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.
Treat yourself to a FREE E-BOOK!
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
Penny likes to supervise the photography process. Fortunately, this setup got her vote of approval.
Sean
Made these a few times with 1-1 gluten free flour. Turns out great, for being gluten free. You don’t get as much rise out of them but we still love them.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for letting us know how they turned out for you with the gluten-free flour, Sean! Enjoy! 😊
Wendy
I’ve been making biscuits for years and I finally found the ONE! So simple, tall, and tasty🙂 Thank you!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We just love hearing that, Wendy! Thanks so much for your review 😊
LaShawnda Kirk
Do these freeze well? I like to do a big batch cooking for the weeks ahead and would like to freeze a big batch for quick breakfast items
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi LaShawnda! Yes, these can be frozen either before or after baking. If you freeze them before baking, we suggest you wrap each biscuit individually and store in an airtight container. They will just take a few extra minutes in the oven when baking. Enjoy! 🙂
Sunbaked
Nicely written, good result.
But so much better without the sugar. Like pineapple on pizza, the sugar isn’t doing us any favours here.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re glad you enjoyed them! The tablespoon of sugar in this recipe isn’t for sweetness and doesn’t impart a sweet flavor; instead, it adds a richness to the dough that rounds out the other flavors. Thanks for your review 🙂
Gina
For the 2g of sugar per 1 buttery biscuit, I think we’ll survive.
Deanna N
Can you double the recipe and have the same quality product? Thanks!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yes you can! We hope you love them, Deanna 🙂
JoyzSea
Made these today. So easy and turned out delicious and flaky. I have tried other recipes to no avail. I think grating the butter was the secret! Thanks for the great recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you liked them! And yes, grating the butter is so important for flaky biscuits. Enjoy! ❤️
Allison
What if all I have on hand is one percentmilk or dry powdered milk that I have to mix up and chill first?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Allison! We haven’t tried this ourselves, but we think either should work just fine. Enjoy! 😊
Karen Kalinske
These biscuits are flaky, buttery, light and delicious! Thank you for this wonderful and easy recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for your comment, Karen! We’re so glad you liked them ❤️
Deborah Miller
Gm i tried your recipe instead of butter i used creamed shorting and they turned out perfect omg i have been trying to make biscuits for years thanks
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad they worked out for you, Deborah! 😊
Erin
I never leave reviews, but these turned out so perfectly that everyone needs to know about the recipe! I used the grated frozen butter method as described. They rose beautifully in flaky layers. Thank you, Sam!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for letting us know how they turned out for you, Erin! We’re so happy you loved them. ❤️
Kaylz
Could you add cheese or herbs to this recipe, if so what step would you suggest adding them in?
Sam
Absolutely! I’d add any herbs in with the dry ingredients and cheese can be added either after the butter or after the milk is just mixed in 🙂
Gwen
I did exactly that! I had serious compliments on those biscuits. One of my dinner guests kept eyeing his biscuit, turning it around and checking out the layers. He said that he considers himself a biscuit expert and this was perhaps the best biscuit that he has ever eaten. Thank you!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We love hearing that! Thanks for commenting and letting us know how they turned out for you, Gwen 🙂
Gwen Taylor
I’ve made these before and they are the first edible biscuit that I have ever made! And, they are wonderful. My question is, can I make them ahead of time and let the dough sit for a few hours?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Gwen! Thanks for letting us know how you liked them. Yes, you can make them in advance; we suggest you cut out the biscuits and store them in the refrigerator in an air tight container. You can bake them directly from the refrigerator. Enjoy! 🙂
Angela
These are my go to biscuit recipe now! I’ve made these three times and each time-perfection! So good and fluffy!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for letting us know these were a hit for you, Angela! ❤️
Lawren Davis
Help? I guess I over mixed my dough because the biscuits did not rise very much, but I keep having a problem with mixing baking powder in recipes… First I made cupcakes and they came out with bitter chunks and now the same has happened with these. I made sure to mix the dry ingredients well for this recipe to not make the same mistake. Is my baking powder no good?
Sam
Hi Lawren! Definitely sounds like bad baking powder, unfortunately! I would toss it out and get some new stuff (I also don’t ever buy generic baking powder because this is a problem I used to run into with it), fresh baking powder should fix the issue!
Kim
These are amazing biscuits! I ended up make a batch times 20…. I serve a small(ish) school out in the farmlands…. I make breakfast for about 60 and lunch for 150 all from scratch. I was looking for a new biscuit recipe and even with this one multiplied soooo many times it turned out AMAZING! Thank you so much for this keeper!! It’s going in my secret cookbook 😉 all the school was a rave at these bad boys!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Wow, that’s a lot of biscuits! We’re so happy everyone loved them, Kim. Your secret is safe with us 😊
PD
These were delicious. I misread the recipe and didn’t add enough flour until after adding the milk. Added the remainder, crossed my fingers and continued. They were STILL perfectly fluffy and light. Perfect!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad they turned out for you! 🙂
Greta
Thank you for a great recipe! I followed it to T but I improvised a bit. My butter comes in a tub so I measured out by tablespoons while it was a room temperature then added it to half of the flour mixture until I got medium sized bits of coated butter then I froze it in the bowl to get the butter frozen. I think they came out ok.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re glad they turned out for you, Greta! 😊
Lauren
We have been using this recipe at our house for over a year! We use salted butter, freeze it, and use a grater to shred it in. Everyone loves these biscuits!! We’ve even used it for chicken pot pie crust.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for letting us know how much you loved this one, Lauren! We love putting them on chicken pot pie too 🙂
Hattie Larrouy
I made these to take to my sister’s house, she’s making chicken gumbo. I’ll have to take the back roads because I’m not sure something this good is legal. Leave some unsalted butter in your freezer so you are prepared to make these at will!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
😂 we won’t tell if you won’t, Hattie! So glad you enjoyed this recipe.