoy-esque yarn about biscuits? Cut to the chase.
Sam
I will be sure to issue the refund for your free recipe promptly.
Juan
WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU! She’s putting up a free recipe, she doesn’t make you do monthly sub crap like other bakers for “Classes”! I’ve done more than 60 of her recipes, and I’ve never been disappointed. Whenever I mess up, I think it’s a problem with the recipe. But when I go back to her recipe, I was the one who forgot an ingredient. Don’t be ignorant.
Angel
How ignorant of you to not just click the ‘Jump to Recipe’ button, that Sam graciously placed right at the top of her “Tolstoy-esque yarn about biscuits”. 🙄
Absolutely LOVE your reply Sam!! 🤣
Erica
Is there a way to prep them and then store them to cook later in the day or another day?
Sam
Hi Erica! You can make them and store them in an air tight container in the refrigerator. 🙂
Devona Rodricq
I love this recipe, thank you.
Lilly
Made these today and they turned out delicious! Does anyone have tips for how to preserve the lamination when reshaping the dough to cut out the last few? I repeated the 5-6 fold process but am afraid I may have overworked the dough. Thank you!
Sam
Hi Lilly! The best way to avoid having scraps is to work the dough into a rectangle and cut the biscuits into squares. If you need to regroup them it’s definitely not easy to make a beautiful biscuit, I normally sneak that one for myself before anyone else can see it. 🙂
Amanda
Delicious! This has become my favorite biscuit recipe! Thanks, Sam!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Amanda! 🙂
CJ
So easy to make and delicious! I didn’t watch the video until after and found the recipe was easy to follow on its own. This will be my go to recipe for biscuits.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Xaviara
Made biscuits for the first time yesterday with this recipe. I love the video and additional tips, really helps with not overworking the dough.
They turned out great! And so delicious 🙂 thank you!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
LT
We made them this morning! OMG best biscuits ever, thank you!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed, thank you for letting me know how they turned out for you, I really appreciate it! 🙂
V
Best biscuits I ever made and I used fat free milk and salted butter but did not add any additional salt.