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.
Nolan
Ok seriously. I don’t write a whole lot of reviews, but this one totally deserves it. I changed absolutely nothing on it. Tastes just like grandmas feel good biscuits. Best biscuit recipe ever!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks so much for your review, Nolan! Enjoy 🥰
Rita Giordano
Good day, I enjoy baking and my results are always on the button until I decide to make biscuits,that I truly enjoy even more now that I live overseas and there are no biscuits here, not even canned. I’ve tried so many recipes with sad sad results, until, one day while searching I came across your recipe and by magic I can now make biscuits. Thank you so much for sharing, I get layers, they taste butter, and we’ll risen. Now my craving for biscuits can be satisfied. Happy biscuit making to all. Thank you from Rita
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are SO happy they turned out for you, Rita! Enjoy your biscuits ❤
Gayla
Can you use half and half instead of just milk??
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sure! Enjoy, Gayla 😊
Luisa
THIS IS SOOOOOOI GOOOD! Thank you thank you thank you
Jeanne Jerow
I always have Piima in the fridge, which is a mesophiliac starter-based, Finnish dairy beverage, which tastes like a thin-yogurt/sour cream/buttemilk, so I used it in this recipe, and also, I sifted the flour, for more lightness. The bomb recipe! Thanks.
Sherry
I tried this recipe and it is great. I put butter on them and my homemade jam on them and froze half the batter.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy your biscuits turned out so well, Sherry! Enjoy ❤
Priscilla
Hello there , can you share your homemade jam as well pls?
Roni
Really good!
Tammy
The best homemade biscuit recipe ever! They turned out perfect and delicious!
Andrew L King
Best Biscuits I’ve made in a long time using different recipes I think this is the best I added 1 cup grated cheese and they are so Yummy..
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds delicious, Andrew! We’re so happy you enjoyed them 🙂
Ana
This is my go-to recipe whenever I make biscuits. My family loves them!!
Tiffany
Can you use almond milk for same results?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Many others have used it with success. Let us know how they turn out for you! 🙂
MaryBeth
I recently found your website and among all of the ones I’ve tried, (I loved them all) the pizza dough and biscuits are my favorite as a beginner baker. I’ve cooked my whole life but i always struggled with dough and pancakes. Thank you for doing these because I know how to bake adequately and I now live in the country so it’s made a world of difference knowing i can make biscuits and homemade pizza without traveling 45 minutes to get expensive prepackaged food.
Sam
You are very welcome, MaryBeth! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed everything so much. 🙂
Erin
These are seriously the best biscuits ever! I make them pretty often and every time they come out perfectly! I have even quadrupled the recipe for thanksgiving!
Teal
Hi! Can you make the dough ahead of time and place in the fridge to pop them in the oven the next day? Thanks!
Sam
Sure thing! I would recommend cutting out the biscuits then storing in an air tight container so they don’t dry out. 🙂
Gloria Folds
These are the BEST!!!!!!!!!!! Can you make these Gluten-Free?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Gloria! Many others have made them successfully with gluten-free flour 😊
Gloria Folds
Thanks so much, Emily!!!
Liz Bulasko
I looked at your shortcake recipe and I think that might be a tad sweet for me. I prefer the regular biscuits. And I think my problem with Insta might be “user error.” I don’t spend a lot of time on that platform and thought I could post a photo to your account, but I guess I need to post it on mine and tag you. I did post a pic on your FB page, though!
Karen Munguia
Used this recipe and added in a cup of shredded cheddar cheese, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning! The biscuits were delicious!
Mike
Perfect simple recipe! The only thing that I do differently is I grate a half stick of butter, and I cut the other half up in small pieces. So I use 2 extra tablespoon of butter,but It works for me, and I learned after my first time making these, that they come out so much better if I put them in the freezer for 10,or 15 mins after there cut, and on the pan, then I turn on the oven, and when they go in they have very little spread, and cool much better when there close to frozen
Liz Bulasko
I’ve made these twice now using skim milk and they came out fine! I’ve also frozen the butter first and also used a box cutter to shred it, although it warms up pretty quickly.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad they still turn out for you, Liz! Enjoy 😊
Liz Bulasko
I am enjoying them very much and made a wonderful strawberry shortcake yesterday (with berries picked by me)! I’d always found the idea of making biscuits intimidating but these are so easy. I wish I could share a pic but I tried last year on Insta but for some reason it didn’t “take.” Maybe I’ll try again…
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad you are enjoying them, Liz! Have you ever tried our strawberry shortcake recipe? We bet you’d like that too! Sorry about the Instagram issue; you can always share a picture in our Facebook group 🙂