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.
Sam
I used this recipe for a chicken pot pie crust and it turned out amazing!!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad you loved it, Sam! ❤️
Stephanie
I use this recipe to make my husband deer sausage biscuits for work breakfast! Its super good and I just make a lot and put them in the freezer. They are still very good heated in the microwave from the freezer! The kids are also nuts for them my youngest gets to help me make them and he just enjoys the whole process and loves biscuits like no other Ive ever met. If they are Dakota approved then they are some good biscuits.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We love a good breakfast hack! So glad your family loves this recipe. Thanks for sharing, Stephanie 🙂
Amy
I told my husband I was going to make some copycat Chick-fil-A biscuits but when I woke up this morning and read the recipe, it called for buttermilk. Back to google I went and googled homemade biscuits. This was the 2nd or 3rd return I got. I loved all of the tips and the little video. I did the frozen butter with a grater and loved that trick, so will definitely be utilizing it in the future. With that said, my husband, friend, and son, all loved these biscuits. I followed the recipe to a “t”. Absolutely delicious and going into our repertoire. Thank you!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Amy! We’re so glad you loved these. They really are delicious! Also, keep in mind, we have a recipe for a buttermilk substitute for those times when you need it in a pinch. 🙂 Happy baking!
Amy
Thank you, Emily! I have used that buttermilk substitute before but I wasn’t sure if I should substitute the main ingredient, haha. BUT, on the bright side, I found your recipe and website, so I’m excited to dig in and see what else you’ve got. =)
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Great! We’re glad you found us too! Can’t wait to hear what else you whip up 🙂
Audrianna
I make these at work, I make them at home, this is my go to recipe! I love them. So much better than store bought and so easy! Thank you for this delicious recipe!!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for the love Audrianna! We’re so glad this is one of your favorites. ❤️
Kaylie Finley
I made these and they are wonderful!! I am wondering if I can freeze the biscuit dough in order to have ready made biscuits on hand and ready to pop in the oven! I’ve seen other recipes that say it works to freeze them but this is my favorite biscuit recipe so I’m curious!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Kaylie! Yes you can make in advance and freeze! Just note that while you can bake them straight from frozen, they usually need a few extra minutes in the oven.
Linda
They were very tender but had a slightly salty and baking powder taste I followed recipe
Sam
Hi Linda! Did you substitute self-rising flour, by chance?
Dave Kreitzer
I’ve been making biscuits and gravey for 25 plus years. Sad to say I’ve always used the can kind because I thought they were quick. Never again these Biscuits took my stuff to a whole new level. My Brother Inlaw always expects them whe he visits. He asked what I did differently so I told him that the biscuits were home made. It was easy to make them Thank you very much.
Sam
I’m so happy to hear the recipe was such a hit for you, Dave! Thank you so much for commenting and letting me know how they turned out, I appreciate it! 🙂
Bj
Best biscuits ever! Will make these again and again! Thanks so much for sharing this great recipe 😋 DELICIOUS!
Barb
These are the best biscuits I’ve ever made. We loved them so much that I got a recipe card out and wrote it down. 😂. It sounds more complicated than it actually is. Quite easy really. Thank you so much for posting this recipe. 🙂
Emily
These are the best biscuits ever! So easy and tasty. I’ve even made them with dairy free butter and milk. They’re a major crowd pleaser, great with just butter, some jam, or with a thick slice of ham!
Now, I have to ask…I have made these many times, in two ovens, both with a thermometer inside…and I consistently have to cook them 24+ minutes. What am I doing wrong? Lol! I don’t open the oven door. I wait until it’s preheated. It’s not a problem, but I’m a little baffled.
Sam
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed them so much, Emily! That’s a really long time for them to bake! How big are you cutting the biscuits? My cutter is about 2.75 inches in diameter.
Emily
I didn’t even think about the size, I bet that’s exactly what’s different! I’ll have to measure later…I’ve just been using a big mason jar lid ring 😊
Rhonda Hawthorne
I had to cook mine for 18 mins then turn the broiler on for 1 minute to brown them on top.
Sandra L Dougherty
I made this recipe for the third time tonight. The best thing about this particular recipe is that you suggest chilling your butter and using a grater. Also, it’s really important that you reminded people to avoid overworking the dough. Growing up, I remember watching my Kentucky born grandmother gently fold the dough. It’s something I have tried to remember, but this recipe definitely helps. Thanks!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Sandra! Thank you for commenting, I appreciate it! 🙂
Colleen Swope
This was easy AND tasted so good. It was fast and easy to work with a soup. Husband was very happy and surprised we had fresh rolls, not store created. Keeping this within easy reach! Thank you!
Erica
Just made these—omg. So good, SO good! I had one while it was still warm with some homemade grape jam, it was so good, tender and buttery and fluffy with such good flavor. Your recipes never disappoint!
Rachel
These were absolutely amazing! So easy to make and my husbands hunting buddies loved them; now I’m obligated to make homemade biscuits and sausage gravy when they’re over.🤪 thanks for the recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad everyone loved them, Rachel! Don’t forget to try our sausage gravy recipe! ❤️
Haley
Delicious! My whole family loved these!
Kristi Aaker
Super easy and delicious!
DD
Great recipe.
Brooke
I’ve made this recipe at least 5 times since I discovered it 3 weeks ago. I love them !!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoy them so much, Brooke! 🙂