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
- 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 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.
Fran
This is the best. I have tried many many biscuit recipes and this for sure the best.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoy them so much, Fran! 🙂
Stuart
Just made these today and they turned out amazing! I veganized them (subbed the buttermilk for almond milk + apple cider vinegar, used vegan butter) and it worked perfect. Definitely recommend!
Lisa
This recipe made the most perfect, tender biscuit in the history of baking. Absolutely amazing!
keri
What did I do wrong if my biscuits didn’t rise and what can I use as a substitute for baking powder?
Sam
I’m so sorry this happened, Keri! It sounds like your baking powder may have gone bad. Unfortunately there isn’t a great substitute. 🙁
Julie Brown
I am gluten free, so I used Namaste flour for this recipe. They did great, just a bit dense. Any suggestions?
Sam
Hi Julie! I’m not very familiar with using gluten free flour to know if that would be the issue here, but make sure to not over-work the dough as that can be a big factor in how your biscuits turn out. 🙂
Kimberley
I have to use gluten free flour as well. Sometimes it’s the flour you use, some is lighter than others.
BUT the most important tip is ALWAYS sift the flour, at least once. I also sift in the baking powder and salt, then mix in the sugar with a whisk. This will help all your baking when using gf flour.
I just made these biscuits, and they turned out buttery and fluffy.
Bobbie
What If I don’t have parchment paper?
Sam
You can bake them directly on a baking sheet. 🙂
Sheila T Fecenko
I cut the milk down by 1/3 and added sour cream and also included shredded cheddar cheese garlic and onions to the mix OMG! They turned out great.
Dawn
Girl! I tried these biscuits and they were awesome and so easy! I’ve been looking for a from scratch recipe for a while and this one is it!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Dawn! 🙂
Bob Tme
Hello – I tried your Biscuit receipt. I followed it close to the letter but did not get the same results as you.
One problem I created was that I unintentionally made my biscuits to thick; next time I will pay closer attention to your 1″ rule. But I do have two questions:
1) How important is the type of Flour that is used?
2) Can Baking Powder loose its potency over time with storage?
(An retired Ex-pat living in MX)
Sam
O no! I’m so sorry this happened! The type of flour used here is important. Other types of flour can definitely cause issues. I would probably try new baking powder too because it does go bad. I hope it goes better next time. 🙂
Carrie Jaramillo
Can this recipe be doubled?
Sam
Definitely! You can never have enough biscuits. 🙂
Todd
I want to try some of these biscuits right now but only have regular salted butter. Will that suffice?
Sam
Hi Todd! That will work fine you’ll just want to reduce your salt by a scant 1/4 teaspoon. 🙂
Spencer Rutherford
Whipped up some biscuits using this recipe for my lady and I, and we loved how they turned out. I did make one minor adjustment. I reserved about 3 tbsps of butter and kept that chilled. Then, during the laminating process, I would grate butter over the dough and then fold the dough over the butter. I did this six times, and then baked as per instructed. The biscuits came out so flaky and rich, and we hardly needed to butter them once cooled. They also pared very well with honey or as an impromtu breakfast sandwich.
Rest assurred I will be using this recipe again.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Spencer! 🙂
Diane Champagne
These are insane!!! I followed your recipe exactly and the biscuits are absolute perfection!!! The trick of grating the butter with the box grater is brilliant. Thanks for this recipe.
Cynthia
My family of five loved these biscuits. Thank you for posting a wonderful and easy recipe!!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Cynthia! 🙂
April Cory
These turned out to be the best biscuits I have ever made. I was able to get 13 out of the recipe using the 1 1/2 biscuit cutter. I also used the recipe to make Chicken and Dumplings. I will definitely make again.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, April! 🙂
Liz
I make these all the time.
I am think about making ahead and freezing batch has anyone tried freezing? I want to meal prep breakfast sandwiches. Thanks
Sam
Hi Liz! I know several commenters have frozen the biscuits without issue. My husband actually uses them to make breakfast sandwiches much like you intend to do. 🙂
Vinnie Giungno
can these be made ahead an frozen
Sam
Hi Vinnie! That will work well. You can bake them from frozen they will just need an extra minute or two in the oven. 🙂
Warren
I dont often comment or rate but i just had to say the recipe created the most buttery and amazing biscuit/scones i have ever had. It had a crunch too, almost like a scone meets a croissant. Thank you!
Sam
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment, Warren! I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Kimberly
This recipe is my family’s new favorite biscuit recipe! So simple and fabulous!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Kimberly! 🙂
Michele Wing
Thank you for sharing this recipe. They are hands down the best biscuits I’ve ever made! I saved the recipe to my pictures and lost them when I got a new phone (long story) and was afraid I wouldn’t be able to find it again, but was very happy to see it was the first pick……and should be!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Michele! 🙂