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.
Jesse akins
I’m a 53y old mechanic who has just found the joys of bakeing and my wife is very surprised at my skills but has not yet found my secret thanks a bunch
Sam
😂 Any age is a great age to start baking. I am so glad you enjoy the biscuits. 🙂
Ambrea
Am a new baker and am always scared it’s not gonna come out good. This recipe is so easy and I think the shaved butter is a great new trick!! Almost impossible to mess up. I love making little biscuit sandwiches
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Ambrea! 🙂
Laura
Made these biscuits two times in the past week. The first time I hand formed the biscuits but didn’t fold the dough. Great taste and fluffy, but of course no layers. Today I folded the dough and used a knife to cut them. Never had biscuits so layered and fluffy before. By far my favorite biscuit recipe to date.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Laura! 🙂
Daphne
The best biscuit recipe I have found! It’s not salty, crumbly, or a strong baking powder taste. This is a keeper!
Sam
Hi, Daphne! I am so glad you enjoy the biscuits. 🙂
Lindsay
My first time attempting homemade biscuits, and they were AMAZING! Thanks for sharing!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Lindsay! 🙂
Renae
Did not rise great standing here eating as I text you right now
David
I loved this recipe. I’ve tried making biscuits before but they always turned out more like hockey pucks. These were light and fluffy and reminded me of my grandmother’s. Thank you!
Sam
Nobody likes to chew on hockey pucks! 😂 I am so glad you enjoy them, David.
SUZANNE M LAPLANTE
I made these for breakfast, amazing, best biscuits I have ever made. The grating of the butter was the “bomb” of this recipe. No need to overwork cutting it in. Thanks!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Suzanne! 🙂
Will
First time making biscuits from scratch and this was an easy recipe. I had everything I needed sitting around the house. Tasted great. Thanks
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Will! 🙂
Weather Grider
These turned out great! I’ve maid these about 4 times and every time I make them I am so Amazed!!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Brandon
Sorry meant to give 5 stars but iPad slipped on me.
Brandon
Made double batch of the recipe for the top of a poor mans pot pie recipe I have. Turned out great!! Didn’t have to work the dough flat just got it combined well, folded it it a few times for the layers and then pinched and hand formed the biscuits and laid them in the gravy to make. Best version of this pot pie yet thanks to this recipe.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Brandon! 🙂
dawn
you baked the biscuits in the gravy?
Susan
This was an awesome and easy biscuit recipe! Grating the frozen butter is so worth the effort, after I grated it I put it in fridge until mixing it in. The biscuits were so flakey and delish!!! I have pictures but don’t know if I can post.
Sam
Hi Susan! Unfortunately there is no easy way to post pictures on here. If you join my Facebook Group you can post pictures there and I would LOVE to see them! 🙂
Denise
My first time making homemade biscuits. They turned out fabulous. I didn’t have whole milk, so I used half and half instead. The tutorial was very useful.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Denise! 🙂
Flavia
I used almond milk. They came out a bit dense, but not bad. Will try again with whole milk and will report back. 👍🏼
Sam
Thank you for the feedback! I am glad you still liked them. 🙂