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.
Liz Bulasko
I just made these biscuits yesterday for strawberry shortcake and they turned out great! But I can’t seem to share a pic on Instagram. Even my comment isn’t showing up!
Sam
Hi Liz! I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! That is so weird about instagram!
Liz Bulasko
I do see that my comment appears but I should be able to also post a pic? That’s what it says on your website…that we can share pix on your Instagram. I tried to paste the pic into my comment. Is there a different way?
Sam
Unfortunately you can’t post a picture in the comments here. You can post it on Instagram and tag me @Sugarspun_sam. 🙂
Regina
Can I freeze these before I cook them?
Sam
Hi Regina! That should work just fine. 🙂
Reguna
Thank you, Sam. Should I thaw them out or just bake them? I’m looking forward to trying these today!
Sam
I would just bake them from frozen. They may need an extra minute or two. 🙂
Regina
Hi Sam, I just wanted to let you know that the frozen dough turned out beautifully and I baked one of them and it was perfect! Thank you for such an awesome recipe and it’s perfect for making ahead – love it!!
Sam
Thank you for the feedback! I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much. 🙂
Raya
Absolutely the best recipe I’ve used. Followed the recipe to the “T” and they turned out great! My husband is a chef enjoyed them.
Regina
Thank you so much! I tried a test batch and they were so awesome! I did follow the recipe to a T and it was so easy! I don’t do well at making things like this so I made another batch to freeze and I hope they are just as good-I will let you know!
Tess
I used skim milk instead of 2% and it still worked perfectly fine. These biscuits can be used for sweet and savory foods, which is why I love them SO much!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Tess! 🙂
Anne
Great ! First attempt perfect. I had to bake longer 16 minutes).
Liz Bulasko
This is good to know. I only buy skim milk and went with a 50/50 combo of skim milk and heavy cream (which I’d only bought for my strawberry shortcake I’d made the biscuits for) and that worked fine, too.
Roxanne McKim
I am a pretty decent cook and baker, but i have struggled for years with trying to make a good biscuit! Flavorless, hard hockey pucks!!! Well….. Not anymore! This recipe is flavorful, tender, and scrumptious!!! Most of my biscuits weren’t as pretty as yours, but they were wonderful!!! Thank you for redeeming me with my grand kids. It was a running joke (grammy is trying another biscuit recipe) P.S. Congratulations on your husband’s job!!!
Sam
Thank you so much, Roxanne! I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Valda
These are great! Thanks for the recipe. Going to try your pizza dough and sauce. I enjoy your page!
Sam
Thank you so much, Valda! I’m so glad you have enjoyed everything so much. 🙂
Stephanie
I made these yesterday and they were a Huge hit!! I followed your directions to the “T” and they are SO GOOD! Everyone loved them. They are super simple to make- definitely a recipe for the recipe box. Thank you for posting such detailed notes and instructions, and the video! Absolutely amazing!! Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Stephanie! 🙂
Darleen
I am terrible at dough things!! These were easy and absolutely delicious!!! I will
Make them again and again
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Darleen! 🙂
Charles
I am going to try to make the biscuit tomorrow. I will try with butter milk. 😋
Sam
I hope you love them Charles! 🙂
Nicole
Let me start by saying I barely like biscuits, KFC is the only time I’ll actually eat one. However these biscuits…OMG! These are by far the best I’ve ever had and super easy to make. Thank you so much!
Sam
Thank you so much, Nicole! I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Robert Stanley
I embelishedcas I always do wit some lemon zest and fresh squeezed lemon juice, used butter milk and added a bit more sugar. Best biscuits served with a honey drizzle or lemon curd. Serving for my garden party.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Robert! 🙂
Robbie
Love, love, LOVE these biscuits! Finally, a recipe that makes light, buttery, not-to-sweet, just right biscuits. Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad that you enjoyed them, Robbie! Thanks for trying my recipe and for the feedback. 🙂
Cassandra
Hey thanks for the recipe hopefully it will taste as good as they say 😋my hopes are high I will give you feedback tomorrow 😛
Shirley
Oh my word! My mom used to make the best biscuits but… now that I’ve made these, new favourite. I think the trick was not overworking the dough. Thanks so much for sharing. Next time I’ll double the recipe. I can see my husband and I fighting for the last one!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Shirley! I always win those battles with my husband. 😉
Steph
Can i use a non dairy milk?
Sam
Hi Steph! I haven’t tried it to know for sure. If you do try it I would love to know how it turns out. 🙂
Becky
They turned out amazing, thank you! I use Sugar Spun Rum for a lot of recipes!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Becky! Thank you for the support. 🙂
Julie
This recipe turns out great! And I figured out why my biscuits weren’t rising properly, you have to cut them super thick to get them to rise better. Thanks for the recipe!
Rhonda
Best biscuit recipe ever!
Thank you for sharing.
Can you please tell me the reason for placing the biscuits close together on the baking sheet. Thank you ☺️
Sam
Hi Rhonda! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe! Placing them close together helps the biscuits to rise nice and tall 🙂
Masha
I have never made biscuits before bc I was too scared, but I loovveee biscuits and gravy. These are amazing. The best. Easy. Affordable. Amazing every time. I’ve made them a few times now. My inlaws are from the south and I’m from Southern California. I made them these biscuits and they were impressed! They had their doubts about me making them biscuits.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Savanna
Great recipe! Delicious as I was hoping!
My butter wasn’t as cold as I would have liked due to time constraints, but they still turned out flakey and delicious!
My dough was a little thick so I had to add a bit more milk, but I’m unsure if this was just baker error (I’m new to the scene).. with a little added milk, consistency was good!
RECOMMEND
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them Savanna! 🙂
Lyndsey
Hello, I have made these in the past and they were delicious. I am wondering if you have had any success making them ahead of time and freezing them before baking? I would love to have a batch on hand in the freezer.
Sam
Hi Lyndsey! I know several others have frozen them before baking with success. 🙂
Ashley
These r vey good I enjoy them I also use it to make other things with I tried a stuffed biscuit with these and they came out awesome
Love these biscuits
emma
I have come back to this recipe time and time again.. today I forgot what your website was and typed in “silver spun run”- glad google figured it out!
Thank you for sharing,
emma