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.
Ashton
These are so good! I’ve made these every morning for the past three days because we can’t get enough. This morning however, I tried doubling the recipe and got 12 gorgeous biscuits but they weren’t cooked all the way through even when adding an extra 4 minutes, and by that time the tops were getting too brown. Any suggestions? The biscuits were all a little under an inch thickness before baking as well.
Thanks!
Sam
O no! Was your oven acting up? There may have just been too many in at one time for your oven. 🙁
Ashton Baxter
We’ve had oven issues in the past but I think I just had too many at once. Trying again this morning!
Samantha
I’ve been making these for 2 years, ever since I discovered your recipe. I love how easy and yummy these biscuits are! Enjoyed with some melted butter and jam, or with a good stew! Thank you for sharing!
Ella Barbe
These are the best biscuits I’ve ever made. I followed the recipe exactly with the exception that I substituted one cup of all purpose with one cup of whole wheat. They were so flaky and light. Simply delicious with homemade beauty berry jelly.
Cc
Can you freeze these biscuits and use at a later time?
Sam
Sure thing! 🙂
Theresa
This is the first recipe I have ever reviewed and I do so now, because these are fabulous! The height on them is amazing! They are light and fluffy and buttery and baked perfectly in the time suggested. I’m eating them as I type and every bite is better than the last!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are SO happy you loved them, Theresa! Thanks for coming back to leave a comment 🥰
Molly
Can I make these and store them in freezer bags or air tight container in its dough form?
Sam
Sure thing! I recommend cutting out the biscuits first. 🙂
Vanessa
I’m excited to try baking these biscuits for Thanksgiving!
Do you think margarine can be substituted for butter?
Thank you!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Vanessa! We don’t recommend it with this recipe. While it would work and your biscuits would still be tasty, you just won’t get those same beautiful flaky layers if you use margarine instead.
Kelly Palubiak
Are you able to make these ahead of time?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Kelly! Yes! You can just store them in the fridge in an airtight container until you’re ready to bake. 🙂
Rachel Herrick
I’ve made this recipe dozens of times and perfectly each time! To save lots of effort, I use my bench scraper to just cut biscuits into squares instead of circles. They bake perfectly fine, still!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We love that method too, Rachel! So quick and easy 🤩
STLori
I’m a first-time biscuit baker. I always thought they were difficult to make. Boy was I wrong. I watched a video first then made your recipe. So easy and takes no time at all. My best suggestion is the part about not overworking the dough. I didn’t have a biscuit cutter so I cut in squares. These are soooooo good. Sooooo flakey and moist. And the flavor is perfect in my opinion. Thank you for sharing and making a biscuit baker out of a novice. This is a must try recipe.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yay! We’re so happy you gave our recipe a try 🙂
Patty Howe
This is the first time I have nailed the right texture. It must be the frozen shredded butter. Great tip! This recipe is a keeper.
Dona Backus
Hands down the best homemade biscuit recipe. I’ve made them several times and it’s never let me down. Try them. You’ll love them!
Jodi
I have made this recipe SO many times- never fails! These biscuits are amazing, so flakey and easy to make. This is definitely a KEEPER recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks so much for your review, Jodi! We’re so happy you loved the biscuits so much 😍
Bill
Wow, these turned out wonderfully. I had no milk so I used half and half combined with some eggnog we had in the frig. There are three biscuits left and breakfast in the morning will be a battle over who gets 2 and who only gets 1. Thanks for the recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds like a yummy and festive twist! Enjoy, Bill 😊
Ceci
Can I use almond milk? I ran out of cow’s milk and wanted to make this recipe for breakfast this morning.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Ceci! Others have used almond milk with success, so you should be fine 😊
Loree
I prepared this receipt because I had all the ingredients, and I am so glad I did it was amazing and my husband & in-laws were delighted I actually made 10 biscuits, I rolled the dough like bread, used my metal spatula and cut. My mother in law loves ends so she ended up with two. 😊
My father in law couldn’t stop talking about how good they were and wanted me to make them for thanksgiving. ❤️
I will make them again, thanks for sharing this recipe.
Holly
This is the first biscuit recipe that I’ve tried that was easy and delicious! My biscuits usually turn out ugly but these looked perfect and tasted amazing! Thank you so much for the recipe. It is now my go to.
Rebecca
Can I make and refrigerate the dough the night before? Thanks!
Sam
Sure thing! I like to cut out the biscuits and store them in an air tight container. 🙂
JNoonan
This was a quick fix for not having any carbs in the house for breakfast at 655a (mom if the year?) So light. This is now my go-to recipe. I even rushed them a bit using a rolling pin lightly and folding and refolding about 8 times. Then cut them straight down with a chefs knife in to 4 biggies. Plopped a cold1/4 Tbsp of salted Irish butter atop before shoving in the oven for 17 minutes. 720 everyone was devouring them. Crunchy outside and fluffy inside. YUM!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad you found our recipe! Sounds like they were a huge hit for you 😊