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.
Melissa
Love these biscuits and it is my go to biscuit recipe! I use oat milk with a bit of lemon juice and my biscuits turn out well
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy to hear that, Melissa! Thanks for letting us know how they turn out with oat milk. Enjoy! 😊
Mike W
I haven’t done any baking in a long time, but these biscuits are almost foolproof. They turned out beautifully, with layered goodness, buttery texture, and just a hint of sweetness.
Instead of a biscuit cutter, I trimmed the edges of the dough and cut them into rectangular grid of 2 rows and 3 column for 6 hand friendly biscuits.
I live alone, so I never use my traditional oven because it wastes so much energy. I was able to use my Tovala oven at 425 and they came out golden brown and delicious.
This is now my go to recipe for biscuits!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed the biscuits, Mike! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a review 😊
Kevin Hangman
Excellent biscuits! Wish I could leave a picture. Note! Biscuits don’t turn dark brown. Lightly golden is done…
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds like they were a hit for you, Kevin! You can always share a photo with us in our Facebook group or tag us on Instagram @sugarspun_sam. 😊
Stephanie
This has been my go-to biscuit recipe for a couple of years now. I have tried others, and this one wins every time. These are so easy to make and they taste delicious! My 7 year old even knows how to make them!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That is so nice to hear, Stephanie! Thanks for trusting our recipe ❤
Jennie
First time I ever made homemade biscuits. They turned out fantastic. Not only did they taste good but looked good too. I used 2% milk but next time I am going to try them using buttermilk. Thank you for the recipe.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy your biscuits turned out so well, Jennie! We hope you love the buttermilk version too 😊
LM
These were the best biscuits I have ever made! Doubled the recipe and used one cup of plain yogurt and half a cup of whole milk instead of 1.5 cups of milk/buttermilk. Will definitely make again!
Kim C.
Oh these are AMAZING. Easy and very good flavor and texture.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks so much for coming back to leave a review, Kim! We’re so happy the biscuits were a hit for you 😊
Mackenzie
So I realize that biscuits are supposed to be decadent, fluffy and always delicious. I know this because I’ve made this recipe several times to rave reviews and I know I could easily eat the whole batch by myself. They’re delicious! But, on a whim, I decided to make them with whole wheat flour, mostly because that’s all I had on hand. They came out beautifully, but definitely more on the bread-like-flavor side. I’m a fan of whole wheat flavor, so I consider it a success. However, I was wondering if you could recommend any tweaks I could use next time if I try with whole wheat again.
Thank you so much for this easy recipe! Easily my favorite biscuits ever!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Mackenzie! I haven’t tried it with the whole wheat flour, but I would probably use less wheat flour than all purpose flour as wheat flour is typically a “thirstier” flour. 🙂
Nikki
Best. Recipe. Ever. This morning, I used this recipe to make blueberry biscuits. I added a cup of fresh blueberries lightly smashed and sugared, and I folded them into the dough after adding the milk. I cut them, baked them for about 5-7 extra minutes. After taking them out of the oven, I buttered them and glazed them with a simple glaze… BAAAAABBYYY… Delicious…
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That sounds absolutely delicious, Nikki! Yum. 🤤
Cheyenne
SO good!! Tried this recipe for the first time this morning and my husband couldn’t stop raving about how good they were. My 12 year old granddaughter loved them as well.
I served them with sausage gravy. They are so light and flaky! I’m sure they will be delicious with butter and strawberry jam too.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy you found our recipe, Cheyenne! It sounds like your family loved the biscuits 😊 Thanks so much for coming back to leave a review!
D.B.
Hi 🙂
I’m not sure where I went wrong, as I barely got even 9 biscuits that are less than an 1″ and sadly I did end up having to use a rolling pin because the dough did not want to stretch. Thank you for the recipe though 🙂
Sam
Your biscuit cutter could have been a little bigger than mine, but as long as they still taste good that’s the important thing. 🙂
Jae
These were phenomenal… So easy yet so delicious.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Jae! Thanks for coming back to leave a review 😊
Michael
I did every thing you said but it took almost 45 minutes until they were cooked to lightly brown.
Sam
Hi Michael! That is really, really odd. I’m wondering if your oven was having issues? If not was there a lot of flour on top of your biscuits to prevent them from browning? Were your biscuits still tasty?
Bridgette
Absolutely delicious!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thank you, Bridgette! We’re so happy you enjoyed them 😊
Sandra O
Made these for the first time tonight and though I didn’t really know what I was doing, they came out SO GOOD!! No more canned biscuits or Bisquik biscuits for me You really can’t argue with real butter and real home made. Home made biscuits and home made lentil soup. My husband was in home made heaven!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds like they turned out perfectly for you, Sandra! We’re so happy you both enjoyed them. Thanks for trying our recipe ❤
Tyler P
Can the dough be made ahead and baked a few hours later?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yes! Just place it in an airtight container in the fridge 😊
C. Morrison
These are wonderful biscuits! Sooo easy to make & tasty!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So happy you like them! Thanks for commenting 😊
Stephanie S
This has become my go-to biscuit recipe – these are great!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We love hearing that, Stephanie! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a review ❤
Bridgette
Absolutely delicious!
Jan
Ok….I do not know how to cook nor bake but want to start trying something and I thought these biscuits look easy.
They are so easy and taste awesome…my third time making them!
Thank-you 🙂
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That is so wonderful, Jan! These biscuits are a great beginner recipe, and it sounds like you’ve already mastered them. Thanks so much for commenting 😊