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.
Bonnie
We usually have fat free milk. Can I use this?
Sam
Hi Bonnie! It will work, but the biscuits could turn out a little bit on the drier side.
Natasha
Can you make the dough a day before and store in fridge?
Sam
Sure thing! I recommend cutting out the biscuits and storing in an air tight container in the refrigerator. 🙂
Megan
Perfect! Instead of cutting the biscuits into circles I just flattened all of it into a rectangle, and cut them into squares they have beautiful rustic feel to them. Look beautiful and fluffy. I got 9 all together 😊
Koko
I just tried the biscuits and followed the recipe but it was too much flour. I even added an extra tbsp of butter. Do you sift the flour first?
Sam
I do not sift the flour first. I actually prefer to weigh the flour if possible. I do have an article on how to measure flour that may be helpful. 🙂
Nicki
Just made these today. These are literally the best tasting biscuits I’ve ever had. So so easy too!!
Dex
Just made these to go with my world famous sausage gravy, super easy and delicious!!
James P
I’ve made these at least 20 times and always get “these are the best biscuits I’ve ever had” with newcomers! I stick to the recipe, except for adding a bit of garlic from time to time. What if I chuck in some cheddar?
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoy them so much, James! A little bit of cheddar added in sounds great! 🙂
Amy
Did it with cheddar and parmesan tonight 👍👍👍 turned out so tasty!
The Creative Resource
These were great with whole milk. I just cut the whole thing in squares with a knife rather than using a circle cutter. That saved me from having to handle it for a second round of cutting.
Terry C
I was thinking I would do that the next time too. I’m sure they were pretty and tasted just as good. They’re pretty amazing biscuit, and so easy the way Sam explains everything in her videos.
Greg
The problem with cutting in to squares is that the folded edges can’t rise at all. Next time I will cut into squares but trim the edges.
Sharalynn
I’ve made this recipe a few times. I think it’s best to change the salt content to 1/4 tsp of salt instead of 1 tsp. Everything else I kept as is and went very well with homemade sausage gravy.
Melanie
These biscuits were delicious! Just perfect. Your instructions made it so easy – I won’t be buying pre-made biscuit dough ever again.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you loved them, Melanie! Thanks for the review ❤️
Abby Grace
I’ve made these biscuits so many times. They’re my go-to whenever I forget to go shopping. They taste great as-is but I’ve always made my own buttermilk substitute (1cup milk and tablespoon of white vinegar). Tonight I added shredded parmesan and cheddar cheeses. They were the perfect addition to my beef stew. It’s so nice to have such a simple and easy recipe. Thanks Sam!
Yap
In case I don’t have milk, is it possible to replace it with other ingredient?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Buttermilk works too! 😊
Naquetta
I made these for my family they were delicious! So happy I found this
Nan
Made these this morning for Christmas breakfast. My first time and the process was super easy and they came out really good. Thank you so much and Happy Holidays!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy the recipe was a success for you, Nan! Happy Holidays!
Marlie
These were easy and so delicious fresh! You made my day.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you loved them, Marlie ❤️
Susan Kimberly Henning
Fluffiest, flakiest biscuits I’ve ever made! The chilled butter and no rolling pin really make a difference!
Rose
Made this recipe Christmas morning and they are amazin! I didn’t bother to layers. I made mine by hand from the bowl. Very delicious and rustic! Thanks for a great quick and easy delicious biscuit recipe.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Rose 🥰
DL
Can I make the dough ahead of time & keep in fridge overnight?
Sam
Yes that will be fine, just store in a covered container and note that you may need an extra minute or so in the oven. Enjoy!