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.
Tracie
Delicious 🤤 So easy to make. Will definitely use this recipe over and over again!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That’s great to hear, Tracie! Enjoy your biscuits 😊
Cheryle Larson
I will be using your recipe for a wedding shower brunch. I would like your advice on how to best store and reheat. Should I refrigerate or freeze and how should I thaw and reheat?
Sam
Hi Cheryle! It depends how far in advance you are making them. They hold well in an air tight container at room temperature for several days. As far as reheating goes, I typically just microwave them for a few seconds, but if you are doing a lot of them that may get tricky. You could make the biscuits in advance, freeze or refrigerate the dough for a few days and then bake them right before they are needed. If you go that route just make sure to cut out the biscuits then wrap tightly. 🙂
Ashleigh
I’ve made these a few times now and each time they’re amazing! My issue is, I don’t always know if one batch or 2 is needed for my big fam. Can I freeze this dough or store in the fridge for another day? Just curious to keeping the dough plus I’m fairly new to making things in advance! Thank you for a wonderful recipe that really hit the spot!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoys them so much, Ashleigh! You can save the dough for later. You can refrigerate the cut out biscuits in an air tight container for several days, or you can wrap the cut out biscuits and store in the freezer for several months. 🙂
Marilyn B
Honestly, I cannot believe that I made biscuits! The biscuits are wonderful and the video made all the difference. The final product was delicious and a huge hit with my family. I made it with buttermilk and will be making it again and again and again (per my husband’s request). Looking forward to trying your other recipes.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds like they were a complete success, Marilyn! We’re so happy you enjoyed them. Thanks for trying our recipe! ❤
Rose
My niece shared this recipe. She made it with her four year old daughter. The recipe is so good! I made it again today with self rising flour and it came out just as well. My favorite biscuit recipe. They reheat well too.
Steve Hall
A single man here and I have to say these are the biscuits that my mom served up every morning until I left for college. (I have made your recipe so often now; I do not need to use measuring cups or spoons.)
Sometimes mom would take the recipe and roll in flat and cover the entire piece with melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon. Then, slice in strips an inch wide and 5-6 inches long. Bake until the strips have lightly browned. So good.
Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Sam
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed it so much, Steve! Sounds like you’ve been making lots of biscuits! I don’t even think I have this recipe memorized that well. 🙂
Casey
Why do they always come out hard & extremely bumpy, every time I try?
Do you have any suggestions?
Sam
Hi Casey! I’m so sorry this is happening. If they are hard they may have been slightly over-baked. As far as bumpy goes, I’m not sure exactly what you mean.
Mindy G
I had never made biscuits from scratch before, and was a little intimidated to try to make them myself but this recipe along with your video made it easy! They turned out So moist and buttery delicious! 😋 This will definitely be my go to recipe from now on! No more can biscuits for this family! Thank you!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you tried our recipe, Mindy! It sounds like they turned out just perfect. Enjoy 😊
Michelle
Have tried many times to make fresh biscuits. Always a disappointment, and I wasn’t really wanting to try again with failed or subpar results. Until I tried this recipe! OMG amazing! This is now my go-to recipe and I’ve made it numerous times. Thank you for making my last try at attempting to make biscuits a success! Yay!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you found our recipe, Michelle! Thanks for coming back to leave a review ♥
Mary Mega
Dough is very fresh tasting! Thank you!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Mary! Thanks for trying our recipe ♥
Molly
I can’t believe I just made biscuits from scratch!! Thanks for the recipe! Very good and pretty easy!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy they turned out so well for you, Molly! Thanks for trying our recipe ♥
Nils
Just perfect. I came back to make for a second time 🙂
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Wonderful! We’re so happy you love the biscuits so much, Nils 😊
Ava Cyrus
I tried doubling the recipe yesterday and it was perfect! The biscuits were flaky and absolutely delicious! I would definitely recommend. I gave some to friends, and the all said they were delicious. Some even asked for the recipe. If you’re thinking of trying, please do! You won’t be disappointed!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Ava! Thanks for trying our recipe and sharing it with your friends ❤
Jeff S
Quick, delicious, and easy to make!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks so much for trying our recipe, Jeff! We’re so happy you like the biscuits 🙂
Brit
So, just as it is in all the other grocery stores around the country, all of our local grocery stores were experiencing a shortage of biscuits… Our kids were called off school on a Thursday and Friday and they were begging for biscuits and gravy. I put it off the first day they were home because I know nothing about baking and knew I didn’t have any yeast for rising in my pantry, I was low on eggs (We were sheltered in due to an ice/snow storm), so I didn’t want to use all my eggs… Finally I broke down and google “homemade biscuits” and this recipe popped up and OMG, am I ever glad that it did. I followed this recipe exactly and when I bit into those fluffy things… I will never buy canned biscuits again! This is my go-to! I printed the recipe and stuck it right in my book! I went back for a second one and the pan was empty!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you found our recipe, Brit! It sounds like the biscuits were a real hit for you and your kids. Thanks so much for your review ❤
Karen Rogers
We use them for biscuits and gravy as well and egg and bacon sandwiches to take to work. They are so good! Buttery and not floury at all. I also use salted butter and skim milk since it’s what we have in the house and they turn out perfect. We have made these several times.
Kay
Thanks for this easy recipe!! Wish I could share my pic of my 3 inch high beautiful biscuits! Freezing butter makes all the difference on final outcome!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy they turned out for you, Kay! You can always tag us on Instagram @sugarspun_sam or share a picture in our Facebook group 😊
Nancy Butler
Very good biscuits my first really good batch!!!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy they turned out for you, Nancy! Thanks for giving our recipe a shot. Enjoy 😊