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 recipeย a few weeks ago,ย “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.ย 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.ย And then more butter once they’re finished baking because of course we need more butter.
I mentioned that these biscuits are easy soย do not be alarmedย by all the tips that I have for you below. These biscuitsย 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 ofย 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:ย 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.ย 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 andย 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 encourageย 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
- ยพ cup whole milkยน (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 ยพ" round biscuit cutter with flour.ย
- 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 ยฝ" apart on baking sheet.ย
- 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.
Darla
Best homemade biscuit I have ever eaten and a very easy recipe!
Becky
So easy! So fluffy! So delicious! Grand flakes are my favorite and now I can make them…I love these biscuits and WHY does no one teach you the best way to cut in butter is to freeze it first then grate it into the recipe??? Best advice ever ๐
Thank you for sharing this info and recipe with me!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Becky! The butter trick is ssoooooo useful! ๐
Bette Sefcheck
Absolutely the best biscuits I ever made! The recipe is perfect and the taste divine!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad you love them, Bette โค
Leslie
Has anyone substituted heavy cream for milk and just lowered the amount used? I ran out of milk and did not realize until baking.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Leslie! You can definitely substitute cream for the milk, but you may actually end up needing more since it’s thicker. If needed, take a look at the photos or the video to make sure you get the dough to the proper consistency. Enjoy ๐
Leslie
Thank you so much!
Megan
I have tried many many biscuit recipes over the years, including my Grannyโs recipe which my mom and aunts swear by. None of those are ever good, i just have hockey pucks. Iโve been using this recipe for a few
Months now and they turn out perfect every time! I think one of the secrets is the grater and wooden spoon! Thanks so much for finally giving me the perfect (and easy) biscuit recipe!
Can you make this recipe ahead and the dough in the fridge for a few hours or day even?
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Megan! These can be made the day in advance. I would recommend cutting out the biscuits and storing in an air tight container. ๐
Nancy
Fantastic! Iโm 80 and have tried many biscuit recipes. This is by far the best!
Cliff
Great KISS recipe, easy to adapt – thank you.
Instead of milk I mixed buttermilk and sourdough starter the night before so it would “Sponge-Up”. Next morning add flour (with butter), sugar, and half as much baking powder. Fold together with spatula a couple times only so you don’t kill the sponge. I used two large spoons for drop biscuits into preheated cast-iron Dutch Oven in the electric range at 275F for 10 minutes lid-on, then 8 minutes lid-off. Using the drop-method allows this dough to be stickier because of the high-hydration sourdough starter and more flavorful in my opinion. Drop biscuits are not always biscuit shaped so I hide the imperfections in a deep well of sausage gravy – GOOD GRAVY MR.!!
Venus Moody
They turned out amazing
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Wonderful! Thanks for giving our recipe a try!
Julie
Tried these tonight, to have with some stew, followed the recipe (as best I can) lol. And they tasted great!
This recipe will be going into my printed recipes book. I give it 5 spoons!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you loved them, Julie! Thanks so much for your review โค
Mrsl
Have you ever made these with 00 flour?
Sam
I have not tried it.
Thomas Angelos
Can you mix in whole sheet flour with these or will that change the whole process?
Sam
Hi Thomas! I’m assuming you meant whole wheat flour? If that is the case, you may want to try just substituting a little bit first as the whole wheat flour can dry out the biscuits, but it should still turn out. ๐
TTPGH
Fantastic! This was my first time making these amazing biscuits. They’re so easy and I was very happy with how light, fluffy and flaky they were. I followed your directions exactly, but doubled the recipe (per your tip). They have a wonderful texture and tasted delicious! My guests loved them too. I served them with homemade blueberry compote, butter and honey. I will definitely make them again. This recipe is a keeper! Thank you.
Tiffany
I love the simplicity of this recipe!! I used unsweetened almond milk with a whole stick of butter & they taste delicious…my daughter said it taste like a croissant in biscuit form.
Maria
Magically delicious! The perfect biscuit.
Madeline
Tried with butterfly and flower cookie cutters instead of biscuit cutter planning on making more flowers for Easter dinner
Monica
Perfect delicious ๐ easy perfect every time!