Easy Homemade Biscuits
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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
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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Penny likes to supervise the photography process. Fortunately, this setup got her vote of approval.
I’ve made them 4 times in the past month once for breakfast and three times for strawberry shortcake my daughter absolutely loves them for strawberry shortcake, thanks for the great content
Would I need to change the basic recipe if I wanted to add shredded cheddar? Thank you 🙂
Hi Suzanne! No changes needed, shredded cheese is a great addition 🙂
They were a big hit with the wife and kids. I decided to cut them into squares instead of circle s so that I didn’t have to rework the leftover dough. The turned out perfectly and the crispy corners were appreciated too.
This was my first time making biscuits and they came out absolutely beautifully and delicious (and I am no cook). I had to use salted butter so I just put a lot less salt than it calls for in the recipe. They came out with a perfectly balanced taste, flaky yet creamy, and layered. Thanks for this great recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the biscuits, Beth! Thank you so much for letting me know how they turned out for you, I appreciate it! 🙂
I love this easy delicious biscuit recipe. My husband enjoys the biscuits but would like them to be darker. I don’t want to overcook them. Any suggestions?
Hi Carolyn! You can brush the top with an egg wash before baking to darken them up a little bit. 🙂
Absolutely delicious and fluffy biscuits. Family couldn’t stop raving about them. Will make again!
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Maria! 🙂
I just made these-absolutely delicious! I used 1/4 C heavy cream, 1/4 C whole milk and 1/2 C buttermilk. I had to bake them 3 additional minutes. I have tried numerous biscuit recipes and these are the best! Thanks for all the tips.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Lorraine! 🙂
These are just like KFC’s biscuits. Actually, even better! These will be my go-to biscuits from now on!
I’m going to make these for church tomorrow morning. Biscuits and gravy
I hope you love them! 🙂
SOOOOOOOO yummy! I had to tweak a bit, (more milk and more time baking with foil on top… probably because of high altitude?) but these biscuits were exceptional and so easy to make! I’ve also made your pineapple upside down cake twice already. Delish!
I’m so happy to hear you have been enjoying the recipes, Michelle! Thank you so much for letting me know how they turned out for you, I really appreciate it! 🙂
Perfect recipe. Doubled, used regular organic butter (not European) grated and did not add sugar. Added more milk to make drop biscuits. These are flakey, fluffy, and nicely browned, crispy bottoms perfect to serve with sausage gravy. YUM!! Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Simone! 🙂
Hi Michelle,
How much more milk did you add and how much extra time in the oven would you suggest? (for high altitude)
🙂
Hi Christie! I think it was between 2-3 tablespoons. I would suggest following the recipe exactly and then when you get to step 7 (transferring your biscuit dough to a well-floured surface) see how the dough looks. Mine was really dry when she mentions it will be sticky. I added one tablespoon at a time, gently working into the dough as you don’t want to over work the dough. I believe I baked mine for 17 minutes, checking every couple of minutes to make sure they didn’t over cook. Oh! I also put a piece of foil on top at 12 minutes so they wouldn’t get to browned. It seems like high altitude baking takes less flour. I’ve been using 1/3 to a half cup less.
I tell ya, from biscuits to pudding and the worst chocolate chip cookies (the recipe name and definitely not indicative of the taste!) there isn’t anything yummy you can’t find here! Perfect!
Thank you so much, Coley! I’m glad you have enjoyed everything. 🙂
Best recipe ever! I did add a splash of extra milk and half teaspoon cream of tarter. Delicious 😀
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Kay! 🙂
Wonderful recipe! I just wanted to add that we didn’t have any dairy in the house so I used oatmilk as a substitute and they still turned out great!
Thanks for the feedback, Alexia! I’m glad they turned out for you. 🙂
First time making biscuits and it couldn’t have been easier. Shredding the butter was so much easier than cutting it and working it by hand. 10/10 would recommend!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Alec! 🙂
Can you make the dough in advance and freeze it?
Hi Irina! That should work just fine. I would cut out the biscuits and wrap them individually then store in an air tight container. 🙂
Delicious, I used a mix of leaf lard and butter (1:3) and baked them in my cast iron pan. They came out fantastic, thank you for the great recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Allison! 🙂
My husband loves these biscuits and requests them all the time! Seriously, after three weekends in a row asking for these biscuits with gravy, I now request that he shred the butter when he asks for them. He raves about how they are better than restaurant B&G.
I am so glad everyone enjoys them so much, Judy! 🙂
Can you simply double the recipe for more?
Absolutely, it doubles well! Enjoy! 🙂
I make these biscuits all the time. I normally double the recipe because with the single recipe they just disappear too fast! I too have altered this recipe…I made cinnamon rolls with it. I folded the dough several times then spread a thick sugar/cinnamon/butter mixture over it then rolled it and sliced the dough. I baked it and made a cream cheese/powdered sugar/milk glaze and spread that over the warm biscuits right out of the oven. They were excellent…and with a buttery biscuit taste and texture. Sam’s recipe is a great recipe. Thank you Sam!!
I’m so glad you enjoy them so much, David! 🙂
Easiest and best recipe ever. These are absolutely insanely delicious!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Monique! 🙂